dead opossums in the road
 

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/

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

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

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 :D

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.

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

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!

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:D

^^^ skunks

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

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.
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.
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.
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.

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

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.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1647657848.JPG

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.

^^^^http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat3.gifhttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat3.gifhttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat3.gif

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

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.

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

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.

I come from a long line of Appalachian hillbillies who would hunt and eat anything...except possum.

It all comes down to just how hungry are you. I have heard the worst possible "food" is raw seagull.

Benny had one very memorable moment in my life. I had just started drinking and trying different drinks. I tried a screwdriver, and it was OK. Alabama had state run liquor stores, so literally a small counter, and a few dozen bottles of booze in display cases with a number. So you told the clerk I want a quart of number 32, or whatever. Very limited selection. One of the choices was orange flavored vodka. I figured it was instant screwdriver. It was horrid and I had one spit take, and gave the bottle to Benny. Later I asked him how was that bottle of vodka.

He replied with great wisdom. "It was just right"

I asked him to explain and he said if it was any better, you would have not given it to me, and if it was any worse I could not drink it. This was from a man that drank "green lizard" or the stuff barbers used to clean and sterilize combs and and as hair tonic.

All of that led me to discover that I like beer instead.

Steve has way too many squirrels to worry about eating possum for supper! And he has deer just laying around in his front yard. I do worry though, if times get tough, about his turtles. Might be too tempting!:D

^^^ I need to figure out a 'remote release'...but thinking about a 12X12 net in the tree above the compost pile.

Two or three in one drop without a gunshot! I'm sure the turtles would like venison.:)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1647703166.jpg

They are pretty slow and harmless to a human. My dogs will stretch out a possum in seconds while a raccoon will put up a huge fight in comparison. They generally like fruit trees and also garbage. I'd sample one if it was in the wild, away from town and garbage. Strangely, I never see them anywhere but in town.

Yep, around here, we'd have at least a half a dozen of a mix of those and their black cousins (turkey vultures and black vultures). A while back, I threw a turkey carcase out where we put our compost. The carcase had been boiled to death to make stock. The next morning there were a bunch of vultures hanging out to pick things clean.

We have plenty of possums and skunks here in suburbia. Here is one hiking across the green belt not far from the house.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1647811339.JPG

A mama possum arguing with one of its disrespectful offspring.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1647811339.jpg

The skunks insist on digging under my lawn shed in the back yard. I capture them and release them on a farm road on the other side of the Brazos River.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1647811339.JPG

A different skunk that I just released.
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Skunks love to paw and dig small pits in a lawn looking for grubs.

I had a opossum crossing my lawn last spring with four babies on her back.

Your last name must not be Clampett then...

Granny's possum pie .... mmmm, mmmm... yuck :D

Had a family of possums do a job on some new backyard sod one night. Must've been lots of tasty bugs in there.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1647819321.JPG

Clearly the officers didn't realize what a find they had.

I offer up LeRoy Troy singing his big hit, "Five Pounds of Possum in my Headlights Tonight."

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=leroy+troy+5+pounds+of+possum&view=detail &mid=D8D07FF75A6BEC0C150CD8D07FF75A6BEC0C150C&FORM =VIRE

Armadillo on the half shell is a Texas treat

yeah...no


Huge fan of her rheumatiz medicine, though

So, you trap them, then approach with some sort of tarp-like thing that goes over the box. Then you put the smelly box in your truck(?) as you move it to a new location. How does the truck not smell to high heaven after all of that?

^^^ I wouldn't put it in anything but an open box of a pick-up.
The fun part is opening the trap to release the skunk without it spraying.

I have never had a problem. As long as they can't see you, they don't want to waste their jolly juice. I use a tarp or an old shower curtain held up to hide behind while I approach the trap. Drape it over the trap and grab the carrying handle through the shower curtain, haul it to the truck. Set it in the bed and make sure the curtain is tucked in well so it won't blow away. Drive to where I want to release it and put the trap on the ground with the curtain still covering it. Expose only the folding door and from behind reach around with gloved hands and release the catches for the door and raise it. Stick a piece of 2X4 under the door to hold it open and back away. It usually takes about a minute for the critter to saunter out and just keep on going. I think they are pretty confused by this point but don't feel threatened as long as they see their "escape route" open and clear. I have probably trapped and released 20 or so skunks at my home and up at the Armadillo Ranch. (They like to dig under the walls and set up house in the tractor barn.)

^^^
I think the few times I did it....I never thought of the 2X4 trick.
Never got sprayed...but ended up holding the door open and picking the trap up until the skunk fell out...with the blanket still over the trap.

Next time...I bring a short 2X4 :D

On occasion up at the Armadillo Ranch I just load the trap in the kids old coaster wagon and hike down the road a mile or so.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1647898613.JPG

The skunk would not come out of the trap for a while and when it did it bolted under the fence and into the grass before I could get its picture.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1647898613.JPG
I also have used a spring clamp on the side of the door opening to hold it open.

Interesting. Hopefully, I never have to trap one. I've seen one 2 or 3 times.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1647973799.JPG
Just down the street from where I Live.