did i get lucky today ?

[hershey]

my thing is shootin paper, so i don't hang out here much, but thought i might seek some advice if i need to travel this road again.

in the ongoing defense of my chicken coop, we found it necessary to set the trail cam up again and bait the trap, typically the end result is yet another dead raccoon or possum at the hands of my 10/22.

well this morning i was greated KINDLY by a skunk, i decided i wanted the added distance that a centerfire offers while retiring this guy, so he took a 120yd head shot from my .223. i don't know if i got off lucky or if this is normal, but it was a spine shot and he just dropped, no fine purfume odors at all, the cage is now clean and all is well, but is there a good and bad way of doing this deed that will guarentee a pleasant aroma after the fact?

[stevec]

I shot one with my bow once and diddent smell any worse for it. The next day my buddie tried his luck..........I wish we had drove separate vehicles! That was a bad trip home!!

Steve

[dcloco]

There is no guarantees.

Have shot in the north end, the south end, removed the middle, grabbed the tail and picked them up....there are NO guarantees...other than, you WILL get sprayed, just a matter of time.

[CJ in WY]

Yep!

Like the others have said=Aint no way tell when they are gonna spray only that they can! Have kilt more than my fair share and only had a couple that didnt :-[
Only exception I've seen is the Doberman I had for a farm dog many years ago. The first skunk that I know he got spayed him BAD, the dozen or so after that got drug in the yard deader than a door-nail and stunk the whole barnyard up but that dog didn't stink at all.....Still wondering how he pulled it off!

[stevec]

Only exception I've seen is the Doberman I had for a farm dog many years ago. The first skunk that I know he got spayed him BAD, the dozen or so after that got drug in the yard deader than a door-nail and stunk the whole barnyard up but that dog didn't stink at all.....Still wondering how he pulled it off!
[/quote]

He figured out which end is which!

Steve

[Blue Avenger]

throw a blanket over the cage and drop it in the water.

[sinman]

they seem to smell every spot you shoot them, I once turned one inside out with a 7mm wsm and a 140gr bullet up the backside, he still smelled.

[okie2]

That's because you open the stink bag too with that bomb

[Fjold]

I've head shot a couple without the bomb going off. I think if you shutdown the CNS it doesn't spray because the spray takes a conscious effort.

[dcloco]

Sometimes when you seperate the CNS, the orifices vent anyway.

[vermonter]

Lots of skunks around here this year. Never seen so many road killed skunks before. I think something must of happened to the fisher cat population. Shot three of them on my back lawn in the last couple of weeks with the trusty 10/22. All head shots all just dropped and quivered a little and every one of them released there stench.

[Doug1]

Shot one between the eyes with a .17 HMR at 100-120 yards last year.. Stunk like normal in the morning.. Would think that would have just as much effect on the reflexes as a spine shot.

[handirifle]

Shot one between the eyes with a .17 HMR at 100-120 yards last year.. Stunk like normal in the morning.. Would think that would have just as much effect on the reflexes as a spine shot.

I used to think that way too, but after reading an article by a police sniper, I am not so sure. His article was referring to taking out a bad guy when the BG has a gun to the head on an innocent. His claim was that a brain shot, either forehead or temple, would still allow a nervous reflex to pull a trigger, thus negating the entire reason you took the shot in the first place.

He claims the ONLY way to safely stop this situation, was a BRAIN STEM shot, right where the top of the spine joins with the brain itself. According to him, the if the stem is destroyed there is no path for the reflex signal to go. There is no twitching or kicking, just bang flop.

The OP's shot may well have been just such a shot.

I've shot many critters over the years, and if memory serves me correctly, it's the ones shot in the back of the head that just dropped. I

It's a thought.

[LHitchcox]

The only skunk that I killed that didn't spray caught a full load of 12 gauge 3.5 inch turkey shot. He just slumped down and nothing happened, not even a twitch.