Help determine fate

[7snakes]

I have the largest garden out I have ever put in and it is doing great. 2 nights in a row I thought I saw a raccoon nearby eating berries on the ground from a mulberry tree. Set a box trap last night and caught a possum. Is/will he be a threat to my garden later? What should become of him in your opinion?

 

[jinman]

Yes, the possum will eat fruits like tomatoes and also any melons like cantaloupes where they can detect the sweet smell. I trapped and relocated a possum last year to the LBJ Nat'l Grasslands near my house. I would see about releasing he possum near a stream/creek but not near anyone elses house or property. Frankly, if my wife would let me, I'd eliminate most raccoons and possums, but she doesn't want me to kill them. I'm lucky she lets me shoot armadillos. We call those "possums on a half-shell" down here.:laughing:

 

[Chuck52]

Over the last four years I have trapped and eliminated at least 30 coons and quite a few possums....a couple of skunks, too, but those were not by choice! I will have my vegetable garden fenced in a way that neither coons nor possums are going to get into it easily before my sweet corn gets to the stage it attracts them, but I still have fruit trees to worry about. I can't fence all my trees in any reasonable way, so I'll be trapping coons again starting this weekend. I may have to start worrying about squirrels, too, as they have begun to get more common in the trees around the perimeter of my place. Coons are especially a problem for peach trees, because they not only get the fruit, they also often damage the trees.

I no longer relocate any animals I trap. They are not endangered species and no one else needs the ones I don't want around. I will say that the only reason I kill trapped skunks is because I don't want to risk trying to set them free. Skunks eat insects and don't bother my fruit or veggies. Except for the one that tried to build a den under my porch, the other skunks I have trapped were by accident.

Chuck

 

[MossRoad]

Over the last four years I have trapped and eliminated at least 30 coons and quite a few possums....a couple of skunks, too, but those were not by choice! I will have my vegetable garden fenced in a way that neither coons nor possums are going to get into it easily before my sweet corn gets to the stage it attracts them, but I still have fruit trees to worry about. I can't fence all my trees in any reasonable way, so I'll be trapping coons again starting this weekend. I may have to start worrying about squirrels, too, as they have begun to get more common in the trees around the perimeter of my place. Coons are especially a problem for peach trees, because they not only get the fruit, they also often damage the trees.

I no longer relocate any animals I trap. They are not endangered species and no one else needs the ones I don't want around. I will say that the only reason I kill trapped skunks is because I don't want to risk trying to set them free. Skunks eat insects and don't bother my fruit or veggies. Except for the one that tried to build a den under my porch, the other skunks I have trapped were by accident.

Chuck

Surprisingly, skunks are pretty easy to let go out of a live trap without getting sprayed. Although, I have only done it once and lived to tell about it. :laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

I have the largest garden out I have ever put in and it is doing great. 2 nights in a row I thought I saw a raccoon nearby eating berries on the ground from a mulberry tree. Set a box trap last night and caught a possum. Is/will he be a threat to my garden later? What should become of him in your opinion?

Let him go by the mayor's house. :laughing:

In all seriousness, though, if you let it go near other folks' places, it just becomes their problem. I am fortunate to own some woods in a rural location where I can let things loose that I don't want to kill. But I let the skunk go right back in my yard. They don't cause any harm except to maybe the lawn when they dig for worms and grubs. I can live with that.

 

[YesDeere]

Don't hate me for this. But this is how I kinda tested my wife. Already knew she was the one.

First year of gardening I didnt have my fence up and the groundhogs ate me alive. I killed 16 the first year. I live on five acres.

Well the first one I caught in my have a heart trap was the tester. We had a lovely row of beans the wife was excited about picking. Just before they were ready the gh's mowed em down. Back to the trap. I tell her to come look I got our first one. When she got there I told her she had to dispatch it. .22 was already by the garden. She didn't say a word. Boom boom out go the lights. "treat my garden like a salad bowl". Took a while to wipe the smile from my face;-)

 

[Chuck52]

Surprisingly, skunks are pretty easy to let go out of a live trap without getting sprayed. Although, I have only done it once and lived to tell about it. :laughing:

I notice there was no shot of your shorts from the rear! :laughing:

After I caught my second skunk, by accident, I thought I should at least attach a rope to the trap when I set it. I also considered ways to make it easier to open the trap while it was covered by a tarp. I have a couple of cheap traps that you have to use both hands to open. Haven't actually done anything, of course. Since we lost our outdoor cat we're seeing almost no coons, possums or skunks near the house. I don't know about the skunks, but the coons and possums really got used to cat food as part of their regular diet. Made 'em real easy to catch. Actually, now that I think on it, I've only seen one coon since the cat's demise....I may no longer have a real coon problem. I guess I'll find out when I start setting the traps again.

Chuck

 

[CrownHawg]

I hear ya on the cat food thing! We ( I should say "She") has 3 cats, and so far we have trapped and relocated 5 coons and 1 possum. Since there are big expanses of woods around my place, I figure as long as they are not too near a home, they shouldn't be a nuisance especially if locals have a dog. I really need to get a dog....

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, cat food is good eatin' for wild critters. She should condition the cats to eat when she feeds them then take the bowl in. You got fifteen minutes, buddy, then its gone. It doesn't take too long. Cats aren't dumb, just finicky.

We used to feed our indoor cats as much as they wanted. Always kept the bowl full. They started getting lazy and fat. I read somewhere that cats like to sleep, wake up, hunt something down, kill it and eat it, give themselves a bath, then sleep again.

So, in the evenings we play with them with a string on a stick while we watch TV. That gets them awake and hunting. Then we feed them before we go to bed. They eat, they give themselves a bath and then they actually go to sleep at the same time we do instead of running around the house in the dark like wild monkeys! :laughing:

 

[7snakes]

Ok as for the possum in question, it will not be a problem for my garden or anybody elses. It is currently providing nourishment for the buzzards that need food too.