I've been at war with the skunks

Usually I don't mind the various critters passing through the yard, occasionally stopping briefly to poke around then moving on. But a small band of skunks got too comfortable. They were hanging out right next to the house. One night I woke up to their pungent scent. I went out after them to get blood but they slipped me that night.

I didn't see them again for about a week. My next encounter the little stinker was distracted and munching on something. I was able to prop the front door open without him noticing and took a shot with a contender in 22LR which I just happened to have on hand as I was shooting it earlier in the day (preparing for the next skunk encounter actually). I put another one down the next night, but I had to chase him a bit. There was a third one with them but it must have decided to move along before it also caught a dose of lead.

I thought about keeping one of the smelly carcasses to play a prank on a buddy, but it was just too foul. So I buried them and even a couple feet underground the smell was awful for about 2 days. Some buzzards hung around trying to figure out a way to get a scrap but no luck. So anyway, between skunks and stray cats, the vermin are thinning out here.