After the kill

[Troponin]

Can be complile a bunch of information about gutting and prepping game?

For one, I am interested in getting information about skunks. For obvious reasons, if I get a skunk, I want to know how to take care of the smell. How do you not lose your lunch in the process etc.

Also, how to gut a Yote to save the pelt.

[Art Eatman]

Town? Country? Where is this skunk? What do you plan on doing, to "get" it? (And, Why?)

If you're out in the country and you shoot it--why, I don't know--just leave it alone. Nature will cope. The smell? Well, don't just stand around, downwind, practicing deep-breathing exercises...

, Art

[castnblast]

Do you really want a skunk? Hmm.... I'll pass, but Hat's off to you for trying. The only way I can think of dealing with the stinch is get as far away from it as possible.

On the other hand, Yotes', especially this time of the year have very pretty pelts, and are very soft and plush. Skin it out like any deer. You really don't need to gut it, unless you are planning on eating it ...Hang upside down, make cuts at the ankles, and beging to skin all the way down. Their hide is very similar to Deer, so once you get past the hindquarters, you can pull the hide down to the shoulders. You will want to cut the skin down to the chest as if you were gutting prior to this step. Just don't open it up. It's just not necessary. A good gut hook in the skin will do the trick. Then once you get it pulled down, cut around the knees and cut the skin up to the shoulder. Finish skinning out the leg, cut completely around the neck, and skin off the rest of the hide.

As for curing, ever heard the term tan your hide? Well, it's a job, but one worth doing. you need to remove all the meat. A good dull knife or the back side of a large knife will work. Get it ALL off. Then Salt it and let it dry. You will then want to rehydrate the hide with Glycerine after it dries. You just keep rubbing it in. I have not done this in a very long time, and there is something else I added w/ the glycerine to "cure" it. Do an internet search, or maybe someone out there has a better idea, or really knows what they are doing.

Good luck...

P.S...I still say forget the skunk...

[FirstFreedom]

Art,

[Fat White Boy]

A friend of mine raises pigeons. He has a problem with skunks getting in and eating the eggs and young. I could always tell a mile away from his house if he had killed a skunk.
His wife was tired of the stench so he was trying to figure out where to shoot them so they wouldn't let go. He hit one with a car on the road once and thought maybe there was a place to safely hit them. He tried all fatal areas with pistol, shotgun and rifle. No luck.

+2 Art. What the hell do you want with a skunk? A hat?

[castnblast]

That's hilarious...A skunk hat has me craking up laughing. It might be worth the stinch to make one... !!!!

Damn...I'm still laughing...Davey Crocket and Daniel Boone would probably flip over in their grave!!!

[Troponin]

Are you kidding? You know what a skunk hide would go for?

Just playin, I have no idea what it would go for, but seeing how nasty they are, but how nice the fur is, I am willing to bet that a skunk pelt would go for quite a bit of money. Not to mention, I wanted to get a sknk mounted because I dunno of anyone who has one. Perhaps it's for good reason, but, I wanted to try.

Maybe I can borrow an SCBA from work.

[Troponin]

I got a great idea. It's a secret, but I'll give you a hint...new cover scent for hunting.

[auburnboattail]

Folks I shot two this fall trying to get in my barn

1. shot one with 410... man what a mess the smell literally made me vomit.

2. Shot the next with 22 in the head.... man what a mess smell again.

I think they must release their spray at death.

I orginally thought the first one I simply tore the glands as I was using a shotgun.

But on the second, the 22 went right through the head, and man what a mess.

I picked them up with a grain shovel to try to keep as far distance as possable. I held my breathe as I ran toward the field where I was to dispose them in.

I still could not stand the smell.

What a mess. Anyone know how to kill without releasing smell, or do they release upon death?

[castnblast]

Maybe w/ a 50 BMG w/ hollow points ...Then you just get a "skunk bomb"...

I don't know squat about a 50 bmg, other than they're big, and they probably don't come in hollow point...But it is a funny thought...

[Hans]

The only skunks I have ever killed that didn't smell horribly right after death were rabid, and I don't think you want to mess with trying to make a hat out of one of those.

[Desertfox]

My neighbor has a cat that resembles a skunk. I could kill it and mail you the pelt. You could just tell everyone it is a skunk hat. It should get the same reaction.
Once you get the pelt off the skunk, soak it in Tomato paste and warm water. You gotta rub it in, but it removes the odor. Next, you add a smell of your own. I recommend vanilla extract in the wet pelt and rinse it out.

You really gotta want a skunk pelt. I mean REALLY WANT a skunk skin.

Personally, I think you are a few sandwiches shy of a full picnic.

[Troponin]

You guys don't think skunk pelts are nice looking? I do. Not sure it's worth the trouble, but just thought I'd ask.

[Gbro]

Had a skunk under the trailer house 30yago.

Put mothballs under, then took some bad advise. The advise was, "shoot it between the eyes" and it won't stink. Ill never forget the stink and the neibors still havn't ether. after moving 25 years ago.

We learned to live trap them with a trap madeof 6" stove pipe. Then just drowned them and no smell, just trashed them out. But the sent can be drawn from them with a hypo. Then just mix it with vasolene. Great for trapping, hunting, getting even, Etc.

This is a true story; No-BS

Old Shi$$y Fingers. (I work with him) was just a little more than under the weather, and while "driving" home he hit a skunk. well he thought it was a rabbit and stopped to salvage it, Seeing it was a skunk, and there was no odor(?) he thought what the hell, and took it home. Well Old Fingers fell asleep while his snack was cooking in a pressure cooker, The fuse popped, and the noise woke him, then the stench hit him. Here he didn't even dress the thing just dropped it in the pot.
Now if you think it cann't get worse, He said the hardest part was cleaning the pot. His answer to why, " sometimes you do stupid things when your drunk"
Well old Shi$$y Fingers has a girlfriend now. Cann't wait to meet her>>>

Gbro

[Art Eatman]

Hadn't thought about tomato paste, but I know that a tomato juice bath makes an Alsatian Shepherd once again socially acceptable. His being a bit pink instead of white was a bit strange, though. But it wore off...

"How'd you get that skunkskin cap?"

"With great difficulty, son. Great difficulty."

Art