Opossum in the city, need a very quiet load.

[carolina556]

Calibres from .22 or set a trap anything else is probably going to get you into trouble in the city.

[unclogum bill]

After all this time if that possum aint dispatched it surely died of old age.

[s mac]

Or had a whole nother litter.

[Lead Fred]

A free live trap from the animal control, and a 30 gallon garbage can full of water
trap the critter, blub, blub, blub into the water
Nice and quiet.
Save your ammo for two legged varmints

[MT Chambers]

see the new airgun section!!

[bandit7.5]

Popping round in a city limit is very much a bad idea. Bow and arrow.

[Hamish]

Popping round in a city limit is very much a bad idea. Bow and arrow.

Pass through's skip and travel. DAMHIKT.

[JakeBlanton]

Pass through's skip and travel. DAMHIKT.

Doesn't matter if you are using a firearm or a bow & arrow. If you're not sure that your backstop will stop the projectile, don't take the shot. I've had quite a few instances over the years where I refused to take the shot on a pest due to what was beyond it. Maybe it was just my car that was parked in the driveway, maybe it was a brick wall that I didn't want to damage. Regardless, I decided that the chance of lead ricocheting off the concrete would cause me more problems than the pest was causing me.

The most irritating pest I ever had was a neighbor's cat many years ago. It seemed like the only time it ever stopped long enough for me to be able to take a shot at it, it always did it so that there was something downrange that I didn't want to chance hitting if a ricochet occurred. It would constantly irritate my dogs by walking along the top of the fence and dig holes in the mulch around my trees as if my yard was its own personal litter box. Why is it that some pet owners think that it is perfectly acceptable for their pets to take a dump in your yard? Aren't their own yards good enough for them?

I definitely do not miss that suburban life. These days, if I don't like my neighbors, I just move my RV to the next town.

[Ruger45Bisley]

I've dispatched several with a simple break-barrel .177 pellet rifle. Shot one on the front porch, a side shot through the boiler room and it walked off the porch, around the corner and crumpled up dead as a door nail, pellet went all the way through and found it laying on the porch. I've also shot them when cornered straight on the top of the head, but at times that doesn't work. I shot one like that it and bled and bled but it just walked around like nothing happened. When it stopped, a pellet to the side of the head put him in a death roll. Not perfectly quiet but not loud either, I find an airgun is about perfect for dealing with pests, but I would suggest a .22 over a .177.

[Iron Mike Golf]

Not perfectly quiet but not loud either, I find an airgun is about perfect for dealing with pests, but I would suggest a .22 over a .177.

Agree with this. I used a Rem Nitro Piston in .22 on a raccoon up the walnut tree out back. 30 yds in the dark, illum reticle and held a flashlight along the forend. Bright eyes made an easy target. He was done twitching by the time I walked over to him.

[another gunslinger]

Air rifle or a shovel or a 2x4. 'Possums ain't exactly fast. Crazy to be looking for a load to dispatch them with inside of city limits. Killed 'em all the time on the farm with a .22, often cci cb. Doesn't get much more low powered or quiet than that. Somebody is looking to have more fun doing it than the chore really calls for...

[Trifocals]

Several summers ago I was infested with possums. I live trapped them using dry cat food for bait (they love it). To do them in once caught in a live trap, immerse trap with critter in a barrrell/garbage can full of water. This is quite and humane. Bury the remains. LOL Trifocals

[Lonegun1894]

How exactly is drowning any animal humane? I have been held down under water, and have spoken to many others who have too, and not a single one of us enjoyed the experience. I know this keeps coming up, so must be a common practice at least for some people, but I just had to ask.

[preparehandbook]

I agree that drowning is not humane. Just smack their head in with a bat, pipe, or hammer.

I have killed dozens of possums. They can soak up some lead and still make a fuss. I have shot a third of one's head clean off, brain visible, and it still was hissing and snapping.

Inside city limits if I was wearing a good pair of boots I just kicked them to death, which is not humane, but fairly easy. Watch out for the teeth, kick them in until they play dead and then stomp on their head.

You can also just grab them by the tip of the tail and hoist them in the air, since they have strong tails they will try to curl up and grab you, so give them a firm jiggle every couple of seconds. I have used this technique while holding one out the window of a car (relocating one).

The nice thing about possums is when relocated they don't tend to return (cats and raccoons can cover 10 miles in a night if so inclined)

remember, if the PD responds to a "shot fired" you will most likely loose the firearm at least for a "discharge in city limits"

[JakeBlanton]

How exactly is drowning any animal humane? I have been held down under water, and have spoken to many others who have too, and not a single one of us enjoyed the experience. I know this keeps coming up, so must be a common practice at least for some people, but I just had to ask.

Personally, I don't care whether it is humane or not for animals that I consider a pest. I wouldn't drown them, but solely because I don't consider that to be an expedient way of getting rid of the problem. It's a lot easier to just shoot them on sight and toss their body over the back fence.

Not that I have that problem these days. The worst I encounter is some damn cat lady's cat that wants to crawl up inside my engine compartment. That tends to only happen ONCE though. Nothing that a pressure washer can't clean up.

[Rainier]

+1 on the live trap and trash can full of water - they die quickly and quietly - very humane they just stop breathing... Air

[preparehandbook]

the biggest reason why I haven't used drowning is the hassle.

Some garbage cans are too weak. Some cages are too big.

And when you're done.... 30 gallons of dead possum water filled with fur and poo.

The possum isn't going to like being killed whether it's drowning, blunt force, bullet, whatever.

The most natural way is to get other possums to do it for you by following these easy steps:

- Tell the other possums it's a snitch
- Spray paint it the color of an opposing gang
- Borrow from possum loan sharks in it's name
- Steal items from the other possums and place the loot in it's burrow

[Rainier]

Possum fur & poo makes great fertilizer for the plants - think it more as 30 gallons of enriched plant water

[WTXPATRICK]

You can take a .223 round. pull the boolit out and dump the powder on the nearest ant bed and light it, watch the fireworks. Then, take a light hammer and small punch and put 2 or 3 dings around the case neck where the case shoulder meets the neck. you can then drop a .22 caliber lead pellet into the case neck and it should stay put in the neck without falling through to the bottom of the case. Put a drop or 2 of candle wax on top of the pellet to hold it in. The primer has enough power to drive the pellet fast enough to do the trick. If possible, shoot the critter in the ear, cats drop in their tracks using this load.
Very quiet load.
Happy hunting.

[daengmei]

Hundreds of critters live with us and you just never see them. I have been using a live trap for 20 years or so. Not any the last 2 years but I have caught raccoons, groundhogs and opossums. Living close to Ft Knox I just let them out in a wooded area some distance from housing. I figured out that using meats or pet foods I would catch many neighbors' cats so now I use only apples. I'm surprised I've not caged a skunk, there are so many of them too.