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I got sprayed by a skunk

4K views 25 replies 18 participants last post by  jaydee 
#1 ·
last nght about 4-5 am I was going back to sleep after checking on the pregnant mares. I was just about to drift off when I smelled a skunk that had just sprayed something under my house.
At 9 kctop and her husband came to trim horses. the smell was faint but still there. They left at 11am and as I was going back inside the skunk smell was overpowering.
I walked around the house and did not see any signs of animals
Went to the feed store while driving there smelled a slight skunk smell. As I was paying for the feed I noticed it again. Now I was concerned and when I got home started taking off pieces of clothing and smelling them.
It was on my shoes.
I then went outside and rode for an hour or more. After putting the horse away i noticed the skunk smell was very strong again.
I have a wooden deck that surrounds half of this house.
I knew the little peppy le pew wanna be was somewhere close but the continual spraying was worrying me.
I noticed he was next to the front steps and ramp laying out in the sun at 3pm panting very hard.
he heard me and then started staggering. I noticed it was scruffy and could not walk straight.
I called animal control they said they would be there in an hour.
Meanwhile smellie nellie started to move around and went under the porch'
i could not see it but about 20 minutes later he came out by the parked car.
I was not going to lose this odor bearing pest so istarted stomoing he started coming after me. i grabbed a milk crate and placed it over him.
the little SOB then proceeded toclimb through the thing I kicked it in the head and he still tried coming on. He was too weak to slip through. He did after about 5 minutes
I grabbed a plastic trash can and as i was walking toward it the odorous beast turned his tail to me and slapped me with some stink. Below my knees the smell could gag a maggot.
I decided i was already pretty rank so I went for it as he crawled toward the garage I scooped him up with the 50 gallon trash can.
Then animal control drove up and asked me what the problem was.
I said cant you smell it... the skunk was very unkempt and had matted hair and missing claws.
They gave it a shot and it was good bye Smelly .
he was showing some signs a rabid skunk might have. I then went into the house and grabbed a jug of vinegar took it in the shower and poured it over my pants and shoes.
i smell like a pickle.
We should know in 5-10 days if it is rabid.
not worried about anything but the feral cats and if they start acting funny i will pop a cap in them.
i didnt want to shoot the skunk so close to the house but after it sprayed me I did not want to lose sight of it and go get the gun. Shalom
 
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#2 ·
I had one getting into my trash, infinite wisdom of mine thought shooting it one night was perfectly logical. Needlessly to say, I feel your stank. I suffered through it so I'm of lil help of a remedy. But I've been there and it's rough.
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#4 ·
Vinegar or even pickle juice will dilute the smell and they will not stain your clothes like tomato juice. Vinegar has the same acids the break down the smell.
Skunks have scent glands if you shoot one and hit a gland then you release the stink. That why when they get hit by cars the smell is there and powerful.
That smell will last for days and remain on your grass, rocks, shrubs for days.
I have a 357 and a 38 so it would have made a big hole in the skunk.
beside you need to have as much of the head for testing.
If you suspect one is rabid and it dies before you get it to the vet or its over the weekend put peppy in the freezer to keep him from decomposing. Shalom
 
#10 ·
I have a 357 and a 38 so it would have made a big hole in the skunk.
beside you need to have as much of the head for testing.
See DB, all the more reason for an AR-15, you can take out that Skunk at 200 yards and not worry about the smell

PS, hope you smell better soon :wink:

.
 
#11 ·
We have a friend who is a hit at all parties with a similar reenactment of catching a bat in the bedroom....so, once the smell goes away, and, once you know about the rabies (hoping it is not!) you can be a hit at parties forever!

Sorry it happened, but I too, was smiling at the vision of chasing it with the trash can......;-)
 
#12 ·
I am really happy that I could entertain so many of you with the story of my encounter with the little stink bomb.
I have talked to a few people on the phone and it seems there are a few rabies cases about 25-30 miles away. Time to give all the horses a rabies booster for my peace of mind. Shalom
 
#20 ·
You ever accidentally gotten an armadillo cornered in the barn? If not then I hope you never do. That would have been just as easily been mistaken for a honey badger.

Raccoon are the same way when cornered. There was a story of an elderly lady that had a family of them on her back porch destroying her garbage. She proceeded out the door to swoosh them away with a broom. The pictures of her shredded from where they attacked her were horrific.
 
#26 ·
You ever accidentally gotten an armadillo cornered in the barn? If not then I hope you never do. That would have been just as easily been mistaken for a honey badger.

Raccoon are the same way when cornered. There was a story of an elderly lady that had a family of them on her back porch destroying her garbage. She proceeded out the door to swoosh them away with a broom. The pictures of her shredded from where they attacked her were horrific.
Since you mentioned Honey Badgers.....................
 
#21 ·
OH I SO FEEL YOUR PAIN!!!!!!!

Heres my adventure from 2009:

Darling Husband heard a thump and said, "Did the dogs get left out?"

I said, "No, I thought they were in bed with you." So off he stumbles to check.....In the meanwhile I'm thinking, "It's 15 friggin degrees outside...oh man.....so I opened the slider to the screen room and WHOOSH 2 of the JRT's go tearing out the door and through their dog door out into the back yard.

About that time Husband comes back and says, "They WERE all inside." So I opened the slider to call the dogs back inside and WHAM, I got hit in the nostrils by the eau de skunk.........Dear Gawd A'mighty, does that spray HAVE to be that potent? Holy CRAP!!!!

I heard the dogs barking and fussing so grabbed a broom to beat the skunk with, cos ain't no way I'm grabbin the thing. Run out into the yard and start trying to corral the dogs. One ran back to the house and husband tossed her and the male dog into the garage while I tried to collect the 3rd one. Got her in the house and man! she REEKED! That skunk was dead accurate with his aim. Direct hit to the face and neck, could see the yellow stains of it in her fur. WHEW!

Got her in the sink and washed her down with baking soda and Dawn dish soap, didn't have peroxide but it worked ok. Dog doesn't smell half as bad as the rest of the house. Poor dog is drooling and barfing that stuff is sooo freakin nasty! So I washed her down good twice and rinsed her eyes out real good, he got her there too and started DH drying her off. Went and got the 2nd dog from the garage.......Sweet JAYSUS he got her even worse than the first dog. Repeated the bathing steps and rinsing the eyes.

I'm just waiting for Petco to open so I can go get the deodorizing stuff to scatter in the back yard........ Some nights just weren't meant for sleepin'........UGH!!!!!!!

Later that day:
Well, the high point of my day has been going to Petco and walking in the door to have 3 different clerks run, yes I mean RUN, up to me to ask if I need help finding the skunk deodorizers. I had JUST taken a shower and put on clean clothing........Yeah, that makes me feel real good......Farkin po'e cats!

And then later in 2011 while commiserating with another friend who was having skunk problems:

What I didn't follow up with was the fact that it was just the START of my wild critter problems. I forget how many possums, ***** and skunks we ended up trapping that year, but it was a GROUP! They had dug underneath the steps of the back porch and tunneled under the Master Bedroom, Bath and Closet. So everytime we thought we'd got rid of them, nooooo, another one took their place. We finally dug up around the entire foundation of the house and put down hardware cloth and reburied it. Then we found someone had dug throught the siding of the house and had to tear out the siding and insulation and rewire.....Damned things were living under my bathtub too.

They stank up my entire closet, the bedroom, of course the entire house and to add insult to injury, my SHN jacket was RANK and it was in my TRUCK, never even got near a skunk.

Haven't had any trouble for a while now, but I've gotten plum deadly with my pistol if it's any of those groups of critters. Caught a possum in the cat food (I buy 80 lbs of cat food/week and keep it in a small garbage can) and I shot a hole smooth through the bottom of that can. FARKIN beasts! Then I found a bunch of possum babies, is there anything uglier than a baby possum? BRRRRRR!

Oh yeah, I now have a "De-skunking Shelf" in the pantry. There's a bottle of Dawn, 3 bottles of Peroxide and 3 boxes of baking soda. I don't care what we run out of, nobody is allowed to even THINK of using those ingredients.


Oh YEAH, those farkin' skunks are a gift that just KEEPS ON GIVING!
 
#22 ·
One ran back to the house and husband tossed her and the male dog into the garage while I tried to collect the 3rd one.
I really thought you said he threw them in the garbage. I had to re-read it.....3 times until I actually understood what you were saying. :shock:

But our dog got sprayed in the face, on our front porch! The smell was a metallic smell that made you gag. it was awful! We tried everything to get rid of the smell but nothing worked all that well. Right now, I've got a skunk living under my barn and the 2 yro constantly smells like skunk because it lives right beside his stall. Will someone get rid of it already?! It's been there for 6 darn months. :-x
 
#23 ·
Donald, just wanted to say thanks for making my day. One of those hey someone has it worse than me at the moment kind of things.

I've never been sprayed myself but the dog and Jana, my old sorrel mare have both gotten it. Jana got herself sprayed 2 days before a show so she had to not smell so bad, her odorous self wouldn't have served me well in a showmanship class. Let me tell you, de-stinking a horse is a chore...lots and lots of peroxide and soda. Tried tomato juice but then she just smelled like a rotten tomato.
 
#24 ·
When it comes to skunks vinegar is your friend. Or Peroxide.
Glad to make everyone laugh.
The saga is not over.
I was doing a group therapy session yesterday morning and the skunk smell just kept returning.
he must have walked around the yard and left deposits because my shoes had a faint trace of them.
My group members thought it was funny. Shalom
 
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