How to humanely dispatch a opossum in the suburbs (where I can't shoot 'em)

Greg in Cary

Greg in Cary

Twelve Pointer
Greetings,

I have backyard chickens and have been seeing opossums on my Ring floodlight cam trying to get into the pen at night. Rather than give them time to figure it out and kill my chickens I got a have-a-heart trap and was wondering how best to deal with it if I was to catch one.

If I was in the country I'd just put a .22 through it's head and let the chickens eat it but alas I am in Cary and that would be verboten.

So, what are my options to humanely dispatch this critter?

As a last resort I guess I could try relocating it somewhere.

Thanks.
 
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smith-n-stokes

smith-n-stokes

Old Mossy Horns
Just give it a rough talking to like they did Bigfoot awhile back....

I’m sure your inbox is full of remedies... good luck whatever route you take. I had some trying to aggravate our chickens before. They got a dose of vitamin lead.


Sent from wherever I was at the time...
 
Papa_Smurf

Papa_Smurf

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I think they are no currently in season. Otherwise....one of those nice & quiet air rifles may take the place of the .22...SSS
 
QuietButDeadly

QuietButDeadly

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Lots of very poor advice given on this thread. Some may be meant as tongue in cheek so to speak by the posters but most is not legal. Catching the possum in a trap right now is not legal either unless you have a permit to do so. Permits are free and not hard to get if you have property damage.
 
nccatfisher

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
QuietButDeadly said:
Lots of very poor advice given on this thread. Some may be meant as tongue in cheek so to speak by the posters but most is not legal. Catching the possum in a trap right now is not legal either unless you have a permit to do so. Permits are free and not hard to get if you have property damage.
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Correct, I hesitate to say much about .net advise because it is hard for me to decipher when people are trying to be funny or an ass especially when I don’t know them. I do know quite a few comments weren’t what he needed, a couple were spot on and tried to steer him down the right path.

Sometimes you have to improvise if the animal is causing issues and just never speak of it especially on the .net.
 
woodmoose

woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
well yes, assumed the fellow got a permit,,,,but then in hindsite if he's asking how to get rid of it I doubt he talked with a WDC Agent,,,,

seems folks can't understand the simple regs

red the regs (hint - available on line even),,,,follow the rules,,,,google is your friend (sometimes),,,,

and folks wonder why I quit doing WDC for most folks,,,more hassle than it's worth
 
Downeast

Downeast

Twelve Pointer
We had chickens for years and the solution is to have a secure house for them to get into at night. In other words, lock them up. If not you will be fighting various predators the rest of your life. I had a coop with wire buried in the ground for about a foot and extending outward (for dogs, foxes, and yotes) and a wire roof to keep out the climbers and flyers (opossums, raccoons, raptors). Once in awhile I had a rat snake get in and eat a few eggs. No big deal, I had more eggs than I knew what to do with and they eat a lot of rats and mice too.
Wild critters are out there working for a living and everybody likes chicken. I found that opossums were more interested in eggs than the chickens. Maybe I just had lazy opossums. I had a weasel get in one time and kill just about all of them and he put the blame on everyone else. :ROFLMAO:
 
woodmoose

woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
Downeast said:
We had chickens for years and the solution is to have a secure house for them to get into at night. In other words, lock them up. If not you will be fighting various predators the rest of your life. I had a coop with wire buried in the ground for about a foot and extending outward (for dogs, foxes, and yotes) and a wire roof to keep out the climbers and flyers (opossums, raccoons, raptors). Once in awhile I had a rat snake get in and eat a few eggs. No big deal, I had more eggs than I knew what to do with and they eat a lot of rats and mice too.
Wild critters are out there working for a living and everybody likes chicken. I found that opossums were more interested in eggs than the chickens. Maybe I just had lazy opossums. I had a weasel get in one time and kill just about all of them and he put the blame on everyone else. :ROFLMAO:
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exactly,,

co-existance (did I REALLY say that) and mitigation are normally the best methods for things like that,,,,removing one animal just means the next will be along,,,

but people want to "catch that dang ________" and don't want to hear "you can catch that one, but unless you change your methods/pen/routine the next will be along",,,
 

JONOV

Old Mossy Horns
subsonic .22 lr, cci brand. Don't use a pistol. No louder than a sneeze. The Winchester subsonics are louder.
 
Greg in Cary

Greg in Cary

Twelve Pointer
Thanks for all the responses. My coop/pen is pretty secure. I have hardware cloth around the bottom 3' section and chicken wire around the top half and the roof. The door is sturdy and I have a predator apron around the perimeter. I think I'll just wait until I actually have an issue (i.e. a critter gets into the coop) before trying to eradicate the pests.

Of course, if things continue to get bad and we have massive civil unrest I might be happy to have opossum to eat :)
 
41magnum

41magnum

Twelve Pointer
You could use a dispatch chute which holds a body grip trap that trips when they go from your cage trap into the chute.
Body grips are quiet and quick and humane. A 160 or 220 would be fine.....and I have some needing a new home....lol.
 
wturkey01

wturkey01

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
41magnum said:
that too is illegal, and that is sadly a myth, since the birds that would've hatched, had a opossum not eaten them as eggs, would eat more ticks than said opossum.
Click to expand...

I guess I didn’t see where he said they ate any eggs. 🤷‍♂️
 
41magnum

41magnum

Twelve Pointer
They are huge nest raiders, bout like coon and fox and skunk and mink and weasel.
Baby rabbits don't stand a chance either.
 
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