Anyone Dealt with a Possum?

[Carborendum]

EPISODE 1:

A while back I had a possum about the size of a medium terrier come to attack our chickens.  I had to go get my rifle.

It was dark and I saw potential danger of overshoot and ricochet all over.  So, we got flashlights out.  But the possum didn't like the light, so it kept ducking into the shadows.  I wasn't about to shoot into the shadows.  So, we played cat and mouse for a while until I finally got him in a hole.  No rocks.  No ricochet.  No overshoot.  Pretty safe.

I shot three times.  It hissed at me.  It crawled back away into darkness.  I lost him.

The next day I drove down our neighborhood road and saw a dead possum about 2000 ft from my house.  SMH.

EPISODE 2:

Just yesterday we had a smaller possum barely bigger than our household cat.  Because it was in our garage near a concrete stemwall, a gun was out of the question.  I got my sword out (heh, as if you don't all have one). I probably stabbed the thing 6 or 7 times in various parts of the body.  And it was all the way through.  I felt the blade hit flesh and go into the concrete beyond.  Then it hissed at me as it opened its mouth wide and bore its teeth at me.  I stuck the sword down its gullet.

I thought it was dead.  So, I took a shovel and tried to pry it from the cramped space it was in.  As I got it out and was about to put it into a bucket, it got up and ran away so fast under the car, I couldn't see where it went off to.

It freaking survived all that!

What the heck are these things made of?

[zil2]

I looove Postum...  Oh.  Possum.  Nevermind.  As you were.

[zil2]

58 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

I got my sword out (heh, as if you don't all have one).

Note to self: Buy that sword you always wanted.  If anyone questions your decision, say, "Possums," and nod your head as if this were the wisest statement ever spoken.

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

What the heck are these things made of?

Do you have any former Harvard researchers living nearby?

[EH12NG]

14 hours ago, Carborendum said:

EPISODE 1:

A while back I had a possum about the size of a medium terrier come to attack our chickens.  I had to go get my rifle.

I

Just yesterday we had a smaller possum barely bigger than our household cat.  Because it was in our garage near a concrete stemwall, a gun was out of the question.  I got my sword out (heh, as if you don't all have one). I probably stabbed the thing 6 or 7 times in various parts of the body.  And it was all the way through.  I felt the blade hit flesh and go into the concrete beyond.  Then it hissed at me as it opened its mouth wide and bore its teeth at me.  I stuck the sword down its gullet.

It freaking survived all that!

What the heck are these things made of?

As a vegetarian, ( don't worry I'm not an activist ) I should be appalled on some level. But I can't see for the tears of laughter cascading down my face! 

First of all, what century are you from? a Rifle and sword is throwing up all kinds of attire in my mind. What does a swashbuckling possum slayer wear whilst murdering marsupials? 

On a slightly more serious note, I am always surprised when people are surprised of how tough other life forms are. With no doctors or surgery in the wild, animals are hardened to their environments and have an uncanny steel about them. Well, we now know one possum has more steel than the next possum. 

I haven't had a laugh like that in a very very long time. It has been an age since I have laughed from the stomach. This is the best post I've read on the internet this week. Absolute class. 

I hope the little four legged blighters haven't caused your livestock any harm and that your new borders have been recognised by the chief possums in the national comity for marsupial relations. 
 

May I ask what sword you have sir? 

 

I have a background in heritage and swords. You have piqued my interest. 

 

Absolutely brilliant!

 

Edited October 14, 2023 by EH12NG
Silly typo due to being blinded by tears of laughter.

[Vort]

19 hours ago, Carborendum said:

EPISODE 1:

A while back I had a possum about the size of a medium terrier come to attack our chickens.  I had to go get my rifle.

It was dark and I saw potential danger of overshoot and ricochet all over.  So, we got flashlights out.  But the possum didn't like the light, so it kept ducking into the shadows.  I wasn't about to shoot into the shadows.  So, we played cat and mouse for a while until I finally got him in a hole.  No rocks.  No ricochet.  No overshoot.  Pretty safe.

I shot three times.  It hissed at me.  It crawled back away into darkness.  I lost him.

The next day I drove down our neighborhood road and saw a dead possum about 2000 ft from my house.  SMH.

EPISODE 2:

Just yesterday we had a smaller possum barely bigger than our household cat.  Because it was in our garage near a concrete stemwall, a gun was out of the question.  I got my sword out (heh, as if you don't all have one). I probably stabbed the thing 6 or 7 times in various parts of the body.  And it was all the way through.  I felt the blade hit flesh and go into the concrete beyond.  Then it hissed at me as it opened its mouth wide and bore its teeth at me.  I stuck the sword down its gullet.

I thought it was dead.  So, I took a shovel and tried to pry it from the cramped space it was in.  As I got it out and was about to put it into a bucket, it got up and ran away so fast under the car, I couldn't see where it went off to.

It freaking survived all that!

What the heck are these things made of?

My possum story:

My wife and I were living in married grad student housing at Penn State right in the geographic middle of Pennsylvania. (State College is actually located in Centre County; note the pretentious British spelling.) My wife is from western Pennsylvania, so this was more or less home for her, but not for me. Before moving to Penn State, I had lived exactly 2½ months in Pennsylvania, specifically in Philadelphia, as a missionary while waiting for my visa to Italy. So the eastern US was pretty much new to me.

Anyway, we were coming home one late afternoon or evening just after (perhaps just before) the birth of our oldest child. We parked in the lot and walked across the grass to our apartment, when I saw the largest rat I had ever seen. This thing was literally the size of a cat. And not a tiny cat. It was getting dark, so I couldn't see as clearly as normal, but I was no more than 20 feet from it at one point. This rat just looked at me, then turned and ambled away. I didn't know what to do. I think my wife didn't see it.

This apartment complex was infested with various pests, primarily cockroaches. I don't think I had ever seen a cockroach before moving to Penn State, and I will be a happy man if I never see another as long as I live. So the idea that rats might also live in the area didn't surprise me. After talking with my wife, I called the campus police and told the dispatcher, "I just saw the biggest rat I've ever seen." She asked me to describe it, and I did so as best I could. Then she told me, "That's not a rat, it's a possum." Oooooooooh. That explained a lot.

**One in a continuing series on the life education of Vort**

Edited October 14, 2023 by Vort

[zil2]

59 minutes ago, Vort said:

cockroaches

Yet another reason I stay in Salt Lake County.  (I'm sure they're here somewhere, but I've never seen one here.)  Klaw is grateful (or would be, if he knew different) that there are no fleas here.  I've only ever seen dead possums (maybe) in Oklahoma - it's hard to distinguish road-kill possum from from road-kill armadillo when traveling at 65+ miles per hour.  (I did once see a scorpion crossing the road down there - in the suburbs.  I'm staying put!)

Edited October 14, 2023 by zil2

[Carborendum]

On 10/14/2023 at 4:13 AM, EH12NG said:

First of all, what century are you from?

Pam once took a poll to ask who was prophet when you were born.

My response was: Adam.

On 10/14/2023 at 4:13 AM, EH12NG said:

I hope the little four legged blighters haven't caused your livestock any harm

I once had 18 chickens.  Now I have 12.  The attrition occurred over the course of about three weeks.  We finally figured out that some of it was due to an opossum (BTW, I've learned that the North American species is called the opossum, and the Australian species is called the possum.  And they certainly are noticieably different in real life-- forgive my mistake).  But some of it was due to a racoon.

I killed the racoon Just a week before.  But one of the remaining chickens was injured while in the coop.  We continued our vigilance.  My wife did "something" with it.  She didn't go into details.  But a few days later, either the same one or different one showed up in our garage.  That's the one I got with the sword.

On 10/14/2023 at 4:13 AM, EH12NG said:

May I ask what sword you have sir? 

Several.  But the one I used in this adventure was a cheap replica wakizashi.  I wasn't about to use an expensive sword on this filthy creature.

I did come across what appeared to be the opossum, dead in the road about 2 miles from my house.

Edited October 15, 2023 by Carborendum

[Wilderland]

Interesting topic. I’ve had exactly one run in with an opossum one night, and it too was right from some zombie movie. It took 5 shots in the head with a .22. It hissed and thrashed, and generally gave me the creeps. The next morning it was gone. 

[askandanswer]

I took this pic a few weeks ago. This is unusual because it was mid morning, and this possom was only a meter or so away from a very busy foothpath, just watching the people go by. Its not showing up all that clearly in the pic, but another unusual thing is that this possom's coat was sandy in colour. Usually possoms here are grey and white. Possoms here are very cute but they do have an annoying habit of taking up residence in the ceiling cavity of people''s houses and it can get pretty noisy when you have one or two possums running around in your room. 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2023 by askandanswer

[Still_Small_Voice]

Lesson learned.  If you have to shoot an opossum, shoot it with your small caliber gun and then take it out a short distance away and put two twelve gauge slugs through it to finish it off.

[Vort]

3 hours ago, askandanswer said:

ceiling cavity of people''s houses

In Normal Earth, attics are scary spaces. Seeing as how A&A lives not in Normal Earth, but in Australia—home of killer crocs, foot-wide redback spiders, tiger snakes, blue-ringed octopi, and other assorted dainties—he and his hardy fellow survivors have officially banned attics as a hazard to all human life. Thus, ceiling cavities.

[zil2]

7 minutes ago, Vort said:

ceiling cavities.

Do you suppose they also have ceiling dentists?