Posted: 5/22/2006 9:49:08 AM EDT
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Skunks Midwest house in the woods being built. Garbage on the weekends got buried. Before long, every day about dusk this skunk would come to the 'clearing' near the road and pig out. The dog was none too happy with this, and we didn't want the hassle. So a stake-out went down with a borrowed 12 gauge. We had his path down, and hid behind a big oak about 15 feet off-trail. And waited. And waited. There were couple of remarks about the skunk being late, and we waited some more. Then thinking something was seriously wrong, I took a look behind us, and maybe 5 yards away there was the skunk heading straight for us, way off his usual path. ********** Another time, we stopped by a lake to let the dog crap & pee. I walked him out on a small point, off-leash, and then while he was doing his thing, I noticed a couple of skunks maybe 10 yards away. As soon as the dog (who hadn't noticed them yet) lowered his leg, I called him back and we headed back to the lot. At that point, I noticed that the skunks (this was at mid-day, BTW) that had been travelling at an angle away from us, had turned and were headed straight at us, still a distance away. I tossed some small rocks and the one ran off, but the other one kept straight towards us, even changing it's path when we did. About that time the dog finally noticed the one skunk and went after it - he would NOT be called back  Well, it was a very unpleasant ride in the station wagon. We finally found a motel that would take us, had an outside shower. But let me tell you -- six big cans of tomato juice didn't help THAT much.********** One campground we used to stay at had lots of skunks, but they usually stayed out of the campsite until after the fire was out, the lantern was off, and everyone was in the tent. This one night, as I was putting the cooking gear away and cleaning up, the fire was going pretty good and the Coleman was hissing away full blast. In walks a skunk, and I thought I chased him off. Soon he was back. Tossed something at him, and he ra n off a few feet, then came back. Repeat. And again. This kept up for a good 20 minutes or so until I finished, put the fire out, turned off the lanern, and retired to the tent. Persistent little %@$%. These little critters are smart and not easy to discourage. |