Hey, possums really do play possum

The other night I took the dogs out for their last visit to the backyard before bed. We have a fenced-in yard.

When my wife takes them out late at night, she keeps them on a leash because they're easily distracted. Since I'm Mr. Momming it this week, I figured I'd trust them.

We have ferns in one corner of the yard, and one of the dogs found something in there that piqued her interest. No barking, but she was stalking something. Lizard? Her shadow? Of course the other dog had to check it out. Our bigger dog is about 25 pounds. Her little sister is littler. They're small dogs.

I figured I'd walk back there and throw some light on the subject. Paige found the biggest possum ever. It was the size of a mid-sized Buick. And it was just on its side.

I few quick commands had both dogs away from their new friend. (Sometimes they actually listen.) Then they both pooped and went inside the house.

I went back to check on their new buddy. It was gone.

Better a possum than a skunk.

I was letting Bear, my year old lab/aussie shepherd mix, out to do business in the pitch dark one night last week when I smelled skunk. Because Captain Destructo has an uncanny ability for making the worst of such opportunities, I called him immediately and brought him inside. Once inside, I warn the roommate to watch out if he lets the dog out again because there's a skunk.

"Yea, I can smell it," he replies, at which point I realize the smell has indeed followed us inside. E36 M3! Sniff the dog, and sure enough there's quite a pungent odor coming from the top of his head.

So he got an emergency bath, getting me all dirty and hairy right before bed in the process, which mostly took care of the smell. There's still a bit of it lingering, but its not noticeable unless your face is right up against him. So I don't know if he legit got skunked or what, I feel like the smell wouldn't have washed off if he did, but I don't know how else it could have happened. Glancing blow maybe?

Gotta love dogs though, everyone needs a wild card in their life

Also, has anyone else ever heard of possum punting?

This was rumored to be a game (more likely just an urban legend) when I was in high school. The idea is you drive around the countryside at night waiting to spot a possum in the headlights. When you find one, you stop the car and the possum is supposed to freeze in the light and play possum, allowing you to get out, pick it up by the tail, and punt it. I guess if you can successfully do that you win.

Definitely not a PETA sanctioned activity, but I'm curious if anyone outside of rural PA has ever heard of this game. And no, I have never actually played.

Fortunately we haven't had any skunk encounters. She has spent her life trying to catch a squirrel. She did once get an owl. We weren't happy about that. Both dogs love chasing (and eating) lizards. They have found snakes a few times. They're not sure what to make of that one.

Furious_E wrote: Better a possum than a skunk.

Truth!!!
My little 6-pound toy poodle with a bad Napoleon complex tried to scare a skunk off her property........twice. Skunk was bigger than she is. Learned about washing that stuff off. (Dawn works well if caught early) And she spent time in quarantine in the garage for a while.

Had a lab-mix that used to bring me presents.....dead possums. One time she was running back and forth between me and the edge of the yard. Followed her out and found a dead possum as almost as big as she was. She was about 70 pounds.

Our firewood pile is located between a couple low evergreen trees. One night last year while getting some firewood, I heard a small commotion in one of the trees right near my head. It was very dark but I thought it might be a possum on a branch. I went inside, grabbed a flashlight, rummaged around to get fresh batteries, replaced them, checked that the flashlight now worked, and went back outside to find the possum frozen stock still right where I had left him.

My sister-in-law's dog lost a fight with a skunk. I seem to remember something about tomato soup helping remove the smell.

Number 1 way to tell if they're dead or playing is a baseball bat......thank the Evansville natives for teaching me that.

Possums... Nature's little speed bumps.

Meh, why kill 'em? They're mostly harmless. Let 'em be.

My father actually picked one up once that he was certain was dead. It was gone a few minutes later when he came back with the shovel to bury it.

Duke wrote: Meh, why kill 'em? They're mostly harmless. Let 'em be.

Yep.

Furious_E wrote: Better a possum than a skunk. I was letting Bear, my year old lab/aussie shepherd mix, out to do business in the pitch dark one night last week when I smelled skunk. Because Captain Destructo has an uncanny ability for making the worst of such opportunities, I called him immediately and brought him inside. Once inside, I warn the roommate to watch out if he lets the dog out again because there's a skunk. "Yea, I can smell it," he replies, at which point I realize the smell has indeed followed us inside. E36 M3! Sniff the dog, and sure enough there's quite a pungent odor coming from the top of his head. So he got an emergency bath, getting me all dirty and hairy right before bed in the process, which mostly took care of the smell. There's still a bit of it lingering, but its not noticeable unless your face is right up against him. So I don't know if he legit got skunked or what, I feel like the smell wouldn't have washed off if he did, but I don't know how else it could have happened. Glancing blow maybe? Gotta love dogs though, everyone needs a wild card in their life

Doubt it really got sprayed, at least not a direct hit. It wouldn't have been unknown long enough for you to have gotten it in the house if it was a direct full on skunk spray.

I used to own a house with a 1/4-acre fenced yard in the 'burbs. I had a dog--a foxhound mix that was super sweet. I would let her out before bedtime to do her business. One night when she seemed to be taking longer than usual, I stuck my head out the door and saw she was paying close attention to something around the location where I was building a small shed. As I walked toward her, I saw her pick up this "thing" and carry it towards me. When I saw what it was, I commanded her to drop it. She complied reluctantly. What she dropped was a 'possum, and judging from the fact that it did not move and had a gruesome, toothy sneer on its face, I assumed it to be dead. I brought the dog in and went back out with a garbage bag. Went to the 'possum, picked it up by the tail, and dropped it into the bag. I tied a knot in the bag and set it down by a pair of sawhorses near the shed, then went in and went to bed.

Naturally, when I went out the next morning, the bag had a ragged hole in it and the 'possum was gone. I can attest to the fact that they are very convincing at playing dead.

When I was young, my father used to take me coon hunting. I've seen them playing possum with coon dogs ravaging them. They weren't supposed to track possums.

This is one reason I gave up hunting 40 years ago.

Furious_E wrote: Better a possum than a skunk.

Absolutely. But better a skunk than a porcupine. have plenty around here, and that's the one that really keeps me worried.

My current mutt has twice tried to make friends with a skunk. He has yet to get a full on spray, however, he has caught just enough to have a slight odor of skunk.

I used to think they were harmless too. They are so ug-a-lee that they're cute, and I always let them be. Then my neighbor told me why he got rid of all his fowl. He had chickens, turkeys, etc. Quite a few. The 'coon would get them by grabbing onto one by the neck and pulling it through the little hole in the chicken wire fence, then we ran out of 'coon. Finally, he went out one morning and the possum had killed his chickens by grabbing them through the fence and eating their anus. He quit after that, took what chickens he had left and gave them away.

Some of them can be pretty mean and aggressive in a trap. Some are rather docile looking. And their brains must be the size of a small marble. Try hitting one some time.

Kia_Racer wrote: My current mutt has twice tried to make friends with a skunk. He has yet to get a full on spray, however, he has caught just enough to have a slight odor of skunk.

I figure that must have been what happened to mine as well, I'm just trying to picture exactly how that interaction must have gone.

"Oh hey there, I noticed you smell terrible. Mind if I rub my head all over you? k thanks."

My one time "hunting" I had a huge possum walk by me. At the time I figured it was at least 50lb. It was close enough that I could have put the barrel to it's head without getting up. I had no use for a dead possum, so I let it go on its way.

Tonight we had another backyard intruder: a soccer ball. Yes, there was some barking at it.

Ingrid was our softie. A largish lab who was the pacifist of our group. Good with everyone, and only defensive of her food, she never attacked much of anything. We were walking with her one early morning, when a possum walked across the road. Uncharacteristically, she darted after it, grabbed it, and held it in her mouth. She didn't shake it. She was just standing there, proud of herself, when she saw our reaction. She dropped the poor thing, which crumpled to the ground, and continued wagging and prancing back to us, proud of her accomplishment. The moment she turned, the possum jumped up and ran into the woods. Relieved as we were, the look from poor Ingrid when she turned to her quarry and found it disappearing into the distance was priceless.

Same thing happened with me. Had the dog in the back yard chasing one until she had it cornered and almost grabbed it. She backed off and went inside. I went back out as it was flipping over and running away.

Not long after that I found a possum skeleton in my shed. I hung the skull on the shed entrance to ward off other possums. It didn't work. I found four possums in the back yard yesterday.

Unfortunately at some point a squirrel stole my possum skull.

Update: Soccer ball has been claimed by its rightful owner, so backyard peace has returned.

My grandmother (born, raised and died in Wirt County West Virginia) always said the key to eating possum is to keep it in a cage for a few days and feed it sweet potatoes so the garbage gets out of their system.

Whenever we live trap a possum in the barn we just rehome it a few miles away. Never tried to eat one (that I know of, who knows what was in some of those "cassaroles".)