Groundhog devastation: You were really right. The VarmintWife and I were out in our yard working on the lawn when the VarmintDog started snapping at a pile of bricks on a pallet in the neighbors back yard. I proceed over there and I hear this jaw snapping and clacking going on incessantly from inside the pallet. The pallet had tall grass growing through it.
I am at first sure it must be a Badger and send the VarmintWife for my Varmint Rifle and ammo. I took the dog to his kennel to calm down.
Once back at the scene I am loading the wrong Varmint Rifle (the wife had brought the Ruger 10/22 instead of the Ruger 77/17V) with ammo when out from the pallet comes a large Skunk with tail erect! We were about 15 feet away but we quickly retreated to 40 feet and I shot and dispatched said Skunk! Head shots do keep them from spraying their awful musk about!
The neighbors have also been complaining also regarding the middle of the night Skunk smells awakening them. Well hopefully the Skunk problems will diminish now.
On my drive home from Butte, Montana through Twin Bridges and then to Dillon (75 miles) last night I am estimating that at least 20 Skunks were seen killed on the roadways! Must be the new of the year learning about cars!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VarmintGuy,



Truly a great read and being a predator trapper hear in the corn patch of eastern Iowa (skunk capital of the US) I know these nasty odiferous pests well. They always seem to find there way into my best coyote and fox sets before the predator does. A well placed 22 HP in the spine in the middle of the back can sometime keep them from releasing their calling card all over. Some time I will dispatch the skunk and set another trap right near by. Skunk is wonderful as winter wears on and bitter cold sets in. The smell will call in the coyotes from quite a way and make them easy to trap in a near by set "preferably set up-wind of the dead skunk". 2 years ago I figure the score was TrapperTrent 50 and Skunks 0. I would like to turn that number around 100% this season because they really stink up a trap and the only way to get the smell out is to bury the trap in a muddy creek for a month or so and then re-boil the trap in logwood dye.



This is my first post on this forum and hope to have many more. Any time you want more skunks you are always welcome hear in Eastern Iowa.



Sincerely,

Trent B. Pearson

AKA TrapperTrent



Born in the country

Work like a slave

Predator Trapping is all that I crave!

TrapperTrent: Welcome to the forum! I hope you enjoy the conversations here!
My wife just returned from town after 2 hours of shopping and on the county road between our home and town a Skunk was dead in the middle of the road on her way home. It was not there on here trip to town so something about this time of year at this elevation really has the Skunks moving. They are starting to cut some of the fields around here so maybe they are being displaced somehow.
Anyway the last few weeks have really seen an upturn in Skunk activity around here.
I have a close friend and trapper type who lives about 60 miles from me. He "de-scents" his traps by boiling them in a stew made of water and young Alder sapplings cut up and put in the boiling water. This turns his traps black also which may be part of his reasoning. Anyway he only handles the traps after the boiling with new rubber gloves on to keep them human scent free.
I have not done much trapping in my life having only caught a few Beaver and Muskrat and several Mink out in Washington state when I was a teenager.
Great hobby/pastime for you I hope!
Again welcome aboard and do you have any thoughts on the recent upswing in Skunk activity around here all of a sudden?
Hold into the wind
Varmintguy

great story Dale!

Just so you know, the 16 years I had a place out in the wilds of Texas I waged a constant war against skunks. Never did wipe them out and I got pretty "creative" with my attacks.

My son hates them as bad as I do and when he came on one, he would kill it throwing rocks if a gun weren't handy. It seems they wouldn't run from a rock attack but go into a bush and try to hold him off. He just circled away from the business end of them and bounced rocks off them until they gave it up. I never had to make him sleep out in the trees.