Brothers and sisters of the Forum, a question for all of you about an incident that happened yesterday...

I was dove hunting with my young son (16 yrs. old) early yesterday morning. This was a special Youth hunt, and only the kids were allowed to hunt, and to have firearms. As we were waiting for enough sunlight to begin shooting, we were facing each other and having a quiet conversation. Suddenly, he looked over my shoulder and asked: "What's that, dad?" I turned around and looked, and saw a skunk approximately 20 yards away just ambling along, when it suddenly turned to its left (perpendicular to his path of travel), and went into the brush.

My son started to chuckle, and then asked: "What were you thinking, Dad, when you saw that skunk?" I told him: "I was trying to determine if you could grab that shotgun, load it, and draw a bead on that skunk quicker than I could get my handgun (Model 638-1) out of my pocket and ready to shoot if I had to." My son asked: "Why did you think you might have to shoot that skunk, Dad? It wasn't bothering us." I told him: "Yes, he wasn't bothering us, but don't you remember my talking to you about the danger of rabid animals, and that skunks can carry the rabies virus? I'm glad that skunk didn't bother us, and went on his way, but I don't take chances like that."

My son gave me the weirdest look - like maybe I was a member of the Manson Family, or something. When I talked to my wife about it, she remarked that as long as we've been together (27 years), that I always did threat assessments on anyone, or anything she had ever seen me encounter.

Was I out in left field on this one? Is my son correct, and I'm some kind of weird-oh, or something? What say you, ladies and gentlemen of the Forum? I'd really like some honest feedback on this.

Many thanks,

Dave

A skunk out and about in the daylight always gets my attention,but I'd rather not shoot it that close

My question is "can you hit a small moving smelly target at 20 yards with a .38?"

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Recycled Bricklayer

To borrow a quote from Katharine Hepburn...

"I do not hate a skunk, a merely do not care for his odor".

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NULLI SECUNDUS

Skunk was on his/her way home at daylight saw you and did the appropriate thing and disappeared in the opposite direction from you

I seriously doubt rabies and the skunk evidently did not think you two much of a threat as no chemical attack occurred. All ended well for the 3, (2 humans 1 skunk)!

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

I generally leave skunks alone, but I shoot all the porcupines I see.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Driving in the burbs at dawn last spring, I saw one ambling down the sidewalk near a nursing home being followed,very warily,by an aid trying to get to work without being sprayed
The darn things are thick around here.

The skunk didn't do any damage then but as long as he is alive he might do damage, could do damage, maybe do damage and is capable of doing damage. Kill'em all even if you have to shoot them in the back while they are running away. Larry

Have an invasion of skunks the last 2 years - I've shot 4 as they got into confrontation with pets. most people I know around here consider them pest and shoot when around homes

I'm afraid if we kill the skunks, it will upset the eco-system and reverse the effects of global warming.

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Recycled Bricklayer

I don't ask this to be accusing or critical - I'm only curious - what do porcupines do that is bad?

Really, you want to kill something because it might one day cause you trouble? If you kill it you eat it and that's if you need the food. I'm a big opossum lover myself. Not to eat, i just think they are cool.

Porkys love to gnaw on wood which can be annoying if its your house or deck.

I tend to blast skunks, but......

But in that situation, as long as he ran away---well it wasn't middle of the day and he wasn't coming at you like that rabbit in Monty Python.

Think about this---if you had blasted it---you may would have all the other parents grilling you about "why did you have to do that"?----and "....they are so cute..."----and...."shooting a pistol around kids....", etc. etc.

Now THAT would have been a PIA.

I leave all animals alone unless there is a direct threat. Otherwise I'd have to shoot each and every animal I see because any of them can be a potential rabies threat. Or some other threat.

I'm pretty much the school of thought of leaving nature alone... as God intended. I don't kill just for the sake of killing or because that animal might get some disease some day. Now if it is acting very unusual & dangerous, that is a different matter.

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FIDELITAS ET FORTITUDO

So do beavers, but most of us love it when we can get 'em near our wood.

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Not in jail.

At age 16, they are liable to say anything. I thought my son was an alien from another planet at 16, and 17 and 18...........

I always shoot skunks on my property before my dog get's sprayed. And I don't eat them either. Preempted strike I call it.

This is about how I'd call it. But you may have more experience that dictates otherwise. I don't have any deep philosophical problem with either opinion, but in my innocence, I lean a bit towards your son's attitude.

This ^^^^^^

I would have elected to not fire, considering your description of the circumstances. Other people around, possibly in the line of fire, out waiting just as you were.

If you were isolated, yeah, I would shoot the skunk as he got as far away as possible.

I think your son was correct. Unless there is signs of illness or the skunk was threatening you he should be left alone. In 2007 only 7600 cases of rabies were reported across the United States. 20% of those cases were from skunks. Very few cases considering the skunk population in the US.

Dad always taught me to be very wary of skunks in daylight because of rabies. You did what I would've done in that you assessed, had a plan based on that assessment, and you didn't kill unnecessarily.

I hope y'all had a good time.

As to porcupines, they don't mix well with curious Lab pups. Mine learned to give them a wide berth after the SECOND day in a row of having to pull quills out of his nose. Having said that, I've never shot one.

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Where's my dad's America?

Your son asked a question and you gave an honest answer. As far as threat assessing every encounter we all act on whatever experience and our gut tells us. Some have that instinct honed sharper than others and manage just fine while exercising self control. Can't help having idle thoughts, it's the sociopathic loser that acts upon them.

For what it's worth, I don't think you're weird at all.

I guess that I am reading your post a little different.

If you are asking if your analysis of how to respond to a potential threat is out of line, I don't believe that it is.

As I read it, you weren't planning on shooting the skunk unless it acted aggressively and given the possibility of being bitten by a rabid animal, I think your potential plan of action was reasonable. In that light, it seems more like situational awareness and a rational, well thought out plan of action should the need arise.

Really no different than driving and observing that the person in the car next to you is texting or is otherwise distracted and therefore poses a potential threat that you have to be ready to react to.

IMO, you need to be aware of what is going on around you at all times, not paranoid, just aware.

Bill

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"What does this button do..."

live and let live....

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There's nowt so queer as folk

Precisely. On the "just in case" basis 80% of the planet's human population just made my hit list.

Years ago, I used to hunt woodchucks. They weren't bothering me. Various friends and I would drive two counties over to a place where we could shoot them. For what? Pretty much just an excuse for owning a .223 varmint rifle. Haven't shot a "chuck" in quite a while. Now coyotes...that's a different story. There's a bunch of them around here. Fifty acres of farm land behind my house is full of them. I hear them every night. I'll shoot a coyote every chance I get....mainly to protect the dogs and cats that live around here.

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'Merica!

Sorry but I vote not only in left field but also on the warning track.

This is why I shoot Porcupines - usually get two a year and some years more.

BearQuills003-01_edited.jpg

This one ran about $250 to put him under so we could get the quills inside his mouth. If not removed they work their way into the body and will travel through the body - they can kill an animal if the quills get into the internal organs.

Pete

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Don't tread on me

Nail every coyote you can get sights on. Way to many of them everywhere. I used to have grouse and lots of turkey around. Haven't seen the grouse and just a couple of turkeys.

Good luck with the yotes!

I was raised to treat any nocturnal animal seen wandering about during the day with a great amount of suspect and danger.
Shoot all snakes and then identify them.
Stray dogs are not friends.
You can hit your brother but no one else can.
Dogs is good and cats are to be tolerated.
Blessings

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TEXAS, by GOD

You did right.

The lesson was not about the skunk.

The lesson was about threat assessment and readiness preparation.

I wish more politically conservative gun owners would become conservationists & naturalists. One would think that would be a natural progression. Just as conservatives want less government intrusion in their lives, conservationists want less human involvement in nature.

I am always amazed at how many folks say kill 'em all... then identify. How much effort does it take to learn how to identify the dangerous from the non? How much effort does it take to simply let that animal proceed with its life? When we allow nature to stay in balance then you don't have to worry about having too many of one species or not enough of another. Mankind creates these problems.

Last month I was able to give my God Son a lesson in ecology. Around dusk we were sitting out in the back yard of our small farm, out in the country. He is a city boy and I had him notice we could sit out there without being attacked by mosquitoes. I explained to him that even with all the water around, a farm pond a hundred yards down the hill & a much larger lake a few hundred yards up the road, the mosquitoes were being controlled... not by trucks spewing poison as around his house but by nature. Since it was dusk, he could see the bats already starting their all night feast on the mosquitoes. I taught him those bats would eat their own body weight in flying insects each and every night and that is why I have 3 bat houses stationed on high poles around the farm. I likewise explained why we attract & allow barn swallows to build their mud nests wherever they want. He has noticed swarms of swallows zipping thru the sky during the day... much like fighter jets. These too eat the flying insects, all day long. We all giggle watching the swallows dive bomb our black lab, as they try to run him off from their nest areas.

I am teaching both God Kids to identify all the snakes found around the farm and that the vast majority are not dangerous and play a huge role in controlling rodents. Having King Snakes, or similar, living side by side with me is a pleasure, a gift from God... not something to fear. Why someone would kill one is just beyond my comprehension.

It is funny that someone like me will be labeled a liberal because I wish to protect nature as God intended. I say that is funny because I consider myself extremely conservative. Shouldn't conservatives wish to conserve?

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FIDELITAS ET FORTITUDO

My thoughts exactly, you saw a possible threat, and reacted to it till it was resolved into a non threat. Absolutely nothing wrong about that!!
And,BTW, seeing a skunk in daylight should give rise to some concern, they are normally nocturnal animals, being out and about during the day is unusual behavior, and cause for concern.
olcop

Not necessarily. Skunks are actually crepuscular, meaning they are most active during twilight... dusk and dawn. If you read what the OP states, they were sitting around waiting for enough sunlight to begin shooting. Point being, this skunk we are discussing was out & about during its most active period of the day.

Also many skunks can be seen during daylight hours. The majority of skunks who are seen in the daylight are hungry mothers. During baby season their feeding habits are reversed. At night time the den is more prone to predation than during the day so the mother stays in at night to protect her litter. When her kits are old enough at about 5 - 6 weeks old she will lead them out with her to start teaching them how to hunt for bugs. After the kittens are weaned at about 8 weeks old the family begins to develop a more natural sleeping and eating pattern.

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FIDELITAS ET FORTITUDO

In my experience, observing a Skunk: RUN IN THE OPPOSITE DIECTION !!

i think you made right call and explained to him what the dangers could be always be prepared and expect the unexpected

Good information here about skunks I never knew. I once came across a mother skunk with a line of babies following her when running my Brittany out back here. We both stopped and let them cross with me having just a J frame and five shots and him haven't been sprayed once already. They weren't hurting anything and a long way from the house.
I generally leave critters alone unless they become a pest and have shot a number of varmints that were. My neighbor came and got me last year as a raccoon was in a tree next to her barn in broad daylight and not acting right. I shot it with my 10/22 International for her and used rubber gloves to put it in a plastic bag and then in a box out to the road for garbage pick up. I wanted to bury it but she was afraid her dog would dig it up and we were concerned about the possibility of it being rabid from it's behavior.
I won't kill an animal needlessly but only when they become a pest. I'd shoot the coyotes here if I got the chance though as they've become many now and need to be thinned out as we are their only real predator here. They've started to impact our rabbit and pheasant population now so I consider them a pest.

Everything you did sounds right to me. If the skunk comes at you, kill it. Otherwise, he's cool. I really would like to spend some time over a prairie dog town, to work on my bloodlust. Kill, kill, kill.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican, a devoted imperialist, a mad keen hunter, and a great conservationist. And I agree with Redneck Jim's post #34.

I've been a hunter and fisherman all my life, though my health no longer permits hunting. I've carried a gun concealed since very soon after it became legal in Kentucky. No one could consider me a liberal on the First and Second Amendments, or the Fourth, etc.

I live in a good-sized city in the lower Midwest, where we don't have porcupines but have plenty of coyotes, foxes, skunks, etc. I've never seen but one snake on the grounds of my apartment complex, and it was a garter snake about ten inches long; but there are copperheads and rattlesnakes not far away.

If I know a snake is harmless I leave it alone and appreciate having it around for pest control. If I know it's venomous and it isn't threatening me or my dog or my neighbors, it gets a pass. It's as useful as the harmless ones. Unless a skunk or fox or other critter is acting sick or otherwise abnormal, or is threatening me, I won't kill it. I see no reason to because it might contract rabies and might attack someone.

I guess there is a substantial part of me that believes that everything has a spirit, under one Great Spirit--a prominent belief in many so-called "primitive" cultures. If there is no need to kill I don't kill. I got past the practice of killing for sport anything I wouldn't eat, though I greatly enjoyed hunting for sport and food.

I'm sure my ideas of need differ from some of you, but I'll still live comfortably within my own beliefs.

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Oh well, what the hell.

I'd of shot it. Skunks eat pheasant and quail eggs, that right there is reason enough for me. My setter had a skunk pointed this last Sunday while out for a run, I tried to call her off but she dove in and killed it. Smelly ride home. I hate skunks!

Bill:

Thank you - you were the first reader to correctly ascertain my intentions in this scenario. I wish I had been better able to articulate my questions so that there was more clarity in what I was asking. I believe all life is sacred, and I only kill if I believe there is a legitimate reason to do so. I don't know if Mr. or Ms. Skunk even knew we were there - it certainly didn't act as if it did - but as long as s/he didn't bother us, I was fine with not bothering him or her.

Regards,

Dave

One afternoon, I had a skunk come out of the woods and walk right over a log pile on the side of a road that I had planned to sit and take a rest on. It then proceeded to walk right down the bush road at me.
Almost shot that one but it turned and went back into the woods. It got to about 40 yards from me before turning.

Hunting on a crop damage permit, once, I was standing behind a large, round, hay bale watching a field. I looked up and saw a skunk coming
right at me from my right. I picked another hay bale and moved over to
it. Looking around, I saw the skunk had changed course and was coming right at me again. Put the rifle up and the crosshairs on him then.
He kept coming long enough that I started squeezing the trigger, then
turned off and wandered off into the surrounding cedar swamp.

First time I saw him he was about 40 yards off in the cut alfalfa. He
was about 30 yards away when he changed direction and left the
area. Close as I've ever come to shooting a skunk.

Sears Optical Raccoon Commercial - "Here Kitty" - YouTube

Replace raccoon with skunk.

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Memory of Randy Freas-Rimfired

I have never had bad dreams after killing a skunk.
I understand all of the philosophy that has been presented--I just don't agree with much of it in practicality.
When I was younger--After a hurricane---I killed as many as 100 snakes (perhaps more) that were in my way while cutting a way for a surveying crew running a property line thru a palmetto field in a river bottom.
Never stopped to id the victims-never stopped to take assessment of the deed. the only thing I stopped for was to sharpen the brush hook that did the killing and a cig.
You do it your way.
Blessings

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TEXAS, by GOD

For what it is worth, I think maybe you also wish you had better articulated your response to your son. All you told him was correct however the first words you stated were a response to the worst possible scenario. Your statement to your son when asked what you were thinking was how quick could we kill this animal.

Of course you should do a threat assessment. But that should only last just a second or so. Maybe you could have used his question as a teaching moment. How would your son have responded if you had answered say something similar to below?

What was I thinking? I was thinking what a beautiful animal. Was wondering if you knew why it has such a broad white stripe down its back? Wondered if I had taught you to recognize the warnings it would give if we were bothering or threatening it? Wondered if you knew the animal was crepuscular and wondered if you knew what that meant. Wondered if I was prepared to shoot the animal if it acted aggressive or unusual, which of course it wasn't, but that any outdoorsman always is wary & performs a threat analysis.

As you stated, your son was unhappy with your response. My intent is not to criticize but to explain how maybe I would have handled the situation. But only because you asked. I have done similar with my God Kids, so have experience in these matters. My goal is to teach them & threat analysis is always a part... but just a part.

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FIDELITAS ET FORTITUDO

Well, sad to say, having lived through two 16-year olds, no matter what answer you give them, you're considered old and daft.

Agree 1000%. If you note, I don't mention training my own boys.

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FIDELITAS ET FORTITUDO

I read sometimes about how after an anti gun person is assaulted by a criminal they change their mind about owning a gun. I wonder how many people would decide that a skunk is not a cute furry Disney animal after they are sprayed or run over one with their car. Larry