Em - 1 Possum - 0 **Updated w/pics**

[Moonwalker]

Make sure you keep a real close eye on the chickens for a couple days when they drink. If they are spouting water, it might mean you have to adjust the sights on the gun!

 

[MandyH]

Talking of guns, my dh bought me a new Taurus 4410 for Valentine's day. It shoots .45's or .410 shotgun shells. That thing ROCKS!!!!! You ought to see what it does at close range with the .410 shells in it.

 

[ZykloniaDark-GothikRanchr]

I do like Possums, I think they are cute, but I would have to go after one if it attacked my animals. I would throuw the corpse on the ant pile, and have a nice little possum skull as a trophy!!!

 

[Biddy]

The back of my chicken house, esp. the nest boxes, look like a war zone. I can't tell you how much stuff I have shot through the years. I use a 12GA with 00BK. I want them dead and you never know what may be in the chickens.

 

[Brian]

Keep in mind this: if you are inside a coop shooting a gun, it is possible for a bullet to exit and ricochet off of something and wind up hitting you. An opossum is most likely to sit and rock back and forth while showing it's teeth when confronted. It would be easy to lean in quite closely, and make one well-placed shot to the head. We shouldn't encourage anyone to go into a coop with guns ablaze.

For those of you who have dealt with opossums on a regular basis, you could quite cheaply make a pole with a noose on the end of it (like those used by animal control officers) to grab the beast wth. You could remove it from the coop, and--I hate to say it--simply strangle it. Gasp!

OK...enough of this macabre!

Brian

 

[CritterHill]

To be quite honest, the possums around here are more like pets than pests at this point. They hang out on our porch looking for leftovers from the cats and the kids love to watch them.

No one is going to be shooting possums around here any time soon. Our plan is to simply make the coop and run impenetrable and be outside with the chickens when we do let them out to free range during the day.

My previous post was more "internet tough guy" than anything.

The catch pole idea (we used to call them rabies poles) is a good one. We should probably have one around "just in case".

But our philosophy going into this is to attempt fortified coexistence rather than eradication.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

To be quite honest, the possums around here are more like pets than pests at this point. They hang out on our porch looking for leftovers from the cats and the kids love to watch them.

Here too, I love my possums, loL!!!!​

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Since Brian wisely brought the subject up I'll repeat it. I have to make occasional use of the 30+ firearms in this house. What my 26 year police veteran and firearms instructor SO has taught me is 1) never run anywhere carrying a firearm and 2) know exactly what is on the other side of what you're shooting at. This is very important where we live because behind any of the outbuildings could be a cow, one of my own pets, or even the visiting grandchild. I treat firearms exactly like what they are....deadly weapons.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Here too. From what I've been told, the biggest predator problems on this farm is not the coyotes or the bobcats, but skunks and an occasional possum. We've taken them into consideration when planning our coop and run. I'm relying heavily upon my SO to guide me and I think we'll do just fine. In the 40+ year history of this farm they never lost a chicken from the commercial houses or from his Mom's backyard flock and only lost an egg now and then. Oh, and I'm also growing egg gourds for the snakes.

 

[mangled]

Since Brian wisely brought the subject up I'll repeat it. I have to make occasional use of the 30+ firearms in this house. What my 26 year police veteran and firearms instructor SO has taught me is 1) never run anywhere carrying a firearm and 2) know exactly what is on the other side of what you're shooting at. This is very important where we live because behind any of the outbuildings could be a cow, one of my own pets, or even the visiting grandchild. I treat firearms exactly like what they are....deadly weapons.

Well, for heaven's sake.

I hope you don't think me a daft, non-sensical woman who dashes about madly blasting her guns off willy-nilly without any sense of what is or isn't safe.

While I don't have the benefit of having a weapons instructor as a SO, I have taken my share of firearms courses, and I am well schooled in handling a firearm. I do not, however, handle the rifles and shotguns often enough to be a crack shot.

Possums around here aren't considered pets. This is the first wild thing I've had to dispatch, and I hope to not have to do it again.

Before this turns into a debate on weapons' safety and live and let live, etc., etc., how about we just let it go?

I'll not make the mistake of posting about such things again.
Em​