A friend texted me the other night with some news that probably shouldn’t have made me chuckle.

But it did.

“Got sprayed by a skunk. I was at its farthest limit of odor penetration,” he wrote. “Didn’t invade my skin.

“Nonetheless, I got sprayed by a skunk. … It was intense.”

Yikes.

The area where I spend most of my time outdoors offers the potential to encounter a variety of larger wildlife, including black bears, gray wolves and coyotes.

None of them, however, fill me with more horror than a skunk. And I’d wager many outdoors enthusiasts would agree – regardless of where they live.

I’d put skunks right up there with spiders and snakes on my list of cringe-worthy critters.

I remember about a decade ago, a friend and I were enjoying a cold one on the bunkhouse porch on a fine summer

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