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Coote

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Everything posted by Coote

  1. Coote
    Yep Midnight, some of those mowery women are quite cute I have to say. Mind you, I am interested in music and I have just been sent the DVD called "Celtic Woman"... and I note that you have some fine looking ladies over your way as well...they've got nice accents too. In case you're interested, the traditional spelling is "Maori" Isn't it great being heterosexual !! NZ is a fairly good place to fish and hunt. I do a bit of sea fishing, but have never done any serious fresh water fishing. The main freshwater "game" species are brown trout, rainbow trout.... and there are a few s
  2. Coote
    The pistol suggestion is one that I very much like...not so much because it would be my possum killing method of choice...just because I would love to own a pistol. But alas...pistols are one thing that the common man cannot own here. I drool over the handgun pictures in catalogues, but my desires in this direction are unlikely to be fulfilled. We're allowed to possess and use all sorts of long firearms though provided that we hold a firearms licence. The government is just anti pistols and military-type semi-automatic or automatic weapons. But we have all sorts of models and calibres
  3. Coote
    We used to see more possums on the roads like your experience in Tokoroa Chartpolski. Maybe it is still like that in some areas, but I think that the the populations have been reduced near some urban areas. There would be many cottages that would be ideally suited to you P&G. And you would be most welcome here too. It's a shame about the legistlation changing our country ways. I could go on and on about it...and get quite rude. I just rejoice in the fact that I can still do a lot of the things that I like to do.... and should be able to for most of the forseeable future. Th
  4. Coote
    Yep...you guys are on to it. Cage traps are good for possums....but they are only practical in places where you can easily carry a cage to. A significant number of possums are taken in areas where you cant get a vehicle...miles from civilization in some cases. Below is a hurriedly-chosen link which might give you an idea of the type of country that a possum trapper might find himself in: http://www.mtsc.org.nz/nlnp/ Possums are nocturnal and they are often hunted with the aid of a lamp and a .22 rifle. Quite often the lads will have a silencer fitted to the rifle. The possum's
  5. Coote
    yep... those are skinned possums at the back. I don't know how he disposes of the carcases, but I think some people use them for dog tucker.... and I was told that one or two folks take them for human consumption. Often when I visit Paul he has a heap of dead possums in his garage. It is a pleasure watching him skin them. He is a fairly big bloke and he appears to work slowly, but the skins come off and the pile of skinned carcases grows. Darn those mink must be bigger than I thought. The skins certainly stretch a long way down those boards. You skin foxes P&G?...from ano
  6. Coote
    I am just a beginner at this trapping business, but in the short time I've been doing it I have never had a possum chew at the snare. When possums are trapped for skins, they have to be cold for skinning otherwise the hair falls out when you are handling them. So pole snares used to be set in such a way that the possums would feel the noose tightening around their neck and jump off the pole....thus hanging themselves. They died very quickly too. Because I generally want to pluck the fur, I prefer the animals to be alive when I get to them (so they are warm and easy to pluck)...so I s
  7. Coote
    Yes... possums will come to a bait station. I have never poisoned them, but they are regularly killed with poisoned baits. I believe that Possum Paul (mentioned in another post) pre-feeds the possums and gets them interested for a while... then he adds the cyanide. Possums will go for all sorts of lures. A traditional one around here is oil of aniseed. I make up a lure using flour, icing sugar and oil of aniseed. Other things work too.... any flavouring essence would arouse a possum's interest. Cheap imitation vanilla also does the trick.
  8. Coote
    Here's a picture of my mate Paul with what he'd probably call a fairly small catch. Anything less than fifty is a tad dissappointing for this experienced bloke. Paul has accounted for thousands of possums. He is an expert. Farmers, forestry companies and others call Paul for help in controlling the possum population. He is also a local buyer for fur and skins. When he traps possums, he generally uses a toothless leghold steel trap. I have never timed myself skinning a possum, but I know it is fairly hard work. I guess I could probably do a good job of six an hour fairly comfor
  9. Coote
    When you guys use a wip for making a spring-up snare for rats etc, do you have a preference for a particular kind of wood? Is hazel the ultimate wip material? Do you prefer green branches or seasoned wood? Thanks in advance.... Coote.
  10. Coote
    I've just had an interesting afterthought. Those branches on the ground (including the one under the possum's tail) are from a gorse bush. Our forefathers must have wanted to have a few souvenirs from the old country...and gorse was one they brought out with them. Gorse seems to just love it here. It grows like hell. It covers acres of our hillsides - and it is not pleasant to hunt and trap in. Some gorse bushes get really big....heaps taller than a man, and it is not unusual to see a trunk six inches thick or more. On the positive side, gorse is a great nursery crop for big fo
  11. Coote
    I thought I might try to upload a picture of a possum. These are declared a pest in New Zealand. There is a market for skins, and there is a relatively new market for plucked fur. The fur is easily plucked when the possum is freshly killed and still warm. Currently the buyers are paying NZ$70 per kilo for the fur, and typically it might take the fur from 14 to 18 possums to make up a kilo. Not everybody would rush to pick possum meat from a restaurant menu, but it can be very good eating. In NZ these animals are poisoned (using 1080, cyanide and other types), shot, trapped and
  12. Coote
    Dang... you won't run out of snares in a hurry. Thanks for your thoughts. I should have no trouble getting copper wire down here. When my brass snare samples arrive I will try to make up some copper snares to the same "stiffness". I have found some multistrand, non-insulated copper aerial wire which looks pretty good, but unravelling it is a bit tedious. The people that rewind motors must be able to get hold of rolls of "shellac" coated copper in various gauges...so something will work out. Have a great day.... Coote.
  13. Coote
    Thanks for that. So approximately how many catches can you get from a "proper" multi-strand brass snare before it becomes unserviceable? Thanks for the offer to send wire in bulk. I guess that if I ever wanted to import it I might be able to get a good deal from India or maybe Australia. Still.... I am fairly sure that I will find a local substitute. That idea of using a single strand of wire in conjunction with a synthetic cord is a good one. When I set my possum snares I use two tealers and the noose can be a fairly dodgy shape. I should try incorporating a thin wire of whate
  14. Coote
    Thanks to the helpfulness of a forum member I have a sample of the real McCoy snare wire coming to me. I have started to make enquiries as to where I might be able to get hold of similar brass wire in this part of the world - but without success so far. Soft wire snares could be just the thing for possum trapping down here, and if it turns out to be successful, then a man might need quite a bit of wire. I guess I could import it, but it is nice to know what else might do the job. It has been mentioned that copper or stainless wire could be used. What about soft, thin galvanised steel w
  15. Coote
    Man.... what a heap of rabbits !! What do you do with them all? It would take a while to skin and gut them. Mr Pegandgun, that is a very kind offer to send me the snares and the DVD. I'd feel a bit awkward receiving these things totally free of charge - particularly the DVD - - and I have sent you a private message about this. But I am excited at the prospect. Unfortunately rabbits aren't as plentiful as they were in my part of New Zealand. A few years back somebody illegally introduced the calicivirus disease and the bunnies virtually disappeared. They are coming back in po
  16. Coote
    I managed to snare one of the rabbits in the "no shooting" area tonight (that I referred to in an earlier post). It wasn't a great feat of skill and woodcraft because the rabbits are fairly used to people, and because I simply set the snare over a hole under the storage container where they had been living. But it was rather satisfying. I've bagged many rabbits with a rifle, but this is only the second one I've snared. The picture shows the type of snare I used. A ground peg, a split stick tealer, and a noose made from a twisted and doubled length of monofilament fishing nylon. I
  17. Coote
    Thanks for the Fenn pictures. Having seen them I can say that my steel traps aren't Fenns... they are just toothless leghold traps. But I believe that Fenns are used here for rat and stoat control. I have seen them set under wooden "tunnels" in a nearby national park. Much appreciated thanks.
  18. Coote
    Thanks for that information. It certainly makes more sense to me than the descriptions of rabbit snares I have come across elsewhere which say something like a snare should be four inches in diameter and a fist height from the ground. I am not too sure what a Fenn trap is, but I assume it is a mechanical trap with jaws and a trigger treadle. I have a couple of similar traps of a type that is used here to catch opossums and stoats. I set one on a rabbit pathway at the edge of the shed they were living under and managed to catch one rabbit. The trouble with the area I am currently try
  19. Coote
    Thought you folks might be interested in seeing a picture of a wild boar I managed to snare with some synthetic rope. It was despatched with the spear shown (made by fitting a Cold Steel Bushman knife to the end of a stick). I've bagged dozens of pigs with a rifle, but this was a very satisfying hunt. Here's the link: http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/coote/photo%20gallery.html The pig had moved into a scrubby gully on a neighbour's farm (with some others). I spent many hours in the area. A couple of times at night I was only a few feet from the pigs... I could hear them chomping
  20. Coote
    Hmmm... no replies. OK, I'll keep it simple by asking one question at a time.... here it is: Snaring hares.... what is the best size for the noose, and how high should the bottom of the noose be from the ground? Thanks very much. This seems like a great site. I am grateful to have access to it. Best wishes.... Stephen Coote.
  21. Coote
    Hi... I hope you folks can help me. I have hunted nearly all my life, generally using a rifle. Occasionally I have been asked to get rid of some animals where it would be undesirable or forbidden to carry a firearm. Sometimes I see animals I would like to hunt, but I wouldn't want to risk losing my gun licence by using a firearm in an area where I did not have permission to carry one. I've read back through most of the topic titles and have looked at the content of the ones that are of interest, but I'd like to ask some questions to make sure that I am on the right track. So thanks
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