need possum control ideas

scott_vt · Nov 10, 2006

GaryM said:
Sorry, no can do!

But you can convert it to shoot the 17M2 round. 17 HM2 Ruger 10/22 Conversion Kits - 17 Mach 2 barrels and Heavy Bolt Handles convert your Ruger 10/22 to 17HM2

The 17M2 is a .22LR necked down to a .17 cal bullet.

The 17HMR is too long to work in the 10/22 action.

Hi Gary,
Yep, that gun deserves honorable mention, that is a hot little load and accurate.

I was gonna reccomend my favorite, Ruger 22/250, but I kind of think thats overkill for a possum

Redbug · Nov 10, 2006

I've been reading the posts and I gotta say...purty funny stuff! Has anybody mentioned FIRE, yet? You set fire to your back 40, burning out the possum AND the bad neighbor, too! Finish off two problems with one stone er match! Ingenious!

Seriously though, when I have unwanted critters around harrassing my dogs, etc., I get out the trusty Havahart live catch trap, (I have several sizes), bait it and catch whatever it is. Canned cat food is about the best bait. Then I wire the doors shut...fill up the trusty trash can with water...and put the trap lengthwise in the trash can. When the jangling stops, yer problem is over. Just dig a hole... If you keep having problems with the neighbor's cats for instance, and they don't do anything about it, this is the best method and nobody's the wiser...

N80 · Nov 10, 2006

Hey Dave, I grew up in Columbia. Live in Rock Hill now. My property is between Columbia and Rock Hill near Winnsboro. Boy do we have possums around here.

I grew up in the burbs and they'd come up on the deck and eat the cat's food while the cats sat there watching. All that stopped when my dad got his Jack Russell named Ivan (Ivan the Terrier...get it?) That dog is a killing machine! You should see him with a possum twice his size. He flies in fast, grabs him by the neck and one huge shake and that sucker is dead! Just amazing to watch.

Right now I live in a sort of semi-suburb but we have possums and coons like crazy. I don't know why anyone would recommend not using a .22 for these guys. I have a spectacular old Remington 513S with a basic 4x Leupold and I drill coons and possum right betwen the eyes all the time. They're dead before they hit the ground with a nice quiet .22 short.

But seriously Soundguy, a spunky terrier of some sort would probably solve your possum problem. There hasn't been one around my dad's house in years! It would be another mouth to feed but it sounds like you got plenty of those already.

As for the poultry, well, it seems like every thing and everybody likes chicken. The foxes, hawks, coyotes, coons and possums play heck with my sister-in-laws chickens. She even found a red tailed hawk stuck in the coop once! But you know what the biggest problem is? Skunks! The dogs and cats won't touch them. They are afraid of nothing. Live traps are worthless. Only thing that works is a rifle shot with a little distance!

Kubotasrking · Nov 11, 2006

One surefire way to kill a possum is build a road...

(why'd the chicken cross the road? prove to the possum it could be done)

22 will do the trick. Did you catch anything in the trap?

Soundguy · Nov 11, 2006

N80 , I got a jack russle.. but the wife has made him a sissy house pet. I got a cur and a retriever/husky mix in the pasture.. however.. at night.. they stay in their houses... I guess they only 'work' during the day.

Kubotasrking

I got a coon in the trap last night.. big healthy male.. looked like he was headed back to 'KFC' for some more chicken, as I left the bated trap near my chix pens....

Soundguy

Redbug · Nov 11, 2006

Hello N80,
Yes, I live outside of Columbia, (off Fish Hatchery Rd.), and it's rural, but growing fast. I don't have any close neighbors, so I use the 12 guage, (when I can grab it in time), on the squirrels, (either that or no pecans). The grey foxes have learned where the free meals are and we sometimes sit on the deck at sunset and watch them hunt for the dead squirrels. Pretty neat, since they flip them in the air to get the ants off them. On another note, 7 years to go to retirement and we are starting to look for acreage/farm down Branchville way, and building our dream home w/pond, etc. Kinda like some of the folks on this forum.

Those Jack Russells just have too much energy for me. I would be a nervous wreck trying to keep up with one. Just give me a friendly lab who will hand the jewelry to the robbers...

N80 · Nov 11, 2006

Yep, I'm a labrador man myself. Nice and calm. My Dad's Jack Russell is very sweet, likes people and kids, but if it is alive and isn't human, he wants to kill it. Roaches, lizards, birds, squirells, possums, coons (dangerous!), anything. And he'll go after bigger dogs too, some of which would kill him in the blink of an eye. So he has to be watched. And in a farm environment like Soundguy's, he might be rougher on the chickens than the coons and possums!

tallyho8 · Nov 11, 2006

Soundguy
It sounds to me like you've got a coon problem, not a possum problem. We've live trapped for coons for years in these old South Louisiana swamps and learned that you never catch a coon in a live trap until you've completely cleared the area of possum. After we catch the last dumb possum in the area is when we finally get our first smart ole coon.

Soundguy · Nov 12, 2006

I actually saw 2 possum in a tree about 1-2 weeks ago.. however, it may well be that the chicken loss we suffered this weekend was indeed a coon, and not a possum. In any event... whether or not we still have a problem, the enemy is -down- one fighter.. etc..

Soundguy