We know they're around. Around and about, as the saying goes, but never seen. How do we know they're about in the landscape? The indelible odour their mode of self-protection exudes, infiltrating the landscape from time to time. Usually at night. Not often, but frequently enough so we know they're about and someone or something has disturbed one of them.

Decades ago we caught a glimpse of black and white fur slinking into the underbrush on one of our hiking trips in the forest. But never again. They're shy, withdrawn creatures, and nocturnal by nature, so little wonder they're rarely spotted. We'd love to come across one, but never have.

Perhaps it's just as well because for certain if we did somehow stumble across a skunk, our two precocious and not very discerning dogs, Jackie and Jillie, would race after the little creature, barking furiously. And in its self-defence, it would react as nature intended it to by releasing that sac containing that foul-smelling, eye-stinging musky stink that while it 'teaches a lesson', is very, very difficult to get rid of.

Our daughter's first dog once years ago got sprayed by a skunk. Curiosity, no doubt impelled the dog, a very nice German-Shepherd-Husky mix, to get too close to a much smaller creature that had no wish to get close up and personal with any animal it didn't initiate contact with. Our daughter tried all the usual remedies to rid her poor dog of the stench and it was a tough time.

So surely there are skunks lurking about in the forest and we've simply never seen one there. Others than ourselves have seen deer, wild turkeys, and coyotes on occasion in our nearby forest. We've seen porcupine (rarely), raccoons, moles, squirrels, muskrats and beaver, snakes, turtles, weasels, deer and bears, and moose, various types of ducks and Great Blue Herons, among other birds and animals, but never a skunk in our forays further into the wild in other forested, and more remote areas than ours.

Our ravine walk through the forest trails located in our nearby ravine yesterday was just about as pleasant as it can get in the waning days of winter following a snowstorm. The temperature had risen to 6C, but of course seemed much colder given the snowpack remaining on the forest floor. Yet that pack is slowly diminishing, and once again bare patches can be seen on the hillsides, revealing the presence of the forest under its heavy burden of snow.

No doubt in anticipation of the mess the trails will eventually succumb to as the snowpack becomes ever more shallow than it now is from its depth of several feet accumulation, people are avoiding the forest. Some of our friends have told us they wouldn't be around for that reason for a month or so. So now we seldom see others on the trials. Which translates to peaceful walks in a wonderfully serene setting, where everything seems hushed but the sound of woodpeckers and the occasional hoot of an owl.

Oh, and that elusive sighting of skunks? We went up a trifle later than usual to bed last night; just before midnight. Before we mounted the steps to the second floor we always look out the glassed front door to see who might be on the porch eating seeds, nuts, bread or kibble. And there was a little skunk. So we were quick to direct Jackie and Jillie upstairs without allowing them space at the front door, and though how lucky we were to catch a good look at the little fellow.