Skunks how problematic are these animals

[Megalodon]

Skunks can dig up your lawn looking for grubs and moles (they will eat mice and moles), steal chicken eggs, make your dog smell very bad.

Otherwise pretty harmless.

We were sitting on a marina jetty around a fire-ring one evening and I heard a scuffling noise and a skunk was walking under my folding chair. I said to my wife - "Be quiet, but look what's under my chair." So she screamed and ran off, overturning her chair, and the other couple with us stood up and ran off. So I said to the skunk "pay no attention to them" and he/she looked around and continued on it's way sniffing for dropped scraps.

I don't think they're any more prone to rabies than a fox, raccoon, opossum or bat. All are potential carriers.

A jetty with the bluestone surge rock provides lots of crevices and ideal habitat for skunks. Over 50 years ago, I used to fish at night for striped bass with my father from a bridge in RI. Typically, we drifted bloodworms. The skunks would come out of the rocks at the base of the bridge and walk straight to us, looking for the bait containers they recognized as one of their dinner plates. When the worms were gone, we switched to plugs and spoons. If you've ever fished where slobs have left their leftover bait behind to rot, you appreciate the clean-up service of these skunks.

 

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[TooManyHobbies]

Sounds like work.

Have you ever seen a spotted skunk?

I saw one scamper accros a road at night in MN once, never seen one again.

Only took about 45 minutes to syringe the juice out of that load. If you're gonna do one, might as well do a bucket full. The smell doesn't get worse after the first one.
I've only seen spotted skunks in pictures, we don't have them on the east coast.

Here's a 1oz bottle of pure skunk quill. I think I got around 10-11 oz. out of that load. On avg. it takes about 3 skunks to fill 1 oz. A big one sometimes had 1+ oz.

 

[Fat]

Sounds like work.

Have you ever seen a spotted skunk?

I saw one scamper accros a road at night in MN once, never seen one again.

I’ve never seen one here but have seen around Pierre S.D. Civet cat.

 

[Steve in PA]

Yeah they dig up my plugs and make me look bad, like I didn't fill my holes.
But nowadays I always include the skunk/possum disclaimer when I get permission on a new property

 

[fistfulladirt]

Two instances regarding skunk essence. First one, back in the 70’s, microwave ovens were new. I put a frozen bottle of fox lure in the box with the metal cap still on. EXPLOSION. Second time, mom threw my trapping jacket out into the garage. Bottle of skunk liquid in the pocket broke. Both cases involved a lot of stink.

 

[GoDeep]

There are real monsters out there and skunks aren't one of them:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crim...-back-wages-he-owed/ar-BB1gtqTm?ocid=msedgntp