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Seek advice on photographing skunks
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Aug 18, 2019 07:19:35   #
billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont
 
Los-Angeles-Shooter wrote:
I am able to set up a camera and strobe, either remotely triggered or triggered by the critter. Question: Will the camera clicking or the strobe cause the skunk to be startled and spray?


If the skunk sees your camera as a threat to it, it will spray.
Some don't seem to care. Some are startled for a moment, but go on with what they've been doing. Some are thrown into a total panic. To some extent, the reaction depends on the distance and brightness of the flash. Close bright lights trigger far more of a reaction that dim distant ones.

I can't promise that your skunk won't be different, but if you search the photo archives on flickr, you'll find a few photos where the caption claims that the skunk didn't mind a flash.

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Aug 18, 2019 07:40:07   #
Ollieboy
 
sxrich wrote:
i think most of the responses are accurate. But, here is a story of a skunk spraying. Never in my life have i experienced a stench such as this. I lived in southeastern Pennsylvania at the time, West Chester. I had some small woods behind the house with some bushes. My in-laws were visiting the next day from Pittsburgh. I bring out my yellow lab at midnight for his last walk. Unfortunately he finds the skunk in some bushes and gets sprayed right in the face. The weather was cool and people were sleeping with their windows open. The stench started waking people up and you could smell it a few blocks away. So, at 1am, I'm in the backyard with bottles of tomato juice washing my dog. I'm sure the dog provoked the skunk but getting up close and personal with a skunk I will never forget. I won't even test the odds regardless. Buy a picture!
i think most of the responses are accurate. But, h... (show quote)


Open a Corona beer. Smells like a skunk is in the bottle.😁😁😁

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Aug 18, 2019 08:24:28   #
Architect1776 Loc: In my mind
 
Los-Angeles-Shooter wrote:
I am able to set up a camera and strobe, either remotely triggered or triggered by the critter. Question: Will the camera clicking or the strobe cause the skunk to be startled and spray?


Get real close and poke them with a stick to get their attention. Great shots should be available.
Make sure you have a partner there with a camera at a distance to catch the action.

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Aug 18, 2019 08:41:46   #
lsaguy Loc: Udall, KS, USA
 
Ziggy, our pitbull, really had to go out late one night. I've been training her to take herself out and come right back so I just opened the door and gave her instructions to come right back. She came back in less than a minute stinking of skunk. I washed her and washed her and even now over a month later she still stinks!! I do not let her out alone anymore. No one was hurt and my wife and I now view it as just one more experience with critters. We can even laugh about it, now, but at the time.....my goodness that's a powerful stench.
Good luck with your photography.

Rick

PS Years ago just after I moved back to Kansas in the early 70's I was coming home from work one night when I spotted a group of kittens and baby skunks chasing bugs around the base of a streetlamp. I sat and watched them play together for about 30 minutes. Right up there with every cute thing I've ever seen critters do.

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Aug 18, 2019 08:47:50   #
aschweik Loc: NE Ohio
 
[quote=Gene51]If you happen to get sprayed, it's best to ignore the folkloric remedy of bathing in tomato juice. Washing, bathing, using a mix of hydrogen peroxide, liquid dish detergent and baking soda. The baking soda will neutralize the acidic sulfur compounds and the peroxide will oxidize the thiols that are responsible for the odor in the skunk juice, and the detergent will dissolve any oils.


Without a doubt the best way to get rid of skunk smell. We used to live in a suburb that was notorious for it's skunks. We had a dog who never learned to stay away and got sprayed a zillion times. We used that mix so many times and it really does work. He barely smelled when we brought him in the house, especially after he dried off. By the next day the only way you could smell skunk even just a little was if you put your nose right into his fur. So if anyone has a dog that likes to make friends with the local skunks, that ingredient list is the way to go.

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Aug 18, 2019 08:58:40   #
Mncarpenter
 
Los-Angeles-Shooter wrote:
I am able to set up a camera and strobe, either remotely triggered or triggered by the critter. Question: Will the camera clicking or the strobe cause the skunk to be startled and spray?


This little fella was out in the horse pasture rooting for grubs/bugs. Taken from about 25’, and I was downwind. The skunk knew I was there but showed little concern.I didn’t threaten him and followed him for a little while, but maintained my distance. Even when the horses in the pasture started to chase him, he just ran off.


(Download)


(Download)

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Aug 18, 2019 08:59:58   #
olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida
 
Pepe La Pew rides again!!! Love is in the air.... oh wait, that's not love I smell. . . ........

I've seen one or two on occasion over the years, but pretty rare around my place, I'm more concerned with Coyotes and Feral Hogs, occasional Bear, Florida Panther.....

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Aug 18, 2019 09:20:00   #
CatMarley Loc: North Carolina
 
Los-Angeles-Shooter wrote:
I am able to set up a camera and strobe, either remotely triggered or triggered by the critter. Question: Will the camera clicking or the strobe cause the skunk to be startled and spray?


Skunks are pretty self confident animals. A skunk lived under my daughter's deck. Often when we were having an evening meal on the deck, she would emerge and waddle off across the yard on her nightly patrol for food. She raised a litter there. We never smelled anything unpleasant, and she never paid any attention to us. She was just a neighbor who minded her own business. Just a camera shutter would hardly have gained her notice. A flash might have annoyed her momentarily, but I doubt she would have spooked. She certainly did not mind having a whole family of humans tramping on her roof!

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Aug 18, 2019 09:43:04   #
nikon_jon Loc: Northeast Arkansas
 
Many are not aware that the skunk doesn't like to use his odor anymore than others like it. There are people who have kept pet skunks without having their scent glands removed. It is usually only under extreme circumstances that a skunk will spray. If it is threatened by a predatory animal or a human that it perceives as a danger it will likely let you have it.

Some years ago I was helping a friend clean up where an old farm shed had collapsed. When we picked up a section of wall covered with tin, there was a mama skunk under there with 4 little ones. I held the tin up while he took a long stick and gently nudged the mama until she left the scene. We finished the job, leaving the little ones alone and left. The next day they were all gone. I think your gear is safe. You might want to look into some skunk insurance, though, in case you flash a particularly panicky skunk. LOL

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Aug 18, 2019 09:58:14   #
Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada
 
Use a really good macro lens.

Dik

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Aug 18, 2019 10:38:25   #
tropics68 Loc: Georgia
 
Los-Angeles-Shooter wrote:
I am able to set up a camera and strobe, either remotely triggered or triggered by the critter. Question: Will the camera clicking or the strobe cause the skunk to be startled and spray?


Use a very long lens!

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Aug 18, 2019 10:38:46   #
sxrich
 
My dog was sprayed and I was in the backyard washing with tomato juice. It certainly helped. Don't tell me it's a myth. Did I also utilize some other ingredients - sure. But, 5 bottles of TJ later, the dog was somewhat passable.

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Aug 18, 2019 10:43:51   #
sxrich
 
Also, don't ever think you can predict the behavior of a wild animal. You can't. You could get lucky a hundred times in a row and the very next time something happens. Go for it though! I'll tell you what though, smelling skunk spray up close is beyond anything you will ever smell.

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Aug 18, 2019 10:47:35   #
Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada
 
sxrich wrote:
My dog was sprayed and I was in the backyard washing with tomato juice. It certainly helped. Don't tell me it's a myth. Did I also utilize some other ingredients - sure. But, 5 bottles of TJ later, the dog was somewhat passable.


Surprising how long it lingers...

Dik

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Aug 18, 2019 11:36:26   #
Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.
 
[quote=sxrich]Also, don't ever think you can predict the behavior of a wild animal. You can't. You could get lucky a hundred times in a row and the very next time something happens. Go for it though! I'll tell you what though, smelling skunk spray up close is beyond anything you will ever smell.

That sounds like you're describing the human animal.

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