It’s one of my favorite times of the year. You know, those late spring/early summer nights when you can sleep with the windows wide open. Overnight temps in the 50’s and 60’s are just ideal for those peaceful, restful nights when you can breathe in all that fresh country air. The sort of thing that helps cleanse the soul, right? Well, tonight when I went to bed at least that’s what I thought.
Nope, within five minutes the cool, fresh air helping to revive my tired body through a window only three feet away took on a hint of a very unpleasant odor. I was the first to notice it…but within 15 seconds my wife mentioned it, too. A SKUNK!
Well, to be honest with you the slight hint of skunk doesn’t bother me like it does many folks. In fact, it rather invokes some pretty pleasant hunting memories for me, I must say. What started out as a hint of this odiferous woods pussy suddenly took on a serious new meaning. Indeed, the odor wafting into the house quickly became so pungent that I immediately arose to shut every window…but alas, it was too late. The house transformed from an airy, fresh smell to that of a robust sulphur stench that was potent enough to curl my nose hairs. To keep this blog PG rated we won’t go into what my wife said to describe the situation.
I suspect a skunk either got hit by a car on the highway near our house or tried to get into my step-son's chicken coop. You see, we have a predator control system around the chicken house that consists of electric fence…so I can only image a skunk wandering into the area and shocked with some high voltage might release some stinky juice just to register his displeasure. It really doesn’t matter.
The point is I could sit here and relate skunk stories for a long time. My hunch is if you play this outdoors game long enough you are bound to have your share, too. Skunks are a part of our life as outdoorsmen, and we just learn to deal with them as best we can.
Back almost three years ago to the day I happened to blog about skunks (you can read about it be clicking HERE). In that post I wrote about one of my more memorable skunk encounters while out in Colorado hunting elk. Of course, last year for my April Fool’s blog post I wrote about a practical joke that was pulled with a dead skunk. (you can read about that incident HERE).
Like many sportsmen I’ve had my share of dogs sprayed by skunks…I’ve hit my share of skunks while driving on the road…I’ve even had more skunks than I care to think about get into my fox traps over the years.
I remember back when I first started bowhunting for deer it was a common practice at the time to use skunk essence as a masking odor to cover the human scent. Keep in mind, this was before the scent-blocking clothing hit the scene. We used Scent Vents which were nothing more than a pin-on container consisting of a wick to hold the scent. Arrive at our hunting location, we would screw open the vent exposing the odor…and then when we left the woods we could close the vent once again.
The problem generally was on those rare occasions when we forgot to close the container. You see, over time the human olfactory system sort of acclimates to the smell of skunk. Maybe a better way of putting it is the smeller simply is so overwhelmed by the stench it loses its sensitivity for other smells.
I still remember the time we decided to walk into the cafe after a morning hunt. Yea, you guessed it…we forgot to shut the damn scent vents we still wore on our hunting clothing. Never even gave it a thought. Oh, saying we got a few looks from others in the establishment might be an understatement. 
Of course, by the time we recognized our error we quickly shut the container, which by that time did little to mitigate the obnoxious odor.
No doubt about it skunks make an impact in our lives in a way unlike few other animals in nature. It’s one of the reasons that in my garage I have a bottle that sits on the shelf “just in case.” It’s a bottle of so-called “Skunk Remover.” Not sure if it works…as fortunately I’ve never had to use it. But it’s sort of like a fire extinguisher…the time you want one is generally about the same time you need one badly.
Truth be told I’m concerned more about skunks and the possibility of rabies than I am dealing with their stench. Yet, it’s the threat of getting sprayed that seems to send a shiver of fear up the spine for most outdoors folks. After all, the odor this critter creates is often no laughing matter…that is, of course, unless the encounter happens with someone else. 
2008 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.
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