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jjb2
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| Joined: | 5 July 2007 |
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Posted: 17 July 2007 05:37 PM |
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| the doc have any idea about how far a skunk can spray his defense? we have seen and smelled more of them around here lately and was wondering how far to keep from them..........
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saddlesore
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 6 February 2005 |
| Location: | Colorado Springs, Colorado USA |
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Posted: 17 July 2007 08:51 PM |
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My experience is that they can spray about 1 ft further than I am distanced from them.
We have set up with a live trap and tarp. Along side we have a stock tank big enough and then some to fit the trap in fillled with water.
When we catch a skunk, we put the tarp over the trap being careful that the skunk does not see you. Then we lift the trap and put it into the stock tank and drown the skunk. if you hit the tank with the trap, the skunk will spray. Kinda like handling nitro.
However, they will spray every time if you shoot them while they are in the trap
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Charley
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| Joined: | 9 September 2005 |
| Location: | San Antonio, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 2225 |
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Posted: 17 July 2007 10:50 PM |
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I've had them hit tarps five feet away when covering a live trap. Adult skunks are usually not a problem, and will sit tight and let you cover them with no problem. The damned "teenagers" are the worst, they will spray with almost no provocation. In urban environments, they will often feed heavily on cat food, and live very happily under backyard decks and outbuildings.
When trapping, I use the cheapest, fishiest oily cat food I can buy.
Last edited on 17 July 2007 10:51 PM by Charley
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"You all can go to Hell, I'm going to Texas" David Crockett (and probably George Bush)
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jjb2
addicted handloader
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Posted: 18 July 2007 03:59 AM |
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| thanks for all the info! are there more skunks for some reason or does it just seem like it? i've seen more skunks close to town then ever before...........
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Charley
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| Joined: | 9 September 2005 |
| Location: | San Antonio, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 2225 |
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Posted: 18 July 2007 12:38 PM |
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Breeding season kills a lot of adult males every year around here. Horny buggers wander around and get squished by cars all the time. Many places it is immpossible to travel a mile in this town and not see or smell a skunk,. Second most common time is when the young start establishing thier own territories, mostly by wandering around! This is the time when most of the dead skunks you see are juveniles.
I don't mind skunk smell. To me, it smells like MONEY!
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"You all can go to Hell, I'm going to Texas" David Crockett (and probably George Bush)
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72coupe
Handloading Master
| Joined: | 11 June 2006 |
| Location: | Iowa Park, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 1493 |
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Posted: 18 July 2007 01:47 PM |
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We have a few spotted skunks around here also.
I once had to stop and wait for an albino mother skunk to lead her 5 small babies across a highway. A very interesting sight.
I am a live and let live kind of guy. I once caught a Trans Pecos Copperhead in my garage and turned him loose in the wheat field behind the house.
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Texasdoc
Banned
| Joined: | 5 April 2005 |
| Location: | LaGrange, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 1417 |
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Posted: 18 July 2007 02:36 PM |
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Common Hog-nosed Skunk
Description. A rather large skunk with a single, broad white stripe from top of head to base of tail; long, bushy tail white all over with a few scattered black hairs beneath; rest of body blackish brown or black; white stripe on head truncate; snout relatively long, the naked pad about 20 mm broad and 25 mm long; nostrils ventral in position, opening downward; ears and eyes small; five toes on each foot; claws of forefeet much larger than on rear feet, strong and adapted for digging; pelage relatively long and coarse; underfur thin. Young colored like adults; sexes alike in coloration. Dental formula: I 3/3, C 1/1, Pm 2/3, M 1/2 X 2 = 32. External measurements average: (males), total length, 577 mm; tail, 248 mm; hind foot, 65 mm; (females), 542-202-68 mm. Weight, 1.1-2.7 kg, rarely to 4.5 kg. Females are smaller than males.
Distribution in Texas. Ranges across southwestern, central, and southern Texas, north at least to Collin and Lubbock counties; former isolated population in Big Thicket region probably extirpated.
Habits. These white-backed skunks inhabit mainly the foothills and partly timbered or brushy sections of their general range. They usually avoid hot desert areas and heavy stands of timber. The largest populations occur in rocky, sparsely timbered areas such as the Edwards Plateau of central Texas and the Chisos, Davis, and Guadalupe mountains of Trans-Pecos Texas. A few have been reported from the Big Thicket area of East Texas, but these are apparently extirpated now. Their presence in an area usually can be detected by the characteristically "plowed" patches of ground where the skunks have rooted and overturned rocks and bits of debris in their search for food. This hog-like habit of rooting has led to the adoption of the term "rooter skunk." Most Texans know the skunk by this name.
Although largely nocturnal, they are not strictly so. In midwinter in central Texas, many of them prefer to feed during the heat of the day. In this respect they remind one of the habits of the armadillo at that season. They seldom are as abundant in any part of their range as the striped skunk, Mephitis. Like other skunks, they are relatively unafraid of man or beast and do not hesitate to defend themselves with their powerful musk if unduly molested. In the Guadalupe Mountains of western Texas, one of us (Davis) watched one at close range at night with the aid of a flashlight for nearly 30 minutes as it rooted about in search of food. When approached too closely, fair warning was given as the skunk elevated its tail and maneuvered to place the observer in the line of fire.
As mentioned previously, these skunks prefer rocky situations when available because the numerous cracks and hollows can serve as den sites. Not only do they winter in such dens, but they also use them as nurseries. Unlike the striped skunk, this species is more or less unsocial. Usually only one individual lives in a den, but a trapper in central Texas reported that he once found a winter den occupied by two of them.
Their food habits make them valuable assets in most areas. Based on analysis of stomachs and other viscera of 83 "rooters" from central Texas, their seasonal food (expressed in percentages) consists of: Fall — insects, 52; arachnids, 4; vegetation, 38; reptiles, 6. Winter — insects, 76; arachnids, 12; small mammals, 9; vegetation, 3; with reptiles and mollusks making up the balance. Spring — insects, 82; arachnids, 12; reptiles, 6. Summer — insects, 50; arachnids, 9; small mammals, 3; vegetation, 31; snails, 5; reptiles, 2.
The breeding season begins in February, and most females of breeding age are with young in March. The fact that the female has only six teats, as compared with 12-14 in the striped skunk, suggests small litters of young. Robert Patton found that females generally produce two litters, each consisting of three individuals. The late J. D. Bankston of Mason, Texas reported that he had never seen more than four young with a female. The young are born in late April or early May. The gestation period is approximately 2 months. Nothing has been recorded on the growth and development of the young, but we do know that they can crawl about in the nest before their eyes are open and that at that tender age they can emit a drop or two of musk. By the middle of June they are about the size of kittens and weigh about 450 g. By August most of them are weaned and are "rooting" for their living
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72coupe
Handloading Master
| Joined: | 11 June 2006 |
| Location: | Iowa Park, Texas USA |
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Posted: 18 July 2007 02:38 PM |
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| I have never heard of or seen one of those. Do you have a picture?
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72coupe
Handloading Master
| Joined: | 11 June 2006 |
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Posted: 18 July 2007 02:51 PM |
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| No, never seen one. I have see striped skunks where the white stripes were so wide they almost met. I have also seen them so narrow they were barely noticeable.
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wyo300rum
Handloading Master
| Joined: | 20 December 2006 |
| Location: | California USA |
| Posts: | 1025 |
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Posted: 19 July 2007 03:51 AM |
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| I got sprayed once when I was a kid getting ready to shot one in the head with a pellet gun. He was in a bush and still got me from between 6-8 ft. I shot the hell out of him after that. They were all over the orange groves where I used to live. Where I live now in June/July , they cut loose about every other night. I had a surprise 50th B-Day party last Sat. (B-Day was Fri. 13th and my son's is too) and we were all in the backyard at night and one cut loose. About 30 of us. It stunk for about 20 min. till it blew over but the inside of the house stunk for awhile too. I don't care for skunks much.
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sdb777
Administrator
| Joined: | 16 October 2005 |
| Location: | Cabot, Arkansas USA |
| Posts: | 1269 |
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Posted: 20 July 2007 12:27 PM |
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My dad has caught many of these in traps and turned them loose miles away with 12gauge in hand. He's been sprayed more times then he cares to remember! But he's taken care of everyone of them....seems they enjoy eating the grubs in the grass in the front yard and while doing so, are making holes in his lawn.
The numbers have decreased slightly over the years for him, but there seems to be an endless supply of them in Maine......go figure?
Scott (they smell awful) B
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hoashooter2
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| Joined: | 26 February 2007 |
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Posted: 21 July 2007 06:50 AM |
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IF you happen to trap one----have your buddy---- or used to be buddy-slowly walk around the cage at a distance to get it's attention then stick a .22 in it's skull to not only save to the hide but your's
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sako06
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 22 July 2007 |
| Location: | California USA |
| Posts: | 493 |
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Posted: 23 July 2007 03:09 AM |
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| We were trained to put a canvas tarp over a hav-a hart trap then wrap the tarp around the tailpipe and start the engine putting it out w/o spraying.
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Timberghozt
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| Joined: | 11 February 2005 |
| Location: | Plaza De Los Armas, Mexico |
| Posts: | 5339 |
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Posted: 25 July 2007 08:29 PM |
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Doc any advice for handling a skunk? I got a private in my squad that won`t take a bath but once a month if we don`t make him..   
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"He who fights with monsters might take care, lest he thereby become a monster; For if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - F.Nietzche
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sako06
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 22 July 2007 |
| Location: | California USA |
| Posts: | 493 |
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Posted: 25 July 2007 09:06 PM |
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| In 1952 we had a couple of recruits in our barracks who wouldn't shower until they were given the lye soap and scrub brush treatment by a concerned group,they came out pink & clean and showered every day after that.
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Timberghozt
Board Founder
| Joined: | 11 February 2005 |
| Location: | Plaza De Los Armas, Mexico |
| Posts: | 5339 |
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Posted: 25 July 2007 09:23 PM |
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lol..The ole GI scrub brush will make a beleiver in a nasty bird..
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"He who fights with monsters might take care, lest he thereby become a monster; For if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - F.Nietzche
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72coupe
Handloading Master
| Joined: | 11 June 2006 |
| Location: | Iowa Park, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 1493 |
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Posted: 25 July 2007 09:31 PM |
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| Some people just learn slower than others. We had a guy in basic at Fort Bliss that got a GI shower twice a week.
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Texasdoc
Banned
| Joined: | 5 April 2005 |
| Location: | LaGrange, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 1417 |
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Posted: 25 July 2007 09:58 PM |
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Well TG, I think a Shot of Rompom in the back side and a good wire brush on a Drill will cure him from that fast.
Doc
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sako06
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 22 July 2007 |
| Location: | California USA |
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Posted: 26 July 2007 01:58 AM |
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| The Korean war was ongoing when I enlisted in the USAF..After basic training I was sent to MacDill AFB SAC & we had one black airman in the barracks that stank the place up. Finally the black nco's had a shower room conference with him with lye soap and scrub brushes,then restricted him to the base and took him to supply for more uniforms,socks,underware,etc.he was transferred out.
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