Almost had to shoot a skunk last night.

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My dad tells me a story of my grandfather shooting a skunk that was in their detached garage when my dad was a kid. The weapon of choice was a shotgun. You can imagine the mess. The garage was never the same after that and eventually, they had to just tear it down. Ewwww....

Shooting a skunk is a good way to guarantee that it sprays. You know that dead body is going to piss and crap as it dies/after it is dead, but you expect the perfume to stay bottled up?

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Went with a friend to check on his coyote traps. He had a .22 with him. We got separated and I suddenly what sounded like a gun battle - two skunks were caught in his traps. He opened up on the skunks. He had a tubular magazine and I think he emptied it into the skunks. I could have followed either the sound or the smell to find out what was happening.

He ended up gutting the skunks and using them as new bait for the traps. I did not enjoy the ride home with him at all.

I wouldn't laugh too much about skunks with rabies. I was told by the county animal control that about 60% of the skunks in my area carry rabies and they often don't show symptoms. They are the main cause of rabies outbreaks here where I live. I almost never shoot them around my house, but when there are a lot of them around and they become pests I remove them by live trapping. Its no fun getting them out of the trap, but I've been told that its great entertainment to watch.

I did shoot one in my friend's back yard, as a favor to him, and he said it stank really bad for several days, but I couldn't smell it from my house.

I shoot any skunk I see. Some of you may not know the misery of a skunk that takes up residence under the house.

For some of you who may not know, skunks smell bad all the time.

Shooting a skunk is a good way to guarantee that it sprays.

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Definitely.

From what I've heard, the best way to dispatch a troublesome skunk is to catch it in a live trap with a blanket over it so the skunk can't see out, once it's in there. Then very slowly lower the cage, blanket and all, into a big container of water. The skunk drowns, and the smell stays in the water instead of in the air.

Yeah, thats the way its supposed to work, but sometimes its easier said than done.

theres an old story my father tells about a old woman who could shoot a skunk and they wouldnt spray. Dont ask me how. Jaw traps arent a good idea ive tried it.

Skunks are rare in my backyard

Opposums and Raccoons are far more regular visitors to my backyard deck, than Skunks which are welcome into my backyard environment. Feral dogs and cats hunt my backyard due to a heavy population of Chipmunks and Squirrels and Rabbits. I feed them all, so a semblance of balance exists concerning deer, coyotes, and even Eastern Box Turtles. I've never killed any animal within my backyard, but someday I might kill the Owl that feasts heavily upon my cute Chipmunks. cliffy

instead of shooting them I catch them.

while in the cage, at daylight, throw a blanket over it, make sure you have a rope tied to the cage.

take the cage and skunk, possums too, to the lake, drop cage in lake, hold onto rope.

now you have a choice, you can be humane and carefully open the trap while under water and let mr. stinky go for a swim, 9 out 10 times they will swim away from you and the shore, possums seem to be a little smarter... or.... well....your going to want to keep the trap so you'll need to empty it somewhere.

takes a few minutes for a skunk to suck water.

I have heard that skunk trappers dispatch them quickly and easily with acetone in a syringe, on a length of PVC pipe. just stick them and fill 'em up... I guess it kills them quickly without spraying.

I've dispatched three skunks in the last two weeks from inside and around the barn. I use my trusty old Red Ryder to herd them outside and away from the barn and house and out into the pasture. Then I finish the job with a .22. There's been a lot of them out and about this year.

rd

The funniest memory i have of one of my buddies is when a skunk decided to share his tent. I chopped the head off the skunk with a camp axe and i guess it had unloaded on my friend. He was in a horrible state... could hardly breathe without coughing, and just in a bad state. I hosed him down while his dad scrubed him with a snow brush. A older couple has some home remedy soap they made so long ago they forget what was in it. Worked great. We let the rest of the skunk air out. Friend's dad skinned it and kept the hide. For years people who went camping found a fuzzy surprise in their nap sack.

What area do you live in, Ringtail?dont want to cross any rabbid skunks.

Heard someone mentioning shooting a skunk and to avoid hitting their bladder. so I wonder if you got a headshot on the skunk without rupturing their spray bladder would it be fine?Or would they still spray as they are dying?

Im not sure why but Indiana just opened a Skunk season. So there must be some way to kill them effectively with out getting sprayed. Personally I think that would be great fun chasing skunks around. But again not quite as fun as running around after coons with the dogs.

I had two run ins with a skunk this year. The first one was my fault. I was rabbit hunting, saw a skunk, took a careless hurried shot and missed. I think it wizzed right over its head. BIG MISTAKE! It unleashed a cloud of sulfuric death like I've never experienced before. Luckily I was about 50 yards away so I didn't get direct spray. But it still made me dizzy and bleached out the upper portion of my khaki colored shirt.

About two weeks later I was driving home from work and noticed a skunk walking on the side of the road. I thought little of it and drove past it. Unbelievably as I drove past it the bastard sprayed the whole right side of my car! It must have thought I was about to run him over. My car smelled like burnt rubber, and garlic for a few weeks until I broke down and bought a steamer. It also made a brown stain that took forever to wax out. What a jerk. Those are foul beasts!

I've never shot one, successfully, but I've been told to make sure to shoot them in the head, neck or upper abdomen. And even then it might still spray. I need a trap so I can comence skunk genocide! LOL

These are some great stories.

Growing up we would encounter skunks while camping, but they always ran off and never sprayed. I remember crashing out one night and my tent-mate was supposed to come back late. I heard rustling and thought it was him, he woke up and we heard the patter of something running off. We shined a light out of the front of the tent and spotted a baby skunk that had been feasting on some snack he left out. I got on him about that, we were just in surplus canvas army tents so they didn't zip up or anything, what wants to come in will come in.

My dogs have killed about a dozen of them over the years, it's always horrible. Once years ago, my dog just wanted to play with the skunk, and he got blasted at point blank range, right between the eyes. It looked like someone had used a grease gun on him. It was unlike anything I have ever smelled. I gave him a bath with the "de-skunk" stuff twice that night, and once again the next day, and it was still bad. Over a year later, if his head got wet, you could still smell it!

Two pretty skunks used to live beneath our cabin up north in Michigan. We haven't seen them this year though, (I'm assuming they change nests every year.) However porcupines have been spotted loitering around the cabin at early dawn. I remember one night I was there with my family and I heard three shots from my dad's .22 go off in the middle of the night, and then he woke me up and told me I have something to bury.