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Sunday 18 December 2011

More Skunks!


We have some incredible sunsets here so thought I would share. I will be attempting to post every sunset during the next year. Of course when we get to the summer months the sun doesn't set until 11 pm or so but since I am often up that late why not capture the moment?

If you remember where I left off my skunk story in The Visitor Under the Bed you may well think our skunk problems were over. Little did we know they were just beginning. I spent the next three days cleaning everything we owned in that little house. While the skunk which had sprayed us was not going to be returning what we didn't know was she had not been alone.

We were such newbie's! The thought didn't even cross our minds that there was a reason she was living under our bed. Which is why we were puzzled when we kept hearing more goings on under us in the middle of the night! What could be there now? It was't until maybe four days later when everything was all cleaned up that I ran across the causes of the noise or rather my poor little dog did.  I think she must have thought they were cats, and as she had grown up with them, and she wanted to play.  Unfortunately, they didn't return her feelings and the poor girl was sprayed repeatedly.  I can still she the shocked look on her little doggie face and the abject horror.  Unfortunately, she had gotten it full blast and there she was rolling around in the grass trying desperately to get it out of her eyes.  It looked like she was trying to dig up the grass with her face and if I hadn't felt so sorry for her it would have been incredibly funny. She seemed so ashamed and eventually just laid down in the grass and refused to move.  Poor girl.


So there we were, sprayed again. Thankfully this time all the spray was outside and away from the door! The only clean up needed was my poor little dog. Water had to be heated, peroxide found and bath given.  I'm not sure if it was due to our noses being more accustomed to the smell, but by the time I was done she smelled normal again and only by putting my face directly in her fur could I smell anything skunk like. 

Finally knowing the skunks were all finally gone we mixed up some concrete and poured it in the hole where they had been coming and going.  We were free!  No more visitors under the bed!  Unfortunately, some of those young skunks have grown up to be big ones and there have been many a time when our walks through the forest has been interrupted by the sight of a black and white stripped animal boldly flaunting his tail. And so this saga of the skunks will no doubt never be over. 

Did I tell you they have become the bane of my existence up here? Over the next two years our dog was to be sprayed two more times for a total of four times! She never did learn. Oh well, at least they are the four legged kind of skunk...  I would rather deal with them any day than live in the city and deal with the two legged kind. 

Do you have a skunk story you would like to share?  Feel free to leave it in the comment section. 

5 comments:

  1. I live in Texas & must realte to you that my Husband had heard if you shot them in the head they wouldnt spray. Well we had one on the back porch & he shot it. Whoever told him that LIED. Oh yeah, it sprayed, we had the back door open while I shined the light for him. I didnt think we would ever get rid of the smell...
    What a interesting blog you have, I cant wait to read more about your new lifestyle. Loving it.

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  2. LOL! Thanks for the story Sharon. Yes, EVERY TIME a skunk is shot it will spray. I have never heard or seen otherwise. Makes me shutter just to think of it! LOL!

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  3. Both of our dogs were sprayed one night while my husband was taking them out inthe side field for a walk. They ran back to the house and got inside before I realized what had happened.
    I will never forget that awful smell! It took weeks to fully get rid of it.
    Also, we have had a skunk inthe chicken coop a few times over the past fall. But this one was different. It did not smell, never sprayed, did not bother the chickens and only ate 1 egg. I would go to check the feeders and collect the eggs and there he would be, just camped out on the other side of the nest boxes, watching me.
    He never sprayed me and was gone in about a month.

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  4. Wow Meredith! Great story! You are so lucky not to have gotten sprayed and that the skunk didn't kill any of your chickens. They are well known around here for decimating chicken houses.

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  5. I have a photo of my grandfather walking a skunk down the grid road on a leash. He didn't want to kill it on property because of the smell. How he managed to walk it down the road, I'll never know but there is no doubt he was an amazing man. He also make a trap to catch the skunks when they were trying to go after Grandma's chickens. To prevent them from spraying, he hooked up the trap to the exhaust of his truck and put them to sleep. Maybe a little to much information for some people but hey - this was in (very, very) rural Saskatchewan and believe me, people there just don't live like "the rest of the world". Great blog - glad I found it!

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