Skunked

Started by Paul Hoskins, January 05, 2020, 11:56:24 AM

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Paul Hoskins

Been seeing a rabbit around the back yard just as it's getting a bit daylight in the morning from time to time. Seeing as how well I like fried rabbit & gravy and   how they ate every bean I planted last summer, I decided during the past week to trap one in a small cage trap. A few days ago I set a trap & baited it with an apple. I checked it every morning for five days, No rabbit. This morning I checked it & the resident skunk was  in it. I don't want no skunk. They're a LOT different than a rabbit.

I opened the front trap door & it woke up.  I didn't set the door on the other end. I propped the door open and came to the house. After an hour or so I still hadn't seen it come out. I went back out & the varmint was asleep again. I figured I would open the door on the opposite end and poke him with a stick & drive him out. A stick wasn't needed. Soon as I opened that door the skunk ran out the front door faster than any rabbit I ever saw. I never realized a skunk could run so fast. He left me standing in a vapor trail. Now I don't know if all you know what a skunk smells like when it uses it's chemical warfare weapon at close range but be assured it don't smell like fresh cut roses. I like the smell of a skunk if it's not too strong but this was a bit overbearing. The ornery critter ran under the storage building where we store canned goods.


I came back to the house & Muffin made me go back out on the back porch & take my clothes off. Before you start laughing, it ain't funny. It was 31 degrees F out there. She let me back in to take a shower & put clean clothes on. I used 3 aerosol cans of air freshner in the house and half a bottle of Old Spice after shave lotion to kill the smell in the house. It doesn't smell like skunk any more now this afternoon. The back porch is another matter. My clothes are still out there. I couldn't find my bottle of Skunk Buster. I doubt the picture is the same skunk but looks identical. ........Paul H

Jamie.270

Oh no Paul,...  It's never happened to me, but it has to a couple of dogs at various times in my life.
My sympathies to you, a whole boatload of them.  It's a wonder Muffin let you back in the house at all!


And just in case you don't know, a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda is your friend.


This article explains its usefulness on dogs, but I know it works on clothing too.
https://animals.mom.me/how-to-get-skunk-smell-out-of-dogs-with-hydrogen-peroxide-12447487.html
QuoteRestrictive gun laws that leave good people helpless, don\'t have the power to render bad people harmless.

To believe otherwise is folly. --  Me

gitano

#2
What a lot of people don't know about getting 'sprayed' by a skunk, is that you don't need to take a 'direct hit'. Actually, not even close. The air in a LARGE area is permeated with the scent, and if you can smell it, it's on ya. More than once as a kid I would have to strip naked outside before i was allowed in the house because my dog and I had 'encountered' a skunk. Honestly, I don't know what my aunt did with my clothes (not burn them though). I got scrubbed. With emphasis on SCRUBBED. That was more motivation NOT to get skunked than getting skunked was!

Paul
Be nicer than necessary.

Paul Hoskins

Paul, you're absolutely right about getting skunked without a direct hit. I've had run in's with skunks many times, most times by accident other times from necessity while trapping. This weasel played possum on me & I got a little careless or overconfident. Usually getting a skunk out of a cage trap is nothing. I just walk up & open the door  & hold it open & let one walk out. Sometimes I open the door & prop it open & walk away. This one is the second one  that simply  laid back down & went to sleep after I opened the door. I never had trouble before. I suspect this one took umbrage at being disturbed during a nap. I can relate to that at my advanced age. I suspect the old adage, let sleeping dogs lie, is applicable to skunks and old men too.    ......Paul H

gitano

Tanned skunk pelts are fetching a 'pretty penny' these days.

Paul
Be nicer than necessary.

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