Australian Brushtailed Opossum

[Coote 5]

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 frequently run over on roads.

 

The poisoning of possums by carpet bombing our wilderness with 1080 poison seems terribly wrong to me. People here are starting to speak up against it, so I hope we can slow this practice down... or maybe even stop it.

 

I have had reasonable success snaring possums either with a pole snare, or with a simple snare on the ground. I get a lot of knocked snares though, and I have a lot to learn. Unfortunately I don't have the great heritage of snaring knowledge in my part of the world that you folks have over there... but your ideas have been a big help thanks.

 

Anyway, here is a picture of one of these cute animals caught in a snare:

 

[pegandgun 52]

Very interesting and well done coote

[red dog 3]

Hi coote, well he's got a surprised look on his well done mate

[Coote 5]

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 forest. I understand that it is a legume...and thus helps get nitrogen into the soil. Once the big trees grow up through it the gorse seems to die off. But the whole process takes a long time....and meanwhile I get my skin punctured all over as I try to make my way through it. One thing worse than gorse is blackberry (another ancestral mistake )....dang it can make life miserable..... and unfortunately it can grow in profusion - in amongst the gorse as well.

 

Gorse is a heck of a thing to try to control on hilly pasture country. Livestock do nibble away at it if they have to, but generally the plant keeps on flourishing.

 

Possums and wild pigs don't mind it though.

[pegandgun 52]

Will possems come to a bait station Coote??

[Coote 5]

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.

[pegandgun 52]

Coote,it sounds like Possems would be the ideal candadate for a cage trap

[midnight 657]

i know this is about trapping and snaring . BUT i would think lamping and either a 22 rim fire or a close shot with a 410 would do the trick.

and if that was a no go cos of pelt damage i would clip them out and go for the fur market rather than peltsi bet they wouldnt notice the diferance if it was plucked or clipped.

 

intresting topic tho

[Coote 5]

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 eyes glow quite red in the dark when you point the light at them.

 

Possums are quite often simply shot and disposed of in a way that is equivalent to Pegandgun flinging his foxes over a hedge. People simply don't want them around...so it doesn't matter what you shoot them with... and a 12 bore loaded with number 4 shot is generally quite effective when the possum is only 10 feet above you on a branch. .410 guns aren't so commonly used here...and I think a .410 cartridge generally would cost more than a 12 gauge cartridge. But a .410 would certainly do the job in most cases, and I feel it would be a lot safer than a .22 when shooting up into trees. But I seem to be one of the only people I've met who worries about where the bullet might land ...other folks seem to shoot into the air without worrying much at all. Serious possum hunters would generally prefer the .22 because a head shot with a single projectile won't damage the skin. If you are just after fur it doesn't matter if you turn the skin into a seive, but the .22 still seems to be the weapon of choice...it is quieter and you can carry heaps more cartridges too.

[midnight 657]

yeah i think id go for the .22 aswell but a realy soft low volocity round defo subsonic . maybe even a pistol to reduce the volocity and power from the round with a hollow point jobie.

[pegandgun 52]

Mmmmm,real interesting coote....

I would be using a quad looking at that link Folding cages would be ok but if your travelling large distances i thing the snare and gun is the way to kill large numbers.A .410 would be shit hot for those possums i think.Stand back fifteen yards with 21/2" cartridges and you would have no pelt damage to speak of

You could cary a hell of alot of footholds on a quad,100s infact so basicaly you need a quad

[midnight 657]

peg we should save up and go over for a week or two kill a few hundred posoms and get paid for the holiday mate..

 

id like the chance of a pig aswell wile i was there ..

[pegandgun 52]

Midnight,how the f**k we gunna get my quad in a suit case

[midnight 657]

duno mate good call we need a plan.

[pegandgun 52]

I must admit ide love to go over there for a trapping holiday :whistle: