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Skunks

Bugs

Mike Bonchack
Gold $$ Contributor
OK everybody. . . . a skunk (or skunks) is/are digging for grub worms and tearing up my lawn. So I'm going to go out at night with a flashlight and a .17 HMR. Question is where do you shoot a skunk (in the head perhaps?) so as not to stink up the whole neighborhood. . . . any advice?
 
I've shot lots of them in the head and they didn't spray cuz it makes 'em hump up and clench/thrash but sometimes after they relax they'll dribble.......

I don't mind the smell so this isn't a big deal to me.
 
I've never seen or shot a skunk that didn't leave a stink. Head, shotgun, body, ass whatever - they just stink. I just let the little guys aerate my lawn. I tried to have a golf course lawn here for about 10 years. Cross the road lawn is Bermuda and weeds. Blows it in the road toward me. Got tired of fighting it, spending $1500 or more a year on the lawn and just gave in. If it's green - great. That money goes toward food and gunpowder now.
 
I've never encountered a skunk that didn't stink to high heaven, spray or no spray. Shot several from around the house over the years as I found if they move in, they bring their scent with 'em.

Just another unpleasant chore best dealt with quickly and decisively in my experience.
 
Most times even head shots will cause them to spray still. I've spooked them and they run across the road and that's where I shoot them. Usually about 60 yards away in the field. Fly bait and coke kills them without a drop of piss leaving there body. They don't make it 10 feet after a few laps of it. One cup fly bait and one can of coke. DRT !!! Fly bait comes in a 1 lb can usually at farm/ fleet stores. Just a word of caution...if you have cats, dogs or pets and even neighbors pets. They all will eat it and die if it's within their ability to get to it.
 
When my son was 10 he spotted a skunk across the road from us and wanted me to shoot it with my .17 Remington. He was anxious to see what that little bullet would do. I did and tried to tell him to keep his distance from the body until the next day. I looked out of the window a short time later to see him racing toward the dead skunk. By the time he realized how bad it smelled he was at full tilt and got a real good nose full and was still heaving when he got back to the house.
That was 25 years ago and we still laugh about it... though he still is a bit sheepish about it.
 
I read somewhere that if you shoot them in the rear end at the base of the tail, they cannot spray as you have disrupted the nerves to the glands that house that wonderful mercaptan compound
 
I read somewhere that if you shoot them in the rear end at the base of the tail, they cannot spray as you have disrupted the nerves to the glands that house that wonderful mercaptan compound
I've shot them with every iteration of rifle or pistol at every angle. They just leak that stinkin' stuff everywhere. Best method is to live trap, drag trap with a long rope to a body of water and give him a good ,long drink. No smell that way.
 

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