Ma, Something Doesn't Smell Right

Sunday evening when I fed the critters and shut the birds in the coop for the night it smelled a little like skunk in the barn. Every summer we have a skunk cruise through the place. We usually smell them in the night pass by. Overall we haven't had any problems with them staying.

Monday the Mrs. took care of the animals so I didn't know anything was amiss. Tuesday morning at work I received an email that said there was a skunk in the barn, for sure. So I responded back to root it out and kill it. I didn't find out until much later that the lads had thumped it a few times with their Red Rider BB guns. Much to the dislike of the odor maker.

So Tuesday evening eldest lad and I got a .22 rifle and a flash light to go deal with the skunk. We found the skunk and it was tangled up in an old fishing net that we had used for catching chickens and wild cats. It was in a small space between the hay stack and the feed bins. While we were observing M. Le Pew it worked itself around until its backside was in our direction and ready for smelly action. We departed quickly!

We had to round up the camera and get a picture for the blog. As you can see the skunk was a bit camera shy. After a couple pix eldest lad exited. Dad had to take care of it...

Now shooting a skunk and not making it dead instantly could be a smelly situation. I took the cautious man's route with a point blank to the head lead injection. I gingerly made sure it had expired before I hauled it and the net out of the barn. I carefully untangled it and disposed of it. The air in the barn was heavy with the odor. I never got sprayed but just being in there had made my clothes skunky. My minor contact with two fingers at arms length had my hands stinking. I washed with soap, I washed with rubbing alcohol and I still had the faint essence of skunk the next day on my hands.

That is some serious stank! It was a young fellow by the size of it. I can't image what it would be like to have one several years old with lots of ammo. As usual there is never a dull moment around the farm. DMP