I've have come across my fair share of badgers in the wild. Thankfully, all were from a safe enough distance and none of them decided to cop an attitude. Badgers can be mean, nasty little critters when pressed.
When my dad was younger he was driving a truck down a graveled country lane when he hit a badger. He had his .22 pistol with him and decided to get out of the truck and put it down (if it wasn't dead already). As he gets out of the truck and starts to approach, the little devil hops up, snarls, and charges. My dad unloaded the .22 pistol into him but the badger just kept coming. So he got back into the truck, threw it in reverse, and hit him again! He then drove forward (over him again, IIRC) and this time just kept going...
Lesson learned.