A free road kill Skunk !

[Jacktheknife]

Howdy Ya'll,   Trapping season is over for another year.  
A mosquitoe even bit me yesterday!   Its over!                                         But now, now!   is the time to think through the "04" season,                 and imagine ways to improve next year.            It is an opportunity to work on ones new traps, to go over the old maps again, exercise, run and such...and get ready for next year.
My interest in Trapping is at an all time high, and there is nothing else to do.
I was driving down the road yesterday, and saw a dead Skunk.                I thought it would be a good chance to get some scent.
I don't think it will attract anything specifically, alone,  but just tell anything that smelled it that some Skunk had had a need to defend itself.           You know, that something was happening around there.                  Actually I just like the smell,   it brings back good memorys.           Doesn't hurt to have some around if you are a trapper.    Its free!                                                                                       I stopped and tossed the old Skunk in the back.
That afternoon I opened it up and get this...  it didn't smell!                      I cut out two parts, 1/4" diameter  which were blue -  green and where most critters have their glands.
Another thing which may have been the scent gland itself.  It looked like a very small beaver castor, but no smell!                                            .  I already had tried to sit old Skunk herself,  on a small mason jar and squeese her,  but zip!  Nada...
             It was a nice little fur with a long white stripe and shiny black fur.
Too small for me as I wear a 7 3/4" but it was the first time I had been even near a Skunk that did not smell,  real loud!
             I then realized it has been so long since I had harvested Skunk scent, I was not sure where to get it. .. besides sitting one on a jar and squeezeing it around the lower intestine area.
             I still have some in a jar, that I took, before my {Wreck}  but I have forgotten how to do it.  I can always {squeese out some}  on the side of the road.  I'll carry some jars in the truck all summer.
But I really wonder what the Skunk scent gland looks like??

                                                  Help
                                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                   J. Knife

[RdFx]

Hey Jack the glands are like testicles or bvr gland shape on  each side of anus... i use hypos to extract scent and then i use sack  in making  a diff type of canine lure.  It is easy to do and  i always have some  of the goodies around  lol

[Jacktheknife]

RDFX,  Thanks,  Two things like what you described are in my jar where I saved several {unknowns} I squeezed them and nothing... Don't see how they would have anything in them. Or how sitting a skunk {dead} on a jar and applying pressure to lower {between the legs} part, would get anything out of them either, but it usually does.   I can always get some Skunk scent but this an interesting subject. I will keep on keeping on and be on the lookout for another. When I squeeze the correct gland I think I will know it.

                                   Thanks for the responce RDFX.   out... J. Knife

[jim-NE]

warmer weather put the skunks back on the move around here, and every 100 yards or so in the little 5mile stretch I drive in to work has a fresh recent road mishap.
very high population around here in recent years, and a record rabies outbreak in this species, too.
I don't believe my wife will let me try any of your collection methods within a mile radius of our residence. But, on the other hand, we live close to this same road and the essence is alwasy present in the air from a nightly collision mishap nearby. Maybe my undertakings wouldn't go so noticed if I used a recent kill as my cover???
On other hand, it isn't that much to buy a bottle of the stuff already sealed up, and sometimes that is more worth the cost than anything else I may try to undertake myself.

[Jacktheknife]

Hey Red Fox dude !   I found another one, real long bushy tail, wish I hadda caught this one a month ago, I may keep this fur anyway.
I have a hypo, and a skunk, all I need is to eat my supper and then... open this guy up. I am thinking I will save the skin, and the scent, however I don't really know if the glands are in the body cavity or outside???
Guess I'll find out. Get back to Ya'll.  J. Knife

[Jacktheknife]

I opened {him} up and couldn't see anything familiar.
Except this stuff that smelled pretty Skunky, it looked like golden mustard.
I couldn't see where it came from it just squirted out from right by the annus.
Not like a skunk would spray it but just in a glob, I tried to draw it up with my syringe but it was too thick. Smelled pretty Skunky and if it was not the scent it would sure do!  But couldn't draw it up in my hypo, and the skunk was typically to small for a hat for me and the scent was the target so I tossed this one too.  But I am learning!  I'm on the lookout for another...                                                      what color is skunk scent?                  J. Knife

[jim-NE]

I imagine it did smell "pretty skunky", and if you were close enough to try it with the syringe, you are more "man" than I am evidently. Do you have any olfactory senses left whatsoever that you can stand to be that close to a glob of the potent pew?
I mean, to me a faint whiff of the stuff is OK, even somewhat pleasant, as in what gets mildly added to lure. The stronger "long distance call" lures are pushing it for me, but the live stuff up close and personal like burns my nose.
Wow.
Anyway, my experience with collecting it is you need a very large gauge needle to handle the material as the gland secretion is somewhat thick. I had much better luck when I went to larger gauge needles than if I just used a standard insulin or alergy-type over-the-counter issued syringe setup. The needles on those OTC's were a little too short and way too narrow in diameter (gauge) to allow easy flow of the gland secretion. You also have to be well inside the gland itself to extract the essence. Not far enough or too far through with the needle and you may hit some fat reserves that do not travel well up the hypodermic, even if using a large gauge needle. I've also found that over time skunk essence will break down certain forms of rubber, including the rubber plunger head on the hypodermic as well as certain rubber seals inside lids for storage jars. It is difficult to contain the essence over time if storing it for long periods. I use a lot of plastic disposable peanut butter jars with the cardboard lid liners, as they also have a slight waxed surface on the cardboard lid liner...and these work very well for long-term storage for me. I've made some modified lid liners using trap wax and thin gasket material and those seem to be holding up just as well as the commercial disposable peanut butter jars do.
Hope this helps you out too!
Jim-NE

[Jacktheknife]

Yes, Thanks for the input!
  I want to know ... where the scent gland is and I am well... not really obsessed,  but I am ready to go beyond the old sit the road kill skunk on the jar and squeeze...  technique.   And before I die,  KNOW! where the stuff is.
 It is an interest that must be followed to its conclusion. I don't want to buy it,
or just get it, I am developing an intense interest in the trail and the trapline that I've never had before.  This is serious!   It is an anatomy thing.
 I am profoundly grateful for the feedback from folks on the Graybeard forum here,  where else can one find help like this, Jim I am impressed with your knowledge of Skunk anatomy, and will give your thoughts a good study.
 I owe you a homebrew. Thanks J. Knife

[jim-NE]

I think one of the earlier posts mentioned this already, but you should see a pair of glands on either side of the anal opening roughly the size of a peanut.
Skunks regenerate the secretion rather soon, but it isn't exactly an instant refill and I think instinctively they have the sense not to empty the sacks themselves on just any old thing that scares them, since it is their line of defense.
In road kill situations, if you can smell the dead critter then most likely it has expended its juices. Maybe not fully, but in some cases it has, and being dead there is no refill. That may be the reason why some of your specimans didn't produce much for you when you attempted to milk them. I've noticed that when I shoot a trapped skunk, and when it sprays, it pretty much empties its contents out. Coloration of the essence ranges from yellowy to nearly a greenish yellow. It is thick, too. A shot speciman releasing a full load is more involuntary due to shock and nerve reactions.
There have been volumes written on the proper way to shoot a skunk without causing it to spray, and maybe the others have a method that works better here. Personally, I've found that if you touch that central nervous system anywhere, whether that be with a bullet or blow to their body with a blunt instrument, 99% of the time they will spray. A shot to the head, spine, etc. is a direct impact to the central nervous system causing the sphincter muscles around the gland to contract and release the gland's contents. I have some luck with chest shots...not sure if the shock is more traumatic and doesn't allow them control of the muscles around the gland...or if it even prevents the involuntary control too. I've also found that minimizing the shock when doing chest shots by using nothing larger than a .22 short or CB cap for instance, seems to do an even better job with the no-spray killing. A dead skunk that didn't spray, will yield full gland loads of goodies for you, and the syringe method works very well then.
I highly doubt that many road-killed skunks are struck in such a manner that the central nervous system isn't affected somehow, but anything is possible. fully drained glands, such as after a car kill, may also be reason why you were having difficulty locating them on the carcass.
I mentioned the high population and rabies cases we've had here with skunks. The studies released mentioned that in many cases the carcasses were turned in that had no gland secretion material left in them. I'm wondering if that isn't a bad side effect of the disease for the skunk since rabies affects the brain and central nervous system as well as maybe prevents the regeneration of new excretion substances? Anyway, that was a common theme I've heard in discussions around here about killing skunks that appeared "diseased" and then later were found to be positive for rabies by the local health department. Be careful handling them yourself, then.
Jim-NE