What is that smell?!

[Leigh Costello]

There is an overgrown field behind my house that hubby and I are always planning on clearing. Because of a ravine, having it brush-hogged is not an option. This is the season for "Clearing the Field." So this evening while hubby was fixing the wheel barrow in preparation for the heavy work ahead, I grabbed my ratcheting lopping shears and took off to The Field. My trusty Beagle and my devoted Pomeranian mix followed. I started by trimming a couple of tree branches so I could enter the Dark Zone - also know as Don't go in there! There's poison ivy over there! - and start with the most difficult area first. So I was lopping limbs and tossing them into a pile and topping wannabe trees and in general making good progress. By this time the cats-who-think-they-must-follow had joined me. I was lopping, tossing, admiring the sunset and just plain enjoying the late afternoon. When the first hint of skunk assailed my nostrils. I carefully looked around, I could see nothing resembling a skunk. The smell got fairly strong as I looked and looked. Still not a sign of the source of the stench. I had decided to ease through the barbed wire fence and cross the pasture to any place the smell was not. Then I noticed my orange tabby raise her head, then get up on her hind legs and turn her head like an owl searching for the skunk. I might have even giggled a little at her antics. Thankfully the dogs had left the area. I heard a chittering sound nearby and thought oh boy this is it, I am gonna get sprayed. I froze, the cats froze - the gray cat was at my feet - and here came the skunk. Cute as it was, it was not welcome in my vicinity. The skunk wandered over to within about 10 ft of my little clearing and paused, sniffed the air, turned and left without any of us getting sprayed. As soon as it left, we did too - in the other direction! So glad the dogs had left the area because I am sure we would have all been sprayed!

[David G Baker]

Most dogs are unable to resist messing with skunks and pay the price along with anyone in the vicinity. My sister and our dog got sprayed when we were kids, it was an experience I will never forget. Most of the time we smell skunks when they are road kill or spray something at night, that smell is only a minor fraction of what it really smells like up close and personal.

[Bruce Page]

Our dog got sprayed when we first moved to northern New Mexico in '76. My eyes burn just thinking about it.
Coming from Los Angeles it was quiet a welcoming to rural life!

[David Weaver]

You can tell how smart a dog is pretty much by their skunk history. if they get sprayed once, they're probably not too dumb. If a dog gets sprayed two or more times by a skunk, they're not the sharpest tool in the shed.

We've had both types of dogs. The ones that got sprayed more than once were pretty much stupid all the way around.

That said, I grew up on the edge of the woods and saw skunks fairly often, couple of times a year maybe, when they were "up late" (during the day), and the times I'd get close to one by accident (10 feet or so) they just looked at me, never showed me their rear or went to spray. I haven't *seen* the dogs get sprayed, but I'd have to assume as our dogs were not imposing, that the dogs must've just about gotten on top of them to get them peeved enough to spray.

[Rich Engelhardt]

We had a mother and five babies move into the crawl space under our house....

Talk about between a rock and a hard place.

We called every pest control company in the book and they all told us the same thing.
In Ohio, skunks are fur bearing animals.
They can't be taken out of season - sorry - but Mrs. Skunk and her family have every right to live under your house & if you molest them in any way, you're in deep trouble.

In the end, I risked it and managed to relocate al six of them to a rural area...
A ranger caught me releasing the last one & told me I was lucky he hadn't actually seen it in the trap or I'd have been tagged for poaching.
He showed up just as the little fella was waddling away into some heavy brush - but - before I'd managed to retrieve and hide the live trap.

[David Weaver]

That kind of stuff is what makes people despise game wardens and rangers. I don't know if they're like that in every state, but here in PA a lot of them would do the same thing. They could *see* you take the trap from under your house and release the skunks, and they'd still puff their chests and possibly cite you.

[Bruce Volden]

You can tell how smart a dog is pretty much by their skunk history. if they get sprayed once, they're probably not too dumb. If a dog gets sprayed two or more times by a skunk, they're not the sharpest tool in the shed.

We've had both types of dogs. The ones that got sprayed more than once were pretty much stupid all the way around.

That said, I grew up on the edge of the woods and saw skunks fairly often, couple of times a year maybe, when they were "up late" (during the day), and the times I'd get close to one by accident (10 feet or so) they just looked at me, never showed me their rear or went to spray. I haven't *seen* the dogs get sprayed, but I'd have to assume as our dogs were not imposing, that the dogs must've just about gotten on top of them to get them peeved enough to spray.

I had a Rotweiler years ago who thought skunk meat was canine caviar----she would have several in the spring and several more in the fall!! Ate them right down, fur and all. Never cared much for petting her though

Bruce

[David Weaver]

I had a Rotweiler years ago who thought skunk meat was canine caviar----she would have several in the spring and several more in the fall!! Ate them right down, fur and all. Never cared much for petting her though

Bruce

Well, if the dog likes the taste, then I guess there's a 3rd line for those dogs

A buddy of mine had a border collie - for whatever reason, the thing would chase skunks, get sprayed, yelp and act like it was the worst thing in the world. Next skunk, same thing. It seemed like it didn't enjoy the experience, but maybe it did.

[John C Lawson]

We have a cat that got skunked once when he was not yet full grown (he's 17 now). Years went by, we got a couple other cats and a rabbit, no problem. Five years later we got another kitten, black and white long-hair. He spent 10 years trying to kill that kitten. Now he's too feeble to directly attack, but he still hisses at him when he gets too close.

[Bill Cunningham]

I got nailed releasing a skunk from a trap last spring.. Next time |I'll do what a local farmer told me to do, and that's throw a tarp over the trap, put some bricks around the edges, and run a hose from the exhaust on the tractor, gas it, 'then' release the carcass to a freshly shoveled hole..