Remove skunk smell

We’ve all heard the old wives tales of remedies to get rid of skunk spray or skunk odors.  Give up on the tomato juice baths, citrus juice remedies or trying to mask the smell with air fresheners.  None of them work and will make a bigger mess in the long run.  Besides, some of these can really add up in price for a nil result. 

Ever wonder how trappers are able to get the smell out of the skunk hides in order to sell them?  Let alone how to get them smell off of themselves so they don’t skunk out their trapping areas for other targeted furbearers?  Well, the secret is a simple one.  It’s not very expensive and it’s easy to make it yourself.  All you need is hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and liquid dish soap (or dish detergent could be substituted for liquid dish soap).  If you do not have hydrogen peroxide you can substitute it with (or 2% vinegar solution).

Here is the secret recipe that WORKS. Mix the following:

• 1 quart 3 percent hydrogen peroxide (or 2% vinegar solution)
• 1/4 cup baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
• 1 teaspoon liquid soap or dish detergent
• Mix these together and bathe ("shampoo" in or rub down) the spray victim thoroughly.
• Be sure to use this mixture immediately after it is created, as it is unstable.
• Let sit for five minutes and rinse with tap water afterward, and repeat if necessary.
• For spray in the eyes, flush with water as soon as possible.

  Keep in mind the fluid from the skunk is oil based.  Before washing, it’s strongly recommended to wear rubber gloves, old clothing and do the washing outside if possible.  This mixture will work better when it’s applied directly and in concentrated form.  Try to keep the affected area dry until you are ready to rinse off the solution from the affected area, person or house pet.  Application of this mixture can be used in spray bottles, droppers, or even a tub (Rubbermaid bins or kiddie pools).  If the spray goes into the eyes, just use water to remove it.  Do not use this solution in the eyes at all.

Bear protection in camp

Imagine waking up one morning to find bear tracks by your camp site and thinking "oh shit! What do I do now?" There are plenty of things you can do to prevent these encounters on your own. However, there are times a bear’s curiosity will get the better of all involved.   Since I live in Utah, this topic will mainly refer to black bears.  Here are a few tips to ensure you have taken all measures to be safe.



Photo taken by Scott Mogilefsky during an elk hunt in 2011
Black bear track found on the trail

 



Keep your camp site clean:  Clean up after each meal, wash your cookware away from camp, store food and food scented items in your car or truck or store food in bear proof containers, hang food and trash at least 15 feet off the ground from a tree and never leave any food in the tent.  Wildlife is food driven so do not reward them with anything.  They will come back to the same location later on looking for an easy meal since they found one there once before.  Be sure to take the trash out daily.  If you’re in the back country, then burn non-toxic items and use Ziploc bags to help conceal the scent.

 

 

Photo taken by Scott Mogilefsky: Elk camp 2014


Camp site planning:  Plan your campsite accordingly.  Walk around the perspective camp site to make sure there isn’t any trash left from previous campers.  Also check for signs of dead animal carcasses that could attract the locals.  Make sure you are not camping on any game trails.  The tent should be a minimum of 100 feet from where you eat and cook your food.  The same distance applies to where you hang your food and trash.  Solar powered electric fencing can also be used to protect horse corals or the perimeter of the camp. 

 





Photo taken by Scott Mogilefsky: Elk camp 2014

 

Clean and wash before going to sleep:  Brush your teeth and then wash your hands and face before going to sleep for the night.  This will help get any food smell off of you prior to calling it a night.  Never keep any food in a tent!

 

So what do you do if you encounter a bear?  Simple, stand your ground!  Do not run away or try to climb a tree to escape it.  Bears are excellent climbers and will certainly out run you as well.  Try to look at tall and big as possible, flare out you jacket and wave your arms around.  Be sure you are giving the bear an avenue in which to leave.  Just remember to stay calm!  Be sure to report the bear encounter to local wildlife law enforcement or campground manager.

 

If the bear does not leave and continues to pursue you by stalking mannerisms should be considered as a predatory threat.  If the bear is aggressive anyplace in your campsite, this should also be taken as a predatory threat.  Defensive confrontations with black bears are not as likely, but can take place.  If the bear is guarding a cub, territory or food it will attack because it feels threatened.  If a bear stands up, grunts, woofs, and moans or makes other sounds, it’s not being aggressive. These are ways a bear gets a better look or smell and expresses its interest.  Study, learn and understand the behaviors of all wildlife before going.  It will make it a more enjoyable trip for everyone.

Bear spray is your best chance of surviving a bear attack.  It’s basically pepper spray on steroids that is contained in various canister sizes.  What makes bear spray more effective than regular pepper spray that is used for self defense?  It’s an ingredient called capsaicin and capsaicnoids that make bear spray different.  If you look at a bottle of bear spray and you do not see either of these ingredients on the bottle, then it’s nothing more than typical pepper spray. Another way to verify the bear spray is legit is to check for an EPA number that is usually located at the bottom of the label on the can.

Most experts recommend deploying bear spray when the bear is a minimum of 25 feet away.  Not a lot of time when you think about how fast they are.  Spray in the direction of the charging bear for a minimum of 6-8 seconds.  The spray will cover a large area, due to its expanding cloud, and create a barrier between you and the bear. Aim for the bears face or just in front of it.  The spray will affect the bear’s nose, eyes, lungs and throat to deter the attack. Be mindful of the wind direction, weather, other people with you and the direction you are pointing it when deployed.  These same experts also claim you are more likely to survive a bear attack with bear spray than you are by shooting it. 

Bears are able to control their heart beats by at least 75% for their hibernation cycles.  Shooting a bear will be less effective unless there is a well placed shot.  IA majority of people will not always get a well placed shot when they have a charging bear headed their way.  Besides the adrenaline flowing, the other issue will be the type of ammo the person has in their firearm.  Most concealed carry holders are taught to use hollow points or hydro shoks.  These would not be as effective on bears as they are bad guys.  Due to the bears thick tissues and bone density, regular ball ammo would be more ideal than self defense ammo to get the deeper penetration.  However, shooting a bear should always be the last resort!

 

If you do shoot a bear in self defense, you will need to call DNR and report the incident.  A Conservation Officer will come to the location to investigate the shooting to make sure it was justifiable.

 

Keep bear spray handy because that ain't Winnie the fucking Pooh over there looking for some honey. That's the resident looking for food that was left out by a disrespectful house guess. You're in his living room now and he has the right to be there. We've encroached on their habitat for too long and there's not too many places left for them to go. If you're not willing to respect their homes, then simply stay at yours.

Photo taken by Scott Mogilefsky: Elk camp 2014


One thing I find interesting in my hunter education classes is people seem to think black bears are always black.   A black bears fur can be bleached by the sun.  Much like human hair can be naturally lighter in the summer months.  The common colors can be blond, cinnamon, reddish brown and even a white color.  This is one of the reasons some people think there are brown bears in Utah.  It’s just mistaken identity.

Photo taken by Scott Mogilefsky during an elk hunt in 2011
Black bear track found on the trail



Black Bear Identification

Photo by: Scott Mogilefsky

I used pictures of bear tracks in a blog titled "Bear Protection in camp" from pictures I took on an elk hunt in 2011.  Well, here in 2015, I think I found the owner of these very same tracks.  Luckily it was not in our camp!  However, it was not too far from camp at all.   During my 2015 elk hunt, I saw two black bears.  One was on a trail camera from the kill site and the other was roughly about 600 yards away.  The bear at the kill site was clearly a black bear and the other was not.  The second bear was a black bear in cinnamon and blonde.  This gave the bear the appearance of a brown bear.  There are no brown bears in Utah, or so they say (just like the wolves!).

Let's talk about the first bear, the one that was at the elk kill site.  This bear was doing nothing wrong, just being a bear and eating the left overs from a fresh elk carcass.  I set up a trail camera at this location to see what might come in.  We did not see too many sign's of predators while we were hunting, so this was a good way to see what the threat for us might be.  This bear was a great textbook example of what a black bear looks like.

 

Photo by: Scott Mogilefsky

Black bears coloration can be blonde, reddish (commonly known as cinnamon), black, brown, dark brown, blue-black and even white.  There is no distinctive hump in their front shoulders like you would see in a brown bear.  Their backside rump area is a little taller than the front portion of the bear's body.  The ears are tall and the face has a straighter profile.  Black bears can be around 5 feet tall when they stand on their hind feet and their body weight can range from 110lbs-400lbs (depending on the time of year and region they are located in).

 

Now this will bring us to bear number two I saw on the elk hunt this year.  I was lucky to see him about 600 yards from where I was.  This bear was a joy to watch.  He was a little clumsy and not very graceful, which was an indication he was a younger bear.  The coloration of this bear is a great example of a black bear in cinnamon and blonde.  When I first saw him, the first thing I looked at was the profile of his face and the absence of the hump brown bears have.

 

Photo by: Scott Mogilefsky


Notice the facial features?  Notice the facial profile?  The ears?  The rump?  These are the physical characteristics you want to focus on more so than the color of the animal.

 

Photo by: Scott Mogilefsky

 

Photo by: Scott Mogilefsky

It is easy to understand how people could mistake this animal as a brown bear instead of a black bear.  It is important for everyone who enjoys the outdoors to know what animals are in the areas they are going to visit.  This bear was no threat to me, there was plenty of distance between us and I think he was more curious about me than I was about him.  If he was a threat, the best method of self defense would have been to keep a good distance between us.  If that didn't work, then deploy bear spray.  After seeing the bear in this area, I determined the area was no longer safe to elk hunt in.  If you do see a bear while hunting, keep in mind it will be interested in the same thing you are.  If I did get an elk down in this area, our recovery effort of the animal would be risky due to the bear's peaked interest.  At this point, there was no reason to continue on a hunt where I could not safely recover the meat without risk of a bear encounter or loss of meat.









 

 



Black Bear Track ID

Photo by: Scott Mogilefsky

Imagine you are walking on a trail during elk season and you come across a set of these on a trail.  That is what happened to us during the elk hunt in 2011.  It's not a cause of panic, but it will certainly raise your level of situational awareness.  Now instead of just looking to see where the elk are, you need to make sure you don't have an extra member of hunting group.  After all, you are in their house now and they might want to see what you are doing there.  One rule of thumb I use whenever I suspect there could be bears or mountain lions in the area is I look behind me every third step on my left foot.


Since this picture was taken in Utah, I have a pretty good idea what type of bear this is.  So, how can I tell if this is a black bear track and not a brown bear?  The first thing I noticed were the toes and of course the claws.  Black bear toe prints are farther apart and have more spacing between them.  Brown bear toe prints will touch each other.  Black bear's also have a good size toe arch.  Line up an edge from the base of the large toe to the front pad and the other end will go between the middle and tip of the little toe.  Brown/Grizzly bears have a smaller arch in their toes when using this same measurement. 

A little confusing?  Here is another method: Find the lowest point outside the largest toe.  Then find the highest point on the front edge of the palm pad.  Connect these points together by extending a line in the print.  One line will go from the middle of the print (the pad) to the big toe.  Then use the same method to the tip of the small toe to the middle pad connecting the line.  If more than half of the little tow is below the line, this track belongs to a black bear. Remember to check for the spacing between the toes as well!  Using this same method of measurement and the toes are above this line, claws are 2"-4" long with little to no spacing between the toes, then the tracks were made by a brown bear.

Photo by: Scott Mogilefsky

Black bear claws are usually around and inch and a half long. A brown bear's claws will be two to four inches long and clearly visible. The length for black and brow bears will vary in different regions, the terrain and manly what the bears lifestyle consists of. If they are climbers or diggers, the claws will be a little smaller. Once you have identified the type of bear in an area, report it to local wildlife officers or campground management. This will allow them to determine if the bear is a threat, too close to people or people are too close to the bear and they will be able to take the appropriate actions of needed.