# Possum hunting in New Zealand



## Luckyjack (May 6, 2013)

Hi this is my first post.

Can anyone please advise which ammunition is best for for small game such as brush tailed possums?
We have a lot of brush tailed opossums in the bush at the back of our place but as we are too near to neighbouring residential properties to use a rifle I thought this might be an option. (In New Zealand "possums" are an introduced noxious pest that do a lot of damage to native flora and fauna)

http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/threats-and-impacts/animal-pests/animal-pests-a-z/possums/facts/

Also what would members recommend as a suitable slingshot for the job. Possums are nocturnal so they will be spot lighted and I will be shooting 10 - 15 meters up into trees.

Thanks for your input. The more of these destructive introduced critters we can get rid of the better


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## jskeen (Feb 7, 2011)

Honestly, I don't know about the possums that have been introduced down there, but the ones up here in the Texas gulf coast are nasty, obnoxious critters and are surprisingly hard to kill with a slingshot. I've smacked them several times at pretty close range with up to .54 cal lead balls at 200 fps, and not gotten clean kills on them. It will knock them out, cause them to bleed from the mouth and nose, and I don't know for a fact that it didn't kill them eventually, but a couple of times I've left them, or put them in a box outside to wait to clean them and refrigerate them for the guy that cuts my grass, and later found them just gone, or boxes torn up from the inside, and empty. I generally step on their head and cut their throats as soon as I can walk up on one after shooting it now. Never had one disappear after that.

Nasty vile stupid disgusting creatures, in my book. I would kill them on sight even if I didn't get a discount on my lawn care for a cleaned carcass. They seem to have none of the redeeming features of a raccoon or squirrel, but generate just as much or more of a mess if they get into your trash cans, and are too dumb to scare off once they they discover the easy food source.

My daughter calls them giant rats, and I tend to agree with her.


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## ash (Apr 23, 2013)

Our possums are from Australia. They're a pest here and protected over there!

I don't have any personal experience with possum hunting, but I'm guessing 1/2" lead is going to be your minimum starting ammo. Lead cylinders as per Charles' casting threads have bonus destructive talents. Perhaps lead filled hex nuts as have been mentioned on here a few time recently. I find the hex nuts make much more mess of targets than round things.

Any forked slingshot you find comfortable, fitted with double Theraband Gold or similar seems to be the popular weapon for small game hunting.

Shooting up into tall trees sounds too much like hard work. Luring them to the ground, as hard as that will be will increase your chances of getting a good shot.


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

I'd strongly recommend AGAINST a slingshot for this.

They are surprisingly tough and with such a small head to body ratio, all you are going to do is end up injuring them and causing unnecessary suffering.

If you are going to do it, do it properly and use the right tool for the job. .22 or a .17HMR.


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## August West (Jan 21, 2012)

I have seen people snaring these in OZ, might be an option.

Our possums are for a fact disgusting creatures but they do do a job cleaning up carrion, everything has a purpose. I am assuming your lawn man eats them? That is one animal that I would literally have to be starving to eat.


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## SuperMonkeySlinger (Jan 28, 2013)

Hrawk said:


> I'd strongly recommend AGAINST a slingshot for this.
> 
> They are surprisingly tough and with such a small head to body ratio, all you are going to do is end up injuring them and causing unnecessary suffering.
> 
> If you are going to do it, do it properly and use the right tool for the job. .22 or a .17HMR.


 Your right, Hrawk. But ive shot a possum in the head with my AR-22. 3 Times in the head before it died.. I would probably have a machete with me to chop his head off. They are strong little buggers without a doubt.

SMS


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## August West (Jan 21, 2012)

SMS, different possum over there.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Brushtail-Possum.jpg


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## Luckyjack (May 6, 2013)

Thanks guys, yeah that sort of confirms what I thought. Possums are tough little buggers with small brains. Hard to kill with almost any small projectile weapon unless a direct headshot between the eyes. I remember when I was a kid we used to catch them in gin traps but then the issue of dispatching them arose which was usually acomplished by having to administer multiple blows to the head with a heavy club as the thing was violently flinging itself around trying to avoid you. I got some vicious scratches from that exercise. In those days we used to get $5 - $10 for the skins if they wer'nt too damaged or bloodstained. As I am new to the slingshot game and i saw Youtube videos of JoergSprave destroying sizable targets with his various slingshot weapons i thought this might be a quiet way of getting rid of the possums at my place but probably not. Guess I will buy a silencer for my 22 magnum instead.


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

Are they still paying for the skins over there ? I know my uncle and cousins used to keep the fridge stocked of beer by collecting them.

Silencer for a .22 magnum, do they make subsonic ammo for that ?

One of the great things about NZ (among many) is the fact they treat the use silencer as public service for reducing noise. Go you beautiful Kiwis !!!


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## jskeen (Feb 7, 2011)

August West said:


> I have seen people snaring these in OZ, might be an option.
> 
> Our possums are for a fact disgusting creatures but they do do a job cleaning up carrion, everything has a purpose. I am assuming your lawn man eats them? That is one animal that I would literally have to be starving to eat.


Actually, I think he gives them to his mother, who swears that they are health food. He says she's in her 90's and still takes care of herself, her house, and him some of the time, so I decided not to argue with him. They are considered a "soul food" delicacy by some more traditional elements of the community in the deep south and gulf coast regions. I politely declined his offer to bring me a "to go plate" however.


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## Luckyjack (May 6, 2013)

Hrawk

Yes they are still buying them here http://www.dawsonfurs.co.nz/possum_fur.html there are several dealers like this. Doesnt look like the skin prices have changed much but the meat is now being bought for export quality pet food.Yeah you are right, I cannot seem to find sub sonic .22 WMR ammo. I guess I will borrow my friends .22 LR which has a fairly good suppressor like this one http://www.trademe.co.nz/sports/hunting-shooting/firearm-parts/silencers-suppressors/auction-588390658.htm


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## dang magpies (Jul 3, 2013)

Go on lucky jack I'm a kiwi livening in Ireland and hate the buggers kill one for me will ya ?


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## The Slingshot Man (Jul 10, 2013)

I would use a 1/2 inch ball or higher... You got to make a headshot or your just going to injure it... If you want to make a definite kill, try to make a slingbow with some broad heads ..
Thanks 
The Slingshot Man


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## ash (Apr 23, 2013)

I sold a slingshot to a guy in Hamilton who wanted to hunt small game. A couple of weeks later, he brings home the bacon!









One less filthy possum chewing up the Waikato.


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## August West (Jan 21, 2012)

Filthy? That thing looks really cute like and Ewok or something. Do an image search on a North American Possum, looks like a huge rat, slick tail and all. LOL Nice shooting btw.


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## ash (Apr 23, 2013)

They're filthy. Tuberculosis and whatever else you'd rather avoid. They kill the trees and eat birds eggs. No-one wants them here. In Australia they are protected, here's they're a menace.

Definitely cuter than an American possum, though!


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## Guest (Sep 19, 2013)

True story ... off topic sort of but I'll get to ammo recommendations towards the end.

In 1980, I was deployed to N-Zed with the 25th Infantry Division for winter training in the Howe Range (properly pronounced "How Rangi"). Stunningly beautiful place, trout in the streams as long as your leg, deer everywhere. People who were absolutely the salt of the earth. I really loved it.

But to my story; one night I was on radio watch. It was about 02:30 and I decided I wanted a cup of joe. I told my N-Zed counterpart that I was going outside to heat some coffee. All good. I made a little tripod out of three small rocks and put my heat tab in the middle, set my canteen cup on it and lit the fire.

After a few minutes of heating the liquid I see this "little man" standing on the edge of the area lit by my fire. He is maybe half a meter tall, just standing there looking at the fire. I'm thinking I'm loosing my mind. I don't like him there so I pick up a smallish stick and toss it at him, "GIT!" He backs up a bit and then walks back toward the fire. I'm totally freakin' now. Hand full of dirt follows the stick and he backs up a bit then walks right up to the canteen cup and squats down. Well that is all I am taking, I pitch something at him big enough to get him to run off, pick up my coffee and go inside to talk to my N-Zed counterpart.

"Hey, you guys have some kind of little monkey or something living in these woods?" He says, "Monkey?! No, nothing like that mate." Well I just saw something that looked like a leprecaun or a small monkey by my fire. He laughs, "Oh wait! That was a 'possum." I said, "That was no 'possum we have those in the states." Then he explains that their possum and our possum are completely different critters.

Well I had to ask why it was so curious about the fire. He told me that they are not really afraid of men in the wild but don't try to pick one up as they can be quite vicious when frightened.

Well my watch ended at 06:00 and it was snowing. I had put out only my shelter half (half a pup tent). Got in my mummy bag and went to sleep. When I woke up a couple of hours later there was two inches of snow on me and sitting on my chest was that 'possum! First thing I thought was, "Oh Crap! He told me don't every try to touch one because they can be really vicious!"

I remained quite still but the little guy must have figured out I had awakened as after a minute or two he just stood up and strolled off. I was quite relieved but that has changed to something else now with the retelling. Honored may not be it but I am thankful that little guy decided to sleep on my chest for a couple of hours and share the shelter of my tent.

True story.

Now then as to killing one, I was told that you can catch them with treble hooks staked to the ground with steel cable and a spike. Bait the set with cheese. They will come to the cheese and grab it once they have it in hand they will try to move away and get snagged by the hook. In those days the lads just made a couple of hundred such sets and put them out down the sides of the road way every hundred feet or so. Cruel but effective.

I agree with the advice of others here who say you probably should use a firearm for this task.


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## katana12 (Mar 13, 2017)

i emptied a whole 10 round mag into a possum in the head and chest and we had to use the shotgun Lol :shhh:


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## Tendele (Nov 29, 2014)

I shot three in one night when on holiday in Queenstown. I used home made sligshot made from Puriri tree banded with TBG gold double bands 26mm at forka nd 12mm at pouch , active length 25cm. Ammo was lead moulded cylinders weight about 230 grains. All up I have killed 9 of them. They are very tough and their fur is really thick so if you dont get a head shot you will struggle to penetrate their bodies.
And yes Ash is right they are filthy little buggers with an unpleasant smell.


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## Tendele (Nov 29, 2014)

Here is apic of the three possums and the slingshot.


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## katana12 (Mar 13, 2017)

NICE


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