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I had a real accurate 22 magnum bolt action rifle with a 3x9 scope. I spotted a skunk out by one of the pens and shot him in the head. It flattened him on the spot, but I saw a steady stream of juice coming from him as he lay there motionless. So the head shot doesn't always keep one from spraying.
The next two skunks in a row I shot with my model 17 S&W using CCI Stingers. Both were body shots to the midsection as they were running. Neither one sprayed and both ran off to die somewhere I could not find, so, I did not have to dispose of them. I decided after that I would stick with the body shot from then on.
 
I have trapped a lot of critters in a cage,, and often multiples in a single cage.
My record on skunks? (5) with a momma & 4 babies.
My record on raccoon? (3) adults I named "Larry, Moe, & Curly" after the 3-Stooges. (I figured that two coons rushed the cage at the same time,, getting stuck just inside the door area. The way 2 of the Stooges would do in a doorway. The the 3rd coon/Stooge hit the other two in the rear-end, causing all 3 to tumble into the trap & tripping it.


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A friend of mine had a dog door from his yard into the kitchen. One night his wife got up and went through the house for something without turning on a light. There was a skunk dining at the dog bowl and she tripped over it. The results were spectacular and the house stunk for months.
 
Years ago when Grouch Attack worked for a local veterinarian's office, the vet was paid by the state to 'collect' rabies samples properly and send to the state lab for testing. ONE OF THE WORST TASKS EVER.
IIRC, skunks are the primary rabies dispersing vectors in the MidWest.
 
Having been a recipient of their defensive method I have found that it is best not to surprise one (wife made me strip down and wash prior to entering the house). So knowing that, we were sitting on the patio at our place on Cape Cod and having morning coffee when out of the corner of my eye I spotted movement. It was a beautiful skunk. It was close enough that I could have touched it if I felt lucky. We sat VERY still and it casually walked across the patio and proceeded down into the woods
 
Rabies.

In NC,, the state will only test an animal if it's had a potential transfer to human contact, and a potential rabies vector.

While direct human transfer contact is low,, about 100-125 cases get tested annually here. 85% of them come back as positive.

I had to pick up a diseased skunk yesterday. It was still very much alive,, but also not capable of walking much. It was laying on it's side under a gravel bed carport area.
It also smelled as it was obviously occasionally allowing a little squirt to escape.
I was able to gently move it into a cage, getting it tucked in (tail down,) before closing the door. Then I covered it with my cage covering.
The 2 ladies there watched me,, from a distance,, as I did this. As the one lady wrote my check,, her comment was; "It was worth every penny to get you to do this,, especially watching you do it! I'm glad to know you!"

Ahh,, skunk essence,, smells like money to me! :D
 
One night I came home from work at 11pm and saw what looked like a white kitchen trash bag next to our shed. There was a slight breeze and it was blowing the bag... I started walking towards it to pick it up and the bag moved! It was looking at me.... It was a white skunk with a small black spot on the top of the head. I stopped in my tracks and slowly backed up. It went back to digging for grubs and I went in the house unsprayed!

When I was working at the college I was working an overnight shift and was watching a skunk walk along the foundation of the building across from the Powerhouse. There were 4 students who were drunk and staggering down the sidewalk. They met up with the skunk at a corner and they got sprayed but good! One of them jumped back and still got hit. I was watching the festivities and laughing...
 
While rabies is uncommon here, our problem is an animal control system that tries to hide the infection rate. A while back we had an obviously rabies infected raccoon in the neighborhood.

It was Saturday and a call to animal control resulted in a response that no one was available. Apparently the football games on TV were more important.

I finally had to threaten to shoot it myself and miraculously someone arrived in about twenty minutes.

The the, literally, cover up began. The officer was unable to properly use the snare to capture the animal. And insisted the coon "only" had distemper. She finally caught it and left.

I later contacted animal control to find out what the animal had. They denied they even came out.

Me being me, I contacted my county supervisor. Turned out the animal was rabid. Apparently, there's a lot more paperwork if rabies is involved.

But that's what happens when folks are hired for equality instead of capability.
 
Years ago, running the trap line with my brother we got a skunk. I said "where's the .22?" *** "I thought you had it." The truck was good mile away, so we devised a plan. One of us would get it's attention and the other would run full tilt and whack it in the head in drive by fashion. So I get its attention and he runs by and just grazes it. Now it's mad. It turns towards my brother and just like a cartoon plants the left, then right foot, raises and aims the mortar. FTOOM! Off goes the biggest loogie I have ever seen. John is clear of the shot, but we still need to replace the set. So we, do it again. This time he get a solid hit but the mortar fired again, although still very visible, not nearly as big. It took 3 or four shots, but it worked and neither of us got hit. But HOLY COW fresh right out of the mortar is a whole different smell and definitely eye burning.


Live traps just get a shower curtain cover.
 
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This about thirty years ago, but I remember it well. Several of us were hunting pheasants in central Iowa. We were walking a picked corn field that had a grass waterway thru it. I, of course, volunteered to walk the waterway. The grass was pretty thick and about shoulder high, so I couldn't see the ground. About halfway through the field I noticed a god awful smell nearby. I thought I had stepped in some old farm chemicals or something. It was so strong, it didn't really smell like skunk. We got to the end of the field and before I got out of the waterway one of the blockers said he saw a skunk run up over a slight swell in about the middle of the field. That was about when I got to the group. Holy smokes did that smell bad. I must have kicked that skunk in the rear. My brother was riding with me and we went to the nearest town in search of something to spray on my boots and pants. Worked a little bit, so we kept hunting. When I got home, all clothes and boots were banished to the deck. We tried all the old remedies (tomato juice doesn't work). Ended up throwing the goretex pants away (there went $100). Eventually hung my boots on a couple of fence posts at my FILs farm. They were there for several years and he got a big kick out of telling the story whenever someone would ask why the boots were on the fence. Since then, every skunk I see gets shot if I can.
 
Fortunately I have not run across too many. I remember one chasing Daddy around the house when I was a kid. I think I've seen a few on my trail cam, otherwise apparently they don't come around that much. Hopefully.
 
Summer of 2001, I was at Scout Camp with my son's Webelos den. One night, I got up to go to the latrine. I'm headed down the trail, navigating by flashlight, and there was skunk in the middle of the path. "Hello Mr. Skunk. You stay there, I'll go the other way."

Another year we had a Scout startle a skunk who was investigating snackage in the Scout's tent. Much hilarity ensued.
 
I've caught several over the years in a wire cage small enough they can't raise their tails. I ended up picking the cage up carefully and putting it in my pickup.Took them to the old dump opened the cage waited for them to depart and gave them a load of double ought. Never been sprayed.
 
Our bird dogs used to get skunked about once a season. Bird dogs can't smell much after a solid skunking. Younger Son's companion dog simply couldn't leave a skunk alone. I've seen him get sprayed multiple times and just keep going back. :devilish:
 
contender said:
Rabies.

In NC,, the state will only test an animal if it's had a potential transfer to human contact, and a potential rabies vector.

While direct human transfer contact is low,, about 100-125 cases get tested annually here. 85% of them come back as positive.

I had to pick up a diseased skunk yesterday. It was still very much alive,, but also not capable of walking much. It was laying on it's side under a gravel bed carport area.
It also smelled as it was obviously occasionally allowing a little squirt to escape.
I was able to gently move it into a cage, getting it tucked in (tail down,) before closing the door. Then I covered it with my cage covering.
The 2 ladies there watched me,, from a distance,, as I did this. As the one lady wrote my check,, her comment was; "It was worth every penny to get you to do this,, especially watching you do it! I'm glad to know you!"

Ahh,, skunk essence,, smells like money to me! :D
Click to expand...
Ah, you do it out of end stink. :D
 
Mobuck said:
Our bird dogs used to get skunked about once a season. Bird dogs can't smell much after a solid skunking. Younger Son's companion dog simply couldn't leave a skunk alone. I've seen him get sprayed multiple times and just keep going back. :devilish:
Click to expand...
Dogs love to roll around in stinky things. I had a dog that had a dead woodchuck stashed somewhere close to the house. He rolled in it and jumped on the sofa with that nasty stuff all over him. I hosed him off and found out where he was going to roll in the woodchuck. I scooped it up and took it far away to dispose of it.
 
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