Skunks

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Futo Inu

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No, not Chuck Schumer et al in Congress - I'm talking about Pepe Le Pew - the black and white critters.

My brother has them around his new semi-rural house, and 2 toddlers in the house. We know they can carry rabies, but:

1. Aside from the smell, are they a threat/menace/pest to the toddlers if they come right up to the house? Would they potentially bite a kid unprovoked or otherwise spread disease?

2. If they ARE a more of an menace than a healthy part of the ecology, is .22lr enough to dispense them, or should I step up to a .17 HMR? The quieter the better, ya know...
 
Skunks observed during the night are no problem. That's what skunks do. Don't worry about them.

Skunks viewed during the day should be shot on sight. They are nocturnal creatures, and if they are moving around in the day, they are presumed sick.

Many many skunks die to .22 LR's. I prefer LR HP's to the head out of long-barreled rifle. This keeps the noise down, but puts down the skunk well with a shot to the back of the head. With anything other than a shotgun, the shot MUST be a headshot.

Please note: even with a headshot, about 50% of the time, the stench will emit. Without a headshot, your percentage of likelyhood of stench is running in the high 90's.
 
Do NOT shoot a skunk

that has holed up in a short concrete drainage pipe with a SHOTGUN!

SPA-DOINNNNGGG.....SPLATTHPH.....OH LORDY......WHEW.

.............................................................................
edited to explain that it wasn't the SKUNK who had the shotgun.

..................................................................................
edited yet AGAIN to explain that the skunk was the SPECIES, not the shooter.
 
tactical_poser.jpg


Looks harmless to me.
 
Always go for a head shot with Skunk...
he's usually wearing Body Armor, you know. :neener:

When skunks are behaving oddly (raccoons too) it's usually Distemper, but Rabies is always a worry. Better safe than sorry. They're gonna die anyway, so dispatch them post-haste. :(
 
Skunks viewed during the day should be shot on sight. They are nocturnal creatures, and if they are moving around in the day, they are presumed sick.
Click to expand...

true for all rodents (opposums, racoons) and any other varmits not actively
high tailing it for cover upon being seen in the light of day
 
Having a healthy, nocturnal skunk in the area isn't a bad thing at all when you have little kids, or even if you don't. Skunks like to eat bees and similar insects, you see. Bad if you are a beekeeper. Good if you like to be outside and not be plagued by yellowjackets, sweat bees, ground bees, hornets, and all the other flying stingers. I've seen a skunk dig up and eat a whole nest of ground bees. Especially with little kids, a minimum of stinging insects can only be a good thing.
 
Yep, generally they're noturnal and if they don't run, something is wrong. I'd shoot. Be sure to put some sort of screens (unmortared bricks perhaps) to keep them from habitating beneath your house.
 
Yeah, the night time ones are just doing their thang. The day time ones require other tactics ( :D )

Beware the ones w/ carbon fiber banjos!!!!
 
LMBFAO @ Topgun

If you or your toddlers or your dog come upon a skunk in the night and startle it, it will spray. If it feels cornered or trapped it will spray. Even if it misses, unlikely, you will probably be spending the night with friends. If it hits you will spend what seems like eternity smelling skunk, you will have no friends, and so will anyone around you.

If you can get the county animal control out there they can set traps for them and either dispatch them or relocate them to your neighbors place. They don't usually spray in the traps because they can't get their tale over their back, a requirement, safety?, to the spraying process.

If they are around the house someone will walk out side to take out the garbage or go to the store and startle one of them. It will happen, it is only a matter of time.

Good luck,
DM
 
First let me agree that if you see skunks in the daytime they most certainly should be shot. Most skunks shot with a .22 lr will spay. They the likelyhood of a sprayer is greatly decreased by placing a .22 short through the lungs. This of course requires accurate shot placement but works very well.
A better method of removing skunks is trapping. Skunks are very easy to box trap. Once caught, place blanket over trap. Skunks won't spray if blanket covers trap. Take skunk to place oder is not an issue. Remove blanket and roll trap slowly on its back so the door falls open (doesn't work with all box traps). Let skunk get safe distance from trap before dispatching with .22 or whatever you are comfortable whacking a moving critter with. Use a pole to roll trap. The most important thing to remember is to do it slowly. If you use no sudden movements you have little fear of getting sprayed. I've caught every skunks in box traps and snares and while all shot with a .22 lr sprayed, the spray was away from me and my trap.
 
A buddy of mine was visiting out at Terlingua. Beautiful night, so he went out and sat in the armchair on my porch, staring at the stars. He casually dropped his hand down, just sorta changing position, and felt fur.

He looked down. Saw a white streak in the black. Raised his hand v-e-r-y carefully, and sat r-e-a-l-l-y still.

Mr. Mephisto wandered off, continuing his little skunky explorations...

:D, Art
 
Bait it with carbon fiber and Korean barbecue. Works every time :eek:

Headshots, as some skunks may have Level IV plates and can withstand multiple .308 hits. Electronic ears are handy because they're oh-so silent with their Danners.
 
PLEASE take my advice and DO NOT SHOOT A SKUNK in your yard. if you do shoot a skunk, prepare to have your house be unlivalbe for a week or two. when you shoot a skunk, it releases ALL of its skunkiness when its muscles relax as it dies. when you normaly smell a skunk, it just gives a little quirt of stinky-stuff to scare off a threat. when it dies, ALL of that nastiness comes out and it will make your property very, ummm, "aromatic" for quite some time. to the point that you will want to puke your brains out of your nostrils. trust me, i know from experience. skunks will not attack kids unless the kids chase it something. be sure to teach the kids to run the other way if they see one. they usually don't attack anything bigger than them. thats what they have their "cologne" for. they will usually depart hastily when confronted with a flashlight and a little noise. just don't run after it. if you see it stop, turn around, and stamp its rear feet in a pitter-patter fashion, take cover. its going to spray at you. they can spray up to 30 feet too.

if you do get sprayed or its sprays in your yard, you can eliminate some of the smell be dousing everything is sight with tomato juice. its good to keep a couple of those big generic brand 64 oz cans of the stuff on hand if you have skunks in your neck of the woods. unforunately, i know this stuff from experience. 'tis better to let skunky pass by and leave him alone.

to keep them from coming into your yard in the first place, bring in the cat food and dog food at night. they love that stuff. seal the garbage can good or keep it in the garage or whatever. leave a light on outside at night or better yet a motion light. that helps a little anyway.

Bobby
 
Did you guys know that a skunk can't squirt while it's running?

I learned this when I was about 16 back in Michigan. In the first warm days of spring, big northern pike come in off the great lakes to spawn in little creeks. They come in at night and leave before dawn. Knowing this; a person who didn't care much about fishing regulations (me and my buddy, at the age of 16) could wander around at night with flashlights and armed with a bow and fish arrows, bring home about as many huge pike as we could carry.
And if those same persons chose to "enhance" the experience with certain herbaceous smoking materials, well, odd things can happen..
What happened one night is that while creeping through the woods in an "enhanced state" on our way to a favored creek, we jumped a skunk. And being judgmentally impaired by the aforementioned herbaceous materials, we immediately gave chase in an attempt to perforate said vermin with our arrows.
Surprisingly, a skunk can really make time in thick woods. They are just fast enough to stay ahead of a sixteen year old if the woods are thick and you catch a low branch in the face every few yards... Despite that, we chased this thing for perhaps a hundred yards before I suddenly realized that sooner or later it was going to retaliate in unpleasant fashion. And as this dawned on me, I halted and grabbed my buddies collar and jerked him to a halt. And the skunk halted as soon as we did, and before we could even think about shooting, it doused us with the nasty stuff from a few yards away!
It's a mistake to chase skunks - I know that now! And if you ever find yourself chasing one, I'd suggest that when you realize you've made a mistake, just change directions unexpectedly and keep running!

Keith
 
I seem to post this every time someone talks about dispatching a skunk. If you have a skunk spray for whatever reason, here's what you do:

Mix in a spray bottle:

2 quarts hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup baking soda
1 shot liquid soap (any kind)

Mix well and spray on whatever was sprayed. Removes the smell instantly. I learned about this a long time ago and it came in handy after I ran over a skunk with my motorcycle :eek: . Worked on the bike and the leathers.

BTW: I've never shot a skunk that didn't spray. Head shots, body shots, shotgun shots, etc.

Ryan
 
As a child my grandpa used to relate tales of catching skunks alive to sell to people as pets. He said as long as they are not able to get their hind legs braced that they cannot spray. He would catch baby skunks by quickly grabbing the young skunks by the nap of the neck and getting them off the ground so they wouldn't have traction. He would then have a local vet degland them so they could no longer spray and sell them as pets. He only got sprayed once when he scooped one up it's toe snagged a twig, just enough to give a little squirt. You got to realize this was in the twentys and early thirtys of the depression, so every cent helped out. From what I have heard skunks are excellant pets, very mild mannered.

I have been able to kill them when I have caught them in trapswithout them spraying only once out of 8-10 times. Got to hit them in the back of the head at the base of the spine.
 
In discussion of how to remove skunk odor from pets and yourself if you get sprayed. First forget the Tomato juice it makes you smell like a skunky tomato and is a mess. To elaborate on Big R’s response, you need to mix the solution apply to the victim and let it work about 15 minutes then rinse. Avoid getting it in the eyes. The solution must be freshly made and not sitting around for hours or it won’t work.

Two springs ago our dog headed out for her morning ritual and was blasted in the face and neck by a skunk. I had enough of the hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and soap to make one dose for her. After three treatments she was 80-90% odor free but still strong enough that when she came in the house it was not pleasant. That night I searched the net till the wee hours of the morning looking for deskunk recipes. There were the previous mentioned concoction and the tomato juice plus others that sounded downright dangerous to be putting on your skin or an animals skin. I was just about to give up when I came across an article about two hunters that were hunting with their dog and the dog got into a skunk just before they were to leave for home. They had a SUV and couldn’t stomach the idea of driving home with the dog stinking so badly. What was their solution? Something many of you and I have right now. Scent-A-Way Soap! You know the soap you wash up with to remove human smell when you hunt. You can get it about anywhere that sells hunting supplies. Anyway that morning I got mine out of the bathroom closet and soaped our pup up with it and YES!!!!, skunk smell completely gone. If she ever gets into a skunk again I’ll douse her with the hydrogen peroxide solution and top it off with a shampoo of Scent-A-Way.

Scent-A-Way Soap is made by Hunter Specialties.



:cool:
 
I just trapped one. CB cap between the eyes (after I found the eyes- he was sleeping all curled up- didn't know which end to shoot, so I tossed a rock at the cage to wake him up!). He sprayed- but not much.
 
That smoky skunk smell

Thanks to all who posted remedies for skunk odor. I have compiled the information in a separate file for future reference; it's only a matter of time before I get sprayed.

I still-hunt hogs after dark with a scope-mounted spotlight. The predominant species during these hours remains skunk. If I am not unwittingly walking up on one every hour or so, they are approaching me while I rest. It's truly an experience to be sitting on a hunting stool, legs outstretched, listening for animals, and have a skunk pass right under your knees (of course, minutes later I realize I've positioned myself on top of a game trail, four feet away from the skunk's hole in the ground). Thankfully, my super-duper camoflouge and secret agent stealth tactics fool the beasts into thinking I'm part of the wooded landscape.

There is only one smell worse than skunk: smoking skunk. One moonlit morning I traversed the gravel sendero leading from our cow pasture and tanks down to the Brazos riverbottom where I planned to stalk and slay my porcine quarry. Stealthily negotiating a bend in the path, and dreaming meanwhile of the glorious bacony-flavored trophy to come, I managed to confront a dreaded skunk walking toward me. He was looking for bugs to eat, I thought momentarily, but before I knew it he was upon me, not even four feet away!

Unfortunately, the only escape involved leaping sideways into a menacing mesquite thicket, or turning tail. However, by turning around and running away I would have had to run considerable distance, then wait an eternity for the casually meandering skunk to casually meander on by. Accordingly, and without further haste, I stepped back a few feet, mounted my rifle, turned on my spotlight, obtained the target through my scope, pulled the trigger, and then witnessed one of the strangest events ever to befall my eyes (and nose).

Of course I "missed" my target; a skunk is a difficult objective from a close six-to-seven feet away, particular for the shooter armed with a .30-06 scoped out for 30-50 yard shots (at night). What I did see through the lens, however, was my 180 grain bullet hitting the gravel road, producing sparks, and launching into the air a molten stream of lead about the size and dimensions of a small, plastic grub fishing worm. Time obviously had slowed down on some cosmic level, because my human eyes were able to witness the "flaming worm" ascend, and then descend, only to land squarely on the skunk's puzzled looking head. I heard commotion.

Then I ran away.

When I returned I nearly retched in the weeds. The startled skunk obviously sprayed involuntarily after being set ablaze by my molten worm of fire. The combination of burnt fur smoke and skunk juice penetrated my sinuses so severely that I almost wish I had just been sprayed in the traditional fashion, like any other average skunk victim. That smoke was too much. My boogers were lethal for days afterward. I did not shoot a pig that morning.
 
While I'd agree that a skunk found out wondering in the middle of the day would raise some suspicion, it's not uncommon to find them out doing their skunky things early morning or late evening. If they're not causing a real problem, I reckon I'd leave well enough alone. If they are wearing out their welcome, likely I'd shoot for the head and expect a smell. (Hint) Don't shoot them next to the house. I think that the 50% spray rate on a headshot skunk is very optimistic, I'd estimate that at least 80% of the time they'll open fire.

Listerine mouth wash is hands down thee best odor remover I've ever come across. 30 years ago my momma scrubbed this kid down with Listerine after I got myself shot in the head. The smell was gone instantly.
 
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