OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics Possums

Gadge that is understood as I referring those recipes using the American O possums. Besides yours is a lot better looking than the American version. Here my lastest has been a couple feral black cats. I thought it was anonther possum but live trapped one around 10pm local time and this morning there was another one out at the trap. Re-located the first one 20 miles away and resetting for the other one tonight as it will be back looking for it mate. It will get relocated too but just 20 miles in the opposite direction.

Cute but still a pest a times is yours.

You are aware aren't you that cats know how to navigate their way back to their territory from greater distances than that!
You would have been better of shooting it as feral cats attack wildlife. They are a massive problem in Australia too. It's a community service to terminate them where possible.

No I wasn't as I am not a cat person nor dog person. I was kinda of hoping being at the city's land fill will give it a better choice of food. Besides there is couple rivers and several very busy four lane highways between the city and me.

But if the cat pest shows back up I will terminate then, I lost enough of my young chickens this year to them and the hawks. Resolve the hawk problem earlier as it was one in particular that was the problem. Once wildlife find out chickens are easy prey they just keep coming back until you resolve the problem. I got one hen that had 13 little ones that only one made it through the Summer.

Next time you know what to do then!!

Yes I will...yet I still prefer relocation over killing but it is not always the solution just a strong hint to stay away. At least I learn how to handle the relocation of skunks without getting sprayed.

The only animal that I haven't successfully tried to relocate was the mink but it killed 22 chickens in two nights and it signed it death warrant. I was very mad at the time to say the least. Now it is being stuffed by a neighbor for his collection.

Hi AVB,
and I keep thinking my problems are bad but mine are only annoying me and my neighbours, not killing all my chickens, that would make me a very angry man

Could be worse than possums though, Norm.

A very good friend of mine, who lives on a local rural block with a real menagerie of animals [currently 18 chooks + rooster, two dogs, plus a small flock of dorper sheep, and a 30yo retired saddle horse, plus a few beef cattle ] has a hassle - with 3 big tiger snakes hanging around the place...

I sold her my 20ga double barrel shotgun recently, along with a couple of boxen of ammo in #8 [snakes] and BB [foxes] shot loads.

Consequently, the wriggle sticks will get 'relocated' as soon as a suitable opportunity occurs!

Yeah, in a bush grave hopefully.

Yep, my possum problems are only fairly minor when you view what is going on around the world these days. Last time a snake was shot in my backyard would be heading out 40 years ago and my wife still vividly remembers it

Gadge, I like your second tagline.

And here I use T shot (BBB) for hawks.and foxes. I only shot one snake here. Most I have seen are either non-poisonous or were babies that chickens had already killed and were trying to down them. The snake I kill was surrounded by my hens. They had it corralled only but they were thinking about attacking it which would been a mistake on their part as it was poisonous. The .22 took care of it.

You can always run over them with a mower. Preferably with a hose port.

It isn't like I haven't done that before but usually because I did not see them in time.

I was referring to snakes only. Should have clarified.
It would be an awful way to kill a larger mammal.

That was assumed about the snakes.

As with any animal I prefer what ever is the quickest method of dispatch, I don't want then to suffer any longer than necessary. That is one reason I will not hunt deer. I hear of too many times of them having to slowly bleed to death in great pain.

Oh dear/deer.

We have a bit of a 'feral deer problem' [all deer species in Oz are introduced] on local farms hereabouts, and I'm getting involved [via a farmer mate, who is involved in the local 'Landcare' program] in a culling scheme.

So we'll cull the deer by spotlight shooting them, and split the butchered meat with the property owners, if they so choose.

The likely species we'll encounter are Fallow and Asiatic Sambar, so I'll be using my 'heavy deer rifles'; .338WM & .375H&H...

Most deer hunters here use a 30-30 rifle for deer kills. Most kills are fairly quick but some are not the animal suffers a great deal of pain. At least on your part the animal does goes to a complete waste of a life as it used to feed someone.

Beside the hunters more deer are killed by vehicles than anything else; although, recent a virus or something is causing a wasting condition among the deer population. They become nothing but skin and bones before they die. Deer are not the only animal that this problem is in. I even seen it in my own chicken flock. NO matter how the animal eats it does them no good.

Hi AVB,

Well; the more interactions I have in daily life situations, with locals who all too apparently have the mental capacity/reasoning ability of a Muppet, confirm me in this philosophy!

I've told some of these cretins directly to their faces; 'You may think you're a wit; but you're only half right'!

When they can't comprehend my meaning, I can but 'rest my case'...

In my capacity of confirmed curmudgeon...

Hi Gadge,
I didn't think you were that old!!

Well Norm, it's like this.

I've never had any capacity to suffer fools gladly. Nor do I see any reason whatsoever, why I should develop such capacity!

And admittedly, I can out-think nearly all of the people that I've ever encountered, in life's journey so far anyway.

Also, as I've aged [62 now], I've found that I now have no problems at all, with calling out fools and their follies, in a very outspoken manner. Basically, I take no prisoners.

Which has at times, caused me a few problems with past bosses, who were a bit on the stupid/blinkered side...

Consequently, I'm currently morphing towards a part-time, self-employed, freelance consultancy future.

Have to get a few medical issues sorted, from Q3 this year [two TKR knee replacements] and the consequent rehab periods, though.

Recovery time is the big question mark there.

But my previous recovery after a road crash, back when I was 24, had me off work for over two years in total...

Gadge, Getting old isn't for sissies. I am only a year +- behind you and have found things in general health wise are a lot slower to recover from. I am not looking forward to the right shoulder joint replacement but at least I am still walking. I wasn't so sure after October 2019 where my whole left side shutdown. It turn to be blood pressure introduced strokes. Just now getting under control after a year of the doctor guessing at what meds I needed. This morning it was 135/81 which a lot better than the 250+/120+ I was during the ride to horsepital.