Seek advice on photographing skunks
Aug 18, 2019 11:41:52 #
Aug 18, 2019 11:43:42 #
Redmond wrote:
be upwind, be careful if the skunk facing you
Ha! Be grateful if he's facing you, careful if he's not!
Aug 18, 2019 12:21:57 #
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?
Most likely not but then you are asking humans who don't generally spray. I don't have much experience with skunks, a couple of times was quite enough for me. But skunks are smart enough to realize their enemies are some other type of animal, not clicking and lights going off. I think you will be just fine. Good luck.
Dennis
Aug 18, 2019 12:44:20 #
TheShoe
Loc: Lacey, WA
Years ago I was eating lunch at a picnic area on the Current River when some skunks came right inside the fenced in area. A ranger told me that since they did not stink they were undoubtedly females. He said that you could tell because the males might spray just for the hell of it, without being threatened, and there was always some of the spray that hit their fur. If you don't smell it at all, it is probably a female because they have a tendency to use their spray very conservatively; it might be needed to defend her young.
Aug 18, 2019 12:59:45 #
RJWagons
Loc: Lake Ridge Virginia
Amazes me with all the answers. Some may be correct but the truth is no one knows what the skunk will do. Good luck.
Aug 18, 2019 13:04:31 #
RJWagons wrote:
Amazes me with all the answers. Some may be correct but the truth is no one knows what the skunk will do. Good luck.
I guess the truth is that n one knows what any person or animal will at any given time.
But we can know the usual tendencies, can't we?
Aug 18, 2019 13:04:37 #
sxrich wrote:
i think most of the responses are accurate. But, h... (show quote)
I too reside in Chester County, but not that close to West Chester, although it's only 10 minutes away by 202. So, how successful were you with cleaning your dog with tomato juice? Although tomato juice may be mildly effective at cleaning skunk, you will probably get use to the smell sooner than the juice will cancel the odor. Best way to clean a dog that mistakenly cornered a skunk; a mixture of apple cider vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, liquid soap and some baking soda. This concoction will nutralize the odor and clean the dog.
My worst skunk encounter was years ago when I was a teen. I took the new 1974 Country Squire to the store one evening and I accidentally ran over a skunk. The poor animal was pretty much flattened and it's guts, including scent gland, were splattered all over the cars dual exhaust system. Talk about an odor that just kept on giving. After numerous trips thru the car wash, it got better but it took quite some time for the odor to completely go away.
Aug 18, 2019 13:31:40 #
We have a perennial family of them living under our garden house...varying from 1 to 7. I have an amusing collection of videos and stills..But, I use a game camera (ir). After the novelty period (one or two nights) , parents and kits all ignored the cameras (it was focussed on the nest entry and immediate area). Skunks hear badly, see worse, and seek by smell. So, you shouldn't have a significant problem. If they aren't residents, might take a couple of nights. But, beware! Where you have skunks, you usually have raccoons ..they are curious and. Can be hard on expensive equipment! Have fun!
Aug 18, 2019 13:38:12 #
I"m going back many years - so checking your phone for quick solutions wasn't an option. Even the internet was kind of newer technology so I had heard about tomato juice being effective - alkaline/base neutralization by acidic solution ie tomato juice - not perfect but 5 applications for a couple of hours helped. We also tried dish washing liquid, peroxide and anything else we had heard about. Also, we are talking maybe 1am in morning so thankfully there was a "Wawa" close by to buy the stuff we needed. Do I think tomato juice is the best solution - I don't know, not something I study all the time. Ironically, it happened again a couple of weeks later. Same skunk, same bushes. Imagine watching someone in their backyard, 110 lb yellow lab in a baby pool with a person, a hose and a stink that would gag a maggot. Standing next to a dog that was just sprayed is not fun. And, the in-laws were due to visit the next day.
Aug 18, 2019 14:23:35 #
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?
We have a lot of skunks on the ranch that wander into the yard to clean up around bird feeders or steal dog food. The dogs have learned that a skunk's spray range is about 20 feet and stay out of range (after the first encounter).
We live trap the really annoying ones and relocate them to a park several miles away. We bait the trap with a hard boiled egg which they really seem to like.
bwa
Aug 18, 2019 14:58:26 #
Aug 18, 2019 15:18:33 #
Amadeus
Loc: New York
Skunks don't like to spray. It is their last ditch effort at defense. They are reluctant to spray because it takes 8 hours to rejuvenate that defense mechanism.
Aug 18, 2019 17:19:57 #
I can sympathize. We (my then wife and daughter) had two wolf hybrids, both quite domestic and well trained. We happened to take them to the then in-laws' farm. Of the two, one, a wolf/Malamute mix was not the brightest bulb on the tree and definitely the beta in the canine pecking order. She decided to go after a skunk that wandered near the house and got well sprayed. The stench was overpowering. She got a tomato juice bath twice and rode home in the back of our pickup truck. The other dog was a distant observer of the whole event. She was the alpha.
Aug 18, 2019 17:42:31 #
Mr Bill 2011
Loc: southern Indiana
Skunks aren't the brightest animals in the world; they probably equate the flash to lightning, and go on about their business.
Aug 18, 2019 19:42:35 #
josquin1
Loc: Massachusetts
Be careful as rabies has decimated the skunk and raccoon populations here in New England. Used to see many many skunks at night now very few. I don't know about rabies in the LA area but here it's rampant.
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