Skunk encounter, my preparedness ?'d

Out and about this afternoon with my 1 year old lab in my photo. Been carrying a g36 lately but was crawling under kids pickup looking at tranny and such so wasn't.

She was goofing around in the trash pile with odds and ends of wood, old water heaters, etc sniffing around and was especially interested in what was under an old hog trough.

Of course I figured was a mouse. I figured heck let her have it so I tilted the trough sideways seen a blur of the business end of the Skunk with bad stuff happening. Of course she did to and bit down. I was too slow to put trough back down.

Poor girl was foaming at the mouth and rubbing the ground. This is her first encounter. Course outside water hydrants are froze still. Went to house hydrant quick got water and tried to wash her mouth out. Quick gave 1/2 gallon of milk to her.

Ran inside to grab my 870 youth 20 which I thought i had for defense. Grabbed what was close at hand, 7 1/2s which good enough. Ran out door to take care of Skunk while loading and jeez for some reason it would only take 2 rounds. Jeez plug was in it still.

Hollered at kid to meet me there with a rope and I let him take care of Skunk while I used rope to flip trough over. The 7 1/2s did good at 15 feet.

Sorry for long winded but this got me thinking. No reason the 870 has a plug and only 7 1/2s readily available. Just shows that anything can happen and when it does learn from it. No plug anymore and better ammo now ready.

 

Yup, anything can happen, and usually does. Hope the pup is ok.

 

Yep baking soda and peroxide. Eating now so all is good buy smell. Guess she sleeps in cage tonight instead of at foot of bed. Tough dog she took a full shot to the mouth.

 

If she’s anything like my mutt, my Avatar, she’s already forgotten and will do it all over again.
Twice and always late at night. Dang I hate washing skunked dogs.

 

H'm, poor skunk was just minding his own business until you and your dog came along and interrupted him and then you killed him for defending himself.

Once upon a time I had a Boston Terrier that though all cats were chew toys and couldn't tell the difference between a cat and a skunk. Little idiot never did get it through his thick skull to not mess with those black and white bushy tailed "cats".

 

Ah, the dreaded skunk encounter. I guess getting "skunked" is just part of living in the country. When things go bump in the night (or day), I reach for this:



Stevens 12 gauge single shot, loaded with #2 lead. It lives behind the kitchen door for use in such situations as you describe. It was $50 so if someone steals it, I'm not liable to be too upset.

My mutt (Mtn. Cur/labra-dork) has encountered exactly one skunk, and thankfully learned her lesson. The peroxide/soda trick works excellent; learned that from an old trapper friend who sold a lot of skunks when they were actually worth something.

Mac

 

The plug shouldn't have mattered.

Two rounds should have been plenty for Pepé Le Pew.... Pew.

Todd.

 

Man, #2s would really put a hurtin on just about anything. I load 1 1/4oz of #4s for that kinda business but I’d use #2 in a heartbeat.

I feel lucky now I’ve not had to deal with a skunk. Famous last words I’m sure I’ll have a gang of them outback tonight now.

 

Apologies to the OP for a slight meander...

They work very well. The shells I use are Aguila Standard Velocity 1 1/8th oz at 1200fps. It looks like they are discontinued now, which saddens me as I'm down to about my last box. I also use 1 1/4th of lead BB shot, but again I'm down to my last box and use them sparingly. Either one is excellent for knocking down bigger critters such as skunks, possums, and coons. I suppose at some point I'm going to have to break the old MEC600 out and roll some of my own, provided of course I can find BB or #2 lead shot.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming....

Mac

 

BTDT,got the peroxide ready.

Last skunk got 7 rounds of .45 from avatar Colt.

 

Yeah, mine did that about a dozen times, and wasn't one of the less intelligent breeds (Blue Heeler). It was excellent motivation for figuring out how to skunk-proof the back yard.

 

Except for a five year period as a young buck I've always lived in the country. I found that living in town made it much easier to chase girls but then one caught me and as soon as possible we moved out of town so I have lived with skunks most of my life. I learned something about shooting skunks around the house a long time ago. YOU have to get rid of it and that's not a fun job. I also learned something else. As skunks are nocturnal critters most encounters are in the dark and skunks don't like bright light. I found that by shining a flashlight on the skunk you can drive him away--in about any direction and as far as you want him to go. In a day light skunk meeting I treat them like I do snakes. I just go another way and let them go where they want to.

 

Was he that tough, you that poor of a shot, or just like to shoot your .45?

 

Skunks dislike the smell of ammonia. They won't nest anywhere near it.
Soak rags or a roll of paper towels with ammonia and set it in the corner.
It keeps them away for a long time and is inexpensive to refresh as needed.

 

My friend had a great dog, but obviously, not the brightest. He was skunked many times and never seemed to learn.

My friend swears by Listerine for cleaning and de-smelling dogs.

My dog, the Wheaten Terror pictured here, has thankfully never encountered one. The terrier in him wants to kill everything, but cats. Woman we used to occasionally board him with when he was young had one he learned to play with.

OP, at least your minor emergency gave you a heads up on preparedness with no dire consequences. Good thing in a way as a wake up call as to what you really need to have handy. We could probably all use something like that.

 

Sad that the polecat and pup had to suffer for it but of course, the jewel of the interaction - olfactory agitation and the fart-squirrel's termination not-withstanding - is the resultant observation above.

You have to love it when otherwise dire observations are offered up funny. Well.... eventually funny.

Todd.

 

Kerosene and coal-oil too.

Common safety sense need apply, of course.

Yeah.... I KNOW! "Cool story, grandpa!" You'll find the coil oil in the cupboard right between the liniment and the mustard poultice.

Todd.

 

I've never heard that one. That'd be interesting to try. Seems like it ought to work.

Todd.

 

Moth balls (no jokes, please ) will do the same. Back in my working days we had one big waterflood project that used fresh water . I won't go into why it required fresh water but we had insulated houses on each well in winter to keep them from freezing up at the meter. Skunks loved these houses as they were warm and dark. We bought moth balls by the case to skunk proof them.

 

skunks are constantly on the hit list around here. I'm not sure why we have so many. My sister had one spray under their old farmhouse, they moved into their camper for a couple weeks to avoid the stench. #2 son also had one spray under his house, whew! It was baaad.
I think it is skunk dating season right now too.
When i see one, I try to introduce him to my leetle frien'

 

Skunks and rattlesnakes are the only animals I dispatch at all costs if near the house. One is dangerous and the other carries disease and their special scent. Once a Skunk moves in they seem to stay.

 

I was feeding the animals for my sister. She has mules and cats in her barn . I fed the cats and was feeding the mules when I noticed the cats being very standoffish and shy about the one black and white kitty eating at the pan. I about dropped my hay bale when I did a double-take. Sure enough, it was Pepe' Le'peau who had bellied up to the cat food pan. My ruger Mkll was my truck gun at the time....I dropped my bale and headed for the truck and returned with gun.
When Pepe's dinner was finished he ambled down the freeway between the stalls and outside the barn . When he cleared the building I sent him to the promised land.

 

My dog, a labra-samoyed-diot, got skunked two consecutive night in a row. Front feet in a 3 gallon bowl, and all of the tomato sauce you own into the bowl. In her mouth, nose, ears, and massaged into her fur. . . after that she smelled almost good enough to come back into the house.

Skunk was hiding under the 500 gallon propane tank, so I didn't shoot it. . .

 

Lol house dogs are a challenge. Mine is. Went out today again and she went back to the spot to check out. Luckily I pitch forked him away last night. I don't doubt she would try again. My samoyed I had years ago never batted an eye. She would grab Skunk shake and grin. Dad and I never seen such a thing. She was outside dog though.. A dogs drive to protect are amazing.