Cipriano, first point the tail away from you.......
Gus, Outback, Stoker, and Wildman, I can relate to your experience. When I was in the third or fourth grade, my Brother, a Friend of ours, and myself , were walking along a ridge with Australian pines, and palmettos growing on it. The ridge was an old drainage ditch, which was dry. Well the dog our Friend brought with him, started off across the ridge, to a field, barking like mad, when all of a sudden, it stopped, and started going round and round, in a circle, with its' face in the grass and weeds! Then the smell came our way. Then the skunk came our way. It headed straight for the palmetto patch. Being the super intelligent kids we were, we cut some Australian pine saplings, and made spears, and were going to get a skunk! uh huh. Yep, we sure were. Well the Skunk ran down a rabbit path, in the palmetto roots, and was just sitting there. Well my Brother says, "Wayne go down to the other end, in case it tries to run out that way, and whack it when goes by". Me being the unsuspecting genius, that I am, did just that. Well meanwhile, I hear giggling and laughter up top, where my Brother, and Friend are. I asked what all the laughing was about, and they said oh, nothing, just laughing at the dog. OK..... Then they told me to see if I could see the skunk from where I was at. So I sat down, and looked up the little tunnel, as I was near the bottom of the ditch, and there was a steep incline, and yep I could see it plain as day. I told them yep. Then all of a sudden my Brother took his sapling spear, and shoved that skunk down the tunnel. Right in my lap!
When you guys say it smells different up close, and can take your breath away........ Spot on! I could hardly see, and cold not breathe, and was walking around trying to breathe, and finally was able to take a breath, but was not pleased with what I inhaled! I cannot describe what the smell was like, nor the taste!
I got home and stripped off my clothes, in the carport, and went inside to take a shower. My Mother was not happy. My Dad got some big cans of tomato juice, and I washed with that, and showered again, and again. Oh, yeah, that was on a Sunday. Monday, I was in school. I had a seat all to myself in the back of the class room. Not to mention I could sit anywhere I wanted in the cafeteria, nor was there a line in the kitchen serving line to get the food.
Plus I had the whole bus seat to myself. Having not learned much from that adventure, years later, when I was in the seventh grade, my Family and I went to Wisconsin to visit my Aunt and Uncle on a dairy farm. Well I had my trusty fiber glass re-curve bow and my home made arrows with the hacksaw blade points. Well I decide to go out and scout the farm, and lo and behold there is a skunk waddling across the field not far from the house. Well I let loose, and it is a direct hit, didn't kill it right off, so another one finally dispatched it. Being experienced with skunks, I was a sufficient distance from the skunk. Like 30 feet. Wellllll, I go back to the house with my trophy, and my Mother has a fit! I didn't check the wind direction before I shot. Anyway, my Aunt thinks it is funny, my Uncle is happy, that there is one less skunk to get into the hen house and eat the eggs, and my Dad is just shaking his head. Ahhh tomato juice........ Doesn't work all that well. It does somewhat, but does not take the smell away completely. It just sort of has to wear off. I leave them alone now. I had one come up on my porch in Montana, and look in my sliding glass door. So I put my "Harold" electronic hoot owl on the porch, to run it off, next time it comes around. Well then I got to thinking....... Hmmm flashing eyes, hooting, might provoke a defense mode in the skunk. So Harold is removed from the porch. Oh yeah, the skunk that was in the palmettos, got away. He was no longer of interest us, especially me! I should have grabbed my Brother and Friend, and gave them both a great big hug! But I was too busy trying to breathe to think of any retaliation.
Wayne
