darn skunks!!!!

[dusty3030]

I've kilt 8 this fall / winter in my yard and around the barn.
12 gauge , turkey choke aim for the head. Knocks the life out before they spray but they will still ooze stink.
My tactic lately is to spook them enough they get away from the house, then trail them from a safe distance and then at the last minute close the distance and kill. That way I ain't got to haul off a stinky carcass with a shovel.

About a month ago I was going out to the barn at night and a great big un ran out of the barn and into a small culvert. I had an 8 shot S&W snub nosed 22 revolver in my pocket. I almost always have it in my pocket, just because - not really for skunks. I eased up to the culvert at an angle and fired a shot into it, nothing happened. So, thought it would be a good idea to pour a little diesel in it and light it up and suffocate him. Well I lit it and three of them ran out the other end spraying. I got one confirmed kill and one probable. I retreated (screaming obscenities one octave higher than a lady opera singer) when that S&W started going click,click,click as skunk three ran past me almost through my legs. I was doing my best impression of Carl Louis whilst I was running back to the house.

Honest no lie my neighbor a half a mile a way smelled the aftermath.

 

[dusty3030]

Best way to hunt them on purpose is a night over bait, cat food or tuna fish or the like works good.
Pass the time like hunting any other creature by drinking and posting updates / pictures of yourself doing it on your smart phone to social media sites.
Good bright light in one hand and gun in the other, scoped .22 works great but shotgun is handier if you are running them down.

 

[Loadstar]

Bait it in a live trap, then a 22LR to the head. Only head shots will prevent a spray. Been there done that.

Lol yea I thought that too-not always the case

 

[oosik]

I used to have quite a few - neighbor burned his garbage and apparently skunks like cooked garbage. Neighbor has since passed on and I've dispatched a significant number(not neighbors!!) with 12 gauge buckshot load over the years. If you can't distinguish between a male cat marking his place and an angry skunk - Well, then you have not come face to face with an angry skunk often enough. There is nothing like walking around one of your outbuildings late at night just to see a big fluffy black/white striped tail and one poised & ready bullseye.

 

[dave1949]

I used to have quite a few - neighbor burned his garbage and apparently skunks like cooked garbage. Neighbor has since passed on and I've dispatched a significant number(not neighbors!!) with 12 gauge buckshot load over the years. If you can't distinguish between a male cat marking his place and an angry skunk - Well, then you have not come face to face with an angry skunk often enough. There is nothing like walking around one of your outbuildings late at night just to see a big fluffy black/white striped tail and one poised & ready bullseye.

It wasn't clear from the Incident Report that the perp had been positively ID'ed.

 

[GYPSY]

well the gun option is not work where im at and its def. not a male cat. its a skunk. up north here its freezing, and has been for quite some time now, the ground is frozen solid and there are no food sources that i can see/know of, i do have a neighbor that has animals but hes a ways ways from me and if so, why is the bugger comin back to my place, im assuming 1. he can make a home in his/there barn and live happily ever after. if i put anyhting out in a trap, it would just about freeze within minutes, ive poured chlorine onto the concrete over where the smell seems to come from but its a corner made of brick/block with no opening other than the intake/exhaust from the furnace. it comes and goes, the smell, but only when the furnace is working and head outside to that spot i mention and you can smell a new spray, i think hes really messin with me on purpose, lil bastard. its certainly a conundrum, especially now with people and the holidays, this thing can spray at any time and put a bummer into the scene, **** skunks. ive gotta try something, why the heck is it only spraying in that one spot is bewildering???

 

[dusty3030]

Probably a dead one in your unit.
It'll air out in a few years.

 

[MotorSeven]

Hmmm, maybe I have been lucy with shot placement. Or, maybe the late great "Lông Trắng" is helping me out with my sniping capabilities

 

[farmgirl19]

He may not be spraying in the one spot. He may be spraying, while out eating at night, and then he comes back to the same cozy spot to bed down in the mornings. He will still give off a VERY strong odor. I can tell when one is on the property, even if I cannot see them, and they don't have to be that near.

If you can find where he is getting in, wait until he goes out at night, and then close off his pathway back, and he will have to find a new sleeping place. You will need to keep it closed off, or he/she will come back, as soon as it is possible to get back in!

 

[GYPSY]

He may not be spraying in the one spot. He may be spraying, while out eating at night, and then he comes back to the same cozy spot to bed down in the mornings. He will still give off a VERY strong odor. I can tell when one is on the property, even if I cannot see them, and they don't have to be that near.

If you can find where he is getting in, wait until he goes out at night, and then close off his pathway back, and he will have to find a new sleeping place. You will need to keep it closed off, or he/she will come back, as soon as it is possible to get back in!

yupp, i understand what your saying, especially when down wind, you can smell one from quite a distance but in this case, theres nowhere to crawl/climb/hide at all, like you said, perhaps getting out of the wind/weather in that corner. but to time when hes there because the bait would immediately freeze in this weather, i dont think it would be an effective attractant. everything is good now, but holy smokes, once in awhile, he lets one rip..lookout. but only when the furnace is on and hes been in that corner. i know that hes there so bait there, im gonna have to lure him in somehow. darn skunks. thanks y'all for the replies.