Stewart vs. The Skunks
Apparently there have been an influx of skunks in the neighborhood and Stewart got the opportunity to tango with two in one week. We were all outside preparing a garden bed next to the house, or in my case taking pictures of the garden bed.
Someone spotted the skunk near the house and Stewart ran in for his gun. The skunk managed to make it out of our gate and so Stewart chased him down the road in what was quite a funny scene to behold. 
Once I was sure the shooting was over, I let the children run down and ask Daddy a hundred questions about what just happened. It was all very exciting, you see.
A couple of days later, Abram found another skunk underneath our camper. Stewart again disposed of him and thankfully no one was sprayed in either of these instances.
That doesn’t mean our home hasn’t smelled faintly (or strongly there for a while) of skunk ever since. And I’ve learned that the faint smell you get when driving by a dead skunk on the road cannot compete with the real experience when had up close and personal.
Anyone else have a good skunk story?
My MIL falsely thought that baby skunks don’t spray. Haha.
How funny that I should see this today. Just today, when my husband came home from work and got out of the car, he saw a giant skunk hanging out on the top of our compost pile. He too, ran for his gun. The skunk took off, but my husband has good aim and he got him first shot.
I’m glad, because one week ago exactly, a smaller skunk decided to take up residence in our barn. I saw him when I went out to feed the chickens in the morning. I didn’t know what to do, so I just left him, thinking maybe he would go away. He didn’t – he sprayed the chickens instead (INSIDE the small barn). A week later, our barn still stinks pretty bad. For a few days, I gagged every time I went out there! Yuck.
I have a funny story! We live in a camper too, and have trouble finding a good place for trash before it makes it to the dump. So we sometimes have a small bag sitting outside the door. One night I heard rustling under the camper and thought our recent raccoon visitor had returned. Papa got his pump air pistol out, cracked open the door and peeked out and saw a paw reach out from under the camper, grab the trash bag and drag it back under! Then he stuck his hand out the door, aimed it under the camper and was about to start shooting when he smelled something funny. He shined a flashlight under the camper to get a better look and realized it was a skunk! We could very well have had a super stinky camper for a while! Instead, Papa took Buddy outside to check out this young skunk under the camper (from a distance). Eventually he left and we cleaned up the mess the next day, but we just didn’t dare shoot him for fear of the stink, lol.
We were visiting mother in the town I grew up, and had to leave at 4:30AM to get to Nashville for a plane to Florida. When we arose, the smell of skunk was overpowering. My mother had risen at 4AM and looked out the back window at the yard below, and saw a huge hulking dark shape in the yard. It was an enormous owl with wings out, draped over a dead skunk. My mother went out and the owl took off. She put on two pair of rubber gloves, one over the other, and placed the skunk in two heavy duty trash bags and put in the trash can. She had done all this before we had arisen and she had quite a story to tell. We used to have an owl that lived in a big tree on the neighboring property, here in Los Angeles. It would hoo-hoo at night, all very reassuring, and kept the rats and skunks away. And we never had so many crows, like now. Unfortunately, when the old man next door died a few years ago, they razed the property to build a McMansion and the tree was the first to go. The owl went with it.
I used to be an animal control officer in a high rabies area, so skunk calls were always very serious. If they were out in daytime or acting drunkenly at night, we had to dispatch them with a shot anywhere but the head so their brains could be tested by the health department… that may be too much info, I’m sorry! Anyway there were many times when I was sprayed right in the face and would stink unbearably for months. NOT attractive!!! The smell of a direct hit is not skunky so much as a horrific burning-hair smell – so glad I don’t do that any more!! I really enjoy your blog, your children are so lovely. Cheers, Bonnie
We had a little dog growing up who was not the sharpest tool in the shed. When a skunk tuned to spray him, he actually ran straight for its rear end and got sprayed in the eyes. Thanks to him, and the fact that my parents didn’t like the dog spending a lot of time outside, our house smelled for weeks. Maybe you could diffuse some essential oils?
We had neighbors who kept bags of trash piled beside their house. Occasionally the skunks would investigate and make the neighborhood smell. One morning we got up and it smelled especially bad. I had an interview at the local college that morning, so I carefully bathed, got dressed, and went to the interview. I couldn’t figure out why the gentleman kept quite a distance away from me as we spoken until I went back out to my car–imagine my horror when I discovered the car (and I) smelled strongly like skunk. 🙂
Oh yes. Our cute little jack Russell was sprayed last spring. We didn’t realize it until she ran back in the house. Horrible smell. Washing digby’s at 2 in the morning was no picnic either!
Caught on in a live trap once. Guy told me to take a tarp and hold it in front of yourself and slowly walk up on the trap and lay the tarp over it (the skunk won’t spray if it can’t see you). This actually worked, but he also advised me to get a can of starter fluid (ether) and spray it thru the tarp into the cage. I figured if 1 can was good 2 was better, and I sealed the tarp around the bottom of the cage, poked a very small hole in the tarp and sprayed both cans thru a straw and waited 15 minuets. When I pulled the tarp back I had a very mad skunk.
Great article Shannon, thanks.