ETA-He's coming in from 250 yards out. If you're viewing on a small screen, skip the first 25 seconds.
Anyone else shooting these things? We've had a couple of neighbors horses come down with EPM. One was euthanized. Around here they get a temporary pass when there's an unintentional close flyby.
We are overrun with possums(& cats ) . Next door neighbor leaves dog food out on their patio 24/7 which has attracted possums & alley cats from miles around. Cats, possums and fleas invade our yard. We can spray for the fleas but cats and possums are an ongoing problem. The cats lie in ambush around the wife's bird baths and the possums find some of her favorite plants attractive as well as peaches and avocados (in season) another attractant.
Impossible to keep cats out but I do trap possums (7 in last 10 days, 4 using a sprig of the destroyed poinsettia the wife had nursed along for 2 years for bait ). Unfortunately, can't shoot them in town.
Regards, hm
_________________________
If what's ahead scares you & what's behind hurts you,look up; He never fails you.
If My people will humble themselves, pray, seek My face & turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven & will forgive their sin & heal their land. 2 Chron 7:14
Registered: 01/10/16
Posts: 258
Loc: Washington Wet Side
I'll second @22magnm22 comment about the airgun. I've taken countless possum with an air rifle with a strong preference for 25 cal. However, I'm not in town any longer...
I've shot a couple w/RWS .177 underlever target air rifle. Does the job, but learned just how small the brain is on a possum the first time. After several hits w/o effect, finally resorted to shoulder shot. Seldom see them during daytime, and alarm system would keep me up all night w/all the neighbor's stray cats, so guess I'll have to keep up trapping 'em one at a time (did manage to get two in the trap one night, though ). Slow, but sure.
Regards, hm
_________________________
If what's ahead scares you & what's behind hurts you,look up; He never fails you.
If My people will humble themselves, pray, seek My face & turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven & will forgive their sin & heal their land. 2 Chron 7:14
Registered: 02/17/08
Posts: 3805
Loc: Ok Panhandle
The last one I shot was nearly all black. I had always heard they eat ticks too. Someone should have told it about that. It had hundreds of ticks crawling all over it. More ticks than I've ever seen in my life. It was disgusting. Just thinking about it makes me feel like I have them crawling on me. There was at least a year supply of ticks on that son of a gun.
I think someone got it wrong somewhere along the way. Opossums don't eat ticks, ticks eat opossums. Makes me never want to shoot one again just because of that. Those nasty rat lookin things can stay far away from me. I don't own a flame thrower. That's all I'd shoot one with. It ain't the opossum that needs destroyed. It's the vermin riding it around like it's a furry double decker bus that need gone.
Edited by OKRattler (04/11/2301:38 AM)
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Registered: 01/10/16
Posts: 258
Loc: Washington Wet Side
Originally Posted By: AdamT
That’s a great song, always enjoyed hearing it on the Wednesday night bluegrass special on the radio.
I started letting them pass once I figured out they are ticks.
Possums don't eat ticks. That study comes from an animal rights group. It is propaganda and an example of government grant money going towards the promotion of the anti agenda. They took seven species and inflicted a hundred ticks on each. Then counted how many ticks they could find after a set amount of time...then extrapolated the ridiculous numbers that get posted on FB memes. The narrative that possums are out hoovering up ticks is intentionally misleading and isn't relative to the "study".
That’s a great song, always enjoyed hearing it on the Wednesday night bluegrass special on the radio.
I started letting them pass once I figured out they are ticks.
Haven't noticed any ticks on them down here. May be a regional thing?? I've never seen a javelina which was not covered in fleas down here. Understand that is not the experience of others, especially farther north.
What got me started on this round of trapping is that my wife has been nursing along a small poinsettia for going on two years and one night something completely broke it down and destroyed it. Mama wasn't happy, so, figuring it was the cats attracted to neighbors dogfood. Set the trap with a sprig of the broken down poinsettia and caught a possum. Interestingly, he spent the night in the trap and left the poinsettia untouched. I caught 3 possums w/same sprig before it was destroyed, but not eaten?? Maybe the smell attracted them???
Then set trap, without bait, adjacent to what's left of the poinsettia plant and proceeded to catch 5 more as of last night.
Regards, hm
_________________________
If what's ahead scares you & what's behind hurts you,look up; He never fails you.
If My people will humble themselves, pray, seek My face & turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven & will forgive their sin & heal their land. 2 Chron 7:14
Darn, was hoping they had a redeeming quality....guess not. All I can vouch for personally is they eat peaches, avocados and don't eat, but destroy poinsettias....not endearing themselves to mama.
Maybe OK Rattler can shed some light on this: I heard they are immune to rattlesnake venom; anyone know if this is true?
ETA: Apparently the possum (and other critters) are indeed immune to snakebite:
_________________________
If what's ahead scares you & what's behind hurts you,look up; He never fails you.
If My people will humble themselves, pray, seek My face & turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven & will forgive their sin & heal their land. 2 Chron 7:14
As many possum as we have here I would expect to never see a tick. I have seen as many as 15 in a single meadow. Our meadows are 100 yards not 1000's like some have.
) . Next door neighbor leaves dog food out on their patio 24/7 which has attracted possums & alley cats from miles around. Cats, possums and fleas invade our yard. We can spray for the fleas but cats and possums are an ongoing problem. The cats lie in ambush around the wife's bird baths and the possums find some of her favorite plants attractive as well as peaches and avocados (in season) another attractant. 
). Unfortunately, can't shoot them in town. 
Seldom see them during daytime, and alarm system would keep me up all night w/all the neighbor's stray cats, so guess I'll have to keep up trapping 'em one at a time (did manage to get two in the trap one night, though 
). Slow, but sure. 
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