Killing a possum with a pellet gun?

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Disappointing to read some of these responses. Apparently after reading a number of these postings, cruelty is acceptable and laughable. I don't have a problem dispatching a problem animal, but I do it quickly.
 
.177 pellet at 500 FPS is probably not enough to kill it. Think about it in terms of energy. A .177 pellet is about 7-8 grains, and 500 FPS was probably an exaggeration, unless you are giving us your chronographed numbers. The penetration is horrible with such low velocities and projectile weights. I suggest that you get an RWS 350. Here is a link to one.

http://wop.pyramydair.com/s/m/Diana_RWS_350_Magnum_Striker_Combo_22_T06/2530

Of course it costs as much as a good quality rimfire, but.....

If you get a high power pellet gun and want to stay quiet, make sure that you get a .22, as most of the high power pellet guns are slightly supersonic with .177s and will not be quiet.
 
Must be hard to get up on that horse when it's that high. :rolleyes: Rats...possums....killin' 'em is what matters. How long it takes 'em to die is superfluous to me. I've had to kill several possums IN THE FRIGGIN" KITCHEN! The house I sold had a hole under the cabinets in the kitchen and they'd get up in there and have clutches, eat the cat's food at night. I took 'em out with head shots with my 10/22, though, in the house, occasionally my NAA .22 revolver as it's what I had on me. Hell, didn't even wake up the wife, usually. :D
 
I carried a basket of kitchen scraps out to my composter at about midnight one Saturday night after a couple of adult beverages.
As I dumped the scraps in to the composter a very angry opossum that in my excited and somewhat inebriated state appeared to be the size of a lion reared its ugly head out of the pile and opened what appeared to me to be his 3 ft wide jaws.
My Girlfriend at the time nearly wet herself with laughter as I let out a Whoooooooop! and ran three steps in the air, throwing the basket and leaving a roostertail of dust in my wake.
damn possum.
 
bob barker said:
I live in The Woodlands (the city north of Houston). I have a possum that gets into my back yard and into my patio area, digging up my flower beds and also eating my Yucca plants. I only have "real guns" and recently bought a Co2 powered pistol to dispatch of the bastard. Will a .177 pellet at 500 fps kill it? I don't mind putting more than one pellet in it as it has an eight shot magazine. Anyone killed one with a pellet gun?

Also to add the shot would be at about 20ft, it hides in a corner that I can get a clean shot at.
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Your sure its a possum? They eat scraps around here not plants. Yours sounds like a diller (armodillo) problem.


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Best way to kill a possum? Shine a flashlight and run it over with a vehicle. That is the only way Ive found.


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I have a Beeman .177 that runs 800fPs, and I have taken possum with it. This is a hyper accurate rig, shooting aspirin sized groups at 10 meters. The possum I shot was 15' away so I am certain I hit it all 7 times I fired. It was clutching a tree branch, playing dead while dying. It then fell backward in super slow motion until it landed on the ground with a thud. It was still there the next morning, so I assume he was actually dead when I threw him in the neighbors yard.
 
McGunner, I've taken care of plenty of small game, varmints and deer, whether walking a trapline with family members or out hunting. Have always felt you owed it to whatever animal you put down, make it as clean and quick as you can. Now, I can tell you that I had to resort to using a snow shovel to kill rats in a garage before, and it worked pretty well :neener:
 
I don't know if a BB gun would do it or not. More than likely it'd just mildly irritate the possum. Too bad your in a city and discharging firearms is more than likely not legal. One of those pre charged hunting air rifles might work, but would probably crack as loud as a small caliber gun. If its legal to shoot it with a real gun tho in my experience 1 15 pellet 3 inch mag 00 buck load will not only do a possum in but moved it clean out from under the storage shed.
 
A CO2 bb rifle at garage floor length drove the possum out of the garage, so my wife was satisfied.
I hit it a number of times but it didn't seem too concerned. It did however leave a blood trail across my patio and out of the yard.

I now have a 10-pump bb/pellet rifle that does a better job.
"41" pear-eating, house breaking tree rats in the last 10 months. Over half succumed to one shot drops.

Get a bigger or faster gun.
 
Apparently you aren't reading it all. Nobody mentioned crossbows. :)

A compound bow delivers arrows just like a recurve (but sometimes faster).
 
A pellet gun will certainly dispatch the rodent vermin, specifically, opossum. Likely one shot one kill is a unrealistic. But two shots three and he's a done messing with you. He'll be back after he licks his nasty wounds tho. At least you didn't actually harvest the meat and cook it up to surprise your wife with opossum stew. Ummm um deee lish.


Waste not want not. :)
 
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.22LR. Quick, easy, not terribly loud from a rifle.

If you're within city limits, or for some other reason, cannot use a firearm, they are pretty easily killed manually, if you have the stomach for that sort of thing. A pipe, 2x4, ball bat, business end of a shovel...etc. You want something that keeps them at least at arms length away from you. Opossums can carry diseases, it's never a good idea to put yourself at risk of a bite.
 
jimmyraythomason said:
Only if you break their neck. Oppossums are very tough and don't die easily.
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A broken neck is one way, but it is not the only way.

They are tough, for their size, but they are not difficult to kill if you are not deceived by their "fake death". I have used all manner of things found on the tractor or back of the truck, when a gun was not available. It is not pleasant, but it accomplishes the task. If the tool you have chosen is not capable of severing the head (shovel is good for this), you need to be sure to crush the skull.
 
I shot one several times with my Glock 23 . It took many rounds before it died. They can take a beating for sure.
 
Speaking of possums.
There has been one living in my neighbors lawn shed for about four years now.

I see him going to work late at night, and coming back home early in the morning.

My dog goes out and wags his tail at him and the possum looks back through the fence at him.

He leaves us alone, and we leave him alone.

He is just trying to make a living, like all the rest of us.

rc
 
He is just trying to make a living, like all the rest of us.
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Exactly!
Quit feeding him and he will move on
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It really is just that simple. I release all those I catch on my trapline because there is just no reason to kill them. Their fur isn't worth very much and unless you are an egg farmer they don't do much damage.
 
I just usually run possums off with a broom. If he is a real pest just put him in a sack or a box and relocate it to the nearest golf course. They'll hiss, growl, and slobber like crazy but I've never had one bite me. I had one that had a den beside my driveway, he learned to run like crazy every time he saw me so that I wouldn't catch him and tease the wife and kids with him.
 
Well, stonecoldy, if you need somethin' dead, you don't wanna mess with animal control (worthless minimum wage bureaucrats), and city code says you can't use your .458 win mag, you do what ya gotta do. :D

Really? High horse because he doesn't torture animals and let them suffer? Perhaps if you patch the holes in your trailer you'd have less critter problems... Prob cut your AC cost down too.....if you have AC.
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Spoken like an ivy league eastern Democrat....:rolleyes: It was a house, called "pier and beam" construction. You probably don't see those a lot in the Hamptons, but it didn't have wheels on it ever, not that there's a thing wrong with that. :rolleyes:

Everyone in Texas has AC. I've heard we invented it. Maybe not, but I also heard we've even air conditioned hell so we'll be comfy when we get there.

Join PETA. You'll fit in well, there.

Quit feeding him and he will move on
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Really, stop gardening? That's your answer?
 
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