Are You Prepared To Be Skunked?

In sports if a team is “skunked” it usually means they failed to score or their athletic performance generally “stunk up the place.”   When it’s said you have “a skunk in your mouth,” then buddy…you have a noticeable case of bad breath.   In the drinking world if you have some “skunky” beer it usually means it has either gone flat or is of very poor, undesirable quality in the first place.   But when you or your dog gets “skunked” in the outdoors…you better be prepared to deal with the consequences.

I’ve always been a bit fascinated by the world of skunks—provided it was done at a distance, mind you.   But when you spend any amount of time in the outdoors…sooner or later you are likely to have an encounter.

Perhaps the most memorable encounter I ever had with a skunk occurred in the fall of 1995 when I was elk hunting out in Colorado.   We had set up camp with our wall tent and gear just off the mountain road and things were looking pretty calm and peaceful…well, at least for awhile.   I had brought with a bag of salted in-the-shell peanuts and was indiscriminately discarding the empty hulls around camp.   BIG MISTAKE!!

At the end of a long day’s hunt we arrived back in camp and were settling in to cook supper when I happened to look down to see a skunk walking right towards me at a distance of about 10 feet.   I let out a shriek and told my hunting partner, Mitch, to “grab the gun!!!”   This seemingly fearless little creature began to chew on the pile of empty peanut shells…and that is when I realized my mistake.

Believe me, there are few happenings in life that can get you so quickly excited as having a skunk in hunting camp.   The experience only has to happen once and your awareness of it happening again is somehow easily heightened.   Several years later we had camp in Montana during an antelope hunt when someone sitting around the campfire hollered “skunk…grab the gun!”   One of the hunters was just about to lay a bead on the critter when another hunter wisely shined a flashlight to determine it wasn’t a skunk…but just the rancher’s small black dog nosing around our campsite.

Of course, we all know why the mere mention of “skunk” sends a shiver up our sportsman’s spines.   Aside from the fact many are rabid…the potential odor factor is often of greater concern to most of us.

Take the skunk, for instance, we shot in Colorado who invaded our camp.   Even though we shot it 300 feet away from camp…the obnoxious stench lingered on the mountainside the whole time we were there hunting.   Another group of hunters, in fact, ended up moving their camp location because the prevailing winds made their camp life simply unbearable.

Skunk essence is an interesting substance.   The chemical called "butylmercaptan" has been documented to be detectable at a distance of over 20 miles away from the point source.   Think back to the times you are driving along in your car and you smell skunk.   Given the right conditions, it can be a mile or two down the road before you visually detect the road kill.

Skunk essence comes from the same family of chemicals added to natural gas.   Natural gas in its pure form is odorless…so a chemical is added to help alert folks to a potential leak.   Indeed, skunk essence can be detected even at such low levels as 20 parts per billion making the task of cleaning up the smell almost impossible.   That’s why even six months to a year after the spray it’s still usually possible to detect a hint of this undesired odor.

On the market there are several concoctions used by dog owners and sportsmen to deal with the “skunky” smell…but there is also one very common recipe used to effectively neutralize the smell.   Forget bathing Fido in tomato juice or vinegar…for best results consider this:

  • Mix 1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide; into
  • ¼ cup of baking soda; combine with
  • 1 teaspoon of liquid dish soap.

Combine the contents of this solution into a spray bottle or the mixture can be added to a load of laundry.   DO NOT bottle the solution for later use…pressure from the hydrogen peroxide and the baking soda can build up and rupture the container.

The fear of getting “skunked” doesn’t have to keep you indoors if you know how to properly handle the situation if it occurs.   Remember, a skunk emits the spray out a gland near its anus to a distance of about 10 to 15 feet.   Yet, even though the fear of getting sprayed is obviously of big concern…the paramount concern with skunks should be the incidence of rabies as they are one of the main carries of that nasty disease in the country.

The next time you head out in the field pheasant hunting just remember that it’s a whole lot better to get "skunked" by not shooting any birds…than getting "skunked" by having to deal with the odor.   Dealing with the latter lingers far longer than dealing with the bitterness of the former.

© 2005 Jim Braaten.  All Rights Reserved.   No Reproduction Without Prior Permission.

Know Your Ticks…And Understand The Diseases

Back in the days of my youth wood ticks were nothing more than a nuisance of spring and early summer…but somewhere along the way as I got older things seemed to get a whole lot more complicated with these little buggers.   Indeed, the common wood tick is becoming a 21st Century menace of dangerous proportions to outdoors folks in many areas of the country.
Tick
As a kid, I knew of the dangers from the creepy crawly little pest.   We knew it transferred Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever…but the fact is to a small child in rural Minnesota my chances of contracting this ailment seemed about as likely as my parents traveling to Vegas and winning enough money to pay off the farm mortgage.   Sure it could happen…but the odds were simply too astronomically high to really worry about this health malady.

Such is certainly not the case today.   In fact, the more we learn about the common wood tick (and its host of cousins, such as the deer tick, etc.) the more we discover that this pest is actually a carrier of some down-right nasty diseases.   Diseases that left unrecognized could permanently debilitate you and at worse…could kill you.

In today’s Minneapolis StarTribune there’s a good article about a deputy sheriff in Northern Minnesota who had a triple whammy, of sorts.   This poor individual came so close to dying as a result of ticks that it’s truly a miracle he’s still alive today.   Check it out by linking here.

For the balance of today’s blog, I want to review the different diseases these ticks carry and also highlight some of the more common symptoms (by linking to the disease).   I’m not going to harp on preventative measures…as I think we all know what needs to be done.   Check!  Check!  Check!   Also liberally use some of the great repellents much like you would spray your clothes for mosquitoes.

The common tick-borne diseases include (sourced from webMD.com):

  • Lyme disease.   Symptoms usually start 1 to 4 weeks after the tick bite, with up to 90% of people developing an expanding, circular red skin rash.
  • Rocky Mountain spotted fever.   Symptoms usually start 3 to 12 days (average 7 days) after the tick bite.
  • Tularemia.   Symptoms usually start within 21 days (average 1 to 10 days) after the tick bite or other exposure.
  • Ehrlichiosis.   Symptoms usually start from 1 to 21 days (average of 7 days) after the tick bite.
  • Relapsing fever.   Symptoms usually start 3 to 11 days (average of 6 days) after the tick bite.
  • Colorado tick fever.   Symptoms usually start within 14 days (average of 3 to 6 days) of the tick bite.
  • Babesiosis.   Symptoms usually start 1 to 6 weeks after the tick bite

The important thing is to remove the ticks promptly and carefully.   There are many good methods for doing this…but most often you want to remove the ENTIRE tick.   Don’t use a match to burn the tick.   Likewise, rubbing nail polish or Vaseline on the tick does not always result in an effective, clean removal.   Finally, be sure to thoroughly wash the infected area with soap.

My technique of choice is to simply grab the tick and apply gentle, constant pressure pulling away from site of attachment.   I don’t pull too hard so that the tick’s head breaks off and remains attached to the skin.   Instead, my main goal is to play a sort of tug-o-war type of game with the tick hoping that eventually it will lose its grip.   If it takes a minute or two to accomplish this…so be it.   In this case patience is a virtue when it comes to proper tick removal.

Sometimes I wonder if ticks are actually carrying more diseases these days or if through the marvels of medical science we are simply discovering more tick-borne illnesses we never knew previously existed.   Whatever the case…if you’re a sportsman who spends time in tick country you owe it to your good health to do a complete inspection after every outing.   Might I recommend taking an opposite-sex buddy with you that you might later want to get naked with…it makes the tedious task of finding ticks a lot more fun.

© 2005 Jim Braaten.  All Rights Reserved.   No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

An Interesting Day In The Outdoors World

It’s not too often the news seems to be filled with weird stories about nature, but certainly the past few days have seen some interesting developments regarding animals reported both locally and around the world.   Take a look:

TIGERS ATTACK MINNEAPOLIS WOMAN

It seems about 35 miles away from where I live this morning a woman was attacked by four tigers when she was cleaning their pen.   The victim was flown by Mayo ONE to St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester where she reportedly remains in serious condition.   Allegedly the property on which she was working has had numerous zoning violations in the past for raising exotic pets.   Authorities are now considering additional charges against the property owner in light of this new incident.

EXTINCT WOODPECKER REDISCOVERED IN ARKANSAS
Ibw
On a much brighter note, we are now learning that a species of woodpecker, the ivory-billed woodpecker last confirmed sighting in 1944, has now again been rediscovered in the Big Woods of eastern Arkansas.   The bird, once in great demand for its brilliant plumage, has been thought to be extinct for nearly 60 years.   In fact, the bird is one of a handful of bird species that was believed to have become extinct during the last Century.   But no more, sufficient confirmations through independent sightings, including one on video tape, serves as proof the bird very much still exists in the wild.   Bird enthusiasts around the world are rejoicing in this recent discovery.

GERMAN TOADS EXPLODING WITH NO EXPLANATION

On the European side of the globe we also learned today that German toads are literally exploding with no logical explanation.   The toads reportedly will swell up and eventually *POP* obviously killing them.   To date, more than a thousand toads in one pond have perished in this manner when their stomachs expand until they suddenly burst from the increased pressure.   Scientists have examined the toads and the water from the pond but as of yet offer no logical explanation.   

PLAY IT WHERE IT LAYS…MAYBE!!
Gator
And finally, one of my favorite wildlife stories actually occurred last week but wasn’t widely reported on until this week.   You know the cardinal rule of golf…play the ball where it lays.   Well, it seems three old duffers were playing golf down in South Carolina when one of them teed off and bounced the golf ball in such a fashion that it landed on the tail of a big old alligator.   I know what you’re thinking…but no, the golfer did NOT play the ball where it landed.   Instead, his better judgment dictated that a “ball drop” was probably a more prudent option to continue under the circumstances.

© 2005 Jim Braaten.  All Rights Reserved.   No Reproduction without Prior Permission