Should I worry about wild predators in WI?

[ekg56]

We used tomato juice and then we went to the pet store and bought some special shampoo. We had to wash her a few times but it eventually got better. The 2 things did the trick and the smell did go away pretty quickly.
We had to drive home though and we had her in the back of the SUV and we had the windows wide open!

[Drover]

Originally Posted by JoshB

Drover, I love my dog to much to do that. We just let him stay in the house.

Didn't that make your house smell like skunk? Your furniture and stuff?

[Hntr]

We've been lucky, knock on wood, but our dog has never been sprayed by a skunk.

When we first move out here we used to have coons constantly tearing up our bird feeders. One day I decided I was going to build a live trap, trap them all and relocate them, get rid of them once and for all. The live trap was made out of plywood, sides, top and bottom. I put some vertical rods spaced about an inch apart for the back and made the door out of plywood with a couple of door springs and latch to trigger and lock it. Worked like a charm!!

I started trapping coons! tTe first night and every night thereafter for about two weeks I got a coon ....... and the neighbors cat twice. The coons I loaded up in my truck, drove them out a few miles and released them.

Then I trapped a skunk! I didn't want to upset it so very gently I picked up the trap carried it across the road, set it down, carefully opened the door, and ran like a bat out of you know where. I watched and waited about thirty yards away, but the skunk wouldn't come out of the trap. I swear it was half hour before that dumb skunk decided to leave the trap. That was the end of my trapping days.

I figured it was like sitting in a lake on a row boat taking water with a bucket from one side and pouring it out the other side. As soon as you get rid of one coon another moves in to take its place.

I put the bird feeders on one inch pipe, shepherd hooks or hung them far out on a branch where the coons couldn't climb the post or tree and get to them. We've never had a problem since then.

I just had to learn to live with the animals around us.

[JoshB]

Originally Posted by Drover

Didn't that make your house smell like skunk? Your furniture and stuff?

Yes and No,
He's short haired so I felt as though it could've been worse. Luckily it was during the summer, so we just had some windows open as well. After a few weeks it wore off.

[Dea13]

I'm more afraid of possums & raccoons than bears or wolves. Them lil varmints can be mean!!! We had a 17 lb (no kidding) possum decide to move into our outdoor kennel with our dogs. Took us a while to figure out how they were going through so much food & water. Then one day I'm home with the flu and decide to put the dogs in the kennel so I could nap. The possum wasn't about to let me come anywhere near the door. Dogs acted like it was a long lost cousin come to visit Called the dogs back to the house and called my husband at work to come take care of it (yes, I'm a wimp).

One of my dogs (brittanys) decided to try and retrieve a porcupine on two separate occasions! But thank goodness neither of them has made friends with a skunk.

[rbekt]

I've lived in Wisconsin for 46 years, and saw my first bear last summer. I've never seen a wild coyete or wolf. Lots of deer, opossums, skunks and small noctural animals. Children are more in danger from the neighbors hunt'in dogs and grandpa with the shotgun (who is looking for the bear)

[dreamhunter65]

I see many bear and coyote up north here and my mom on Monday had a wolf 50 yards from her house but when it spotted her took off fast.