Possum

We live near a nature center in Richfield. A couple of summers ago I heard screaming from the back yard, wife was out with the Springer and he dragged a possum out from behind the garage. I told him to come, drop and kennel. Dog drops the critter, it lays unmoving in the driveway. Into the house both wife and dog go, I follow to grab a plastic bag to dispose of the carcass. Came back out and no possum. Wife didn’t believe me when I told her it had been “playing possum,” she didn’t think that was a real thing. She did some research and came away convinced that the possum was still alive.

With the fur market a disaster I would expect to hear alot more issues involving coon, skunks, n possums. Dispatch away.

Brad Dimond wrote:

We live near a nature center in Richfield. A couple of summers ago I heard screaming from the back yard, wife was out with the Springer and he dragged a possum out from behind the garage. I told him to come, drop and kennel. Dog drops the critter, it lays unmoving in the driveway. Into the house both wife and dog go, I follow to grab a plastic bag to dispose of the carcass. Came back out and no possum. Wife didn’t believe me when I told her it had been “playing possum,” she didn’t think that was a real thing. She did some research and came away convinced that the possum was still alive.

I read somewhere that the reason is their heart rate goes up so much they basically pass out. Then come back to when they calm down.

big_g wrote:

They will play possum you know…. (ask me how I know)

How do you know?

(for some reason, I think we’re going to need pictures to confirm this story)

Brian Klawitter wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>big_g wrote:</div>
They will play possum you know…. (ask me how I know)

How do you know?

(for some reason, I think we’re going to need pictures to confirm this story)

About 10 years ago, the wife starts yelling about this giant rat in the back yard… it was a Opossum… he was eyeing the wood duck houses… I grabbed my .22 Lever open sights and I hastily shot and he rolled over, 4 legs up. I walked down around the house to dispose of it.. it got up and scurried away unharmed…

Bearcat89 wrote:

They dispose pretty easily from a single shot of .22 or .17 subsonic.

Well… yeah, Obviously. That’s not what I meant. This from Stan Tekiela’s “Mammals of Minnesota” book. They’re tough cookies. Specifically the last paragraph.

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Red Eye wrote:

Aren’t possums the number one carrier of rabbies too? One more reason to dispose of em.

No, the opposite, it’s very unlikely they could have rabies because their body temp is too low.

Don’t think they’d survive one to the noggin!

Great animals to have around- leave ‘em alone. They get way too much undeserved hate.

LabDaddy1 wrote:

Great animals to have around- leave ‘em alone. They get way too much undeserved hate.

Sometimes.

I pulled into a buddies yard years back and saw a possum behind a shed. Jumped outta the truck and got ready to blast it. Buddy came running out of the house yelling don’t shoot it.
Turns out he dumped his kids diapers there and possums would eat them. He didn’t have take em to town and put in somebody’s dumpster.

LabDaddy1 wrote:

Great animals to have around- leave ‘em alone. They get way too much undeserved hate.

As long as they leave our animals and coops alone then they are good. But to often they are a menace. This also might be because we are in the wooded area populated with many menacing creatures. Same rule applies to all of them.

Sh…t he brought that in thing house….

Well… yeah, Obviously. That’s not what I meant. This from Stan Tekiela’s “Mammals of Minnesota” book. They’re tough cookies. Specifically the last paragraph.
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Yes they are tough creatures in the wild. I do agree. We had a big one for a while who used to slumber under our patio at my old house. Until he went for our cat. I had let him be until he did that.

If you have horses you do not want them around, their feces can carry EPM. They don’t ‘play’ possum for long when they start showing up around the barn at my parents.

https://extension.umn.edu/horse-health/equine-protozoal-myeloencephalitis-epm#:~:text=EPM%20is%20a%20neurologic%20disease,a%20few%20signs%20of%20illness.

LabDaddy1 wrote:

Great animals to have around- leave ‘em alone. They get way too much undeserved hate.

not a chance .

Bearcat89 wrote:

Yes they are tough creatures in the wild. I do agree. We had a big one for a while who used to slumber under our patio at my old house. Until he went for our cat. I had let him be until he did that.

What does your dog do about these overgrown possums? Don’t you have a big mean German Shepard guard dog?

Wow! BC those are the BIGGEST opossums I’ve ever laid eyes on.

What does your dog do about these overgrown possums? Don’t you have a big mean German Shepard guard dog?
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She wants to play with them. Just barks at them. After she pinned a muskrat in our yard that bit her jowl half off and tore her aquiles tendon clean in 2, that sent her to a emergency surgery a few years back. I don’t let her go after anything. The muskrat thing happened 3 or 4 years back now. And that cost me alot of money. That all happened at 330 in the morning while I was loading the boat. She pinned a mama muskrat in our yard. That thing destroyed her. But Sophie still got the kill. I shot the rat to be sure it was dead and then the neighbors called the cops on me for discharging a fire arm in town. Luckily the cops seen the war zone of dog blood and sided with me. Now I call her away from everything besides random foxes. Also the neighbors are another reason I use and know subsonic .22 kills them.

Bearcat89 wrote:

She wants to play with them. Just barks at them. After she pinned a muskrat in our yard that bit her jowl half off and tore her aquiles tendon clean in 2, that sent her to a emergency surgery a few years back. I don’t let her go after anything. The muskrat thing happened 3 or 4 years back now. And that cost me alot of money. That all happened at 330 in the morning while I was loading the boat. She pinned a mama muskrat in our yard. That thing destroyed her. But Sophie still got the kill. I shot the rat to be sure it was dead and then the neighbors called the cops on me for discharging a fire arm in town. Luckily the cops seen the war zone of dog blood and sided with me. Now I call her away from everything besides random foxes. Also the neighbors are another reason I use and know subsonic .22 kills them.

Lol that’s funny and serious at the same time with that sort of outcome. I don’t blame you for dispatching a muskrat. Those things are mean SOBs.

Bearcat89 wrote:

This is one My buddy rooster got just down the road from me. They don’t keep records in MN, but it is the biggest recorded in the Midwest

Holy balls! That thing is enormous! I had no idea they got that big. I see a few roadkills every year but nothing anywhere close to that size. That is like a dang Bear!

Here’s an interesting MPR article about the Virginia Opossum and it’s movement North. This is from 2011.

Virginia Opossum in Minnesota

Brian Klawitter wrote:

Here’s an interesting MPR article about the Virginia Opossum and it’s movement North. This is from 2011.

Virginia Opossum in Minnesota

interesting article BK!!!!!!

the cabin we have up in Itasca county…..i havent seen one there yet……i may have seen a road kill as far north as remer if i recall!!!!! thats an hour south of us.

i kept looking last night……i didnt see him return!!!!!!!

I havent seen one alive, just dead roadkills. They are creepy little buggers. I cannot imagine seeing one as big as the photos BC shared. Those are ridiculous.

I’m in Virginia now I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>ThunderLund78 wrote:</div>
I’ve heard they’re pretty tough to kill

Odd, I found that a single .22 dispatches them very quickly.

That would be a good, low-impact option.

I can tell you what not to use. Do NOT use a .22-250 with a 50 grain Z-Max at almost 4000 fps.

Eeeewwwew. Very, very messy. Not a good choice.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I havent seen one alive, just dead roadkills. They are creepy little buggers. I cannot imagine seeing one as big as the photos BC shared. Those are ridiculous.

Which goes on to beg the question: Why did the chicken cross the road?………………To show the opossum that it is possible.