[sharkman8810]

I was out hunting for squirrels are rabbits yesterday and i while i didnt have any luck bringing any home, i ran across a possum. I found this to be very strange. I was holed up on the edge of corn field in some brush with a squirrel tree 25 yards ahead of me, downhill. I hear rustling, but it doesnt sound like squirrel. I finally see it is a possum only 25 ft in front of me. I killed it thinking they are a nocturnal animal, and it may be rabid, plus i dont like a critter that close and moving my way ( even if it was slow). It took alot of hits from my .22 using velocitors to kill it. That was one tough possum ( it seemed like john wayne in a western).

 

[4358]

Probably found a stash of crack

Have a possum problem here decimating my yard but my neighbours and the police would object to a high velocity solution. Ours are nice creatures - but at the moment too much of a good thing.

Had a smilar experince recently - I was out before christmas and out of 15 shots absoutley nailed 11 rabbits and 2 more probables - most fell over stone dead with barely a kick.

Howver I went to another small property where the owner insisted we used shorts. He grew up in the depression and in the time when rabbits overan the country before mixamotosis and calesy(?) and you could almost walk up to the animals.I tried the shorts at the range - but at even 50m there were like firing a shotgun a pellet ata a time- probably a 5 inch group. So we used T22's instead - but for free standing, fire not head shots the result was very unsatisfactory at ranges from 35 to 110m . Three body cavity shots and still going for the hole... pulled out 4 rabbits and used at least 50 shots. A number were misses because we misjudged range so shot over or under with the weaker ammo, however many went strait through.

I have picked up some subsonic hollow points which will hopefully result in cleaner kills so next time I won't walk away to the sound of a rabbit wimpering down its burrow

If you develop a thing for possums try New Zealand there might even be a bounty on them. They were introduced there from Australia and create havoc even in the forests. (As opposed to my gum tress lemon trees flowers ....) Problem for me are they are semi tame and I really don't want to do anything drastic. Still it gets a bit much when they invite themselves to your chrismas drinks and start bobbing for the strawberries left in the champagne glasses

Ramblingly yours

 

[crawfish]

Your Opossum wasn't rabid. There has never been a case of a rabid opossum ever documented. In fact there is a current on going study of that. Trying to find out why,even though they eat animals that have died rabid that, they don't get it themselves.

 

[050]

What crawfish said is the same as I've heard for years. And
BTW. for an ugly, slow, dumb critter, a possum can be real hard to kill sometimes. REAL hard. Several times, I have shot one that I just KNEW would be a pole axe shot. Wrong. Had to do a follow up. I wonder if it isn't like a snake or a turtle where you can cut off their head and still get reactions for a long time afterwards, when you KNOW it's really "dead"

Ron

 

[2082]

not hard to kill with a truck on the roads

 

[Elkein]

Possums are not strictly nocturnal, just that simple. They move around in the evening in particular. But I have dozens of pictures of them I've run across during the daytime.

Nothing rabid there just mutual annoyance.

 

[2146]

I shoot one a couple weeks ago in the middle of the day. He was headed for the grain silo for a snack. I was patrolling the sheep farm for coyote signs, looked up, and hes just standing there grinning at me. So I let him have a stinger in the "peach". One shot one kill hehehe. The week before that I nearly stepped on one while walking to my fox hunting blind (nighttime). Scared the crap out of me, so I sent him off with a stinger to the head. That was ugly, he was only 2 feet from the muzzle.

 

[428]

North American VS AUstralian/New Zealand possums:

I can't speak with any authority on the zoological differences, but our (originally Australian, but introduced into NZ) possum looks quite a bit different to yours :
* very thick fur, varying from silver/grey through brown to red
* the tail is furred as well (on the top anyway)
* weight is generally around 10-15lbs but some "big ol boys" run around 20-25lbs
* Rabies isn't an issue but Tuberculosis (TB) is - our possums act as "carriers" for Bovine TB, and can spread it from herd to herd (which is why farmers are usually keen for you to "control" the little beggars)
* the fur has become a huge export earner - it's amazingly soft, and can be spun & knitted just like wool but with better thermal properties (think Angora or Mohair and you're on the right track)
* the meat IS edible, but not that many will own up to eating it (although there are some "trendy" rerstaurants with it on the menu)

http://www.invasive-animals.org.nz/possum/

BTW don't miss the nipple-warmers:
http://www.theshop.co.nz/nznat/shpg/2254.htm

 

[1747]

I would tend to think these critters prefer hedgerows, they seem to be good climbers. Seen plenty of them in trees while squirrel hunting. Taken a few for furs. Ugly bastids! Wouldn't want to get bit by one.
Elkein good pic, that is exactly what an avg. possum looks like here.
Groucho knowing what these varmints will eat to survive, they can stay on the menu. They make for better purposes, like those nipple warmers.

 

[2146]

Hmmm... I bet my girl would appreciate a set of handmade possum fur nipple warmers. Thats just one more thing I can do with them I guess.

Seriously though, I want to rug one out. Open mouthed.
Like Bergersons badger.

 

[050]

Groucho
The fur of Your 'Possum is really a beautiful fur. My EX had a possum coat from Australia and it was beautiful. She got many compliments on it.
People were freaked out when she told them what it was. They were all thinking of the only possum they knew, our ol' Road Kill Possum. Bill

 

[428]

RedTip,
Your ex's coat, although from Australia, would almost certainly have been made in NZ from NZ skins ... possums are PROTECTED in Australia (how weird is THAT)

I've got possum sweaters, sox, and hats. :t

My bestest friend in the whole world used to be Mr Gortex, but now ... possum fur seems to have some unusual properties :
* it's way lighter than wool-only garments
* it's way warmer than wool-only garments
* you don't seem to "sweat" as much (sox in particular)
* non-itchy (perfect for hats)
* dam near waterproof
* can be scrunched up into the smallest bundle, but shakes out perfectly (sweaters)


Once tried there's no going back

 

[Smallbore Freak]

Thanks for the link Groucho!!:t

...protecting from cold and excessive "show through"...

ROFLMAO!!

 

[4358]

Yes they are protected in Australia

Ironically enough for you in NZ, Brushtail Possums - the large ones are a threatened species in at least three states due to habitat destruction.

This is of course ironic for me, due to the excessive damage they are currently causing my yard and the pelletised poo I walk over to the front gate EVERY morning. (I am not joking)

However there is a long tradition of eating them and using thier fur. Early pioneers admired the possum cloaks the southern aboriginals wore; and they were a staple food for both aboriginals and early settlers. I recall one ot the Australian bush bards (Henry Lawson?) talking of them in some of his short stories. So Possum stew was I suspect, contemperary in both hemispheres

So wear thier fur with that assurance, and if you have the opportunity I would be interested to know what they taste like

 

[428]

Aussie,
it's been quite a few years since I last ate possum - I know it's irrational, but I gave up when I discovered they carried TB - as I recollect it tasted a lot like rabbit, but maybe not quite as "gamey" (if rabbit can truely be described as such).

In all honesty, it's hard to really say just _what_ it tasted like because my only point of reference at that time was rabbit stew, and he possum was also served up in a stew.
I guess it all comes down to how it's killed and prepared for the pot, and then what herbs & spices are added.

Since then (when you ate what was put in front of you and said "thank you ma'am"), I've volunterally eaten horse; kangaroo, crocadile, ostrich, emu, and snake.
Next on the list is Wallaby pie - on the TV news last night was a item about an outfit down south that's just started making Wallaby pies, and the problems they're having keeping up with the demand. Of course, being the TV news, they had to "balance" the article with a bunch of tree-huggers bleating about it being "wrong", not to mention the Aussies whinging about us Kiwis "needlessly killing off the last remaining population of the endangered" blah blah that they "needed to draw on to replace the species that had been WIPED out by irresponsible hunting" yada yada.

 

[050]

Chief says : possibly protected in Australia, Cause those AUSSIE
Kangaroo's need possums to play football with.

JUST A THOUGHT . Groucho = make millions $$ - export them.
BWAHahhaaa DEAD OR ALIVE .
groucho's possum sales .

Wish I could play = better than deer huntin.
CD.

 

[281]

Ok between reading both possum posts I want to shoot them.

This is making me jealous now. Central MN, Hmm Nothing but trees. If you go outside any where in a 20 mile radius of me you cant not see a tree. No wonder I dont get all that many 300+ yard shots.

Dean_311