Opossum fearlessness?

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I slapped a possum in the face with my half-full can of beer. One of his teeth punctured the can!

We had a back sidewalk, roofed over with 2" pipes supporting the roof. My grandfather saw a possum on the walkway. Grabbed it by its tail, swung it against a pipe and broke its back--and then he tossed it to the dogs. Dad was pretty tough. He'd slap wasps or yellow-jackets to the ground and then step on them. He'd always done a lot of outdoors work, so he was well-calloused even into his eighties.
 
I came across a opossum a couple of years ago while hunting hogs after sundown. It did not seem at all afraid of me. It stood its' ground, showed me its' teeth, and dared me to do anything. I took a detour.
As was mentioned earlier, they eat ticks and rattlesnakes, so I figure they're okay to have around. I don't bother them and I try to stay out of their way.
 
I was sitting in the woods waiting for the sun to come up while squirrel hunting once and a possum tried to attack me in the dark. I heard hissing and grunting and something coming through leaves straight at me - I didn't know what the hell it was at first. Those suckers are agressive. Maybe he hadn't had his coffee yet or maybe he wanted mine.
 
I don't think possums have much of a central nervous system. I've heard armadillos are the same way but we don't have them in North Carolina and I'm glad. The skunks, raccoons, and possums are bad enough. I've seen people shoot possums 3 times with a 22 and after they are done playing dead they just get up and walk away like nothing happened.
I've heard armadillos are the same way. You have to shoot them in the brain to get a clean kill on them unless you blow them clear in half with something.

If I get a possum in my trap now I use an air rifle on them so the neighbors don't know. I live in a small town now and don't want someone turning me in for shooting in the borough. I don't think any of them would but what they don't know won't hurt me.
 
cheygriz said:
Any of ya ever run into a "possum in a shell?" (armadillo):D
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When I first bought this place, I found an old box blind out back, all grown up in brush. I decided to try to move it, but it was pretty rotten and started falling apart. When I grabbed it, I heard the rustling of leaves under it. My first thought was a rattler and I jumped back grabbing a handgun I was carrying. Out of the leaves came a diller and he ran off. He didn't "attack" of course, but he sure elevated my heart rate! :rofl:
 
tightgroup tiger said:
I don't think possums have much of a central nervous system. I've heard armadillos are the same way but we don't have them in North Carolina and I'm glad. The skunks, raccoons, and possums are bad enough. I've seen people shoot possums 3 times with a 22 and after they are done playing dead they just get up and walk away like nothing happened.
I've heard armadillos are the same way. You have to shoot them in the brain to get a clean kill on them unless you blow theI m clear in half with something.

If I get a possum in my trap now I use an air rifle on them so the neighbors don't know. I live in a small town now and don't want someone turning me in for shooting in the borough. I don't think any of them would but what they don't know won't hurt me.
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I've never met the possum that was bullet proof, dillers either. I've not shot a diller since I became an adult, but many years ago when I was about 14 roaming the woods, I saw a diller out in my Uncle's pasture. I had my old Mossberg M152 semi auto .22 and shot him in the side at about 50 yards. That thing jumped about 3 feet in the air and did a back flip before he expired. I've heard since that it's a common thing with dillers. That's actually the only diller I recall ever shooting and he died quite dead from 50 yards. The secret is, you have to actually HIT the animal where it counts. That ain't too different from deer, rabbit, hog, any other animal.

I've killed dozens of possum, many of 'em with a lowly little NAA .22 caliber handgun with a 1 5/8" barrel. They all died quite dead and bled from the head to prove it. Yes, they do have brains, quite cephalic as the biologist would put it. They are not sponges or cniderians.
 
MCgunner said:
I've never met the possum that was bullet proof, dillers either. I've not shot a diller since I became an adult, but many years ago when I was about 14 roaming the woods, I saw a diller out in my Uncle's pasture. I had my old Mossberg M152 semi auto .22 and shot him in the side at about 50 yards. That thing jumped about 3 feet in the air and did a back flip before he expired. I've heard since that it's a common thing with dillers. That's actually the only diller I recall ever shooting and he died quite dead from 50 yards. The secret is, you have to actually HIT the animal where it counts. That ain't too different from deer, rabbit, hog, any other animal.

I've killed dozens of possum, many of 'em with a lowly little NAA .22 caliber handgun with a 1 5/8" barrel. They all died quite dead and bled from the head to prove it. Yes, they do have brains, quite cephalic as the biologist would put it. They are not sponges or cniderians.
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I nailed one on the 1/2 shell in the back with an arrow from a recurve bow when I was a kid. I chased that arrow sticking straight up through the bushes for a while, but lost the critter and the arrow.
 
Mn Fats said:
He probably wanted you to pet him. How could you resist a handsome animal like that?

I woke up to clicking one morning. Looked under my bed and there was a big muskrat staring at me. No idea how he got in. One time I put my coat on and a squirrel jumped out of the sleeve. Terrified me. Most recently there was a mallard in my fireplace.

If an opossum is as dumb as these creatures, then I can easily see one walking right up to a guy.
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Do you actually live INSIDE your house?:):)
 
Opossums are tough. I saw one take two 7.62x39 shots center mass with a 122 grain hp. As it was still snarling and trying to escape, it was finished off with a close range 38 special round. It tried to bite through my steel toe work boot before it was finished off.

I don’t shoot opossums anymore, they taste horrible for small game. They are resistant to rabies, and I also read that they eat 5-6000 ticks per year. So if you have a lot of deer ticks in your area, don’t bother the opossums.
 
ScrapMetalSlug said:
Opossums are tough. I saw one take two 7.62x39 shots center mass with a 122 grain hp. As it was still snarling and trying to escape, it was finished off with a close range 38 special round. It tried to bite through my steel toe work boot before it was finished off.

I don’t shoot opossums anymore, they taste horrible for small game. They are resistant to rabies, and I also read that they eat 5-6000 ticks per year. So if you have a lot of deer ticks in your area, don’t bother the opossums.
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So, did that there possum have human body parts in its stomach? This is getting interesting. :rofl:
 
MCgunner said:
Oh, in my old house in Port Lavaca I had possum visitors from time to time. I was eating one morning at the kitchen table when one fell through the ceiling from the attic and bounced off the table and onto the floor. I didn't have my little NAA on me as I was in my jammies. So, I went to the bedroom and grabbed my loaded 10/22. :D I shot several out of that house. It had too many ways for critters to get in from under the house. The house I'm in now is much more critter secure. :rofl:
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Damn. I laughed my rear off reading that. Guess who's coming to breakfast.
 
I had one come up to the grill one night after I cooked, looked in the kitchen window then went and sat on the picnic table. I knocked on the door and it turned around and looked for a second, blowing me off like a kid watching TV, just keep sitting there.

If you want to know how many predators you have around you house get chickens. Everything likes the way they taste.
 
Friend of mine had large dogs and large bags of dog food in his garage. Oddly, the dogs did not mind sharing their food with 3 large possums. Neither did my friend. He got a kick out of seeing the fat possums waddle in and out of his garage. Said they reminded him of his in-laws who also waddled in and out of his house as they helped themselves to the beer in his fridge. On a steady diet of nutritious dog food they grew to immense size. They looked like a science experiment gone wrong. They were too funny to do anything but laugh.
 
Ive shot hundreds that got in to the drums we kept sweet feed in as a kid. They got in but couldn't climb out. We left a tobacco stick propped up so the squirrels could get out but the opossum were too dumb or lacked the agility. Kept a savage semi auto 22 in the barn just for them. Never had one survive a head shot though.
 
Dunross said:
A .357 is more than a bit of overkill for just a possum, but I suppose if it were the first thing you could lay hands on then use what you have.

I keep birds myself. I long ago came to the conclusion that I will never be able to kill enough possums, coons, bobcats, coyotes, etc to keep my birds safe at night. A properly built nighttime coop to keep them out and a couple of dogs to discourage them from coming around works for me.

I'm not against eliminating pests and predators when necessary, have done so many times, but there are some problems one cannot shoot your way out of.
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Yes, it was. On the bright side, that 110 XTP at ".357 light" speed is pretty handy for vermin I don't wish to eat. My typical predator arm is the barn .22, a Norinco JW15 bolt with a light and cheap lazer Jerry rigged to the barrel for close work. Also a 4x fixed scope for more distant vermin out in the yard with CCI mini-mags. I shoot CCI quiet 22 inside, they won't penetrate the heavy 8/4 stall boards and only dent the steel siding if one slips between boards, and are quite effective with a headshot on raccoon or possum or lung shot on skunks. I do have a very secure chicken coop built into the barn, but I can't keep things from digging their way in without doing extensive jacking and excavation, so occasionally I do need to shoot something. I just have a general policy of not tolerating raccoon, skunk, opossum or rabbits in close proximity to the farmstead. Their tendency to dig causes endless problems with the outbuildings and house foundation.
 
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