Opossum fearlessness?

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I had forgotten until it was brought up last night at a Halloween party. About a dozen years ago a neighbor and I were sitting by a fire ring with his sister in law and her friend. Both of the gals are from the Chicago area and very much city girls. A large possum (in Iowa we usually drop the O) walked up to the fire ring. I picked up the steel fire poker, clubbed it in the head and plopped it on top of the fire. The city girls, both in their 30's at the time, screamed and ran to the house. A few minutes later my neighbors wife came out of the house with the city girls trying to hide behind her as they approached.
I thought it was just good clean fun. Must have made quite an impression on the girls, it was they who brought up the story at the party.

 

[vietnam vet]

Although rarely I have seen Opussum's fight large dogs. Most of the time they play dead and will continue to do so while the dogs are crunching their bones while they are still alive.

Opossum's are one of the strangest of North American animals to me. They are not all that bright and playing dead while something is crunching its bones seems to be the worst of all ideas for survival tactics.

But I think they have been around a lot longer than humans.

Had an interesting encounter with an opossum in the yard tonight. Was out burning leaves, and one wandered into the firelight. I keep chickens, so I don't have a lot of tolerance for the critters around the yard. Went to my truck to grab the wife's .357 snubby carry gun, the closest loaded firearm and came back to find it had moved off around the house. I went around the house, and the damn thing charged me??!! Not like a snarling, teeth showing deal, but just came on at the usual possum trot right for my feet. He wasn't cornered, had the whole yard open as an escape route, just decided to run right at me. I ended any question of his intent with a whole lot of shock, awe and muzzle flash nearly between my feet (have to remember to shoot some more of those loads at night on my range up in the woods! HS-6 from a .357 snubby with the H110xtp is a lot of fun in the dark). Anybody else ever have one this brazen? I know they aren't particularly scared of people, but I've never had one run right at me unless I was blocking it's path of escape, usually from the chicken coop, but even then they just take a few steps, then cower in a corner and accept their fate.

I saw one in my nabors yard that had been hit by a car.Its guts were out and I thought it was dead.Soon the buzzards came and when one took a bite the possum would grabe it by the leg and hold on for a few seconds,there tough.

 

[MCgunner]

So, a possum can be hit by a car, have it's guts plastered all over the highway, get eaten by vultures, and still be alive? Wow, I can see how they'd survive a head shot from a 7.62x39 now.

 

[Random 8]

Yeah, the one I shot with the .357 took a couple center mass before he expired. They're zombies. A clean brain shot with even subsonic .22 will end them, but I once whacked one in a trap several times in the head with the back of a hatchet before he quit.

 

[PlumRotten]

I have had some try and get all up on me. I've had to drop kick them with cowboy boots and mash them up with a baseball bat.