tried my hand at removing essence last night on a smaller skunk,and i had a heck of a time trying to find the pods with a needle,i did finally hit one and got a very small amount,but couldnt find the other one,any pointers on where to stick the needle?ive skun a few and seen the pods on them but couldnt seem to hit em last night.i didnt have a skinning knife with me or i wouldve removed some fur to find them.i thought it would be easy peasy but it was not

Might have just been a smaller skunk without much in it.

It takes some practice and knowledge of the pod positions to extract from the carcass and to do a good job. I find it much easier to carefully open up the area at the base of the tail with a sharp scalpel or a razor type of knife. Skunk hair is coarse and will dull some blades pretty fast.

This will allow you to see the round tissue shape of the pods and to get a more precise needle insertion.This way you will get your best volume draw on the first jab. Once you poke a pod a few times without success it can get dicey.

The pods have a difficult time relaxing when held together by muscle tissue and skin. If they can't vacuum down you won't get a good draw out.

Quite often one side has the majority of the quill.

ok thanks guys,it was a small male,next time i will have a knife to help

Sometimes you can find the vents just inside the rectum and insert your needle there. But I strongly suggest you use a sharp needle and apply as little pressure as possible while pointing the vents AWAY from you. Most of the time you can feel the pods beforehand to get an idea how full they might be. Size of the skunks doesn't always matter.

you can feel the pods through the fur

Removing the pods will allow you to milk the pods and get the greatest return from them this allows you to see what you should get out of them but smaller pods can be disappointing often.

Remove the pods before skinning. Put them in a glass jar with a metal lid. Freeze them in a freezer not used for food. After the season is over thaw them and remove the quill. This is really easy and will save money on syringes as the quill eats up the syringe quickly
Save the pod in the glass jars. Bury them. 2 years or so they will be usable as bait, sweet skunk, or salable to bait makers.