ok i have heard of people skinning skunks.[] how is this possible? i have shot a few of them in are garbage and stuff and they always spray when i shoot them. is there a way to kill them without the smell? or do poeple put up with it?

I know that trappers used to skin them all of the time so there must be a way to do it without the stink. They had to dispatch them in some way and I' m sure they didn' t shoot them. Maybe one of the trappers on the board will have an answer.

Sometimes they spray and sometimes they don' t. That has been my experience. I have shot them in the head, the chest, it doesn' t matter, some of them spray and some of them don' t. I have caught them in conibears and some stink and some don' t. No rhyme or reason to it. As far as skinning, you just need to buck up and do it. No way to cut the smell once they have sprayed. After skinning wash the pelt in a mixture of peroxide, dawn dish soap, and baking soda.

http://www.humboldt.edu/~wfw2/skunkspray.shtml

Try this link. It gives chemical composition of skunk spray and how to get rid of it. I hope this helps.

Well, I' ve been skinning a bunch of skunks since land season opened. I shoot them in the head with a .22. They still spray; it must be a reflex. They' re going to stink pretty much no matter what you do. However, I find that if you wash them in a bucket of soapy water before skinning, it makes the smell milder. Also, spraying them with scent killer (my answer to all things[:-]) seems to help. Try to put them downwind of you while skinning. After you' ve done a few, you kinda get used to it, and it' s not as bad.

-Spike Buck

This is new one for me. I am assuming you can eat skunks as well. How do they taste? And noticed the word season. Does it have an bow and gun season or can you do both at same time? We have quite a few skunks out here so i am interested in this topic.

Well, I must confess that I' ve never eaten a skunk and never plan to. Skinning them is bad enough. Up here in Michigan, you can trap and hunt skunks all year. I just trap them, but you can hunt them with a bow or a gun. I' ve seen them once or twice while out deer hunting.

-Spike Buck

nobody said this yet but i heard to drown them is the way for them not to spray, thats what i have been told. never got a skunk in a trap yet and hope that i never will.

Whoever said that has obviously never tried it. I' ve read that too, somewhere, so I tried it the other day. I live trapped a skunk for my neighbor. I sneaked in to throw a tarp over (which, by the way, didn' t work either). Then I put it in the back of my dad' s truck and we took it down to the creek. We carried it to the bank and unrolled the tarp. The trap went in, the skunk swam around, and a second later these little oily bubbles come to the surface and start popping. Then came the smell. I didn' t think they could spray under water, but I guess I was wrong.[&:] I' m gonna try the shot through the lungs trick. I' ll write back if that works.

-Spike Buck

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