Checking the last of the summer veggies, and low and behold a burly funky looking possum bolts out from under my woodpile, stops and mean mugs me, and commences to cut a trail into the thickets!! taz-smiley go_away
I live within the city limits, so blasting him with the 12 gauge or my .40 cal is not going to be too neighbor/cop friendly.
Will my my old trusty Daisy 880 PowerLine pellet rifle do the trick or would I fare better putting down poison? smiley_hanged
I don't eat them, think they're cute, or care much for their company...so any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
BTW...can't I purchase a legal suppressor for my 9mm or .40 cal??? fudd-smiley smiley_sidelightbulb
Our possums are a different critter, but if you are in town and have one you can usually borrow a cage trap from animal control. Bait it up with some jam / fruit and wait. No shooting involved, and if the neighbours cat or small yappy dog ends up in the trap, you can just let them go in the morning.
As ours are an introduced pest, animal control will take them away and put them down for you.
Quote from: ReggieT on August 31, 2017, 03:42:15 AMI live within the city limits, so blasting him with the 12 gauge or my .40 cal is not going to be too neighbor/cop friendly.
The word, can't even bring myself to type it, makes my skin crawl due to previous encounters. That said, my barber lives in town and claims you can always get off one shot before anyone realizes what happened.
This story kinda reminds me of a feller I used to know: investment banker, living in Northern VA area close to DC (big $$$) kinda place and high end development.
Well, he had some pricey koi in his pond (said some where worth 1000's) that a heron fancied a liking to snacking on. Of course, the birds are a protected species, but with a cigar hanging outta his mouth, he fetched-up some kinda BIG rifle (think elephant gun), sighted that thing and BOOM pull_smiley [thunder]! He whacked that thing with a hight-velocity projectile so square and so much force that there was just a huge cloud of feathers.
Was entertaining for onlookers. Neighbors, not so much. smile_banjoman
Quote from: square1 on August 31, 2017, 04:30:46 AM
Quote from: ReggieT on August 31, 2017, 03:42:15 AMI live within the city limits, so blasting him with the 12 gauge or my .40 cal is not going to be too neighbor/cop friendly.
The word, can't even bring myself to type it, makes my skin crawl due to previous encounters. That said, my barber lives in town and claims you can always get off one shot before anyone realizes what happened.
Hmmm...
He's right. One shot and people will stop and cock their heads wondering if they really heard what they heard. If no other noises they'll go on about their business thinking they must've been hearing things. A second shot and they'll start calling somebody being "concerned". I hate that word. I've had more people stick their darn noses into my family's business under the guise of being concerned.
I like Iannabs solution. My wife had surgery yesterday and was sleeping soundly this morning. At around 5:15a the neighbors little yappy dog was let out into the yard and started yappying like crazy. This went on until around 8:45a. Think I'll visit Harbor Freight and pick up one of their live animal traps. Heck, I might even get a possum to keep them company. :D
Sometimes you can terrorize a yappy dog into being quiet by putting on your "I'm gonna eat you" look and growling and stalking.
Possums? Pellet gun will work, machete works, good sized mallet works, but don't try a Daisy 'Red Rider' BB gun. Had one in a bad place in my garage, couldn't get it out and tried the BB gun. The number of shots it took was gruesome.
I'm with Ian. I trap and relocate them when they start bothering me in and around my barn. I take them to town to turn them loose as I figure more for them to eat there and those town folks need a little excitement too.
Reminds me of the flyer I saw that said "Found. Siamese mix cat. Not very friendly at all. Deformed tail. Please come get him soon." And they had a picture of a possum on the flyers.
Quote from: WV Sawmiller on August 31, 2017, 01:11:35 PM
I'm with Ian. I trap and relocate them when they start bothering me in and around my barn. I take them to town to turn them loose as I figure more for them to eat there and those town folks need a little excitement too.
The eat my duck eggs.
Quote
Reminds me of the flyer I saw that said "Found. Siamese mix cat. Not very friendly at all. Deformed tail. Please come get him soon." And they had a picture of a possum on the flyers.
Just before the Internet came about, I ran a tiny single-line BBS that a few local teens used for swapping Doom maps and arranging 'death matches'. One of them called me one night, a little agitated, "There's some kind of giant, prehistoric rat digging around in my garbage can!" Yep. A 'possum.
Thanks for the reminder. :D
Other eradication tools: Shovel (make sure it has a good handle) Pitchfork, and what was my favorite, a nine iron. Don't ask me how I know, I live in town ;D WV did you bring them this far west? :)
Bradmarks,
No but they may have been ferried there by each new "owner" dropping them in the next city west till they reached you.
While I can't verify for certain that was what I heard used to happen when they drummed out an unfit Marine from service. When discharged they marched him to the back gate followed by a drummer and everybody hearing faced about refusing to look at him till he reached the back gate (His family and/or friends of course were waiting for him at the front gate). When he walked out the back gate the county sheriff, who had been notified by his USMC buddies, picked up the miscreant, who was obviously unemployed, for vagrancy and took him to the next county line and dropped him off where the next county sheriff did the same thing until they got him to some desolate location (like California I guess). I don't know what happened if he was discharged at San Diego. He probably stayed and became a cherished member of the community. :D Of course this was all relayed to me by old time Leathernecks and I am sure nothing like this occurs today.