Redneck_Sophistication
Super User
Damnit!
It’s threatening the bridge port!!
To arms!
It’s threatening the bridge port!!
To arms!
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There’s a skunk in my shop!
- Thread starter Redneck_Sophistication
- Start date
Former Member
Guest
I've personally caught several baby skunks (they are born loaded) and survived without being sprayed. However our dog was not so lucky 5 times in two weeks, so.........if you get sprayed and want to get the stink off, rub yourself with oil (cooking oil) and then wash off with soap (dish soap).
As to threatening your mill
bad skunk.
As to threatening your mill
bad skunk.
DPittman
Ultra Member
It took me a while to figure out what the heck you were talking about. I'm a slow learner but I eventually catch on.
Redneck_Sophistication
Super User
I’d had opened the shop door to get my chain saw when I got home to cut down some buckthorn trees. Then I went to the back yard to get the welding gloves I’d left there.
When I went to walk back through the small breezeway between the house and shop I almost stepped on it!
Expletives we’re shouted and I went in the back door for a 22.
Was waiting for it out back to no avail, but it had made its way around the front and went in the open shop door. Would not leave with me around so I Sat in the driveway in my truck waiting.
Eventually came out, but was acting oddly. Wonder if it was sick. I dispatched it.
Don’t want it around when I’m leaning for for at 4:30 in the morning or when my kids go to school.
Don’t go near my mill!
When I went to walk back through the small breezeway between the house and shop I almost stepped on it!
Expletives we’re shouted and I went in the back door for a 22.
Was waiting for it out back to no avail, but it had made its way around the front and went in the open shop door. Would not leave with me around so I Sat in the driveway in my truck waiting.
Eventually came out, but was acting oddly. Wonder if it was sick. I dispatched it.
Don’t want it around when I’m leaning for for at 4:30 in the morning or when my kids go to school.
Don’t go near my mill!
DPittman
Ultra Member
An oddly behaving skunk can be a sign of rabies. The "rabies people" might be willing to investigate.
We have had an epidemic of racoon distemper here. It got so bad that the police were "looking the other way" when folks in town used a gun.
I killed two that were going after the grandkids and my wife killed one that was going after her. I found 30 to 40 dead ones around the farm yard last year alone. As a bonus, I have only seen one racoon this year and none tried to get into our attic which used to be huge problem in past years.
A ministry fellow told be that racoon distemper could be spread to other animals (skunks, fox, and pets) but wasn't the primary vector.
I suppose distemper is a possibity for your skunk too.
Like rabies, distemper causes them to lose their fear and attack other animals and humans.
Former Member
Guest
Skunks are extremely short sighted and prefer not to spray as it takes time to reload (sorry no speed loaders available) leaving them defenseless.
They however can get aggressive and stamp their feet at you or if pissed off will charge and fake an attack, retreat if attacked and last resort chemical warfare (you been warned).
They however can get aggressive and stamp their feet at you or if pissed off will charge and fake an attack, retreat if attacked and last resort chemical warfare (you been warned).
In my personal experience, adult skunks have at least a 3 shot magazine. The volume may get reduced as each round is fired, but anyone thinking that a skunk is safe to approach after one round is begging for trouble.
Over the years, my dogs have tested that many many times. I've tested it personally on a couple of occasions.
Ive found that approaching them face on is pretty safe as long as you are prepared to back off fast. As you say, they like to stomp their feet, and in the case of skunks it does seem to be a warning because they do it as part of a phoney bravado charge. But deer, rabbits, groundhogs, and even squirrels do it too and for them I think stomping is more of a communication tool for other rabbits or squirrels than it is a threat. I don't know that for a fact, but I've watched (and heard) them do it literally thousands of times and it's really hard to imagine a rabbit threatening anything!
Most predators also grind or chatter their teeth. It usually means whatever they are looking at or following is being invited for dinner.......
No point sending them here, its standing room only. I just got in from my daily constitutional, usually see a couple of skunks each morning. I always go down the middle of road. No sidewalks for me, they have poor hearing and sight so on the sidewalk you are likely to surprise them as they rummage about at the edge of a garden or hedge.
Also see foxes (some huge!), raccoons, squirrels, rabbits coyotes and once a coywolf (there is such a thing, basically a grey wolf). For a while you could hear a pack, probably coyotes, hollowing in the early morning. They were probably a mile away but being the only other critter out at that hour I was sure they were hollowing about me for breakfast (kidding, I grew up on a farm, know about coyotes). This morning a mouse ran across the road, 2' in front of me. While obviously a common critter, they usually stick to the shadows...never know what you'll see in the jungles of Lawrence Park. I'm near Yonge and Lawrence so middle of the city but lots of ravines around here.
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Actually, that's exactly why they should go there. Skunks belong in the city where there is lots of food and shelter and friends for them.
A ministry biologist told me that many of the coyotes in Ontario are slowly morphing into red wolves. Apparently the genetic mix between the gray wolf, coyote, and dogs is such that the red wolf genes dominate when they all cross breed. The problem with this trend is that the resulting population is bigger, bolder, more aggressive, and more likely to pack hunt.
I dunno if this will work, but here is a recording I took of coyotes in the forest right beside the house this past winter. Turn up the sound. One of them has a very distinct wolf over tone to it.
Dropbox
Redneck_Sophistication
Super User
Yeah something was up with it, it was not acting like any other skunk I’ve come across. (Used to help my buddy and his grandpa do animal removal and trapping, I have all his pro traps now)
Was moving around weird, kinda back and forth aimless. Most of the time when confronted They just trot away. I don’t think anyone around here put poison out.
@Mcgyver i could bring him into work with me, i’m on site next to the skydome let him go for the jays game lol.
Might give the giant rats in the city some competition
Was moving around weird, kinda back and forth aimless. Most of the time when confronted They just trot away. I don’t think anyone around here put poison out.
@Mcgyver i could bring him into work with me, i’m on site next to the skydome let him go for the jays game lol.
Might give the giant rats in the city some competition
Former Member
Guest
Let him out on the opponents dugout...gives a whole new meaning to the visiting team stinks.
historicalarms
Ultra Member
The first lesson learned when shooting a skunk in a yard building....you wont do it again!!
DPittman
Ultra Member
Hee hee I was going to mention that also...sometimes one can recognize experience in another's advice.
Redneck_Sophistication
Super User
Oh I know that lesson! Enough not to be one to do it!
Smart enough not to pop him in the shop.
Really don’t need that call at work from my daughter that she got sprayed going out for her bus! Lol
Smart enough not to pop him in the shop.
Really don’t need that call at work from my daughter that she got sprayed going out for her bus! Lol
There are soooooo many lessons like that in life that it's not even funny. The things we learn by taking immediate decisive action without stopping to assess the potential consequences.......