Got a skunk moments ago w/ the 15-22. Estimate about 45 meters out front from my porch. Missed first hit 2nd shot. Then he headed towards me while I'm standing on my 5ft tall porch. Hit a couple of more times and it headed around my garage, Ran out there and it was up against the fence. Tough sucker. Hit it several more times and he was like flipping me off. He headed in the shrubs against the side of the garage. Couldn't see him but saw leaf movement. Fire a few more, movement ceased and bad stink exploded. Fourteen shots total. Probably 10-12 hits. Sometimes a one shot kill asometimes nearly a full magazine. Same with armadillos. Used my Venom red dot with Streamlight TLR-1 HL. Nice combo. Wife not a real happy camper at the moment. One time the wife went to the beach for a week til I had the house cleared. Several vanilla candles now burning.

I'll dig it out of the shrubs (very thick) in the morning.

14 shots???? too bad he didn't spray you, maybe take up knitting.

One reason I do not shoot skunks on the property.............

Enjoy !!

If you think skunks are tough, try shooting a 'possum. Darned things can soak up lead all day. Decades back I hunted 'coons with a buddy who had coondogs. His standard procedure was to shoot them out of the tree, then whack 'em over the head with a short club he carried specifically for that purpose.

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Pisgah

Some folks are clueless as to shooting varmints with a .22. As I said I've had 1 shot kills and I've had "give me another magazine" encounters. Depending on direction of run, I prefer to wound them and let them run off to the pastures. Less work involved but more times than not I'm not that lucky.

Merry Christmas to you too.

Me and my Chocolate lab never had good luck with skunks, the dog's luck was worse. I got reminded of the encounter every time he would come home wet or damp.

About 10 years ago there was a bad skunk infestation in Helena Montana due to the Buck Snort fire that drove them from the woods to town....I got to learn just how effective my Marlin 25MN .22 Magnum was.

Every one of them I shot was a one shot one kill....distance was under 50 yards.

My youngest brother just loves using his '92 Winchester chambered in 25-20....same results

I do have a question for the forum on skunks.....What useful purpose do they serve in the eco system? What animals are predators to the skunk?

Thanks all!

Randy

I live on the edge of a large open field, I kill about 15 Skunks a year. A couple of years ago I changed guns. I went to a 223 loaded with 40 grain
hollow points after that all the shots were one shot kills. You have to be
on a good rest and then you shoot for the body or the head. I use the head shot most of the time this way they don,t get a chance to spray.
jim

My Daddy gave me some real good advice
" Don't shoot skunks ...just let em be! " .
You might want to consider it .
Gary

Skunks eat rodents and insects including ticks

Possums consume large volumes of ticks and tend to eat most anything.

They pose little issues under most conditions.

If you shoot them on my place you are not welcomed back.

be safe
Ruggy

PS
I love hunting but these guys are my do not shoot list.

Dogs, and the great horned owl are the only natural predators I am aware of. Probably coyote as well because they will hit on almost anything.
I suspect they contribute more to the eco than one may think. They eat a lot of insects that we consider pests.
They are nocturnal, so I have only eliminated those that are acting oddly during daylight. My dog was not as discriminating, and learned that the skunk isn't really worth the chase.
They used to dig up my yard. I eliminated the grubs in the turf and they went away.
I am not a skunk lover, but I do not have them on my hit list; the consequences of a kill usually by far outweigh the effort needed to not entice them to my yard.

I walked out back one evening and nearly stepped on one. Pulled my 22lr pistol and fired one point blank shot in the head.

Took the body and tossed it in the bushes.

I was awoken at 3am to the sound of snarling fighting animals right outside my window.

Freaked me out, I jumped up grabbed a flashlight and my Marlin 60 with scope.

As I walked out the door a very large and mean racoon dropped out of the tree 20 feet away and charged past me snarling. Whoa..!!! Heart attack..

I took my flashlight and looked in the tree and there were two more that had been treed by the other mean one. I raised my Marlin and all I could see were there green eyes I put the cross hairs between them and each fell from the tree with one shot.. dead when they hit the ground..

I don't enjoy killing. It's a chore that sometimes needs to be done.

If a skunk comes in my yard, I'd prefer to find a solution to have it leave. I'm in city limits, so shooting a firearm isn't legal. I do have a .22 pellet gun but I wouldn't want it to spray me or my dog. A trap may not be a viable option...

I agree with your views on killing animals. Not fun or funny, but sometimes needs to be done.

I live inside city limits, too. But here, an air rifle is considered a firearm, so it carries the same penalty if shot within city limits.
If caught, you will certaiinly be sorry.

Spray for insects. The skunks will move on to where they can find food (insects).

Damn.
I do not understand this attitude and would not want to associate with anyone who would publicly admit such a thing. As others have said, I don't enjoy killing but if it needs doing I prefer to do it quickly.

I get no enjoyment from killing little critters. But let armadillos destroy pastures, yards, cause cattle to break legs, etc and you'll become quite the armadillo enemy. Same with skunks spraying the house, finding a way to dig under your house; you'll kill 'em all. No doubt. Same deal when those feral pigs eventually make it to my a/o. Rarely do I go for a head shot due to I want them to wander away and die by whatever means and leave me with no carting them off to distant locations.

1) Shooting at "noises in the bush" is a really bad idea
2) shooting any animal only hoping to wound it enough to "wander off and die" is totally unacceptable (to me)
3) If I don't have a clean "kill shot" I don't take the shot
4) I don't want skunks or raccoons hanging around my house, but they all eat carrion as well as insects that I also don't want hanging around my house.

I think skunks are a useful critter, I leave them be...they do the same.

Believe it or not, cougars will take one occasionally.

We had an over-population of skunks, raccoons, and foxes at our last place. All three were heck on chickens, ducks, and geese around the barnyard.

I trapped them with a live trap. Could dispatch the foxes and raccoons just by walking up to the trap and using a .22. With skunks, however, I stood 25 yards away and shot for the head. Used my Ruger M7722 with a 1.75 x 4 power scope shooting CCI mini-mag hollow points. Ninety-five percent of the time is was a one-shot kill, but they always released. Sometimes almost immediately, other times within five or ten minutes or so. Yep, the minute those ol' sphincter muscles relaxed...PHEW!

I'd always have a hole dug before I shot the skunks. That way, I could shot them and dump 'em in the hole before things got too bad. Usually, the smell could be minimized by throwing a couple of shovels full of dirt over the area where the trap sat and where the skunk released. Even with that, however, it was pretty evident to all within the vicinity that we'd had skunk problems.

Skunks are infamous for being carriers of rabies. We would occasionally see them in the daytime, walking around in a stupor. Sure sign that they were sick.

Looking back on it, I've probably shot enough skunks in my lifetime to make Ms. Judy a fur coat with matching handbag and set of slippers.

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Pack light and cinch tight.

Skunks do not like lights. They were digging up my wife's peonies and tulip bulbs. Put some motion activated solar powered small flood lights in flower beds. Seems to have help. Live in suburb so can't shoot them.

So there it is.

My buddy had trouble with them getting his chicken eggs. He would live trap them with a long rope tied to the trap. He'd drag the full trap down to a creek and let it sink. He said they never sprayed because he was so far away.

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Chris
SWCA #2243 SWHF #292

Skunks are not often seen around here, maybe very couple of months or so I'll see a dead one or get a whiff of one killed on the road. Never saw one in the yard yet, we don't have a dog anymore so I don't worry about them causing any damage.
'Possums and Racoons are everywhere, if I catch one in my Persimmon or Fig or Orange trees they are fair game.
Steve W

I have shot several in the head and no release. I have shot dozens in the body broadside and I bet at the very most 10 have sprayed. And a few of those 10 I kept pursuing through the spray of course paying for it but not giving a damn. But almost regretting it. Interesting factoid. Of the wounded skunks, not all that many really, I can recall perhaps one which didn't initially run directly toward me til I dropped it. And that's with the yard lit up like a football field. I have lots of bright security lights.

True story. Last year I go out on the front porch for a smoke. Probably around 9pm. I'm on one end of the porch and see "something" out between my shop and pasture fence. About 40 meters. It's an armadillo as I hit all security lights (16). Closer to the pasture fence than not coming back to the house in the following order is another armadillo, a skunk, a kitty cat fast walking along the fence, a bunny rabbit, and another skunk. I'm like WTH? I take out the farthest armadillo, the rabbit runs but I would not have shot it or the kitty, The closest skunk, the 2nd armadillo, and lastly the 2nd skunk. Three one shot skills (10/22 using a laser). The second skunk was one of those that loved lead. And he sprayed. I chased him in multiple directions between the house and shop. He finally fled to the pasture and I was so pumped I ran to the gate, ran through the pasture went only a head lamp (but decent) and finally finished him about another 20 meters away on the pond levee. That was quite the event.

As I stated, I get no joy from shooting them. But I'm not going to suffer their wrath. I have no idea how many skunks transit my immediate yard. But plenty spray or have just sprayed as they do and it's too bad for them and their kin. No spray, no kill 'em all. No dillos destroying the yard and pasture, no dead dillos. Just walk on by and we're all good.

I have opossums now and then. I used to shoot them too. Now I give them a break. Oh that reminds me. You gotta see this link. Too funny. My youngest kid takes after me - General Talk - AR15Armory.com

We have raccoons but I've never seen an active one. They're safe around me.

Hmmm. Having taught Hunter Safety for 28 years, firing into the brush because you "saw leaf movement," no matter if you "knew precisely where it was based on your expertise," and preferring to wound an animal and "let them run off into the pastures" really goes against everything we try to teach young hunters.

I'll just let it go at that. Anything else and I'll probably get dinged.

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Pack light and cinch tight.

Skunks will tear up your lawn digging for grubs.

I used an air rifle with a well aimed head shot.

I remember one that dumped his gland where he fell. That smell was there for weeks.

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"I'm your huckleberry"

Appreciate your input. You teach them your way and I'll mold their little minds my way. Oh look, it's snowing. Hope you have a safe space. Run along now.

If you live out in the country sometimes you need to thin the herd no matter what animal you're talking about. As far as skunks go I don't know if I ever shot one that didn't spray. Toughest critters I've ever shot.....Racoons. They are tough!

Have never shot a coon and doubt if I ever would short of running across a rabid or "evil" one. Enjoy hearing those coon dogs though off in the distance. Wish I didn't have to shoot any of them however as you said out here in rural USA it ain't all that simple at times. Have only shot 2 coyotes in 20+ years due to attacking calves otherwise they get a free pass (which doesn't sit well with some).

Chip, I wish I could hit the "Like" button more than once for your post.

It's well said, direct, and to the point.

Around here the skunks biggest enemy is the speeding automobile...at night !
My daughter hit a skunk one night, center of radiator grill , and that car smelled skunky for month's. She claimed on a hot rainy day it still smelled 3 years later when she traded it in.
Not much else bothers them except Great Horned Owls, dumb dogs and people .
Gary

I think we've about covered skunk hunting.