What is killing my chickens???

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Free Trapper

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I had an issue last night with something getting Into my garage. It was already in there when the door was closed for the evening. This morning trash was everywhere, fishing rods off the rack, etc. left the door open all day thinking my the phantom critter might leave. Nope.
Just went out to the garage and surprised a possum. It ran under the freezer. I could see it through the front grill.
Not wanting to shoot a hole through the compressor, used some .22 rat shot to drive it out the back where it caught a 40 grain in the head.
S&W K-22 Masterpiece. I didn't miss. [emoji106]

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Big 'ol possum for sure, but I'm more interested in that K-22 Masterpiece....
 

Junior Bonner

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No luck last night. But I think it is a real good idea to maintain the high level of security. On the subject of possums, I can't make this up. A long time ago my daughter was given a possum that was the size of a thumb and hairless. The mother had been killed in a chicken yard by a dog and she was loaded with babies. So, a girl was giving them away to her friends and gave my daughter one. It was easy to save, despite its diminutive size. Simply kept it warm and fed on formula. It got big. These are old pics, from a 35mm. I shot pics of the 35mm prints with my iPhone and they didn't come out real good.

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RidgeHunter

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Interesting. How long did you have it?

I wouldn't want a possum, but I've always wanted a pet skunk. They make good pets they tell me. Very smart.

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Junior Bonner

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Had him for around a year and a half. She got sick of taking care of him, and he would climb everywhere and knock things down. He never did get mean, but you could tell that he was in a different category than a dog or cat. A marsupial is strange. Now, I am glad I took these pics way back then, because I don't think anyone would believe me when I say this thing used the cat litter box. We did not train him or attempt to teach him this. Normally, she kept him caged in a large enclosure in her room, but when he started using the cat litter box, she allowed him to run all over the place in there.

Edit: When he was grown, he slept in some sort of box my daughter had under her bed. He slept deeply during the day and was difficult to arouse. But at night he came alive. He was all over the place in the room, climbing and trying to get outside. My daughter couldn't sleep with him in there, creating all that racket. So we turned him loose in the barn, and kept a pan of food and water out there for him. But he quickly left, and we never saw him again. For about a year, when I'd see possums run over on the side of the road, I'd look as I drove by, hoping it wasn't Cody.

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swampratt

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Neat story about the possum pet .. the fur down close to the animal is very soft.
You have some good pics of that tame one.. Looks like yours has solid poop. The young ones i raised always had runny grey pancake batter poop.
 

Junior Bonner

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Well, swampratt, that possum did have the runny poop you describe - while it was being fed milk and formula. Once it started eating canned dog and cat food along with drinking water, that mess cleared up. But when it had that pasty ****, it would reach through the bottom of the cage wire to try to scoop it with its hand and eat it. A possum is gross. But it didn't do that once its stool firmed up. It never seemed playful like a puppy or kitten, or raccoons that I see on TV. Possums are strange, and in a league of their own. In the summer, he would shed real bad. He had very good ability with his hands, but on an intelligence scale, I would put him nearer a cat than a dog.
 

dennishoddy

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Big 'ol possum for sure, but I'm more interested in that K-22 Masterpiece....

I honestly don't believe there is a better trigger out there. Factory or most customs. Ol Yeller is gonna disagree with me, but I can take it. :D

Back on topic, Ridge, a long time friend back in the day had a Yamaha cycle dealership. The guy I worked for had the back half of the building for a neon sign shop. He had a pet skunk. It had been de-scented by a vet. Pretty popular back in the day before one had to get a permit to own one. When it was past closing time and he had some yakkers in the store vs interested buyers, his dad would let the skunk out. Danny would caution them to walk slowly to the door and come back later. Interesting strategy.
 

ronny

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I had a pet skunk when I was a kid. It loved to spend time in my Grandpa's garden, eating grasshoppers. He'd tear into a big grasshopper like Godzilla on a Japanese tank. He had all the dogs walking a wide path. When we sat around in the backyard in the summertime, making ice cream, he'd just wander around, snooping into everything. Strange, I can't remember what happened to him. Must be old age - mine, not his.

Rural Oklahoma was the greatest place in the world to grow up. I had this pet skunk, a number of squirrels, cottontails, and a crow.
 

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