Skunk

The Skunk is an animal found in Red Dead Redemption.

Description

Skunks are small, black-furred creatures with a distinctive white stripe down their back and tail. In the game, they are similar in size, shape, and motion to Raccoons.

Skunks appear to be crepuscular - while they do occasionally appear in the daytime and full dark, they are seen at dusk and dawn with much greater frequency. In the Diez Coronas region, for instance, 7:00 - 9:00 P.M. appears to be prime skunk time. Their frequency may also be dependent on the time of day. It's been noted that they are most active after 6:00 A.M. The player must kill and skin 5 to complete Rank 6 of the Master Hunter Challenge

Locations

New Austin

In New Austin, there are several locations where the player can find skunks:

Around Cholla Springs or just south of Twin Rocks.
Near the road that runs south from MacFarlane's Ranch and west of Warthington Ranch
Odd Fellow's Rest (not as frequent)
Rio Del Lobo
Armadillo - just behind the General Store(right at 6pm), and behind the blue house next to the Armadillo Bank. Skunks and Raccoons will spawn shortly after sunset in this area and then head south.
The Old Bacchus Place.
On the little mountain west of Jorge's Gap, left of the name on the map.
At night, Northeast of Benedict Point. (between Benedict Point/Pass)

Nuevo Paraiso

In Nuevo Paraiso, skunks can be found in these locations:

Just above the second "A" of Las Hermanas on the dotted line on the map, around 5 AM.
In and around the horse field Northeast of Torquemada, with a running road starting at the two-way crossing at the east of Casa Madrugada and following to Mesa Del Sol and running to the south of the horse field.
On the plains around Roca de Madera, north of Agave Viejo. Around midnight, they run around among the horses and armadillos.
Alta Cabeza just west of El Matadero, although it is not the best of places. Go there at night and go around the 4 plateau things. There are skunks all over the place.
Just over the "A" of Diez Coronas, where the black road splits in two. The skunk spawn point is at the rock in the crossroad. The skunks mostly spawn between 2am and 3am.
At Butter Bridge, though they are scattered about.
Several spawned within seconds intervals at the eastern wall of the rock plateau east of the three Bighorn pictures, south-southwest of El Matadero.

West Elizabeth

A few locations in West Elizabeth also have skunks:

In the 'U' area made by the road west of the Wreck of the Serendipity at dawn and dusk.
In the Great Plains, Beecher's Hope, and in Tall Trees.
To the east of Beecher's Hope and North of Broken Tree at dusk, around where the telephone lines cross the trail.

Tips

When hunting skunks, using rifles, shotguns, or sniper rifles can destroy the bodies (rendering them unskinnable), so lower power weapons are recommended.
Skunks will frequently spawn at night directly behind the stagecoach in Armadillo. Merely riding around the building is enough to make the skunk respawn (but will not spawn 100% of the time). This may require the stagecoach to be present. If the stagecoach is not present then players can get the respawned skunk by going through the general store from the main street to the back of the coach.
When hunting skunks near the stagecoach, use Throwing Knives or a Tomahawk to avoid causing the stagecoach to flee at the sound of gunfire. Alternatively, chase the animals out of town for about thirty seconds, then the sound of gunfire won't scare the coach away.
Curiously, it seems riding clockwise around the block of buildings is more likely to get a raccoon spawn and riding counter-clockwise and it is more likely to see skunks. There are at least two points behind this block of buildings so continue past the stagecoach and turn around at the movie theater to increase chances of finding a skunk. Occasionally, during this exploit the skunk/raccoon will spawn slightly off screen or behind a building, so be sure to check down the alley behind the coach and by the building across the road from the movie theater. Skunks seem to be more frequent here while on horseback.
NOTE: Going away from the stagecoach and re-approaching it from the FRONT spawns skunks, while re-approaching it from the BACK spawns racoons. It is very useful for the master hunter challenge level 6.

Challenges

Rank 6 of the Master Hunter Challenges requires that Marston collects 5 Skunk pelts (in addition to 5 Raccoon pelts and 5 Fox pelts).

Trivia

Although in real life skunks are best known for the foul odor that they produce when threatened, no reference to this trait is made in the game.
Skunks do not appear in Undead Nightmare.

Gallery

Video

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Achievements/Trophies

The player must kill a skunk to contribute to the successful completion of the following trophy/achievement:

	UNNATURAL SELECTION 20 gamerscore Bronze bronze Kill every animal species in the game in any game mode.