So this past November, an apparently huge population of war-like skunks decided to attack our house. The war began with an extreme hosing of the utility room area, which drifted to the rest of the house, the night before we were to leave for the PBR finals. As such, pretty much all of our clothes, our shoes, my computer case, the whole enchilada smelled strongly, and I do mean strongly, of skunk. Once we got to Vegas, we went through approximately a gallon of Extra-Strength Febreeze in a mostly vain attempt to battle the stench...
Fast forward a few days. We got home, only to discover that the house had been hosed again. Speaking of reeking! This second, totally unprovoked barrage elicited what some people might think is an extreme reaction, but I don't think so: I went on the offensive...
Out in my shop are an assortment of various sizes of traps. After a scouting expedition around the perimeter of the house, I discovered that the varmint's main means of ingress and egress to the underside of the house were two tunnels, one behind and one befront. It wasn't long before each of the two tunnels was ringed with traps, nor was it long before the first of the ninjas was captured and executed...
I'm getting ahead of myself here, just a skosh. I set the traps on a Thursday afternoon. Friday morning when I got up, there was a skunk in one of the traps behind the house. Boom. No more skunk. I went back into the house to have breakfast and my morning coffee, then ventured out to take the now defunct polecat from the trap and reset it. What to my wondering eyes should appear but another of those striped menaces, caught alongside the dead one in a trap that hadn't been tripped. Boom. Two dead varmints to get rid of. Peeww!
Over the course of the next few weeks, leading up to the end of the year, I caught a total of fourteen of the stinking beasts. Then came the big snows of January, and the threat abated. We were sure that the war was over, and that we had won, but it was not to be. I stuffed rocks in the tunnels, and proceeded to get back to some semblance of a normal life...
Then, one night in mid-February, the beasts returned, this time beginning some sort of territorial battle under the utility room, and stinking the place up a tiny bit in the process. A fresh tunnel had been dug in that area, which I promptly ringed with traps, along with setting the traps back at the tunnel in front of the house...
Like ninjas in a B-rated action movie, the smelly varmints apparently only attack one at a time, which is fortunate. Since this latest onslaught began, I've trapped eight more skunks, all at the front of the house, and two pack rats, which could actually probably be considered collateral casualties, both at the back of the house. We've now been two days skunk-less. Hopefully this is a trend that will continue...
Trapping twenty two skunks at the same house is probably some sort of record, but that's okay, I'm happy without the fame and fortune...
Fast forward a few days. We got home, only to discover that the house had been hosed again. Speaking of reeking! This second, totally unprovoked barrage elicited what some people might think is an extreme reaction, but I don't think so: I went on the offensive...
Out in my shop are an assortment of various sizes of traps. After a scouting expedition around the perimeter of the house, I discovered that the varmint's main means of ingress and egress to the underside of the house were two tunnels, one behind and one befront. It wasn't long before each of the two tunnels was ringed with traps, nor was it long before the first of the ninjas was captured and executed...
I'm getting ahead of myself here, just a skosh. I set the traps on a Thursday afternoon. Friday morning when I got up, there was a skunk in one of the traps behind the house. Boom. No more skunk. I went back into the house to have breakfast and my morning coffee, then ventured out to take the now defunct polecat from the trap and reset it. What to my wondering eyes should appear but another of those striped menaces, caught alongside the dead one in a trap that hadn't been tripped. Boom. Two dead varmints to get rid of. Peeww!
Over the course of the next few weeks, leading up to the end of the year, I caught a total of fourteen of the stinking beasts. Then came the big snows of January, and the threat abated. We were sure that the war was over, and that we had won, but it was not to be. I stuffed rocks in the tunnels, and proceeded to get back to some semblance of a normal life...
Then, one night in mid-February, the beasts returned, this time beginning some sort of territorial battle under the utility room, and stinking the place up a tiny bit in the process. A fresh tunnel had been dug in that area, which I promptly ringed with traps, along with setting the traps back at the tunnel in front of the house...
Like ninjas in a B-rated action movie, the smelly varmints apparently only attack one at a time, which is fortunate. Since this latest onslaught began, I've trapped eight more skunks, all at the front of the house, and two pack rats, which could actually probably be considered collateral casualties, both at the back of the house. We've now been two days skunk-less. Hopefully this is a trend that will continue...
Trapping twenty two skunks at the same house is probably some sort of record, but that's okay, I'm happy without the fame and fortune...
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