Every time we drive down the road somewhere, we see them dead critters, including rabbits, squirrels, opossums, raccoons, groundhogs, skunks, and deer. I’m not sure which one of those critters leads in the numbers game, but skunks certainly hold their own when it comes to getting in the way of a moving vehicle. Whacking one with your car is certainly something you want to avoid, but you also don’t want to encounter one while out for a stroll, which brings me to my next point.
A couple of days ago, I stepped outside my front door and immediately noticed a skunk coming from my neighbor’s front yard and heading into my front yard. It was mid-afternoon, and the skunk was on a steady pace coming in my direction. I jumped behind the large pin oak tree and decided I would take a video of the skunk with my phone as it passed by; I didn’t know that it was going to come right up to the other side of the tree I was behind. Fortunately, it continued to walk on by, seemingly not noticing me, and I kept filming. The skunk eventually headed out to the road and on up the hill — close call.
I remember years ago when I wasn’t so lucky. I walked through a freshly plowed field while heading out to set up for an early morning goose hunt, and it was still dark. As I walked along, my foot seemed to catch on a hunk of sod, so I gave it a kick. You guessed it; it wasn’t a sod. I returned home immediately, but my wife wouldn’t let me anywhere near the house. I burned the raincoat and washed down in a washtub out in the yard. Trust me; you don’t want to get sprayed by a skunk.
It’s no secret that skunks are armed with a potent defensive weapon. It’s probably a good thing for the skunk that they have another weapon since they are rather sluggish and clumsy when they walk, so fleeing predators would be difficult.
Skunks have a pair of well-developed scent glands that lie beneath the skin on either side of the rectum. These glands have nozzle-like ducts protruding through the anus. The potent scent is sprayed through the nozzles with a strong hip muscle contraction. The yellowish fluid is “highly repellent” to all mammals, or in other words, it really stinks. If sprayed in the eyes, this musk can make a predator sick or even cause temporary blindness. A skunk can spray up to twelve feet, but it is usually only used as a last resort since a skunk tries to bluff an enemy instead.
Like a lot of other animals, skunks are becoming a lot more active right now as males search for mates. Skunks do not actually hibernate, although they may remain in a den throughout the winter. In true hibernation, the body temperature drops considerably, but a skunk’s body temperature remains near normal throughout the winter. Skunks tend to be more nocturnal and are usually not out roaming in the open in broad daylight. They also tend to prefer farming areas rather than densely forested mountain regions.
Skunks can often be found feeding in cornfields, pastures, fencerows, and brushy borders along waterways, where they look for grasshoppers, grubs, and beetles.
Not a lot of wild animals feed on skunks. Foxes, coyotes, and bobcats may take an occasional skunk, but it’s not likely high on the menu. Certainly, on occasion, a dog may go after a skunk, and I don’t have to tell you what kind of a fiasco that turns into. Interestingly the great horned owl will take a skunk, but that’s because they lack a well-developed sense of smell.
In the meantime, don’t kick any sods when you are walking through a field in the dark!
