I Had a Skunk Encounter

A Pre-Spring Chase, successful spritzing.
At about 7 p.m. I headed up to the lake, the time being perfect for a chase given that the temperatures have risen to acceptable levels, the snow seems to be melted here and it's now skunk mating season, so I know they'll be extra pungent! Right off the bat I found a skunk, but it was surprisingly close to a known burrow and I knew running after it would be pointless until it got further away, so I let the little stinker sniff around, only to find the little guy ran right down the lake's shoreline and even with my pursuing I managed to lose him (possibly went into a hiding space, hard to say?). Disheartened but not completely demoralized, I continued to look around. I tried heading south along the shorelines and looked around the golf course for several minutes to no avail, but upon my return to known skunk turf (the wooded creek area) I found a skunk, possibly the same one that ran before. I gave chase and stumbled a bit, accidentally dropping my skunk plush but quickly throwing my flashlight at it, and I believe the skunk misted my flashlight before ducking into a rather impressive burrow. Coincidentally, it's the same burrow I mentioned a year or so ago that's made from a rotted-out pipe that evidently never got replaced. Looking about the burrow with my flashlight I couldn't even see a skunk in the vast emptiness, my line of sight badly obscured by the pipe as well as massive tree roots and brush, so I gave up looking for that one, confident I'd come back later and find him again.
After more fruitless searching combing the golf course for over an hour, I thought my night was going to end in only a partial success, but upon returning to the creek I was delighted to find the striped beauty was back! I crept up steadily at first with my flashlight off so as not to blow my cover, but upon seeing the skunk making a beeline away from me and towards the fence line I ran at full tilt to catch up, soon closing the gap enough to hurl my skunk plush right at the skunk's rear, getting my dear plush Penelope generously spritzed in the face. I threw her a few more times just to make absolutely sure she was hit, then managed to tangle myself unceremoniously on a wire barrier I was too distracted by chasing to notice or jump over, my fall giving the skunk more than enough time to reach the fence and duck into the locked-off marina. It's just as well, anyway, because as much as I LOVE being sprayed on my skin, I DO have work tomorrow.
Speaking of which, even though I made great efforts to ensure none of my skin was sprayed, I noticed the tips of my left fingers do smell rather skunky, and after getting some deep awesome whiffs of Penelope I licked my lips and noticed I tasted skunk musk on my mustache (most likely some oil transferred), so it looks like I'll have to deodorize regardless. I just hope I'm not smelled at work, I'm already on thin ice as it is (they put me on retraining due to a less-than-stellar performance review) and it's REALLY humiliating to get chewed out by management for hygiene.
I think it might've been a male in rut that I chased because the smell is especially chemical and sulfurous, not nearly as sweet as a female in heat would be. Still, it's wonderfully skunky and overpowering to the senses!