I have been after these Skunks for about a month now! They have been spraying my dog and spraying at night close to my house to where it makes it impossible to sleep! At least 15 times in the last month they have sprayed their obnoxious spray into the air at around 3:00 AM in the morning. For who knows what reason? This smell is so overpowering that it wakes the family up and keeps us awake til the offensive air is cleared by the rare midnight winds. Our dog you think would know better and stay away from the "Black ones" but no! He loves to flush Rabbits from our yard and lawn and the surrounding fields. He can't catch the Rabbits but loves to smell them out! He might be confusing the Skunks with the swift Rabbits around here? He has now been sprayed by Skunks 3 times! The latest time was about 10 days ago. I let him out at 10:30 PM to do his evening business and he took only two steps from the front porch and then he took off in full flight at a large Skunk not 50 feet from the door! My commands went unheeded and the VarmintDog hit that Skunk like a rabid linebacker sacking an NFL quarterback! Not before that Skunk spewed forth his horrible musk hitting the dog somehow coming at him at 30 MPH! It was a miserable two hours of cleansing the slow learning dog! The Skunk got away that night as well as several other times when they were spotted but got hidden before I got my Rifle and began the stalks.

Well tonight I saw a Skunk in the field next to my house and quickly retrieved my #1 go to Skunk getter these days, my Ruger 77/17V in caliber 17 HMR! By the time I caught up with the Skunk he was 75 yards from the drive I was on and I decided to shoot from the sitting position. As I was getting down I saw a second Skunk about 10 yards beyond the first. I had no sling on the Ruger and took extra time to let the heavy barrel and the crosshairs settle on the furthest Varmint! The Skunk went down at the shot but the nearer Skunk took off perpindicular to my position and heading for taller grass. I missed him the first shot and that sped him up a bit more! Then on the second shot I hit him a good one and put one more shot into him as his tail was up. Then all was still. I will bury them tomorrow when the sun first comes up. One of the two (I am sure it was the second one) cut loose with his foul smelling odor and I wanted out of that field.

I should have waited for the second one to slow down as they usually do not run to far before slowing. I could have gotten a better first shot then and maybe saved the smell from happening.

That 17 HMR is sure a fine Varmint round - no worries about holdover at 75 - 85 yards and lots of knockout power.

I hope that will be the end of the Skunk problems this summer!

Hold into the wind

VarmintGuy

VG, There's more where them came from!!! Be on the look out!!! Skunks can be great test subjects for bullet appraisal work! Sometimes the results don't lend themselves too well for pics though! Not the results of the shot....just tolerating the results! The 153 yard shot with the 159 grain Groove bullet from the 300SAUM was one of those! (aim point was that little dark circle under the raised tail! Exit was just under the jaw! Black and white covered skin with nothing left inside was the result! Then there was the one that showed up 150 yards behind the shooting bench when testing the 243AI! 58 grain VMAX's at 3700+ up side the head render a skunk pretty daggone dead!!! GHD

Glad we only have skunks in zoos over here.

VarmintGuy...

Growing up, we always had chickens. There was a constant battle between myself and various vermin that wanted to eat the chickens and their eggs. Quite a few raccoons were shot with an old, bolt action .22, but I fondly remember the skunks, as well. These I'd catch with a Havahart trap -- now there is a cruel twist on a name. My younger brother would sneak up behind the trap with a tarp, and gingerly lift the lid -- hee, hee...younger brothers...they always get the crap jobs. I'd be waiting at a very safe distance away with my grandfather's octagonal barrel Winchester .30-30, and when the skunk would exit post haste, they would come to an unfortunate end. I'm sure you can imagine the effects of a .30-30 on a skunk at 35 yards. I remember a smell resembling burnt mustard and onions, and my mother being mildly annoyed at the smell up by the house. What's kind of interesting is that she was more upset by the smell, and less upset that my brother was just outside of my line of fire and about 10 yards away from the skunk when I blew it to smithereens. That was not a safety practice I'd recommend. Yes, I think the .17HMR is a better skunk round, although perhaps not as...final.

Groundhog devastation: You are a prophet? My wife told me this morning that she was awoken (awakened?) by Skunk smell that came and went at 0200 hours this morning a full 6 hours after I bonked those other two Skunks! Apparently you are right there is at least one more out there!
I will keep the Skunk getter handy.
A Texas Heart Shot on a Skunk! Good job there GHD!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Got_the_bug: It is amazinig that we all made it through boyhood! I can recall some real close calls in my youth!
Thankfully you and the rest of us made it.
Yeah a 30/30 on Skunks that should have tumbled them real well.
I hope that old octagon barreled Winchester is still in the family somewhere!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy