Do skunks hibernate?

I have a dog, and I walk around the neighborhood at all hours of day and night. In our travels we have come across a few skunks. My dog is a crazy maniac...although she is aging, her love for chasing small animals has not. Seriously...that dog will chase anything EXCEPT a ball...that is beneath her...(at least that is what her dirty looks tell me)

We encounted a skunk on the sidewalk at night...I thought it was a cat, but then realized the waddle wasn't a cats waddle?!? I mentioned it was dark, right? Don't want you to think I am more of a dingbat than you already might;) It kinda freaked me out, actually...got the adrenaline jiggles. I asked around and found that Skunks in my town have apparently been warring for the entire Summer...a War of the Roses sort of ongoing, drag out, mess up your sleep due to stench sort of thing. So questions came up in my mind about these little beasties...

1) How close to do you have to be to a skunk, to get hit with it's super stink??

2) What does take the smell out if you get skunked?

3) Do skunks hibernate? If so my worries may be over soon...when the snow comes...they probably hibernate, they'd freeze if not...I better check.

4) Did Pepe Le Pew in the cartoons ever really catch that poor cat, that ran under the newly painted white fence...but wasn't really a skunk at all?? Did he catch her and really get his kiss...

oh Mon Cherie, oui, oui...(that's pretty much the French I know, all from cartoons)
Hanna Barbera ROCKS!! I will go to the Grizmeks(sic) you know the book...it's green, and it talks about mammals, reptiles, fish, natural habitats, etc...I'll never be able to spell that guys name. Good books though. Keep you posted...

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Answer: To Hibernate or not to hibernate?!?

Apparently skunks don't hibernate. They go into a state called torpor. A slow and sluggish state where they don't move around much, but they can if need be. Kinda like you'd feel after a Happy Hour @ Rio Grande with margaritas!! They can hit you with their super stink from 4 feet away! I was WAY too close!

Just so you know, something I learned on this hunt...some scientists argue that certain bears also enter this state, torpor and not true hiberantion.