I'll just admit it now. I made a bed on the drywall spackled subfloor in the house last night with the dogs. The 8 y/o drama queen terrier was starting to panic. His shrill yip could be hear by neighbors.
Its funny skunks are not aggressive but if you scare them I guess they will squirt you. I have walked four feet behind a skunk across the yard hollering get out of my yard, he wasn't running, he wasn't scared no problem, If I was to run at it I would probably be a stinky
I've walked up 4 feet from a whole family and told them to go away and and they just mosey on as if to say, f you, were not going any faster
Maybe they sense I mean them no harm or maybe the skunks around here are just weird. I have had some that trot away but they never spray
I've always heard that they won't spray if they're near their food supply or their den. But... I'm OK not trying to find out.
I gained a fear of bees a few years ago when the Yellow Jackets attacked me, I was bent over pulling some old wood out of a pile they were in the ground they came right out in my face, got stung about 40 times face and body, ran in the house peeled off my clothes, got in the shower and had trouble breathing for a few minutes, the burning and itching took a couple of weeks to go away. That was no fun at all. I took the gallon gas out there and, I burned and I burned and I burned
Thank goodness you did not severe allergies from the stings and survived that!! Yellow Jackets, Yikes Must have been painful, sorry. Many years ago when we had llamas my husband said there were "ground bees" in the llama's corral. I was not able to go see nor did I wan't to, but I saw he grabbed the gas can from the garage before going back down there...Great minds think alike.
Man HD... you unfortunately lived my worst nightmare! That had to be awful. I was very lucky this spring while out pulling stuff off the grandkids playhouse. On the 4th old rope I was cutting off at ground level, I noticed a 1/2" hole in the dirt about 18" from my head. I snapped upright, stepped back and watched for a while. Sure enough, yellow jacket front door. They had a large paper ball nest in the cavity left from a squirrel hole. Took a few chem attacks at night to get em. Never got zapped this time... I sure should have... very lucky. And, lucky to have found them before the kids did. I now do the rounds at home and at camp, in early June, when the queens are making the original golfball size nests... and zap em. Very hard tho to find the ground bastidges... hate YJ. They're the worst. Been hit many times over the years.
Stinny, the next time you find a ground nest, wait till dark and then dump alittle diesel fuel down the hole and cover the entrance with some dirt. Problem over. What doesn't burn them from contact, the fumes finish off. The kero in the diesel hits them just like acid. Instant bye-bye.
My male boxer took a direct hit 2 yrs ago, and this was his first experience with a skunk. The adrenaline rush from the chase only lasted like 1 minute after being hit, his head was totally soaked from the spray. Just after getting him to the porch to look at him he took on a seizure, lasted a couple mins. When he came around I started to clean him, I can't remember the recipe but it had vinegar , tomatoe sauce and baking soda in it. After the ordeal I researched dogs getting skunked, worst part I saw was some dogs died because of allergic reactions and other health complications. The skunk hasn't been around since then but even today I put the spot lights on and look out before I let him out at night.
Had a skunk come up on our deck last year looking for spilled birdseed. He was about 20' away. Had Giz on a leash and let her shriek. The skunk ran down off the further steps, turned around and came right back to the seeds, then turned and left. No spray. Haven't seen him since. Maybe Giz's bionic shrieking made him deaf...