Smarter than the average Possum?

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JDShapp

Member
Jun 7, 2015
437
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Indiana, United States
Over the last month or so weather hasn't permitted me to do my usual after work pesting, but tonight was near perfect conditions. The rain and cold had both let up enough that I was sure something would come out if baited, and if not then the local cats would at least get a decent snack off the old hamburger meat I used. Only two things showed up, one of the local cats, and one very erratic possum.

By erratic I mean it was all over the place. Normally they make a straight run for whatever I've set out. This one was like it had ADD. It simply refused to stay in one place for very long, and then was back for cover. Perhaps what I found so unusual was the almost panicked looking searching it would do before it retreated for cover. It did this two times over the course of 45 minutes.I can only image that this maybe one of the possums in the past that I've taken a shot at and grazed. If so then it would certainly explain a thing or two.

Anyone else have some similar experiences like this?

 
Learning and discrimination test place the opossum above dogs and more on the level of pigs. Give this a short read

http://www.opossum.org/

My wife is a wildlife rehabilitator and I have personally spent more time with opossums than anyone else you know. They're smart.....trust me.
Im not a tree hugger either. Im a hunter. I got a soft spot for these guys tho.
 
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Well, I know they fight each other. I was on my way home from work one night last summer, and going down a back road. My headlights lit up two sets of eyes that were moving all over the place, right in the middle of the road. As I eased up there, I saw two full grown Possums having a serious smack-down. They were snarling and rolling on the center line, in the middle of the road. I kinda pulled up beside them and yelled "heeeeeyyyyyy" out the window....they acted as if I was not even there, and kept fighting! Lol. I just took off, laughing out loud. That was some funny stuff right there. ;)
 
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It did you a favor. Cleaning up dead possum is the grimmest nastiest thing I ever had to do. The smell still gives me nightmares. 

I still retch a little when I remember struggling to get the thing onto a shovel so I could move it. The enormous stinky mutated rat with huge sharks teeth - the stuff of nightmares!

BTW, all the ones I've seen here move around fairly erratically. If you want them to stay still so you can shoot them, leave a little food out. My "trick" is to use dried anchovies from my local Asian grocery store. You drop a small handful in boiling water for a minute until they soften up. Then drop them on some kitchen towel without touching it with your hand (so it won't smell of human) and leave them outside where you want them to stop.

The smell of those anchovies will bring out every small creature in your neighborhood from miles around. Trust me. It has never not worked (as in it always attracts at least one animal). 

 
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I have baited possums with great success using sardines in a catch-em alive trap in my basement. He got in around a furnace access into a crawl space. He scared the hell out of my wife in the finished part of the basement. I turned him loss for someone else to deal with. This happened years ago, but I'm still not sure if a possum has very made it across a road alive🙃
 
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Think I finally got this persistent pain in my rear tonight, or at least I think I did. I heard the nice meaty thump from the .25 JSB aimed at a double lung shot, but only found a single drop of blood when I tried tracking it tonight. Tomorrow I'll have to go out during the daylight and retrieve it. Unless of course the cat manage to pack it off before then.
 
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