Boudreaux's possum

Paul5388

Paul5388

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Boudreaux sure has a disliking for possums. This is about the 5th he has "treed" this year. He assured me, just a little while ago, there was something under the fish pond liner by the back fence and made a couple of forays under there to make sure. Finally I lifted the side of the liner and found the "booger" he was so upset over. A .38 Special 125 gr Golden Saber with a goodly amount of SR 4756 made short work of the threat and here's the results.

Boudreauxspossum002sm.jpg
 
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Possum, the other other white meat. (actually it is). I had possum once, very briney, very salty, it tasted like spam dunked in salt. One little fact on those things, possums have 52 teeth in that head, more than any animal in North America, and most have a disposition to want to use it.
 
Nope, coyote bait!

BTW, here's Boudreaux (Boo-drow) when he was just a pup.

aam.jpg


He's about beagle size now and not a bit gun shy.
 
With that light of bullet Paul are you sure he ain't just a playin 'possom?

I've had a little one do that when trapped, fainted or whatever they do. He became a really easy target at that point though!
 
When I was growing up my Dad sported an "Eat more Possum" license plate on the front of his pick-up.

Yes, we are rednecks.
 
I saved this photo from another poster a few years ago. Apparently grilling with the hair on enhances flavor:)

Grilledpossum.jpg
 
Whomever put that possum on the grill like that obviously has no wife, no girlfriend or any other woman in his life. My better half would have shot me with whatever I killed the possum with for putting it on her grill!
 
I don't bother to shoot opossum unless they've been injured. As someone else pointed out they don't taste very good so hunting them is a waste unless I was really hungry. Also they are migratory and will usually only stick around for a few days. While they are here the most damage they do is eat the grubs and such that live in the mulch and compost piles.

I know it looks scarey when one opens its mouth and hisses but it's just a threat display -- opossums very rarely bite. It's not that they're not aggressiveness, it's just that they're too stupid to even manage to bite. I've grabbed a couple while wearing heavy gloves and all the suckers did was hiss with their mouth agape. Didn't even try to bite. I suppose if one did accidentally bite me it would be infectious -- they dont exactly brush and floss regularly -- but their body temperature is too low to support rabies.
 
I grew up in southern MO. so we ate about everything. At a aftermatch BBQ another shooter asked me what possum tasted like , I replied that it was alot greasier than racoon. She looked at me kinda funny and said that really didnt give her any point of reference. Nobody ate any of my crock pot food after that.
 
How do you guys do your possum innards???

Hand slung and creek washed, stump whipped, or dog pulled & deep fried? :rolleyes:

Possum innards....It's whats for dinner! :D:D:D
 
....another shooter asked me what possum tasted like , I replied that it was alot greasier than racoon. She looked at me kinda funny and said that really didnt give her any point of reference.
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Thanks CALREB - I needed a laugh!
 
Too many people think possums are harmless, but you know better if you raise any poultry.

Prey: Omnivorous. Eats carrion, poultry, eggs, insects, snails, rodents, berries, fruit, grass, snakes, frogs, birds, small mammals, cat and dog food.
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It's the egg and chicken eating that makes them undesirable around the farm, so they just have to go and that doesn't mean making groceries out of a carrion eater.
 
Late at night a couple years ago I heard a ruckus on the back porch which obviously involved our mother cat. Expecting to find a tom cat after the kittens I opened the back door 32 J frame in hand. Much to my surprise a pair of opossum had backed the mother cat into a corner where she was straddling the kittens. Apparently 32 S&W Long wadcutters work as well as 38 Special 125's on vermin.
 
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 suppose that method is supposed to make chitterlings (chitlin's) edible too? I don't think so!
 
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. :D 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.)
 
bobsdad said:
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?
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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...
 
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.
 
bobsdad said:
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?
Click to expand...

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.
 
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