The dreaded day has finally come...
After about a month-long drought, we finally caught another skunk! When I approached the trap, though, I noticed a Townsend's chipmunk running all over the trap and harassing the animal within. Most of the trap had been uncovered, and I immediately saw the little beady eyes of a western spotted skunk staring back at me. Angrily, he stomped at me as I approached the trap to check if he was already ear tagged and collared. Indeed, he had a collar, so I flipped on the receiver and patiently went through all of our frequencies. It turns out we had recaptured SG-001 all the way over on the other side of our study area! He's the first skunk we caught on this project, and we needed to check and see if his antenna was still in good shape. The antenna of some of the other collars have broken off, making it nearly impossible to track the skunk.
So, it was imperative that I check it while we had him in hand. As I got even closer to SG-001 to inspect his antenna, he stomped more furiously than ever. Still unable to see his antenna, I backed off to let him settle down. I went on and checked the remainder of the traps in the trap line to give him some extra time. Up to this point, signals from his collar were still very strong so when I returned, I decided I would release him and check his antenna as he crawled out of the trap. As I approached once again, SG-001 was still very agitated. He swung his tail out through the bars on the Tomahawk, warning me not to get any closer. I tried to talk him down, but as I reached to open the trap gate, direct hit on my hand! I quickly tried to slide the metal bar in to prop the gate open, but he got me once again! I could feel the stinky droplets hit my sleeve. The concentrated stinky smell filled my nostrils in a flash. I backed away quickly, hoping I had propped open the gate enough, but as I turned back, the gate was only slightly ajar. Not nearly enough for the skunk to get through. This meant I had to go back once again and reposition the metal bar. Still staring at me from the back of the trap, I quickly repositioned the metal bar, but by this time, I had given up all hope that I would get away without another spraying episode, and he got me a third time. Defeated, I crawled up slope of the trap and watched as SG-001 slowly and cautiously sauntered out of the trap with his antenna still fully in tact. As soon as he was out of the trap, he bounded away with vigor.
And with that, I was baptized into the skunk research world.
I'm sure you're all wondering, how do skunk researchers get rid of the stench?! Here's my recipe for people who have to share living quarters with another human. It doesn't get rid of the stench completely, but it does a good enough job!
The Sacred De-skunking Recipe
Combine all of these ingredients:
1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup of baking soda
1 teaspoon of Dawn dish soap
Water (optional)
Dunk and lather all sprayed items and body parts thoroughly in this solution. Make sure to scrub well. Repeat until your nose has gone nose blind. Whatever you do, don't bathe in tomato juice! It will just add mask the scent for a few hours, and you'll be dealing with the problem later.