Anyone Need a Hat?

While Margo was gone the other night (she was at a livestock conference in Missouri), the dogs woke me up barking at about 5:30am. This happens semi often because there are lots of varmints and things that come around that the dogs bark at and chase off. Usually it is a feral cat that is trying to steal some cat food or is trying to sleep in the barn. Most of the time I just ignore the dogs and they eventually run off whatever it is and quit barking. Well, this particular time they just kept barking and barking and would not stop and I could not go back to sleep. So I decided to get up and go tell them to shut-up. When I got up, I realized the dogs were over by the chicken coop and not down by the barn like I expected. This concerned me because some of our local varmints like to eat chickens. So, I grabbed the closest gun (4-10) and slipped on my flip-flops and ran out the door. As soon as I stepped outside (in the 30 degree air with only shorts and flip flops on) I smelled a very distinctive smell (I'm sure you can guess). So, I ran over to the chicken coop and shined my light inside but did not see any striped beast. I then started searching the woods around the chicken coop and I spotted it. It had it's tail up ready to defend itself (it had already got the dogs really good) But before it could, I shot it. Dead. I think skunks are pretty cool animals over all, especially their fur markings. But since they will kill chickens if they get hungry enough, (I am sure this one was just eating the chicken feed) I had to do it. Here is a pic of my early morning wake-up call.