Boudreaux's possum

[rburg]

They do enjoy garbage, as in ripping open bags and spreading it around. I've been known to shoot them. And I've hit one or two with a shovel (using the side instead of the flat part.)

I've read some fool studied them (probably at taxpayers expense) and discovered they do faint, or pass out due to very high blood pressure when they get riled. Playin' possum is caused by their BP going thru the roof.

So we play a little game these days. I went back to smackin' them real hard right on the pointy head. When they pass out, I use the shovel to cart them out to the state highway out front. Then I kind of sling them out in the middle of the roadway where the trucks and busses run. Then I head back inside. I check the results in the morning. If he's flattened out to about the size of a garbage can lid, I surmise he did't wake up before the next truck. If'n he's gone, I figure he woke up and waddled off. Mostly they don't come back. That's a good thing, cause I don't like 'em inconveniencing me for a 2nd go round.

As for the possum on the grill, you boy's need a lesson or two about neighborly politic's. Say you've got a fool living next door or 'round the corner. And he's not bein' very neighborly. You need to take him a midnight peace offerin'. Just go out and find some roadkill and leave it on his grill. His wife'll see it, probably blame him, and you can sit out back with an adult beverage and listen to the fight rage.

Years ago I had a friend enlist me in some fun and games. One of our mutual friends went fishin'. He found a big ole dead carp and tossed it up on the buddy's balcony. It was back in our salad years, when we all lived in apartments. The friend who needed help had a nasty old pickup truck. He often hauled manure and junk around in it. So back then we just got a 6 pack from the local drive thru and made an evening drive out in the country. Used a shovel in the back to scoop up a half dozen dead critters off the roadway, before they got too flat. Then we paid a visit to the friends apartment.

He lived in the "Polish Penthouse", aka the basement apartment. We just gently and quietly lowered the stinky critters down into the window well. Went home and didn't give it another thought. Maybe that ranks as one of the lowest things I've ever participated in. But I've tried mighty hard to do better since then!

The victim guessed who the bad guys were, but he decided we were light years ahead of him in evil thoughts and deeds. He stopped attacking (or his wife would have divorced him.)

 

[anomad]

The fellas I worked with in North Carolina, back in the 90's, told me how to "fix" possum. They said they "ketch 'em" (don't ask me how). Then they cage them for about a week, feeding them on stuff like old lettuce, and other vegetables, even cooked corn and some fish worms thrown in once in awhile. This "cleans 'em out". They then butcher 'em and stew 'em and eat 'em. They cringed at the idea of fixin possum without "cleanin' em out". Don't any of you guys down South know about this? Were they pulling an old yankee's leg?

I grew up in Western North Carolina... Can't say I have ever heard of that. But it sounds reasonable. I don't know how to say this in a politically correct fashion, but it sounds like something African Americans that didn't have the means to raise chickens much less buy a can of spam would do for, more or less, free meat. We fed those kind of table scraps to the chickens.

We just shot the opossums, but I know plenty of folks that ate them. And, we never went "opossum hunting" but if one entered "the curtilage" it was history.


Paul, what kind of terrier is Boudreaux? Rat Terrier? I like terriers, except for the lack of recall...

 

[Paul5388]

I would say Boudreaux is typical of a Jack Russel, but I'm pretty sure he's mixed. He has a lot of black spots on his skin that makes me think he has some Dalmatian in there some where. His brother is just down the road a piece, both were dumped off about the same time, but he looks very different than Boudreaux. More pointed nose and lots of black spots on his coat.

 

[acl864]

The fellas I worked with in North Carolina, back in the 90's, told me how to "fix" possum. They said they "ketch 'em" (don't ask me how). Then they cage them for about a week, feeding them on stuff like old lettuce, and other vegetables, even cooked corn and some fish worms thrown in once in awhile. This "cleans 'em out". They then butcher 'em and stew 'em and eat 'em. They cringed at the idea of fixin possum without "cleanin' em out". Don't any of you guys down South know about this? Were they pulling an old yankee's leg?

You need to keep them put up for two weeks minimum, a month is recommended. Bread and buttermilk is the preferred thing to feed them, but table scraps is what they usually end up getting. I was given an education on the finer points of possum preparation by Mr. Lewis, his wife Ms. Helen was an African-American lady who helped to look after my Grandmother after she got too old to look after herself. My Dad, being a man with a great sense of humor, had Mr. Lewis put-up and prepare a possum for the Wednesday night covered dish supper at the Baptist Church. Mr. Lewis brought it over to the house one Wednesday night before church. It was stewed with carrots and potatoes and was edible, I'd be stretching facts to say that it was good. The next week somebody presented my Dad with the "Eat more possum" license plate that stayed on his pick-up for years.

BTW- possums are easy to catch. If you've got a possum coming around- put a 55 gallon drum out in the open with some food in the bottom- dog food or table scraps. Put about an 8' long 2x6 against the side like a ramp. The possum walks up the ramp and jumps down to get to the food but they can't jump vertically to get out of the barrel.