Folks, this morning started off like any other. Got up, let the dog out, fed the cat and made my coffee. Sat down to take in the news and smelled something awful and heard my dog Ernie barking like crazy. My worst fears were realized when my wife and I ran to the front door and yelled for Ernie to come in. Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement and underneath our bay window was a small skunk slowly rotating his business end around aiming towards my lovely wife. Grabbed her by the shoulders and jerked here back in the house and slammed the door. Still not knowing where my dog was, I ran to the back door and yelled again for him. He rounded the house full-tilt and into the house he came. Peeeeeeeeeee-yoooooooo!

Grabbed him by the collar and immediately ran him down the hall to the bathroom. Yelled for the wife to bring me dish detergeant and look for any tomato juice. She brought back the dish soap, but she told me we had no tomato juice. Great! So I tell her to get on the internet and see what else we could use. She found a recipe that consisted of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dish soap. After making 2 batches and scrubbing like crazy he amazingly came clean with no smell. I think he only got a small dose of what was sprayed at him.

Anyway, thinking the worst was over I left Ernie in the bathroom and stepped out into the hallway. The stench in the house was awful. Even though Ernie just basically ran through the house in under 10 seconds the smell was putrid. Meanwhile, my wife is yelling that the skunk is still by the front door. My wife luckily is suffering from a cold so her sense of smell is diminished and doesn't realize our house now smells like a skunk's den. Oh great! I tell her to start spraying Lysol and I grabbed my Ruger 10/22. (At this point I am plenty worked up, and ready to send that skunk to his maker.) Twisted Evil

I sneak out the back door and round the front of the house. The skunk is next to our front porch and is hiding behind my brand new snow shovel. The skunk isn't acting right. Don't know if he is sick, rabid or what. No shot, so I throw a few snowballs to try to get him to move - no luck. He isn't moving and I'm in a pair of shorts and a tee-shirt. I wait for a few minutes and think "the hell with it". I burned a whole clip through the plastic snow shovel. Embarassed

Since then, the rest of my day has consisted of trying to get rid of the smell in my house. Several bottles of Oust, Lysol, coffee grounds, candles etc. and my house now smells like a beauty salon after somebody got a perm. Not good, but not as bad as it was. I only hope that it rains soon to wash away the stink on the front of my house. We'll all have to go in and out through the back door until it wears off. Razz

P.S. - don't feel too bad for me. I just picked up a bottle of good spiced rum the night before. I notice the smell less with every pour.

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MacBook Pro 2.0GHz quad-core Intel i7
IMac 27" 3.4GHz quad-core Intel i7

> He isn't moving and I'm in a pair of shorts and a tee-shirt.
> I wait for a few minutes and think "the hell with it". I
> burned a whole clip through the plastic snow shovel.

Sick.

Why couldn't you just wait for him to go away?

He wasn't putting you in any danger. He'd done his worst already.

Skunks take days to recharge -- he couldn't have sprayed again.

I would have done the same thing, Mac. He's not worried about the smell, he's worried about rabies.

> he's worried about rabies.

'Dunno where he's living, but 'round here there hasn't been a case of rabies discovered in over 5 years.

…Incidence of rabies, 2002 (reported cases)

bfd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> …Incidence of rabies, 2002 (reported cases)
>
>
>
> bfd ...


You could both be correct … depends on where you both live…

Well, you could be right about that. No cases reported in Ohio in 2003:

[www.rabavert.com]

But plenty in Maryland, where I am. Given the way the skunk was behaving, I wouldn't have hesitated. But then again I don't have a gun.

Here in NC rabies is all to common. "Shoot the d@mn skunk". I
would have done the same thing. I've dealt with that smell
in my house too many times. I've got my grandfathers bolt
action single shot 22 that's not much louder than a pellet gun
that will do the trick if you're a good enough shot. Sweet Gun.
Then a again I live in the country any of my guns would do
no matter how loud.
Grateful11



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2005 08:59PM by Grateful11.

You killed him?

He's not named "Le Pew" (sp?) for nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cheers

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Bill
Flagler Beach, FL 32136

Carpe Vino!

Fermentation may have been a greater discovery than fire.
— David Rains Wallace

Good that you found the peroxide recipe. The tomato juice thing is worthless. All that happens is that the tomato juice temporarily overwhelms your sense of smell...it does nothing for the skunk odor.

Female @#$%& (unscented if possible, to avoid irritation to the animal's skin) is what many groomers recommend (and use) to help remove skunk odor from dogs.

Well, I know I learned something new here today!

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

Great story. I would have done the same.

Carm

johnc Wrote:
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> Female @#$%&

Another old wive's tale. Unless it has a powerful oxidizer in it (h202) it will not destroy the odiferous compounds in the skunk scent.

Oh, I don't know..
I'd imagine that vinegar (acetic acid) woud do some good... though not as much as H2O2 probably would.

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
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Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

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--
Eureka, CA

To those concerned about the skunk - yes it is dead. However, please believe me that I am an avid sportsman (hunt, fish etc.) and this is the first time in my life I have ever killed a skunk for any reason. Most skunks, just want to be left alone and unless you have some tasty garbage laying around they won't even bother coming near a human's home. The skunk wasn't "right". It's fur was matted, it was acting very strange, even after throwing numerous snowballs at it - it wouldn't move or go away. (Please remember it took about an hour to wash my dog etc. and the skunk hadn't moved away from my front porch.) It was sick, injured or something of that sort.

FWIW - I live in rural Ohio and nature is something you deal with everyday. Deer, raccoons, mice, skunks, chipmunks, squirrels, woodpeckers, etc. all can do damage to your home and cause you all sorts of grief. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. I realize many may not have the same viewpoint as I do, and that is fine. I think calling me "sick" for my actions is a little un-called for.

BTW - about the "reported" cases of rabies. Just because there weren't any "reported" doesn't mean there aren't animals with rabies. Again, in the rural areas you do what you have to do. You don't call anyone to come take a "report". You take care of what you have, and you move on. I would imagine the only "reported" cases of rabies come more often from the city where people call animal control or something like that. Then, and only then is it "reported".

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MacBook Pro 2.0GHz quad-core Intel i7
IMac 27" 3.4GHz quad-core Intel i7

A couple years ago, my dogs decided to check out a skunk. They got blasted by it.

We did the same as Buckeye_Sean; we got the recipe off the internet. If you are ever in the same situation, it works.

I our case, the worst part of the ordeal was all the windows were open in the house and the wind blew the smell into the house and it was nauseating.

Unlike Sean, I don't have to worry about rabies. Part of the requirements for my job includes being vaccinated against rabies.

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I sit on a man’s back, choking him and making
him carry me, and yet assure myself and others
that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his
lot by all possible means — except by getting off
his back. - Leo Tolstoy, novelist and Philosopher
(1828-1910)

Why didn't you try "male @#$%&?"

Apparently you missed the 2003 stats for Ohio rabies and skunks. Looks like a nuke of skunks hit central Ohio!



Pretty interesting stuff going on between Lafayette and Gary too - thanks to the notorius Typhoid Lafinfil!

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2005 10:35AM by Jimmypoo.

FWIW - I live in rural Ohio and nature is something you deal with everyday. Deer, skunks


raccoons,
mice,
chipmunks, squirrels, woodpeckers, etc. all can do damage to your home and cause you all sorts of grief. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. I realize many may not have the same viewpoint as I do, and that is fine. I think calling me "sick" for my actions is a little un-called for.


actually I'm kidding. there is a theory that all this peta nonsense is as a result of these kids being raised on a diet of cartoons and computer generated animation that gives human like emotions and voices and personalities to animals (as well as the maniacs growing up in urban or suburban areas and having no need to ever fend for themselves hunting and fishing or even interact with nature).

> The skunk isn't acting right. Don't know if he is sick,
> rabid or what.

Why is it that every hunter who shoots a critter in his yard says the same thing?



It sounds a lot like "He's coming right for us!"

I've seen a skunk in similar distress. Two summers ago.
Matted fur, can't even walk straight, wandering at noon across my driveway.
I don't think it was 'sane' enough to register that I was standing right there.
I found it dead a few hours later on the other side of the house lying in the middle of the yard.

If I still had a 22 that worked, I'd have put it out of its apparent misery when I first saw it.
There were an awful lot of skunks hit by cars in the road in the neighborhood that Summer.


My Labs used to get tangled up with one every now and then (a loud yelp in the distance usually meant a direct hit in the face) and tomato rinses and dog soap used to work fairly good.

MacMagus, if that is your perception of all hunters I feel nothing but pity for your very narrow-minded and misinformed point of view.

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MacBook Pro 2.0GHz quad-core Intel i7
IMac 27" 3.4GHz quad-core Intel i7

> MacMagus, if that is your perception of all hunters I feel
> nothing but pity for your very narrow-minded and misinformed
> point of view.

Not all hunters.

But there's a significant number who take any excuse to shoot something.

There's a guy I know, for example, who shoots squirrels. He bags a couple every week. 'Says the fur is matted, so they're all obviously sick and anyway, they're killing his walnut tree.

'Funny thing about that: The squirrel population 'round his house is so depleted now that he has to hunt them a quarter mile away. But ask him why he's still shooting squirrels and it's always the same answer about them being sick and killing his tree.

There are lots of reasons for funny-looking fur that have nothing to do with rabies or any disease at all. Indiscriminately killing harmless animals is wasteful if nothing else and people who do it should not be trusted with guns.