Catastrophe avoided!!!!

[doug hodder]

So I'm working on the new trailer about 11PM Fri. night...doing some pinstripe tape on it. I hear a sound not unlike my dog that I used to have...scratching on the deck up to the garage door. I had the screen door propped open as well as the inner door. I turn slowly and see a humongous SKUNK! Visions/ scents of a past experience raced through my mind.

Given the way the fencing/deck at the garage door is...it's only way out was to either come into the garage or go out the way it came in. I'm not a big fan of skunks...having been sprayed by one in the past...talk about a power vomit! It was just looking at me, like 4 feet away, those black beady eyes and pointy nose, tail was down however. ...I slowly picked up a 2' piece of aluminum strap and slowly pushed the door shut. I had all the new cushions sitting on a chair in the garage right where I was. I could just see losing all that due to a skunk. I opened the garage door about an inch and shut it a couple of times so that the noise would maybe scare it away. I also had the screen doors open on the house...Wow...I'm so glad he didn't "go off". That would have been something that would have really been a hassle to come back from....I wonder if cups of ammonia work on skunks as well as bears? Note to self...at least keep the screen door shut when working in the garage late at night. Doug

[Kevin A]

don't know if amonia works on skunks. I haven't seen one in years here in wyoming but i do know in the past that

22 long rifle seemed to work on skunks real real good!

slow

Not when they are entering your garage.....

[Zollinger]

Whew! Catastrophe avoided!!!! That could have turned BAD if not for your quick thinking Doug. Heck you got nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying the ammonia trick.

[deleted]

Very glad you had a good outcome. And thanks for sharing the details. For those of us new to trailers, camping, and being out in the wild this is a great reminder to move slowly and not to freak out when encountering wild animals of any type near our trailers.

[jstrubberg]

Depends what kind of wild animal it is. Moving quickly might be the right answer!

Glad things worked out OK, Doug. Shooting a skunk next to the house is about as wrong an outcome as you can get!

[TENNJIM]

Been trapped twice by skunks; once in a silo and once in a pump house. Both times very carefully slid along the wall to get out while the skunk was facing me and lucky I didn't get sprayed. It seems that staying calm, using common sense trumps bad scents .


Jim B / Utah

[TPMcGinty]

Last fall I went camping in Northern Minnesota. I was sitting around the campfire 5 feet away from the picnic table. I heard a rustling in the garbage bag I had next to the picnic table. I looked over and 5 feet away from me was a skunk eating my garbage. He was looking at me while chomping away. I just sat there and watched him. He seemed perfectly happy with the arrangement and I wasn't going to argue with him. He hung around the campground for the whole week.

[Jiminsav]

MY Nana, bless her heart, used to FEED wild scunks that came in her yard..she feed them cat food..she always said if you stay calm, and don't block their way out, they won't spray you..so next time, have a can of friskes handy and lob it, open, out into the yard.

[Ron Dickey]

Skunks lift the tail because they too can not stand the smell. Doug remember what Pine Sol did for raccoons ?? well.....
To repel Skunks or get them to move from under a building, soak a rag with old fashioned Pine Sol cleaner and stuff it down their burrow or soak a boundary line

Remeber to put gun ports on your garage door .....

Ron

[Bogo]

Yeah, remain calm, and make only slow moves. Wait until they get out of range, then give them a lead suppository. It's nice how they lift their tail and give you a nice target to aim at.

[Wolffarmer]

A skunk will give you a warning when it starts to feel uncomfortable. Then pound the ground with their front paws. That means to back off buddy. I read that about 10 years back and only been around skunks once since then and they really do. Of course if you are doing full steam ahead Mr. Skunk may not worry about warning you.

Randy

[stumphugger]

I found this entertaining and educational. Because of having watched it, I didn't panic too much when a skunk was approaching my camp spot. I became a "skunk Whisperer" and spoke quietly to let it know I was there, and it ambled back into the brush. Next time, I won't park there.

http://video.pbs.org/video/1168758029/

[Backroads4me]

Nothing like the pungent aroma of skunk odor wafting along with the breeze on a hot summer's night. Thirty plus years ago, while doing my stint as a night baker at Fort Hood, Texas----I looked out the back door of the dining facility (old world war two era wooden building), just in time to see a skunk ambling towards the open door of the "CQ" office next door. Called over there to warn them, and someone answered the phone just as the skunk reached the door. Considering the commotion I heard over the phone---someone yells skunk, I hear a lot of swearing and chairs scraping across the floor---it's always amazed me that the skunk just turned around and wandered away instead of blasting everyone. Those guys were lucky.

Glad to hear you didn't get blasted by your little visitor!