Gun Dog Forum

Good Morning,

So I was hunting some public land in SW MN last weekend when I got a nice surprise. We had just pushed a long field of prairie grass to a swamp edge hoping to get the birds to hold up in the cattails along the swamp for my 8 month old pup, Flynt. I pushed through some willows that were growing through some waist deep, matted down canary grass. Flynt came tearing through the grass and pointed about 3 feet away from me. I was excited, as I'm still trying to get him his first rooster. I started to move in to flush and Flynt sprung up in the air like a fox and dove under the grass. The next thing I knew Flynt is screaming under the matted down grass and thrashing around. He popped out and starts flopping around on the grass like he's being attacked or something. I thought he was either in a fight or had a trap on him so I started moving towards him to help my little buddy out. That's when it hit me. I literally couldn't breathe. I called Flynt to me and got the heck out of there. I looked him over and you could see where it hit him. Square in the throat/chest area. I brought him down to the swamp and started throwing sticks out in the mud/water to get what I could off. Of course this didn't help at all. We then worked back towards the parking area. When we got there I took out my shampoo and washed off waht I could. That helped a bit, but I think it just spread it around more. We then drove to the nearest lake and I washed him three more times. This helped a bit, but the windows were down on the SUV we drove in.

That evening I mixed up the hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, dish soap concoction and washed him up in the hotel tub. I left a good tip on the table the next morning. The smell was 99% gone on him after using this. His collars are another story. I will be tossing his standard collar; but the tri-tronics took a direct hit, and no matter what I do, I cannot get rid of the smell. I soaked it in the same concoction that I washed Flynt in and it didn't touch it. Tried scent killer spray for deer hunting and that didn't work either. Tried straight dish soap, same results. The stuff almost looks like varnish on the collar. I even hit it with a wire brush and that didn't do it. I'd rather not buy another $250 receiver if I don't have to.

Any ideas?

At least I have some good cover scent for the deer hunting opener this weekend.

Thank you. I hope you all had your good laugh for the day now.
JJ

It's just a matter of time until each of us is in your shoes. Rotten luck. You could try contacting a disaster cleanup service, no, really. They have products on hand to remove horrible smells from fabric, wood, etc. and they may have something which will help.

Earlier this fall, I thought that although we all know the baking soda, peroxide and dish soap recipe, we don't usually carry the stuff with us into the field. So, I went to the thrift store and bought several juice pitchers. Into each one I put small containers holding enough of each of the 3 ingredients needed to de-skunk 2 dogs, along with disposable gloves and a set of instructions in case I wasn't the user of the kit. If you keep one kit in the truck, all you need to add is 2 quarts of water to treat one dog. I made enough kits to share with my training buddies, and it was less than $10. Good luck with your collar and receiver.

My dog got hit the opening day of the season last year. Even after soaking it in all kinds of stuff the smell stayed until the middle of January. (2.5 months) Time will fix it. I carry powdered OxyClean in the dog boxes for the dogs, works alright. Skunk juice is nasty stuff.

Call a local water damage company. I know we carry stuff for skunk odor removal, and trust me it works. You cant buy it over the counter though and you have to have a lisence to buy it in Washington. I have used it on my older dog when he got sprayed, and all you could smell was a pine tree smell when it was done. Although you are not supposed to use it on animals, but it worked on him either way. I would imagine that it would work on a collar, i know it contains a small amount of solvent to break up the film, after that im not sure what is in it. Either way i would make the call.

Skunk scent is a bad deal. I had a pair of dogs get hit by a skunk about 4-5weeks ago. It was bad. Most of the collars and stuff quit stinking after about 2-3 weeks but it is still faint. I was walking across the parking lot with another teacher this morning and she kinda looked at me funny..... She said it smelled like someone had been smoking dope in my truck..... At first i was a little offended, then I realized one of the compartments of my dog box still has a faint skunk smell to it.......

Any how moral of the story I guess is time heals all. Eventually, about the time it all gets back to normal ol' Mr. Murphy will rear his ugly head and you'll encounter another one.

Jim

Just an FYI, but Mendota Dura Soft collars repel moisture and odor... You wouldn't be de-skunking your collar right now. Something to think about in the future.

Thanks for the information everyone. I will make a few phone calls and see what kind of products I can find. It sounds like a bit of patience is in order as well until the odor wears off.

Just an FYI, but Mendota Dura Soft collars repel moisture and odor... You wouldn't be de-skunking your collar right now. Something to think about in the future.

I have the LCS day-glo collars that are vinyl coated. They say the same thing about moisture and odor. I don't think anything would repel the stink that hit Flynt's collars.

On the bright side, the next day Flynt was able to track down and point some wily pheasants. I think the "incident" made him a bit more cautious. He's starting to put things together though. These wild pheasants are giving him a run for his money.

Thanks again everyone.

hahahahahaha insane laffter from a guy has had more skunk odor than most. My dogs are skunk go getters, they go and gett em then bring em back to me yuck. Some collars just wont come clean so they get tossed. I now use the plastic neon collars, they will clean up easy with some bleach and water. It works I can say as this just happened to me seems they get a couple every year now folks dont trap like they used to.

Yep last one was over by the well, put him in a plastic bag and put that into a garbage can, can still smell it...

Whatever you do, dont shoot a skunk

ever

even if he is in a hollowed out log.....

My lab got skunked on opener as well.
A bath of tomato juice first, let dry, rinse, and then a spray of fabreez cleaned her up.

Same process for her TT collar, and then spent the week in a ziplock bag full of baking soda, and by friday afternoon it was good to go.

I threw away my TT collar. Don't know what it is, but it holds the scent forever. It got the same hydro/baking soda mix the dog got, then I tried Fast Orange handcleaner, & Nature's Miracle. Gave up and threw it in the back of the work truck, to toss in the dumpster. A couple weeks later, we finally got to the dumpster. I had hope, since I hate to throw things away, and it'd been rained on and surely aired out. I took a big whiff, gagged, and into the dumpster it went! The dog's GDS Durasoft collar, like Mendota or Permatak, did just fine though after a couple cleanings.

Add Tea Tree oil to the mix and let it soak for a bit

A trapper friend told me about the peroxide/baking soda/dawn mixture. This summer my dogs were sprayed 7 times. I can attest that those vinyl no-odor collars soak up skunk oil as well as any other collar. I let them lay in the bucket with the skunk mix while scrubbing it into the dog, that cuts it quite a bit but not completely. Collars are cheap enough that I just chuck 'em if it's too bad.

My deskunking kit includes a feminine hygiene aerosol spray which I use on the collars.

Thought I'd give this thread a bump as my setter got nailed 1st thing opening day. She doesn't stink anymore but the Garmin Alpha collar sure does... Any ideas?

RYNO wrote:Thought I'd give this thread a bump as my setter got nailed 1st thing opening day. She doesn't stink anymore but the Garmin Alpha collar sure does... Any ideas?

Break the collar and send it in for warranty replacement...

okay, no better ideas than others have mentioned previously.

Tomato Juice is on our hunting check list and seems to work the best. Cover your dog completely with tomato juice and let it soak for several minutes then rinse. You may have to apply it a second time depending on how many times your pup got sprayed.

I also use Dura Lon collars for my dogs and you can get them at Dogs Unlimited.

I used the peroxide/baking soda/dish soap on the dog and she's 99.9% odor free (and didn't turn orange from tomato juice ). I soaked her regular collar in the same solution all day and it still has a bit of a 'twang' to it. The Alpha collar got a scrubbing with the solution and it still flat out stinks. Garmin sent a new collar in the mail today, hope it's just that and not the GPS and battery 'stuff' that stinks.

I will have to try that mixture. Hopefully there won't be a next time. Thanks for the advice RYNO.