[fishhead]

I tried stepping on the tail of a skunk that was caught in my fox trap. It took about 15 minutes of quiet talking and slow movements along with stopping completely if the skunk raised it's tail but I finally got close enough. I lifted my leg and the skunk raised it's tail so there I stood with my foot up in the air and the wind causing me to sway back and forth.

That's when I remembered that not only do they have spray on one end but they have teeth on the other.

I made a half hearted lunge but I missed and it didn't. Luckily I was wearing hip boots and had muskrat traps to check so I just ignored it. The woman in the grocery store asked me if I ran over a skunk that night.

I've heard of other people who can release a skunk caught in a foothold trap by hand just by moving slow and talking softly.

 

[fishhead]

I'm surprised they even let you in the grocery store. Was this recent?

It was in the wild 70's.

Skunks recharge their essence but they do run out temporarily.

Skunks are a valuable species in the ecosystem so I don't want to encourage anyone to kill them but the essence is worth about $20/ounce. It can be extracted from some road killed skunks with a syringe without ever touching the skunk.

 

[fishhead]

I've heard of skunks being kept in the house without removing the scent gland.

 

[fishhead]

You can also live with a homicidal paranoid schizophrenic....Just don't make him mad.

Skunks may be valuable members of the ecosystem, but their droppings can contain a certain pathogen. If they contaminate your hay, it can kill your horse. You don't want them in your barn.

I think there are vaccinations for that disease.