Catching ‘Possums

“And not once did he play ‘possum. As a matter of fact he attempted to bite me numerous times.”

Return to the daze of my youth.

I caught one in a humane trap years ago. I took him out into the country to let him go as I only wanted him to stop stealing my eggs before I got up each morning to collect them from the hens.

When I got where I intended to release him, he refused to come out of the trap. I picked up the trap and started shaking it until he dropped to the ground. Then he jumped back into the bed of my truck.

I didn’t hit him but I did use a stick to chase him out of the bed of my truck but when I closed the tailgate I found him hanging on to the tailgate by his tail. You would not believe the force necessary to straighten the tail of a ‘possum intent on hanging on the back of a truck. Their tails are like boa constrictors when they don’t want to let go.

Finally I pulled his tail free from my truck…. Where did it go? I didn’t see it run away. I look under the rear of my truck and see his smiling face — upside down — looking back at me. He was hanging by his tail from the frame of my truck.

Eventually, after crawling under my truck and using the stick as a pry bar I get him to drop six inches to the ground and run away.

And not once did he play ‘possum. As a matter of fact he attempted to bite me numerous times.

On another occasion I heard my dog barking like crazy so finally I went out in the middle of the night to see just what the problem was. There on the ground beside the loudly protesting dog laid an Opossum with just the slightest wound to its neck. I guess my dog had bit it.

I figured it was dead and being that I didn’t want my dog to scatter pieces o’ ‘possum all over the yard I put the critter in my big ol’ City of Greensboro garbage can. But just as the ‘possum hit the bottom of the can he came straight back out the top hitting me in my face as he went.

Scared the crap out of me!

Continue with Eck Miller Trucking, The Nightmare Continues