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OT - Possum

Frank from Houma
Frank from Houma Posts: 5,755
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
No I don't want to know how to cook it.

I have a possum nestled at the bottom of a large oak tree and the bichon twins want to go wrestle it. I'm surprised it didn't leave with all the ruckus the dogs have been making - just sits there and hisses back at the dogs. Will soaking it with a water hose make it geaux away?

Bichon Twins
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Comments

  • now that sounds like a jerry clower story :)
  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
    It might tick it off.

    They are carrion eaters. Put some raw spoiled meat in a trap. You local Farm Co-op or game warden should have traps you can borrow.

    What ever you do keep the dogs away from it. Hissing is not a Opossum's first reaction to danger.
  • JLOCKHART29
    JLOCKHART29 Posts: 5,897
    Water will probbbly just sull it. Cut an oak limb about 1/2 inch diameter and long enought to reach it. Fray the end of the limb with a knife real well and stick that end in the 'sums fur. Twist the limb till it get caught up in the fur and pull him out. He will be sulled good by this time and you can grab him by tail and toss over fence. Used to do this as a kid when dogs would tree on in a stump squarrel hunting to get dog to move on. :laugh:
  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
    One small problem with that.. If you throw it over a fence it will come back, or tick off your neighbor.

    Least with a trap you can drive it to some park far away from your home and let it loose.
  • two things i learned about possum a few years back when my big dog at the time grabbed a full grown adult one from under our gas grill and came to the back door holding it in his mouth (yes, it was a full grown adult possum, but it was also a full grown adult part rotty/part german shepherd 120 pound dog!). ... possum was just hanging in his mouth playing 'possum'. . . i got the dog to put the possum down and called animal control. . .they told me two things that made feel better given that the dog had punctured the possum and made him bleed a little. ...

    1. possums almost never carry rabies so you don't have to worry about that, even if it is hissing away. and
    2. if you can get to his tail and pick him up by it, possums don't have the strength to hoist themselves up by their tails, so once you are holding them up in the air, they can't do much (like reach up to grab you, they just hang there). ..

    so if you can grab him, you can throw him!, or at least carry him to another yard and deposit him. ...
  • Are you looking to start a business?? I can send you some cans for a small fee...franchises are available across the country.

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  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
    I won't argue the rabies part largely because their body temp is too low to harbor the rabies virus. However, they do carry a disease that is just as deadly to dogs. Leptospirosis (no stike I didn't look this one up) is a major cause of Kidney failure in Canines.

    I will argue number two. They are MARSUPALS. That tail is prehensile. They often hang from tree branches and lift themselves up. Maybe it's because they will play dead that it appears they can't use their tails.

    Best course of action is go to the local dog pound or game warden and get a trap.
  • JLOCKHART29
    JLOCKHART29 Posts: 5,897
    Course you could do like my Dad said Granddaddy did and toss him in a cage and purge him for a couple weeks than toss him in with a couple sweetpotatoes! :laugh:
  • I knew I would get some quality input here.

    The water, the lights from my truck, and horn made him seek shelter elsewhere. :)

    We don't eggxactly live in the country or on the Bayou (there is one about 500' away but a busy road runs along it) but we get critters like this every once in a while. About a month ago a mama possum and 5 baby possums walked across our front yard. We see racoons fairly often. One night a racoon was on its hind legs looking in our back door. Another time I saw one across the street doing the same thing at a neighbors house when they had about 50 people over for a party.

    Wild Kingdom signing off.
  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    No no no ... possum is best served with grits.
  • they may be marsupials, but full grown adults tend to outweigh the strength of their tails, they hang from them but when hanging straight down, they don't have the strength in the tail alone to pull themselves straight back up, they need a nearby branch to grasp or something else. .. .
  • JLOCKHART29
    JLOCKHART29 Posts: 5,897
    Got to agree with you Wolf. They can roll right up that tail if they have a mind to. I got muskidine vines on my place that I grow for "personal" reasons. My old Lab Sue hates 'sumes. Turn her loose couple hrs after dark and wait for the barking. Hit them with a fast jet from the water hose and they bail out. Two leaps and its on. They sull instantly with her size. Grab they by tail and toss. Had a few come alive and start climbing there tail. Needed a little more help from Sue on them! :whistle:
  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
    Brunswick Stew.. Don't you boy know anything???
  • I guess I'll quit searching for Thomas Keller's recipe for sous vide dégustation of possum... ;)
  • Aaaaaaa... Reminds me of the good ol' days when I enjoyed giving chase to varmintal intruders and dispatching them back into the wilds far far away. Here is an accounting of one such active period of intrusion...

    Spring "Great White Hunter" Chicken
    Spring Texas USA

    _______________________________________________

    The Great White Hunter Comes Out of Retirement

    The Great White Hunter had to once again come out of semi-retirement in order to rid his lush landscape of some rambunctious rascals that were terrorizing his bird-feeding device. His instincts told him these were cunning climbers that were capable of dis-connecting and dis-assembling a patented bird-feeding device in order to obtain its seedy contents. His expert analytical skills and years of experience resulted in his concluding the varmints must be Procyon lotors, or as non-professionals call them… Raccoons.

    He expertly set his trusty trap using the food items the critter apparently craved, employing the hair-trigger tripping device at the last minute. He placed it in the general vicinity of the latest nocturnal vandalism and then went about his other duties, knowing that it is the nature of Procyon lotors to let their desire for food overwhelm their instincts for caution.

    As The Great White Hunter uncannily predicted, an obviously surprised and very annoyed creature allowed his taste-buds and hunger-pangs to drive him deeper into the bowels of the trap until the well-designed trigger mechanism slammed the exit devices (doors) shut. In the professional world of the Great White Hunter, this is “bagged.” To non-professionals, it is sometimes referred to as a “gottcha you SOB.”

    The Great White Hunter expertly loaded the not-so-happy Procyon lotor into his well-designed utility vehicle for the early morning trip to the far reaches of the reserve. It was a rather uneventful trip and the creature was dispatched toward a thick forest where he can live out his life with limited humanoid contact.

    The bird-feeding device was repaired and replaced, and hopefully the birds would eventually make their way back to the now familiar and restocked feeder.

    The next morning, the bird-feeding device was once again disjointed from its perch and dis-assembled, with its contents missing. This was obviously no singular attack on the Great White Hunter’s property; it was a well-planned and organized attack on the food stores that were reserved for winged creatures.

    Once again the trap was prepared using the same tempting treat as the previous night. And once again the trap proved its worth. Only this time it captured a Didelphys Marsupialis Insularis, or as non-professionals refer to them, opossum. In true fashion, this marsupial acted as if none of this was happening and he was not really in a cage, undoubtedly thinking (somewhat correctly) that it would soon be over and he would be free.

    The obvious course of action was to stick with the disposal plan that has been in use for years. Therefore, the marsupial was loaded onto the trusty vehicle and driven to a point far, far away near the outer border of the fabled reserve, where he was also dispatched without incident.

    The Great White Hunter decided the bird-feeding device could be repaired and replaced without further incident, but he re-set his trap just to be sure. It was not to be a lasting conclusion because the following morning, this very day, in fact, another marsupialis insularis was a victim of its hunger pangs. And once again, it was dispatched to the far reaches of the reserve.

    The Great White Hunter came to the conclusion that there must be even more of the creatures and adjusted his schedule accordingly. He will rid the populated area of these unwelcome varmints. That is his quest. That is what he was put on this Earth to do and it will be done.

    GWH
  • GWH is lucky he didn't catch a skunk. :)

    Would have had to put on the raisin costume. You know the one I'm talking about - its used to block skunk stench and was demonstrated by another GWH about a year ago. The one that uses a large trash bag and you look like a giant raisin after you put it on.

    You put the raisin costume on and begin dancing to "I Heard it through the grapevine" while trying to encourage the skunk to leave.
  • Great White Hunter vs. Skunk

    Being known far and wide in and about this wild frontier as “The Great White Hunter,” a title and reputation that has taken years to come by, I knew there would one day be a wild creature that went well beyond my admiration and respect and into that element of human nature we all have experienced at one time or another – Fear.

    Such was the case this very day. Not that the animal exhibited a desire to rip me to shreds or gnaw on my bones, none of which frightens me, but it possessed a power more potent and unpredictable than those of other wild animals. Mother Nature had given it the power to subdue any foe with only a simple emission of a very undesirable odor. Of course, we have all heard of Polecats, Skunks, Streamline Kitty’s With a Fluid Drive, Peep le Pew, and so forth, and some have even smelled it from afar, but few have encountered one face to face, trapped in a cage as I did this day.

    Obviously, the creature needed to be removed from the cage. Wishfully, I was hoping that it could also be transported from my compound to the far reaches of the Reserve so that it might live out its life doing what skunks do. But to do so would require loading and transporting the trap in the trusty transport vehicle and driving the rough roads and trails to the edge of civilization. That probably would not set well with the already frightened creature, and he would likely emit his tell-tell odor in my direction, rendering me and my vehicle greatly de-valued, and although still loved the Great White Hunter would probably not be welcomed among friends and family for a few days. Even then only to be the brunt of their off-color humor.

    “Now what do I do?” became the question of the day, and I found many who would give me advice but few who would join me in the adventure.

    Some of the advice seemed practical enough and much of it impractical. Some advice even came from hapless victims of accidental exposure or poor judgment. I think the best advice was to open the cage door and leave the critter to its own devices, hopefully which included a substantial amount of instinct and a navigational system that would permit and even encourage it to return to its point of origin.

    Knowing full well what could happen if any idea failed, the Great White Hunter decided upon his course of action, prepared his tools, donned his protective gear and employed the photographic talents of his nearby neighbor, whose turf the critter must traverse to reach other territories. Then silently and with considerable care and stealth-like movement, he approached the cage and slowly draped it with a heavy material, leaving sufficient room near the end trap door to raise it to an open position and lock it in place. The entire transaction was uneventful and apparently undisturbing to the creature. It made no effort to seek freedom. In fact, it appears to have found a suitable home for himself. If that is the case, it is not a good thing. However, given the need for food and refreshment, the critter should make his egress within the next few hours and the Great White Hunter will have successfully concluded another wild animal dispatch from the homestead.

    Such is the life of The Great White Hunter


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    Spring "Dressed For Skunk'n" Chicken
  • JLOCKHART29
    JLOCKHART29 Posts: 5,897
    :P :laugh: :laugh: I like that! Can't believe he didn't spray!?! Sure it wasn't a black and white cat? :pinch:
  • No, he was definitely a member of the Mephitidae family, complete with white striping on black fur. He was small, probably a youngster but no doubt had the anal glands necessary to emit proof of his species. But he also exhibited a rather embarassed look as if to say "I'm sorry for disrupting your day." He did not move as I approached and opened the cage door. I suppose he waited until darkness took over and departed into the night. OK by me.

    Spring "Don't Skunk On Me" Chicken
  • Klag
    Klag Posts: 208
    I keep food and water out for a stray cat that moved into my back yard. From time to time I catch possums eating the dry cat food. I always assumed the cat would chase the possum away.

    But just a week ago I caught the possum eating at the bowl - and the cat just 2 feet away relaxing... couldn't care less about the possum... as if they were buddies.

    The possum was crunching the catfood loud enough to hear through the closed door... so the cat definitely knew he was there.

    Hard to see in the picture because it was dark and through the glass,... but you can see the possum at the bowl and the cat in the lower left corner of the picture between the chairs.

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