Skunks

[billybaus]

Rant Mode is on, watch out

Little buggers are running rampant around here, there is just this over abundance of the stupid things it seems, currently one decided to walk by my open window and now the whole D@#$ place reaks. how do you hunt the things without getting fumigated?? this is getting really old, my dog, not being the brightest, has had run ins with skunks 3 times in as many months, what can i do?? i'm out of ideas, its dark out, no way i'm chasin that damn thing with a maglight and .45

 

[dakotasin]

late night, get into your truck, put your brights on and just point your lights where you want to see. they will give you ample time to fire at them, and they aren't that fast. they can be relatively hard to kill - they can take a few hits from a 38 special... you'll know when you get him. sometimes if you can get an instant kill (head shots) they won't spray, but they still don't smell good.

 

[BerettaNut92]

What can I say? We own the night.

Spray and pray!
We spray, you pray!

 

[Art Eatman]

Soak the dog with tomato juice. Then use some sort of sweetsmellum dishwashing soap. It works, although any white colors will then be pink for a while.

My ex- had a truly stoopid white German Shepard. Pink is strange. (Well, like ex-, like dog.)

The only time a skunk is really smelly is right after they've sprayed, and the wind was in the wrong direction at the time. Otherwise, they're really very clean critters.

A headshot with a 12-gauge of birdshot works just fine. You can usually do this fairly close, as they're generally fearless. Be on the upwind side, just in case...

, Art

 

[sm]

Last one I "exterminated" I didn't give the critter the distance or time.

.480 Ruger, iron sights at ~25 steps, one shot/one kill

Chunked in the bonfire that was ablaze...no need for shovel

 

[Art Eatman]

Back when the mountains weren't so tall, the Ex- and I wandered up to Luckenbach. Hondo (Hondo Crouch, the owner of Luckenbach) was there, and had a young skunk in his arms. The Ex- asked could she pet the little critter. (The Ex- and any animal were just natural buddies. Mean dogs, evil horses--they'd all come to her for some ear-scratching.) Hondo pointed out that Youngun still had all his artillery, so be advised. No problem.

Youngun tucked his nose in the crook of her elbow and went back to sleep. She wandered around, people-watching.

Now, the Ex- was a good-lookin' lady. Various guys would wander up to hit on her, lay on a little sweet-trash. No big deal; just normal checking out of a good-looker.

She'd smile and make it obvious who her little friend was. Tell ya what: Some of those "cowboys" could move backwards faster than an NFL Cornerback!

, Art

 

[Arcli9ht]

"Mind the skunk, them things can go off even after they's dead."
-- The immortal words of Cletus

/Arcli9ht

 

[billybaus]

well, thanks for all the info on that, i think i'm gona end up going "hatari" style and have someone drive my pickup with me shooting over the cab. think a buddy of mine has one of them really big million candle power lights too, might have to borrow it.

is that all in the way of tactics? what can you do to get them to come to you? like a bait? i was figuring on climbing the silo and sniping em with a 30-30 from a safe distance.

 

[Art Eatman]

Hey, they'll eat dogfood, dry or canned.

"Safe distance" is anything beyond ten feet or so...

Art

 

[billybaus]

i caught one in a live trap once, and downwind of it about 20 foot away still trashed my clothes, so i think i'll stick with the roof or silo or somewhere away from em. at best its about a 50-75' shot depending on the buggers location

 

[BerettaNut92]

 

[Sisco]

I about forgot about this; Get yourself a black female cat. Paint a white stripe down her back and the skunk (if it's French and a male) will follow her anywhere. Saw that on TV a few times when I was a kid.

 

[BerettaNut92]

If the skunk were Fr...never mind

 

[Meow]

Skunk, did you make that poster? good laugh

 

[BerettaNut92]

No, Gunfucious did. I was working on something similar but didn't have a good skunk clipart.

 

[billybaus]

thats funny skunk.

follow up- scratch one skunk with the 30-30 at about 20 yds. he was just moseyin across the back pasture, broad daylight. wish the rest of them would just walk out and say "here i am" like that one.

 

[Chuck Dye]

Though generally loath to disagree with Mr. Eatman, I must report my own negative experiences with the use of tomato juice for skunk scent: all I succeeded in doing was ruin juice better used in bartending or cooking. What I have found to work is diluted bleach, which I learned of from a biochemist who was then working daily with mercaptans, the principal component of the stink. The key here is that you or your vet may decide that there is no safe dilution for use on pets-CHECK WITH YOUR VET FIRST!

 

[Art Eatman]

Huck, the one time my Ex- used the stuff, I think she used the entirety of one of those very large cans. What, a quart? At any rate, the tomato juice plus a liberal amount of soap changed "Schultz von Schweinstall" from "shoot on smell" to "socially acceptable".

In the FWIW department, tomato juice is acidic; bleach is a base. Be interesting to know what a vet thinks of commercial Clorox; if it needs further dilution...

Art

 

[Chuck Dye]

As an unsworn babysitter for a university PD, I had several occasions to rescue skunks wearing Yoplait yoghurt containers over their heads. We immobilized the critter with several towels borrowed from the gym, removed the container, and sprinted to a safe distance while the skunk freed itself from the towels. The holder often got a good dose of scent even through the towels, and on one occasion thoroughly sprayed when he (thankfully, not I) failed to cover the muzzle on the first move. The first time I rescued a skunk, I wasted two 48 ounce cans of tomato juice to no noticeable effect. My biochemist friend recommended bleach on catching the first whiff the next day. While the bleach would fully deodorize my hands, I never seemed able to wash the leathery, coated feel from my hands. That coated feel would last for several days and no amount of Lava, GoJo, or any other cleaner in the house ever had any noticable effect. As I understand it, the hypoclorite in the bleach converts the mercaptans to something harmless and odorless. My O-chem text fled the jurisdiction years ago, along with most of what I learned from it, so I would welcome enlightenment on that count. The word from the friend working with mercaptans was that bleach works even in extreme dilutions if many changes are used-she recovered, olfactorily, from a serious splashing in the lab by soaking in several tubs full of very dilute solutions. Would I treat my dog with bleach? I don't know. I would certainly discuss it with my vet first. Given the probability of a dog getting sprayed in the face, I would be very cautious.

 

[badgerrr]

billybaus,

I recommend traps.

Would get a couple 110 or 120 conibears. These kill small skunks quickly and usually without throwing scent.

But rely on a few foot traps.....maybe 1 1/2s. The most pleasent way to kill them is to employ .22 shorts or longs. Perhaps CB caps would work well. You are interested in puncturing the lungs without throwing a lot of shock into the critter. If you don't sting him too much, he won't throw, if you are out of range.

Shoot and walk away. Come back in 10 or 15 minutes. He should be dead and gone by then after a good lung shot. He should be deceased without scenting - if all went right.

(P.S. That "shoot 'em in the head and they won't spray" stuff don't work.....listen to the voice of experiance) (Same goes for the "shoot em in the spine" thing)

Evidence of a particularly Skunky season.....