Whoooooooooo ! Skunk by hammock !!!!!!!!!!!

[jcdflint]

... dang skunk visited me by hammock hang yesterday ... I lucked out..he just looked at me funny and walked away..thank God ! lol Any bad things with skunks in spring with your "hangs" ?????

[smwia]

Don't worry about skunks. Unless you are a dog chasing after it and trying to bite it, it is almost impossible to get a skunk to spray. They only do it when they are scared for their lives. I have had many encounters with them and I have never even had one turn around and threaten to spray. They will hiss a warning while facing you long before they consider spraying. My encounters with them include leaning quietly on a tree and having one walk between my feet and the tree not realising I was there and then it just ran off once it realized. Another time I was just walking down a path completely spaced out and just lost in my thoughts when suddenly I think "what is that sound I have been hearing?"... I look down to see a skunk literally 1 foot directly in front of my foot hissing angrily and still facing me. It had been hissing for at least 10-20ft earlier just not very loud. I slowly backed away and walked around it without issue. Both those encounters happened at night.

[Jaxx]

I have not had the pleasure of having an encounter with skunks . I have had a coon brush the bottom of my hammock before. I now hang my hammock higher when I go to that location.

[Valley Scout]

Skunk is better than a raccoon. I've had skunks come in and just move along. Other than the smell, they are a pretty neat animal. Raccoon on the other hand tried to get into my set up. He was very curious. I was hanging pretty low and he kept batting at my butt. He was just being a curious, playful animal, but I didn't care for it much.

Worst I ever had was a small pack of coyote come through my camp. I had my tarp high and was up a little higher. One coyote ran directly under me. That made me a little concerned!

[Ospreydog]

The ONLY time my wife ever went on an overnight hike with me. We camped in a tent on Blood mountain and a skunk got under the rain fly and pushed on her back. She woke up screaming, I grabbed my light and saw the skunk running around trying to get out from under the fly. I put my hand over her mouth and tried to calm her down until the skunk left. Right after the skunk left she said we are leaving to. So we packed off of Blood mountain at 5:00 in the morning.

[noldhor]

The ONLY time my wife ever went on an overnight hike with me. We camped in a tent on Blood mountain and a skunk got under the rain fly and pushed on her back. She woke up screaming, I grabbed my light and saw the skunk running around trying to get out from under the fly. I put my hand over her mouth and tried to calm her down until the skunk left. Right after the skunk left she said we are leaving to. So we packed off of Blood mountain at 5:00 in the morning.

Hahahaha !!!! "WE ARE LEAVING TOO"

[Eidson]

Despite spending a lot of time in the outdoors for much of my life, my first skunk encounter didn't occur until this past spring. My wife and I were doing some backyard camping. I was testing some new gear and we were getting my daughter more accustomed to sleeping outdoors. They were in a large tent and I was in my hammock right beside them.
We had noticed a few skunks around the neighborhood, some even leisurely crossing through our yard at times. A few neighbors had complained of them getting into their trash that they kept outside or their dogs getting sprayed, but I didn't give it any further thought.
About two hours after the girls went to sleep, I stepped away from "camp" and up to the deck to have a smoke before hitting the sack myself. It was a clear and pitch black night out and I was trying out a new head lantern. After my smoke I stepped off the deck to head to the hammock. I hadn't bothered turning the headlamp on, as even in the dark I can navigate our backyard and desk just fine. When I hit the bottom step, I heard this very loud and unusual hissing sound. It was also accompanied by a very unusual rattling sound. Both sounds are hard to describe, but I was positive it wasn't a cat making them.
I reach up and flip my headlamp on and this thing is no more than a foot or two in front of me and its tail is arched and pointing at me. At the time, intelligent clear thought wasn't with me and I just reacted. I immediately turned my back to it and bolted back up the deck. I later realized how stupid of a move this was. Of all the wildlife I've been around, I can only think of a few occasions where I was scared, but this **** skunk had surprised and terrified me beyond belief. I turned tail and ran faster than I ever had before.
In hindsight, I'm very fortunate that my stupidity didn't get me sprayed. As I stood motionless on the deck trying to watch it without my headlamp, it eventually just turned away and trotted through the yard.
The best thing to do would have been to back slowly away and just give it space and the skunk encounters continued a few times during the summer without incident. They don't want anything to do with us anymore than we want anything to do with them.
We later learned that a family of 5 skunks had taken up residence under our neighbor's porch and our yard was the pass through location between their new home and some other neighbors who left their trash outside uncovered. They never bothered us, but I kept my eye out for many months. Eventually we heard that an animal control service was contacted and relocated the skunk family to conservation lands.

[jcdflint]

I was once crawling along ground with my longbow (selfbow.. primitive bowhunting) to get close to deer. When I looked up.. Ahh Mr. Skunk let lose ! Him Not a good thing.. So now I'm a bit "crazy" about Mr "polecat" when hammocking !!!! lol

[SilvrSurfr]

Skunks no longer register on my list of things to be afraid of. I had a skunk move into my back yard and just take over the place. Late at night, I'd be sitting in my lawn chair and I'd look down - there was the skunk underneath me. I'd ask him to leave but he would decline. I told the kids about this skunk and they didn't believe me, so I took pictures with the skunk - he was quite photogenic.

My son left the garage door open one night and he said, "Dad, the skunk's in the garage. What are we gonna do?"

"Nothing," I replied. "He'll be gone in the morning." And he was!

[Countrybois]

Every skunk that makes its way into my yard suddenly gets a case of lead poisoning..... I guess maybe I should call the EPA and see if they can find the cause.?.? ;-)