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From: "Jakki" <>
Subject: Re: [HS] My last word on skunks
Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2003 05:09:15 -0800
References: <19b.12de5cc4.2bb913c7@aol.com>

Another wonderful story by John....you are making my day, John. I am so glad
you joined our group.
Jakki



----- Original Message -----
From: <>
To: <>
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2003 7:45 PM
Subject: [HS] My last word on skunks


Skunks belong to the family of Mustelidae. Other animals classified in this
family include: Badger, Ermine, Ferret, Martin, Mink, Otter, Polecat, Ratel,
Sable, Weasel, and Wolverine. All of these animals emit a musky scent, some
much stronger than others.


During the Depression we hunted to put meat on the table. My brother once
had
a pet ferret trained to flushout rabbits. He carried it in an old wool sock.
He would carefully put the top of the sock in a rabbit hole and shake out
the
ferret. If there was a rabbit in the hole it would come flying out faster
then old Snyder's hound. It took two people to hunt this way; one to shoot
the rabbit and the other catch the ferret when it came back out of the hole.
We tried this trick with a weasel but it didn't work very well. The weasel
had such a nasty disposition that we had to wear heavy leather gloves to
handled it, and sometimes the damn thing would prefer to stay down in the
hole and eat rabbit instead of chasing it out. Also it stunk almost as bad
as
a skunk. All this reminds me of an old,old Chinese proverb that I just
happened to make up: NEVER SEND A WEASEL TO DO A FERRET'S JOB.

Someone out there wondered if a skunk could spray if its back feet were off
the ground. As we used to back in WW2 ... I HOPE TO SPIT IN YOUR MESS KIT. I
once encountered a big ol' battle scarred skunk that made a true believer
out
of my dog, Spike. And to add insult to injury that ol' stinkpot let it fly
right in spike's face while it was balancing on his front feet. Someone else
asked if the longer hair on a skunk was soft. Yes, it is but not as soft as
the fur next to its skin. Skunk fur was once used to trim ladies coats.

Back in the early thirties, we heated our house with a large wood-burning
stove that sat right in the middle of the living room. From time to time, my
father painted it with a product called "STOVEBLACK". I mention this because
I once caught a skunk that had only a tiny patch of white on its throat. A
black pelt would usually fetch a few cents more. Using some of the
STOVE-BLACK, I carefully covered the small spot of white fur. It worked. I
actually outwitted that unscrupulous hide dealer, Abe Surath, also known as
Abe Sore A--.

I wanted all the other boys to know about it, but my grandmother said it was
sinful to brag, so I just told a couple of my best friends, hoping they
would
pass the word. My grandmother also had another saying: The sound carries
farther if you get others to blow you horn.

w/best wishes, John



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• Re: [HS] My last word on skunks by "Jakki" <>