SKUNKS!!!

My old house was on a heavily wooded lot, and we had skunks and deer in the woods often, so the woods behind the house were skunked once every couple of months or so. We could smell it in the house when they skunked some animal, but since it was on the other side of the property it dissipated quickly.

When my son first started driving he ran over a skunk in my wife’s new car. It took months of car washes to get rid of the smell. I even bought a special spray to apply to the undercarriage, but it was only partially effective.

What a PITA. I really hated the skunks. The deer didn’t bother me. The weird thing is that we had these critters come through in a populated suburban area. We also had the most annoying critter problem, ever: woodpeckers. They would literally bore large, round holes into the eaves, just like in cartoons. I was constantly having that damage repaired.

My wife called all this ‘The Revenge of Mother Nature’.
 
The last skunk I encountered, I shot him.
Because F- him, that's why.

This almost makes me wish a had a gun.... and a grenade to toss down the hole.

Unfortunately, it’s super illegal in my state to kill wildlife, but...

My sister had a horrible skunk infestation at her crib, and it got so bad they bought their own traps and uhh... found their own way of disposing them, shall we say.


I honestly don’t care, even as vegetarian as I am, I figure if mankind is killing the planet anyway.... let’s start with the animals that suck.
 
This almost makes me wish a had a gun.... and a grenade to toss down the hole.

Unfortunately, it’s super illegal in my state to kill wildlife, but...

My sister had a horrible skunk infestation at her crib, and it got so bad they bought their own traps and uhh... found their own way of disposing them, shall we say.


I honestly don’t care, even as vegetarian as I am, I figure if mankind is killing the planet anyway.... let’s start with the animals that suck.

Dude, I had a co-worker that trapped one at his house in Palatine. He threw a blanket over the cage, put it in his mini-van and drove it to the forest preserve to let it go. Didn't get sprayed during the entire event. Apparently, there's some old wives tale about the blanket/dark and not spraying. I sure wouldn't have to stones to try that!

When we first moved into our townhouse the groundhogs were wasting our garden and flowers. The wife used to crawl under the deck to try and cover up their holes. She finally resorted to some type of gas bomb, a bag of unopened garden soil, some chicken wire, and then some of that orange fencing they put up when it snows. I'm reasonably sure she could have stopped with the gas bomb. However, covering up the hole well made sure it didn't get out. It also kept the decaying animal smell to a minimum.
 
Dude, I had a co-worker that trapped one at his house in Palatine. He threw a blanket over the cage, put it in his mini-van and drove it to the forest preserve to let it go. Didn't get sprayed during the entire event. Apparently, there's some old wives tale about the blanket/dark and not spraying. I sure wouldn't have to stones to try that!

When we first moved into our townhouse the groundhogs were wasting our garden and flowers. The wife used to crawl under the deck to try and cover up their holes. She finally resorted to some type of gas bomb, a bag of unopened garden soil, some chicken wire, and then some of that orange fencing they put up when it snows. I'm reasonably sure she could have stopped with the gas bomb. However, covering up the hole well made sure it didn't get out. It also kept the decaying animal smell to a minimum.

We have a ton of ground squirrels, or whatever those little bastids are. I don’t care about the garden (obviously, you’ve been to my crib) but my mom used to love drowning them in buckets. o_O

That was her revenge for them chewing up her flora, she’d do the stick up to the bucket trick where they’d “drown themselves”. :rolleyes:
 
We have a ton of ground squirrels, or whatever those little bastids are. I don’t care about the garden (obviously, you’ve been to my crib) but my mom used to love drowning them in buckets. o_O

That was her revenge for them chewing up her flora, she’d do the stick up to the bucket trick where they’d “drown themselves”. :rolleyes:

Guy across the street is from Eastern Europe, or Russia. He's been trapping squirrels all summer to save his flowers. I asked him what he was doing with them (he was up to 18 in early July). After a moments hesitation, he said he was taking them a few miles away and letting them go. I'm pretty sure they've been having squirrel casserole.
 
Guy across the street is from Eastern Europe, or Russia. He's been trapping squirrels all summer to save his flowers. I asked him what he was doing with them (he was up to 18 in early July). After a moments hesitation, he said he was taking them a few miles away and letting them go. I'm pretty sure they've been having squirrel casserole.

As you see he and his wife rockin’ fresh Ushanka squirrel lids this winter. :p
 
When I was a kid we had a cat get sprayed in the face... didn't realize it until we let him in and the well hit us. Poor guy had it dripping off of him. IDK how many tomato baths he got but he stank for about a month.

Similar to a couple "events" already shared, was chillin out on my back patio when I was in the condo... I think it was a meteor shower night... was reclined in the lawn chair and caught a glimpse of something walking under the chair...thought it was a cat until I saw the skunk crawl into its hole under the neighbor's stoop.
 
I happened to see one just a few weeks ago, in the summer heat on campus at Arizona State University. There are some palms, yeah, but it's not a wooded area. The only other ones I've seen in AZ has been in the rural north country where it's cooler and more wooded. But yeah, this one a few weeks ago is a head scratcher, in an urban area, heavily populated, 110 degree heat... bizarre for sure.
 
When we first moved into our townhouse the groundhogs were wasting our garden and flowers. The wife used to crawl under the deck to try and cover up their holes. She finally resorted to some type of gas bomb, a bag of unopened garden soil, some chicken wire, and then some of that orange fencing they put up when it snows. I'm reasonably sure she could have stopped with the gas bomb. However, covering up the hole well made sure it didn't get out. It also kept the decaying animal smell to a minimum.

Groundhogs? I have much more experience with groundhogs.

So, here's the back story. MANY years ago I was nearly homeless, going through an expensive divorce, sporadically employed, living in my 19 foot travel trailer, way out in the country on a man's land who was gracious enough to allow me to live there till I got back on my feet. (That's where I shot the skunk.) One of tasks which fell to me out there in farm country was to keep the ground hogs out of the garden, because, well... that food was for people, not critters. Always looking for an opportunity to learn something new, the old man taught me how to grow food too and I started a garden of my own on the same property. I lost count of how many groundhogs were humanely dispatched through the use of my trusty Remington 870. The "neighbors" on the next property over witnessed my handiwork and asked me to keep en eye on their garden as well, which I was happy to do. A lot of people got fed with all that gardening going on there that year.
 
Our apartment complex regularly receives visits from grey foxes, coyotes, the occasional black bear, opossums, raccoons and yes, skunks.

Earlier this month I had asked a friend over for dinner. Just as my friend was leaving, he stepped out to into the light of the back porch. We chatted briefly through the screen door. As we were chatting, I glanced past his shoulder and said quietly, "Don't move suddenly. I just watched a white-on-black toupee waddle beyond the fence there and walk beyond my storage container."

My friend said, "Skunk?"

I said, "Yup. He hasn't become alarmed yet, so no stink. Stand here for a few more seconds before walking out to your car. then, get in quickly and roll up your window. I'll keep an eye on the parking lot and try to see where the skunk goes."

You folks likely know what the "green apple quickstep" is, and that accurately describes my friend's walking motion to his car. He got in safely, and without invoking skunk spray.

One night later, I happened to walk across the lawn to the main building and could smell skunk. Somewhere along the line, the skunk had met up with another animal or human and sprayed. It wasn't that strong of a stink, but you knew exactly what it was.
 
I've had many encounters with skunks, oddly enough never got sprayed. Maybe I must have some kind of kung fu superpowers against it but I've dodged that bullet more than once.

I even had an ongoing war of attrition with one that took up residency at one of my favorite fishing spots, a jetty. Because a jetty is a long narrow structure I had to get past him every time I went, and it turned into trench warfare, where he'd pop out from under the rocks near me, I'd throw a big rock at him, he'd try to spray but because it always has a strong coastal breeze his attacks were in vain. Went on for weeks until he realized that I was the King of the Jetty and moved on.

Don't let them suckers push you around, just try to stay upwind.



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The management company still hasn’t sent anyone out to put in a trap. I’m toying with the idea of shoving the hose in the hole and flushing the bastid out...

Can you rent a Hazmat suit?
 
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