A Pungent Reminder I DON'T Live On the Coast Any More

[46er]

Had a dog years ago that never did learned to leave skunks alone.
I really like skunks, they've saved me from many ground wasp stings. There is a big hole out back right now where the skunks dug out a nest last week.
VIVA Conepatus leuconotus and Mephitis mephitis!!!
[h3][/h3]

 

[Lance Boyle]

When I retired from law enforcement on the coast of North Carolina I'd decided years ago I wanted to move to the mountains. Why you might ask? (Many have.) No hurricanes and lower temperatures and humidity! What I had not thought about three years ago when we made the move was the different critters we were going to run into which is the point of this story. Do you know what we used to have on the coast but no longer have? SKUNKS! Ordinarily not a problem. We see them dead on the road or wandering around at night around here and avoid them accordingly. My wife gives me frequent admonitions to "close the garage so they don't wander in!" Duly noted!
All has been well for the last three years until the night before last when I went to bed around 2300. My wife and daughter were still up. They let the dogs out to use the back yard one last time and suddenly I smelled something REALLY bad and heard a yell from the wife. Up I jump from bed! My female lab has gotten a (fortunately) very light and indirect hit. Into the shower she goes. Not what I was planning on doing that night! Still love it here, but I guess sometimes you have to pay to play! lol

Ha! I don't have dogs only due to allergies but I totally remember that growing up. Our yellow lab was a brute, he would come back with all sorts of dead critters. We'd toss them and he'd find them and roll in the rotten stink some more. God forbid he find some road kill deer. The dog farts were chemical warfare! Skunks were usually an annual summer occurrence. He was smart enough to not get filled with quills.

My biggest aww damn is turning out the lights to crawl in to bed and then notice the garage is still lit up. I'd see the light all night and it'd annoy me so off I go in my boxers out to the detached garage to turn the lights off. Did that routine 2 nights ago.

 

[Pisgah]

Your neighbors know the truth... you brought the skunks with you! NOT a good way to make friends...

 

[hemiram]

I lived for 35 years in the "Skunk Triangle" which was an area along the border of Toledo and Maumee, Ohio, bordered by the now gone Toledo Terminal RR or now Ohio Turnpike on one side, S. Detroit Ave, on the other, and River Rd. The experts claimed that at it's peak, over 250 Skunks were living in the area. Every night, there would be at least one "stink session", some nights it would never stop until dawn. The local DNR was going to do a mass cull of the Skunks, planning on offing 125 of them. People went crazy, and the plan was soon dropped. About that time, the West Nile virus came through the first time, doing what the DNR was going to do, and reducing the Skunk population greatly, along with Blue Jays, Cardinals, Crows, Pileated Woodpeckers, and some other birds. Gone were the huge, very agressive Blue Jays that used to attack dogs that came too close to their nests, and seemed to just enjoy killing Sparrows. The smaller birds of the above species seemed to be less affected. The skunk population came back faster than the birds, but instead of the traditional "standard" skunks, they seemed to mostly be replaced by the "swirly" Spotted skunks I had rarely seen in the Toledo area before. I used to see a lot of them in the Columbus area. The standard Skunks hung around with cats a lot, it doesn't seem like the swirlies do, but maybe I just didn't see them together. It took a while, but before I moved away in '17, the big birds came back again, the Blue Jays were murdering Sparrows again, too. Along with them came the "Standard" Skunks. I was over there about 2 weeks ago at night, and I saw at least 3 Skunks running across River Rd alone. The stench was bad that night. It seems like the Swirlies are a little more prone to "Let it fly" than the Standards.

Standard Skunk:

Swirly Skunk:

 

[Doug M.]

Most of our rotties liked cats. Mack LOVED them. He tried to treat a skunk in the back yard like a cat, with predictably bad results. It was not a fun cleaning project.