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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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