So very easy to skin. Just wear nitrile gloves and your fleshing bib if your worried. After a couple you'll understand right where to cut to avoid the sacs. Such an easy animal to deal with. If you do all your other fur I strongly suggest trying. The extra money in essence alone is worth it. There are videos available on the web. Good luck if you start. This season I'll remember to take a couple pics to help people if needed

I agree, few big points to consider...DON'T head shoot when dispatching...guaranteed lots of odors and can't sell skull, watch your cuts near the bags, don't forget to save fat and place in a labeled container...lure makers love the stuff....and have all containers and bags ready for pelt, skull, fat and essence...makes big difference in contamination.
Hope this helps.

A lot of guys will get into it but it tests your lifestyle in a lot of ways in the way of family, work, workable area, storage and knowledge. I’m sure some great stories are in the making in the near future it’s not for everyone.

That said theres a bunch of tricks to make it more practical but once you poke that sack that genies never going back in the bottle after that. LOL Theres just no getting around that it sticks to almost anything more so then other odors. I was surprised that the noise piece on my glasses holds the odor for a short time

Is there a market for just the tails? Most road kills are trash, but the tails will survive the hit.

Who knows? Smelling a tad like skunk might be an improvement.

You're becoming domesticated aren't ya?

Wimp!....the smell of money.

I can skin them . I’ve killed enough skunks without skinning them to get a number of strange looks at gas stations,

gotcha. Wish I lived closer by. Hope you find someone to help. Maybe time to teach a kid the ways of our art of trapping. If not get a hold of your most local trapping organization and I'm sure they'll hook you up.

I'm doing a demo on skunks at our convention and will be tailgating with my dispatch poles. Will be happy to discuss skunks with anyone who wants to stop by.

You guys skin before, or after sucking out the juice? just curious if one way is "better" than the other..

Smelling like skunk is a good thing. Keeps away nontrapping rif raf. I take the pods out whole. Let them age in a little fat a few years. Gets like black tar. Good fixative.

Pods come out first thing then skin like any other critter leaving the pods in can cause a number of problems defusing the “bomb” makes the put up way easier.

I skin first.

I like living life dangerously lol

Ye. I tried extracting the juice first once, bad idea. There's always a tiny droplet on the end of the needle or on the sack when you pull the needle out. That's enough to evacuate the garage for a period of time. I skin, then cut the pods out and freeze or extract with a needle outside after the furs off.

You can cut off the sacks and play catch with them just don’t squeeze them, you can handle sacks all day if don’t nick them or squeeze no skunk smells. Leaving them on to me increases the chance to ruin a clean hide and lose essence so I lessen that chance by removing them first but that’s just me.

Removing and draining the sacks will increase the amount of stink you will recover as you can manipulate the bags better that way.

Latex gloves do not protect you from the skunk smell face it you’re going to stink.

I shoot the skunk into the back hoping for the spine, cut the glands off then skin. Had two that "blew up", I save the empty sacks I add one sack to a half gallon of coyote stomachs for my "secret" bait. I started on skunks and possum somewhere in the mid 60's, the smell takes me back, could get the smell off everything but my hands only one teacher commented on the odor!

Any damage to the spine will get an automatic discharge most of the time plus that’s where the rabies virus is stored in the brain stem, I don’t recommend that.

I extract the juice before skinning and then remove the glands. Skin like any other critter. Lots of products you can use to remove the smell. Quill goes into a Boston bottle or something simulator. Once full the cap gets dipped in wax to seal. I have two buyers, one for quill and one for glands.

Shot in the lungs when they're calm and it's usually ok. Head, spine like Law Dog said will probably result in a smelly situation. 160s with the trigger set right is nice too, usually no spray.
Empty sacks are also golden at a jackpot in winter.

Discussion of dispatch is by PM only...