A few days ago, after finishing the night chores, I was standing in the dark in my front yard, deep in contemplation, when out the corner of my eye I thought I saw a cat. I turned to pet it, then realized it was a skunk! A big skunk! Its tail went up and I held still as it sniffed at my feet before continuing on.
After it went over and started chowing down on the dogs' food, I started a slow retreat towards the back of the house. The skunk's tail went up again and it too retreated back the way it had come, thankfully without spraying.
I went and got a rifle, then sat still in the cold dark on my porch. I don't think it took five minutes before the skunk came back. I waited until it started eating again, then I slowly raised the rifle, took aim, and rapidly put five or six rounds into the skunk. It died quickly and never sprayed.
Garbage collection was the next morning, thankfully, so I didn't have to worry about the corpse stinking things up all week.
