Opossum in the city, need a very quiet load.

[Pb2au]

Option 1) Tiger. Very quiet, automatically disposes of corpse. Downside, illegal to own, most likely will eat you too, and your dogs, cats, neighbors, etc, etc.
Option 2) Live trap. Very quiet as well, downside, you now own a trap with a confused possum in it. Upside, simply drive out of town and relocate. Downside 2, possible illegal to relocate (check your local laws).
I'd go with option 2. Simple answer, no possibility of collateral damage to you, your neighbors, or anything else.

[youngda9]

slingshot with steel balls.

[300blk]

Thank you all for your input!
Way more replies than I had hoped for.
I have a generous backstop of firewood and I see him in front of it often.
I understnd city ordinance.
And will be using a lighter weight boolit in a 22 inch 30-06 garand. Have a lee 93 grain that will probably fit the bill.

For the record, I said without a suppressor, but if it comes down to it, I have a few buddies that have legal .22 and 9mm cans that could be invited over for a night.
If i cant get this load down to my liking, i will call animal control.

[Lonegun1894]

I understand the problem you're having. Town where I live has animal control, but Christmas will get here before they will if I call them. Town I work in, doesn't even have animal control, so people have to do it themselves. So not every town has them, or has them available when called. I won't tell you to not do it, because I have had to do the same thing myself. However, I do ask that you think hard about if this is first necessary, and second, safe. On the necessary part, there's various options that you can use that have been mentioned, and a bow is probably one of the quietest, and doesn't have to be a modern hunting bow, but a simple stick and string that you make or even a $20 kids bow is plenty for these kind of purposes. On the safety part, it really isn't worth taking any chances there so if you're not sure you can do this completely safely, just don't do it. The trap is probably the safest option that anyone has come up with, so wherever it was that mentioned that first, I like the way you think. Even if you have to buy the trap yourself, if you have a possum/cat/etc now, you will have another in the future so it is a worthwhile investment that will be used again, just a matter of when.

[DougGuy]

We had a groundhog living under the back deck, I wasn't to upset with him -until- he started raiding the raised beds we grow stuff in. I used a .22LR to the head from inside the house, just open the window far enough to shoot through. Back yard is fenced with a wooden fence and there is a shed that blocks the noise as well. Borrow a .22 rifle if you must shoot him, other than that, trap/drown works too.

[300blk]

We have animal control, they just arent worth a damn here. Kinda like our local polIce.
If i couldnt do this safley and discretly with a wide margin for error, I wouldnt do it.
That being said, what are your favorite quiet critter zapper loads?
Even if i dont use them it would be a handy starting point to use for the future.

[Gibbs44]

My cousin used to use a 2x4 with a large nail through it. One of the real big ones. They'd run'em down, and when they'd turn, whack, right through the top of the head. Good luck no matter what action you take.

[Gee_Wizz01]

I have killed at least 15 with a .177 to the head! Out at the ranch I use anything from a .22 lr to a 257 Roberts, and even a .45 Colt. Back in the mid seventies on Thanksgiving night, I went to bed around 10 pm and heard a racket in our garden at t he ranch. I looked out the window and there were two large possums messing with the trash can. I opened my window and blasted one with my .22 Mag Ruger SS. The possum crumpled up and fell out on the ground his partner was heading away at fast walk and I nailed him too. The next morning I go out and the possum I shot off the can is gone! There is a large pool of blood where he was laying and I trail of blood out into the pasture. The other possum was hit square in the head and laying where I shot him. The next year on Christmas day we had a repeat of the whole show. I wake up around 11 PM and there are two possums on the trash can. This time I had my .22 rifle and nailed the first one in the head, and got the second one as he ambled away. The next morning both possums were laying where they dropped the night before. When I picked them up I noticed one of the possums had a huge scar on his mid section where he had been shot. The skin had healed up but he had no hair on the scars, and I am pretty sure he was the same possum I shot the year before.

Gary

[pls1911]

Cb long in a kids rifle. I use my own... A pristine old marlin single shot with a pull back hammer.
Pellet gun quiet, .22 effective at possum range.
I had good training in gun care, so it shoots perfectly after exactly 50 years and two months, and a whole lot of livin'.

[Hatiwolf]

German shepherd ... though a 22 caliber pellet works better. My old shepherd brought one home on the last 100 yards of a walk one night then dropped it on the living room floor and ran off to the bedroom when I looked at her thinking she was in trouble. After checking it out myself for a few minutes I was sure she had killed it from the crunching I heard so I went to get a trash bag to put it in. Came back with the trash bag and it was gone. By that point she wouldnt leave the room to help me find it thinking I was upset with her for bringing trash in the house. Still blame that dog for the broken picture that occurred that night while trying to find that furry turd.

[popper]

177 pellet or wood baseball bat. Alum ones don't do the job. Live trap & pellet to the head is easiest, then throw into the trash. Yes they do play possum. One tricked me too.

[HABCAN]

Make a load for your .223 using an air-rifle pellet and about 0.75 grs. B'eye or other fast powder, std. primer. Check zero in basement or wherever. POP! BTDT on various critters, just never on possums.

[starnbar]

Like Griz said just trap em and let a/c take em out of there for you.

[303Guy]

I've tested loads for quietness and the best is a small charge of something like shotgun with the remaining volume filled with polenta or corn grits and a light boolit. I wouldn't do it in a 30-06 though. The 300 would work if the barrel was long enough but if it's a semi-auto then stuff is going to get into the gas port.

[truckjohn]

Any chance you could use the pistol and rubber bullet/hot glue stick boolit?
You propel them with only a magnum primer (no powder)....

I wouldn't hesitate to use a wheel gun of any CF pistol caliber if I had one...

A head shot will kill a possum - but it's low enough power so that it won't really hurt a person if there's a ricochet....

Otherwise - I would use a 22 short cb cap in a rifle... All you will hear is a *pop*....

Thanks

[starmac]

I can't count the opossums I have caught by hand, stepping on it will kill it.

[WilliamDahl]

My cousin used to use a 2x4 with a large nail through it. One of the real big ones. They'd run'em down, and when they'd turn, whack, right through the top of the head. Good luck no matter what action you take.

Just don't do that in any of the lefty-loon places like Boulder, CO.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/08/28...tcmp=obnetwork

Obviously this guy should have perused this thread before doing it on raccoons...

[GeezerinNH]

Pellet Gun

[country gent]

Parents have been using Purple Marlin fly bait mixed with Cokeacola. Coons and Possums make about 30 feet after drinking it. Problem is keeping neighbors pets out of it. Trapping works well Take in live trap wire ends down and a rope drop in creek the covers trap. problem solved. In almost all states releasing a wild animal to a difrent area with out documented quarintine is illeagal, prevents spread of dieseases and such. Dad has trapped critters in the garden for years. In leg holds a ball bat or heavy club worked fine. Dont get bit though. A conibear trap will leave a corpse in the trap. A live trap if seen is easier to defend but the animsl inside is an issue. Though with the live trp cats and dogs ( pets) can be releasd un harmed. The marlin coke mix isnt selective anything that drinks it is done. We used it mostly in the barns for rats coons possums skunks.

[grumman581]

Parents have been using Purple Marlin fly bait mixed with Cokeacola.

Did a quick web search and could not find any such thing. Found a "Golden Malrin fly bait" though... Same thing?