Swathed a skunk......today

Ya in all the years of swathing this was a first for me.. Heard the rollers take something.. said what the he...c...k... before I could finish the ck I got the smell..Ya.... Funny thing is within 15 minutes buzzard was circling and by the time I was done had almost cleaned it up.. Takes something that ugly to eat something that smelly.. thankful for the clean-up though...

Been there done that with a haybine. At least you know the skunk got the worst end of the deal.

Feel your pain. I hit one with a bush hog. Skunk lost, but I didn't fare well either....enclosed cab helped, but I still got gassed... Dodged two more later on in the same field!

Just be glad you don't run one into the silage chopper like a neighbor did one time. Plugged the machine, lots of fun getting the mess out of there. (My $0.02 worth. jal-SD)

Swathed one in an oats field many years ago.

We baled straw, I talked dad into storing that load of straw outside under a tarp, said we are packing in the back of the barn, won't get to those bales for many months again if the smell lingers. One of the few times he listened to me.....

Paul

This winter a lucky cow will chomp on a wad of hay and say "what's with that seasoning"?

Picked up one with the pull type swather years ago. He must have jumped up and the reel threw him onto the canvas when I saw him. He rode the canvas and was thrown off into the windrow about the time he let loose; didn't really have time to stink up the swather much before I left the scene. Wasn't about to stop and let him have another shot at me.

My friend kept bugging me for the tires and rims on my 4X4 after hitting a skunk with them I gave in he was not impressed LOL

LOL

I did a number on a dinner plate sized snapping turtle. I was running the rake and raked her into the pile. The round baler was right behind me. That bale is going to be a little crunchy.

That stinks lol. (had to say it)

Skunk shot across the road on me and I hit it with my motorcycle.
Got home, Dad caught a wiff, handed me a stack of quarters and told me to go wash my bike and take a looong ride before I come back.

I have a 35 acre hayfeild that I seem to get 4 or 5 every year when mowing. Lucky for me don't notice it till next round!

Last year I hit one with the sickle bar. Never saw it until it were done, he was pretty ticked off. I saw blood, might have lost a foot. I declined to get off and check on his condition. Just kept going and shortly smelled the spray. Last I saw him he was headed across the field and dead ahead was a neighbor talking to a friend on his drive. Waited for the fracas to start when he ran thru the middle of em, but it never happened.

Neighbor put one thru a 9650 Deere combine doing beans . Wow did that stink!!

Never hit one in a field, but, back about 45 years ago, when I was stationed at Bainbridge NTC, a few of us were returning to the barracks from an evening of serious imbibing. I took a wrong turn and wound up near the hospital. I spotted one in the headlights and came to a stop just before I hit the little bugger. But, the guy riding shotgun didn't want to wait for the critter to get out of our way, so he reached over and hit the horn ring on the steering wheel. Car still had an odor to it a week later.....

I ran one through the combine by Mineola Kansas. I got used to the smell but two weeks later someone else got in that combine to load it on the trailer and got back out of the cab looking for the skunk. LOL Last Tuesday I was coming home from town after dark and a skunk came out in front of me, saw me and started running in front of me same direction I was going. I zigged and it zagged and my front right tire squished all the juice out if it. The pickup has been sleeping under the stars since then. Jim

I got one once with the swather around Thanksgiving, doing a fourth cutting. Very cold out- I was bundled up and I think he was running slow cuz of the temp.

LOL,"Takes something that ugly to eat something that smelly"

Thanks , I needed that.

I had one run out ahead of me about a mile from work I tryed to avoid it but he ran out and I got it with the drivers side tires as I rolled along I got a whiff of the gas(gag,cough,wheeze) but Mr. skunk didnt realy hit the truck,and I said to myself cool,sure dont want to enjoy that aroma all day! Well about a half an hour later our semi came back from a delivery and the driver got the dang skonk with the trailer whoo boy still got to enjoy the smell all week!

Lol ...had a big yeller tom cat we called Earless.. always pikin fites , had his ears chewed back from all his battles , never knew where he would show up on the farm .. I was about half way through the north field cutting hay with nh 489 , and I heard the rollers clunk and a cat scream , I yanked the hand clutch on the DC and just as I rounded the corner of haybine I saw a tail of a snake wigglin away into standin hay ,, , there before me on top of the windrow barely recognizable was EArless ,, a crumpled hopeless quivering mass of nuthin ...it is heart breaking ,to see life take an abrupt end ,...while laying for that snake . he was killed in the line of duty,,. ///funny all the wildlife in a hay field ,,. one yr seemed like there were a dozen or more young rabbits running around ,,it was kinda sad to see them layin on top of the windrow ,,after I killed 3 I would slow the DC back to give the rabbits a chance to get out of the way,, meanwhile the buzzards caught on to the smorgasboard the nh 489 was dishing out,,and were watching from the treeline ...they would swoop down grab the kill and go ,, most the rabbits got the heck out of there to live another day . I got down to a 100 foot postage stamp square ,,. and I would see 2 rabbits ,, one on one side and one on the other ,, maybe it was the same one ??? apparently , he would get in the thick far enuf from harms way each round ,,finally he got in front of tractor tire and I chased him up the windrow ,, , nursing the clutch if he slowed,,.there were enuf dead rabbits that day ... we got to the corner and the rabbit finally decided to make a run across the field for cover,,i stopped and watched nature at its finest and cruelest ,, when the rabbt was nearly across to the corn field .. Along came a hawk swooped down and hooked his talons onto that rabbit , and stuggled with it trying to get some lift ,,they came within 30feet of me and that poor bunny was squealing for his life , and the hawk was determined .. .. Such is LIFE,,.sometimes it seems futile ,, sometimes comical , and sad ,, but all in all worthwhile

I have swathed a few skunks. The first couple were with a JD 800 so you are right above the conditioner rollers when that thing goes through and you get full benefit of the stink, enough to make you gag.
I traded it off for an International 1190 haybine. When you hit a skunk with that the stink is well behind you and you don"t know about it til the next round. It"s much more pleasant that way.

A few years ago I sold a customer a new discbine. He is the storyteller type so he went on and started telling me about his father buying a new sickle mower and conditioner setup. When the first haybine came out they quickly bought it and sold their mower and crimper combo to a neighbor. About a month later the neighbor stopped by and asked "Do you know whats worse than running a skunk through that crimper?" my customer replied "God no. What?" the neighbor sighed and said "Only running him halfway through!".

Ran an old IH 56 baler years ago and we were baling at night with some dew. For some reason there were lots of skunks in the field and they held under windrows. We were pulling a sled behind and guy on there to pile bales. I didn't realize I had hit a skunk until the sled guy ran off the sled. I think that was the night we also baled up a cat and it was still alive when they haulers found him in the bale. I don't know how he got through without being crushed