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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1182
  
Location: Do I hear Banjos? | Last night there was a huge possum under the horse trailer on our place. My gosh that's one unfortunate looking creature! (And he had big sharp pointy teeth!)
We shooed him out from under there with a broom...and then stood there debating about wether we should shoot it or not. We live out in the forest...so he isn't likely the only one around...just the first we have seen this close to the house. He didn't appear sickly... had a decent hair coat (for a nasty possum), bright clear eyes and the aformentioned healthy looking chompers. So we ended up just shooing him off.
What's the right thing to do there? Give him lead poisoning or just escort him to the border? I don't typically shoot things unless they are either likely to harm or trying to harm our critters...or if they are tasty (we love venison).  |
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 Hugs to You
Posts: 7551
  
Location: In The Land of Cotton | Possums kill horses. |
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 Tough Patooty
Posts: 2615
Location: Sperry, OK | I would shoot.. they give horses EPM. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| Shoot it! if he gets in your feed, water, or horses some how eat his poop you could be looking at epm issues! Plus they can carry all sort of nasty diseases that your other pets can get. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1182
Location: Do I hear Banjos? | Well I have read some on that...and I guess we will shoot if we see him again. It's just the fact too that we know good and well there will be more where he came from. Seems pointless but I guess one less is one less. Gotta start somewhere.
Edited to add that our feed is in sealed metal containers in a closed building, and trough is too tall hopefully for him to get into it...BUT...there's a natural water source and the feed pans are often out on the ground...and...well heck they grase in the pastures so really exposure to possum poo is likely no matter what we do. But we can at least do some small measure to reduce the resident population I suppose.
Edited by TrailGirl 2014-05-02 2:05 PM
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | I have traped wild creatures out here and I take them to the river and turn them lose. |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | I came home late a couple of weeks ago and found a possum eating cat food in my feed room. My husband shot it with the .22, it proceeded to thrash and holler and bleed all over the wall, floor, and cat water dish. Ugh. Thought it finally died, picked it up, took a pic of hubby holding it to gross out the kids later, threw it in the driveway for disposal after I was done feeding horses. One of the cats yowled a couple of minutes later, and it was like Pet Cemetery: that ****ed freaker had come back to life! It was standing up, hissing at the cat. Shot it point blank in the head that time and it fell over to reveal about 300 baby possums clinging to its under parts. So mom and babies went into the bayou so the babies could die from a quick drowning rather than a slower starvation. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.
You're welcome.  
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  Queen Boobie 2
Posts: 7521
| Three 4 Luck - 2014-05-02 2:22 PM I came home late a couple of weeks ago and found a possum eating cat food in my feed room. My husband shot it with the .22, it proceeded to thrash and holler and bleed all over the wall, floor, and cat water dish. Ugh. Thought it finally died, picked it up, took a pic of hubby holding it to gross out the kids later, threw it in the driveway for disposal after I was done feeding horses. One of the cats yowled a couple of minutes later, and it was like Pet Cemetery: that ****ed freaker had come back to life! It was standing up, hissing at the cat. Shot it point blank in the head that time and it fell over to reveal about 300 baby possums clinging to its under parts. So mom and babies went into the bayou so the babies could die from a quick drowning rather than a slower starvation. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.
You're welcome.
I especially like the part about taking pictures to gross the kids out later! LOL
'Possums are hard to kill. A few years back a friend of mine came upon one in her feed room. She didn't have a gun, so she was trying to kill it by bludgeoning quickly with a shovel...wellllll, 'possums have really hard heads, so she's beating heck out of this 'possum that is hissing all over the place, she's crying and it's just all around a big wreck. She finally put it in a 5 gallon bucket (largely unharmed) and called her vet who told her they have about a 3 mile range...so she drove 6 miles and dumped it out in a wooded area. Ingenious! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1182
Location: Do I hear Banjos? | Well this is interesting... It won't be Opossum season here until the fall. And according to the Game and Fish folks you can't "legally" Hunt them this time of year. They also state in their section under "Nuisance Wildlife":
" Beaver, coyote, muskrat, nutria, opossum, raccoon, squirrel, striped skunk and nongame wildlife other than migratory birds and endangered species that are causing damage to personal property may be taken during daylight hours or trapped the entire year. Rodenticides may be used to control mice and rats, but poisons or chemicals may not be used to kill any other animal. "
So technically we can't shoot it unless it's daylight...go figure. May have to get a trap since that appears to be the loophole here. (Or just SSS)
Edited by TrailGirl 2014-05-02 2:31 PM
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 Texas Taco
Posts: 7499
Location: Bandera, TX | Shoot the son of a gun. But before you do, please send him my regards. I'm currenlt treating my beloved mare for EPM. Shoot him. |
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 Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | I just treated a broodmare for EPM. Those suckers are DOA when they touch my property. I used to have a bleeding heart, but not after seeing what they can do to a horse. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2457
| bennie1 - 2014-05-02 2:29 PM
Three 4 Luck - 2014-05-02 2:22 PM I came home late a couple of weeks ago and found a possum eating cat food in my feed room. My husband shot it with the .22, it proceeded to thrash and holler and bleed all over the wall, floor, and cat water dish. Ugh. Thought it finally died, picked it up, took a pic of hubby holding it to gross out the kids later, threw it in the driveway for disposal after I was done feeding horses. One of the cats yowled a couple of minutes later, and it was like Pet Cemetery: that ****ed freaker had come back to life! It was standing up, hissing at the cat. Shot it point blank in the head that time and it fell over to reveal about 300 baby possums clinging to its under parts. So mom and babies went into the bayou so the babies could die from a quick drowning rather than a slower starvation. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.
You're welcome.
'Possums are hard to kill. A few years back a friend of mine came upon one in her feed room. She didn't have a gun, so she was trying to kill it by bludgeoning quickly with a shovel...wellllll, 'possums have really hard heads, so she's beating heck out of this 'possum that is hissing all over the place, she's crying and it's just all around a big wreck. She finally put it in a 5 gallon bucket (largely unharmed) and called her vet who told her they have about a 3 mile range...so she drove 6 miles and dumped it out in a wooded area. Ingenious!
Growing up ( I vividly remember being 7) we had one stumble into our feed room for the calves. Mom ran to the house to get her lil .38 special ... proceeded to try and shoot the bugger but only winged him a couple times. (she still to this day says she didn't have her glasses on) To make matters worse, she made my brother "squish" him in place with a rake until she could build a noose and hang him from a tree in the back yard - All while the booger hissed and tried to flop around. He got hung in the backyard for all to see for a week (mind you we grew up on a full section of land) It STUNK to high heaven by that point ... then the hunting dog finally ripped him down and carried him off to God only knows where.
Moral of the story ... shoot the buggers with a large caliber gun so you don't have to hang them!!! |
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 Lady Di
Posts: 21556
Location: Oklahoma | I run over every single one I see on the road, and we shoot them if they come into our view at the house. If you ever see or treat a horse for EPM, you will feel the same way. I'm not sure if they disappear that they will even be missed in the food chain. JMO
Edited by dianeguinn 2014-05-02 2:46 PM
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | If you see it again you either need to shoot it or trap it, but I would not let it wonder around. I have'nt seen a Possum out here in years, between my dogs and hawks they dont stand to much of a chance out here. |
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 Night Chatter
Posts: 1907
Location: Mississippi | I am with everyone else-had a horse get a severe case of EPM and now I run them over or kill them all. |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | I'd kill that thing in a heartbeat.....nasty mean little things |
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| CHOOT IT LIZABETH!!!!! CHOOT IT!!! |
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 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | from the sounds of it im darn glad we dont have them up here...........
m |
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 Expert
Posts: 2276
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | I think they're cute but I've seen too many times what they can do to a horse. Shoot, run over, do what you have to to kill them. |
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 Shipwrecked and Flat Out Zapped
Posts: 16390
Location: DUMPING CATS AND PIGS IN TEXAS :) | I hear there's an opossum sanctuary in Giddings TX. You just take them there and turn them lose. |
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Sideways Riding Expert
Posts: 11371
Location: ND--it snows, it floods, it snows, it floods | Do you ever see dead opossums on the road being eaten by the birds??? Nope, that's because humans are the only creatures dumb enough to eat 'em. Shoot the ugly over grown rat and to heck with what the Game and Fish say....practice the SSS method of varmit control. |
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 Semper Fi
Location: North Texas | docschic - 2014-05-02 5:31 PM Do you ever see dead opossums on the road being eaten by the birds??? Nope, that's because humans are the only creatures dumb enough to eat 'em. Shoot the ugly over grown rat and to heck with what the Game and Fish say....practice the SSS method of varmit control.
Possums are perhaps the nastiest creature that I know of. They are scavengers (i.e. will eat anything and everything dead) and as docschic mentioned not even the vultures who are scavengers themselves will touch an Opposum! |
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 Expert
Posts: 1718
Location: Southeast Louisiana | They get shot around my house!
But, my sister lives in town where you can't shoot in any direction. They had a problem with one. They'd try to run it off, beat it with a stick, you name it. It just hisses at them. I told her to spray it with the hose. It RAN for the hills and hasn't been seen since. So, if you can't shoot it, and want it gone, they apparently do not like a bath. |
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 Fact Checker
Posts: 16575
Location: Displaced Iowegian | runs4fun - 2014-05-02 3:29 PM CHOOT IT LIZABETH!!!!! CHOOT IT!!!
LOL....that was the first thing that came to MY mind too..... |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | docschic - 2014-05-02 5:31 PM Do you ever see dead opossums on the road being eaten by the birds??? Nope, that's because humans are the only creatures dumb enough to eat 'em. Shoot the ugly over grown rat and to heck with what the Game and Fish say....practice the SSS method of varmit control.
I'm still laughing that there are official game and fish rules about possums. In real life, that would never be enforced. |
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Expert
Posts: 1561
| Three 4 Luck - 2014-05-02 10:21 PM
docschic - 2014-05-02 5:31 PM Do you ever see dead opossums on the road being eaten by the birds??? Nope, that's because humans are the only creatures dumb enough to eat 'em. Shoot the ugly over grown rat and to heck with what the Game and Fish say....practice the SSS method of varmit control.
I'm still laughing that there are official game and fish rules about possums. In real life, that would never be enforced.
Dont count on that. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 304
Location: Up and over to the right | We guillotined one with a shovel a few weeks back . That sucker stuck his head through a fence and a friend and I had at it with a shovel. I'd rather 'disrupt the ecosystem' than have another with EPM. Down with the 'possums!
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Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | These possum stories are killing me...
My friend had one cornered in the "cat house", ie this little box that the stray cats her grandmother fed liked to sleep in. It had been killing the cats, plus they had horses
So my friend's boyfriend goes to kill it... of course grandma wouldn't relinquish her gun, so he tries to stab it with a pitchfork while someone else is beating it with a shovel.... they got the job done, but let's just say in the process they also destroyed the cat house and ended up banging their own feet with the shovel several times.
It was quite the spectacle. lol |
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| Monday or Tuesday evening I came home to a large peice of pvc drain pipe laying in my yard, long and at least 3" diameter with a curved piece on 1 end. I thought 'What the heck, where did this come from?'. Turns out my dog drug it over from the neighbor's barn and it had a small possum in it. She continued to drag it all around the house until she either got the possum or she gave up and it went away. The neighbors place is just a barn and pasture, no house, and she's been barking a lot in the direction at night lately. She's good at keeping the varmints away from the property. That piece of pvc was heavy too. I'll try to post a pic.
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 Angel in a Sorrel Coat
Posts: 16030
Location: In a happy place | NJJ - 2014-05-02 7:44 PM runs4fun - 2014-05-02 3:29 PM CHOOT IT LIZABETH!!!!! CHOOT IT!!! LOL....that was the first thing that came to MY mind too.....
Me too! Kelly Kaminski was staying with me years ago and I shot one.....after that Kelly always called me Annie Oakley. Lol. |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | Itsme - 2014-05-02 10:47 PM
Three 4 Luck - 2014-05-02 10:21 PM
docschic - 2014-05-02 5:31 PM Do you ever see dead opossums on the road being eaten by the birds??? Nope, that's because humans are the only creatures dumb enough to eat 'em. Shoot the ugly over grown rat and to heck with what the Game and Fish say....practice the SSS method of varmit control.
I'm still laughing that there are official game and fish rules about possums. In real life, that would never be enforced.
Dont count on that.
Around here, you would get laughed at for calling game and fish over a possum.  |
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 The Bird Lady
Posts: 6440
Location: The end of the Earth, SE AR | Three 4 Luck - 2014-05-03 8:46 AM Itsme - 2014-05-02 10:47 PM Three 4 Luck - 2014-05-02 10:21 PM docschic - 2014-05-02 5:31 PM Do you ever see dead opossums on the road being eaten by the birds??? Nope, that's because humans are the only creatures dumb enough to eat 'em. Shoot the ugly over grown rat and to heck with what the Game and Fish say....practice the SSS method of varmit control. I'm still laughing that there are official game and fish rules about possums. In real life, that would never be enforced. Dont count on that. Around here, you would get laughed at for calling game and fish over a possum.
Edited by rollingrfarm 2014-05-03 9:30 AM
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Sideways Riding Expert
Posts: 11371
Location: ND--it snows, it floods, it snows, it floods | Three 4 Luck - 2014-05-03 8:46 AM Itsme - 2014-05-02 10:47 PM Three 4 Luck - 2014-05-02 10:21 PM docschic - 2014-05-02 5:31 PM Do you ever see dead opossums on the road being eaten by the birds??? Nope, that's because humans are the only creatures dumb enough to eat 'em. Shoot the ugly over grown rat and to heck with what the Game and Fish say....practice the SSS method of varmit control. I'm still laughing that there are official game and fish rules about possums. In real life, that would never be enforced. Dont count on that. Around here, you would get laughed at for calling game and fish over a possum.
Unfortunatly Itsme is probably right...some wet behind the ears just out of school DNR officer would probably write a ticket, hence the SSS method. It's that whole common sense and authority to the head thing. |
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 Night Chat Leader
Posts: 13150
Location: Home....Smiling M Farms | I run over every single one of those jokers I see on the road. I'll swerve to hit it (not endangering anyone but you get the idea). At home, I've always got my gun on me. SSS. If they are being sneaky, and I know they are there but I can't see/find them, I set out bricks of rat poison, deacon maybe? It gets the job done as good as anything.
Edited by Leo 2014-05-04 5:02 AM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 600
Location: Oklahoma & Texas | Shoot it..run it over...put some evil voodoo on it ...After having treated one of my favorite and best horses for epm...The only good possum is a dead one. |
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 I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | I've always killed them if I see them but, I don't see very many. If I see a few hanging around then I'll leave a dead one out for awhile. No, I don't go running around killing every vermin I see. I tried to kill one with a shovel once and was beating it for a good while. I felt so terrible. I'd prefer to live trap them and then set them loose down by the river.
I don't mind killing it but I don't want it suffering, and I'm more concerned about my dogs health than that thing. If it was living under my trailer, I would be concerned that it would be making a home of it there. |
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