dead opossums in the road

[stevej37]

I knew sooner or later, this would be an issue...crazy

https://www.woodtv.com/news/kent-county/video-shows-lowell-officer-move-opossums-out-of-road/

[herr_oberst]

At least they ain't stinkin' to high heaven.

[stevej37]

I give the officer credit for picking the thing up without putting some gloves on.
They are about like a giant rat.

[KFC911]

Haven't seen or smelled a skunk in a long time....

My puppy dawg was raising a ruckus a few weeks back when I let her out early .... she had a 'possum cornered .... not a big one, and it wasn't playing "dead" either.... showing it's teeth when I went outside with a flashlight.

They are NOT handsome critters

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by stevej37

They are about like a giant rat.

Plenty o' possoms, here in the Pacific NW, even in the 'big city'. More than once I've seem some homeless-lookin' guy holding one by that big ol' red tail, walking towards his campsite, gettin' ready to russle up a messa' vittles. Yes, I'm serious.

[stevej37]

^^^ I've eaten (a small amount) of raccoon...but I'll never try opossum.

[herr_oberst]

I'd say the same, but the way the world is turning right now, I don't want to tempt fate. Might be fighting your neighbor over a possom leg in the not too distant future!

[p911dad]

Our local possum tribe digs little holes in the yard, maybe the size of a nickel. I assume looking for grubs or whatever little insects they are looking for. It is sort of like getting a free lawn aeration

[stevej37]

^^^ skunks

[Jeff Higgins]

[Tobra]

Possum is a nasty critter, worse than a rat, not as bad as an armadillo.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by stevej37

I give the officer credit for picking the thing up without putting some gloves on.
They are about like a giant rat.

Probably not a big deal as their MO is to play... opossum, uh, I mean dead. The only issue is that I think they also have a gland that puts of a stink when they play ,possum to complete the charade.

Originally Posted by KC911

Haven't seen or smelled a skunk in a long time....

They are NOT handsome critters

I smell them around here frequently, but always at a distance, probably mostly from being hit by a car, I guess maybe from fending off some other critter. From a distance it's not really a bad smell, kind of sweet. I'd always wondered "what's the big deal?" Then one night years ago, driving home, I didn't see one, but I definitely smelled it, and it wasn't at a distance. I don't know if it had just been hit on the road that I was driving or what, but the smell was STRONG.

Now I get what the big deal is. At a distance, super diluted, not bad, up close, big dose, yikes! I can't even imagine what a direct hit would be like.

Originally Posted by stevej37

^^^ I've eaten (a small amount) of raccoon...but I'll never try opossum.

What? How about kangaroo or wallaby? I think people eat those. Same basic thing. I guess the one thing that's a little scary is that opossums eat a lot of ticks. I stopped running our Mercury discharge lamp outside at the house at night, but before I did, it would attrack a BUNCH of bugs. And we had a big ol' opossum that would wait until about 10pm and then come have his breakfast at the all you can eat. He had a pretty severe limp, but loved the bug buffet that our lamp created.

Originally Posted by stevej37

^^^ skunks

We have opossums, skunks, and armadillos in our yard. Something digs holes looking for snacks, but the holes are a little bigger than described above. I've been assuming it was the armadillo, but figured it could be any of them.

[red-beard]

I saw three dead racoons in the past week. Waking up, and hungry...

[Jolly Amaranto]

I had an old possum crawl into the shrubs in the back yard and die. It was getting ripe but I put off getting the stone rake out to drag it out and dispose of it when this fellow showed up.

[SCadaddle]

Possum is a good base for a correct Himalayan Stew.....

I found himalayan on the side of the road so I put him in the stew.

[dafischer]

^^^^

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Plenty o' possoms, here in the Pacific NW, even in the 'big city'. More than once I've seem some homeless-lookin' guy holding one by that big ol' red tail, walking towards his campsite, gettin' ready to russle up a messa' vittles. Yes, I'm serious.

My grandfather was a firefighter. When I was a kid he told me a story how he was called to a house with smoke coming out a window and when he went in, he found a guy in the basement cooking a possum over a camp fire. This was back in the 40s

[porsche tech]

I caught a possum once in a “have a heart” trap when I was trying to relocate squirrels away from my yard. Nasty! Hissing at me, showing his teeth…I was nervous when I was turning him loose. NASTY critters.

[stevej37]

When cornered..they can hold their own against most any animal.

[GH85Carrera]

At my first job when I was a young-un in high school I worked with an old black man, Benny. Benny was a man that grew up very poor, and stayed that way. He would catch a sunfish the size of your hand when held flat. He would clean it, and fry it up, put it between two pieces of day old bread, and take a bite, and then slowly chew and take the bones out of his mouth one at a time. When he was done, there was a pile of tiny little bones he pulled from his mouth.

He invited me to go to his house for roasted possum. It was a favorite meal of his. He told me that after catching and cleaning the possum, go to the day old bread store and get the cheapest bread they have, two loaves. Stuff one loaf into the possum one slice at a time to get it all the way in there. Season like a roast chicken, back for an hour. Then pull that first loaf of bread out that is now soaked in the fat of the possum, and feed that to the dogs. THen stuff in the second loaf of day old bread, and back another full hour, or until it is tender. Once again feed that bread to the dogs, and pick out the bones of the possum and throw the meat into a strew with vegetables, and it is really good eating. I declined his dinner invite.

A bottle of MD-20-20 was the perfect wine to go with the possum stew.