Killing a possum with a pellet gun?

[pcf]

I think a .177 at 500fps, is inhumane and irresponsible. I've done it with a .25 Beeman air rifle, however it's as loud as a .22 CB and not any more effective.

I once had a opossum play dead for almost 3 hours. I ambushed him with a spot light, whacked him with a aluminum bat, threw him in the trash and 3 hours later there was all sort of racket as he was trying to get out of the can. I'm glad he didn't stop playing when I picked him up by the tail and was carrying him to the trash.

 

[kyle1974]

Don't shoot him, he's my pet!

 

[tarosean]

Also to add the shot would be at about 20ft, it hides in a corner that I can get a clean shot at.

you will probably find out soon enough that those pistols are woefully inaccurate.

I used to live in Champions Forrest and would trap them and take them to Compaq's land to finish them off... Course that was before the area turned into a thriving metropolis.

 

[Clark]

There was something in the hen house making trouble, so I went out there with a shotgun.

It was a possum under the roost eating chicken droppings.

I smacked with the the shotgun barrel and it knocked it into a galvanized wire chicken cage. I put the cage on the doorstep to show the kids in the morning.
But by morning the possum had pried the lid up and escaped.

 

[Saakee]

My grandmother would take a shovel handle, place it over their neck, then step down to break them when they were trapped on the farm when she was a child.

 

[ckckck]

Trap it, drive it a few miles away, to some woods, say, or your boss' neighborhood, and release. but be ready for a new one, or something else, to move in at your place. Nature won't allow a vacuum, as someone said...

 

[Flintknapper]

303tom wrote:

Did you know that the Opossum is 8 X less apt to have rabies than any other critter in the woods..........

That's because their brain is 8 times smaller than any other critter in the woods.

 

[Sport45]

You can kill it, but it won't do much good. Another one we be there next week...

Dursban will kill the grubs it's digging up.

At least Dursban cured my Armadillo problem when they were rooting up my yard in East Texas.

 

[kanook]

Deer are not armoured, and it seems we need just short of a 50bmg to take them out.

And you are going after a possum withh a BB/pellet gun. God speed my friend

 

[TenDriver]

Trap it, drive it a few miles away, to some woods, say, or your boss' neighborhood, and release. but be ready for a new one, or something else, to move in at your place. Nature won't allow a vacuum, as someone said...

Mother in law's house will work too.

 

[Franco2shoot]

Ruger makes a nice +1100fps .177 air rifle, w/scope its about 120 bucks(AirHawk). You will need good hunting pellets. A good .22 air rifle is going to cost you more. If you're looking to add to your gun collection, I personally like the Diana.

As others have said, taking out one varmit is not gonna do it, cuz another one will fill the void. That said, once you reduce the herd by some number, they stop showing up.

Here's a link to superior air rifles along with a good page of comparisons:
http://www.straightshooters.com/

Treat these as you would any FIREARM, always be sure of where the pellet is going to go if you miss. I highly recommend the Air rifle approach for suburban or city dwellers. In our neck of suburbia, during the summer we had a dangerous poisonous snake that somehow had been forced out of the local woods due to construction. Shooting it in the body did no good and a pistol would have been worthless. Holding the stock, I let it bite the end of the barrel before pulling the trigger. No head, no threat... nonetheless, scared the hell outta me since I had almost stepped on it after my wife had seen it in the garden.

KKKKFL

 

[jimmyraythomason]

The fastest,most humane,way to dispatch a 'possum doesn't involve shooting them at all. Place the 'possum on the ground,place a solid stick over their neck,stand on the stick with the 'possums head between your feet,grasp the tail and pull up sharply. No blood,no coming back later and is instant. Having trapped off and on for over fifty years,I've caught more than my share of these things. I gave up shooting them or clubbing them a long time ago.

 

[Art Eatman]

My grandfather would grab a possum by its tail and swing the criitter's head against a tree trunk. The result was a ruined possum.

 

[MCgunner]

Where can I buy some of those $5 arrows. Mine seem to run around $25 each after putting on the broadhead.

I'd use a field point, ain't wasting a broad head.

I shot one in my pajamas once...never mind the Groucho jokes. I used to have a .22 cal Benjamin when I was a kid, killed many a critter with it, a possum will play "possum" when he does, whack him with whatever you got and finish him off...end of problem.

Now, I'm wondering why that possum was wearing your pajamas?

 

[damford]

5 rounds right through the body. point blank with a 9mm beretta. bashed it a few times with a log for good measure.
went to get a shovel out of the garage. it was gone. never to be seen again.

only way to kill one is to cut off the head or a wooden stake through the heart.

 

[MCgunner]

Would an AR15 work? That's what everyone gets for killin' zombies.

 

[Earlsbud]

.22 Long CB or.....


http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=KAcXT7SzJOihiQLYgpy4Dw&ved=0CKEBEPICMAU

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

I shot one with my .22 using longs 40 years ago. I forget how many rounds I put in him and he walked off like nothing ever happened. Now when I shot others later on witih stingers it was a different story.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Aquila makes a 22 round called the Colibri that you can pick up alot of places like gun shows, Cabellas etc. if you need to be quiet about it.

It is just a primer load, out of a pistol it is reasonbly quiet and at close range does a decent job with one in the head. Once the possum is down or playing dead a shovel works well for seperating its head from the rest of it.

You can clean the shovel by digging the hole to bury it.

 

[22-rimfire]

Yes, a pellet gun will kill one, eventually.

I was amazed how tough those critters are when I shot one with my Sheridan 22 cal pellet rifle. I started to feel kind of bad.... humane kills and all that stuff.

Call Jed Clampett, he'll take it Grannie for dinner.

 

[Weedy]

steel trap. trap and then either put it in a trash can and spray a can of starting fluid (ether) then finish off or fill trash can with water.

I don't care what kind of damage it does to your property, no animal deserves to be burned alive just for being what it is.
Pretty sadistic in my opinion.
At least kill it quickly before you set it on fire.

 

[littlebluevette]

Skin it.....Waffle House maybe interested in buying the meat.

 

[JRH6856]

Quote:
steel trap. trap and then either put it in a trash can and spray a can of starting fluid (ether) then finish off or fill trash can with water.

I don't care what kind of damage it does to your property, no animal deserves to be burned alive just for being what it is.
Pretty sadistic in my opinion.
At least kill it quickly before you set it on fire.

I don't see where he said anything about setting it on fire. Ether is an anesthetic. It used to be used for surgery. Enough of it in an enclosed space like a trash can, and the animal just goes to sleep and dies peacefully.

 

[Flintknapper]

MicroTecniqs wrote:

I don't see where he said anything about setting it on fire. Ether is an anesthetic. It used to be used for surgery. Enough of it in an enclosed space like a trash can, and the animal just goes to sleep and dies peacefully.

As noted...he made no inference to setting the Possum on fire.

Possibly a little parapraxis or a Freudian Slip on Weedys part?

 

[redbullitt]

I with the aguila ammo idea for the 22 if you can do that. Pellet gun if you get a good hunting one.