Learning About Possums I'm not exactly how I got this idea into my head. I do remember in one post, someone told me that the ideal game to hunt with my Bloodhound post SHTF would be Possums. Erik--the one with the "Woodsdrummer" site appears to really be into marmots--and it works for him. In one of Tom Brown's books--and I'm no "Brownie"--but he tells of being assigned to study field mice thoroughly. He said that in the process; he learned beaucoup stuff about other forest creatures. The concept makes sense--even if Brown isn't always credible. Anyway, I've seen many possum in my day--even shot a few. A big one has a reasonable quanity of meat--and lot's of fat. So anyway, I concieved the idea that I wanted to start out on the road to being an absolute expert on possums. I want to learn everything that I can about the smiley rats--how to hunt them; trap them; snare them. I want to know some of the better woods-practical recipes. Hopefully, I'll get to the place where I can come up with a possum when most woodsmen would swear that there wasn't one in a dozen miles... Well anyway, it seems a reasonable ambition to me. I've done googled the daylights out of the subject--and yes; I did check out Wikipedia... But what are some otherwise hard-come-by facts that y'all can share with me? Thanks. .....RVM45
Well I know they like cat food, trash and dead carcuses. I shot one on the pourch eating the cats food the other night.
I've seen a possum undo the hatch on a trunk, take out a hershey's candy bar and then eat the chocolate. If I had not have seen that I would not have believed it. In the Arbuckle Mountains at Lake Arbuckle they Parks and Recreation Department had to build special trash can receptacles to keep them possums and raccoons out of the trash bins. I'll tell you what, those are some smart critters.
Five Pounds of Possum Five Pounds of Possum My children are hungry, my dog needs a bone. I'm out of a job now, so I'm just drivin' home. An hour after sundown, when what to my delight, There's five pounds of possum in my headlights tonight. cho: There's five pounds of possum in my headlights tonight. If I can just run him over, every thing will be all right. We'll have some possum gravy, oh what a beautiful sight; There's five pounds of possum in my headlights tonight. Won't have to clean no chicken, won't have to open no cans. Just a little bit closer, and I'll have him in my hands. I think the time has come now, to go from "dim" to "bright." There's five pounds of possum in my headlights tonight. NW </pre>
After having killed a couple home-invading Possums, and seeing how dirty and stinking they are, I'd need to be truly starving before I'd eat one. They also have a wicked set of jagged teeth - I pity the pooch that tangles with one. He won't come out unscathed. I'd stick with squirrels and raccoons - far safer, tastier and less ugly.
Get friendly cats. Our barn cats adopted one and now he sleeps in their "haygloo" we builde for them during the winter and eat out of their bowl. He even scratches on the door when he is hungry. He's very little so we call him "Shorty" (Short round). During summer he brings the mrs and babies up too. Have you tried groundhog? Apparently my mother makes a great groundhog. My brothers and sisters still talk about it (they are 20-30 years older than me). God knows we shoot enough of those around here.
We have eaten several of them, they aren't to bad at all. I prefer coon myself but I won't turn one down. People say they won't eat them because they will eat any nasty thing around. While it is true they won't turn up their nose at much if anything, they won't eat anything that a chicken or pig would turn down. Brains are not a possums strong point, a little cat food and a box trap will give you an easy meal most any time of the year. Like most animals they have the most fat on them in the fall of the year. Durning the spring and early summer they are pretty lean. Their pelts don't bring much if you sell them, but they have a very fine undercoat of fur that would likely be very warm. OGM
Possums love grape jelly and you won't be bothered so much with cats in your traps. I've trapped hundreds of possums over the years, shot quite a few too. the hardest thing about trapping any land animal is keeping possums out of you traps. You go to the trouble of setting up for fox or coyote and all your hopes are dashed by the sight of a possums sitting in your trap grinning at you the next day. I've even been know to abandon the sight after it's been fouled by a possums.
Next to, next to last resort, yes I would reluctantly eat one. At every stroke of my jaw I would be thinking of the possums that I have seen crawling out of dead putrefied carcases.
To be honest.... opossum doesn't taste nearly as good as nutria... cat or dog and there's plenty of those feral species running around... millions of ferals according to conservative estimates.... so many that none of us would starve once we move beyond eating feral Fluffies and Spots and... we will if it comes down to it. Horsemeat isn't half bad at all.... either. It's on fine menus throughout most of Europe and it's definitely on the menu throughout Asia. Here's an opossum pot pie recipe, Roadkill Recipes. Maybe it tastes better hidden in a pot pie as little chunks.
Had a good sized Oh say 5-7 pounder on my fench the other night. Heard him scritcing around up there and went out to check the noise. It was pitch black so I tagged him with the flash and he froze. I snapped a pic, and I will post it as soon as I can get it off my phone. Ugly son-of-a-gun. Allow me to assure you, if you are starving, you'll eat one. NO, it does NOT taste like chicken.
Falcon15> "It was pitch black so I tagged him with the flash and he froze. I snapped a pic" You show me yours and I'll show you mine but... not much meat on mine.
I had possum once...greasy and stringy. I'd eat them if I was hungry enough...and couldn't find any maggots.
They really do taste nasty and the meat's very chewy. I don't remember them being greasy though. We made kabobs out of them once. That was a real great way to ruin good tomatoes... green peppers.... and onions. I swear I'd rather eat cat... that can be prepared a host of different ways. Here's my notsotasty tidbit.... I cut her out of a pouch using a pocket knife in my purse. I picked up a little stinker the same week but two on my kitchen counter was too much so I kept the one that was in the roughest shape which was the little opossum and passed the skunk on to a friend. Skunks are quieter... I should have kept the skunk. Just kidding... I'm happy with what I kept but you'd be surprised how loud a few ounces can be when it's hungry. I've got another photo of her somewhere the next day after her body temps were stabilized and she was hydrated. This one of those animals that's so ugly they're adorable.
