Thread: New career - Trapping Possums!

Hey!

So, I am sick of the city, sick of trying to get a job in this hole they call Auckland, and after a fair amount of research and thought, I've come to the conclusion Possum trapping is for me! I've signed up to LSV which I start on Monday(6 week govt boot-camp of sorts for lazy unemployed people like myself) to get fit and a bit more hardened before I start tackling bush. I will be starting in January just after the New year. I know that summer is not the best time to do this as they have less fur, but I don't mind that, and I'm way too excited about this to wait till winter to start anyway.

So, let me know what you experienced guy's think about my game plan and ideas so far:

Bait: Seems flour + water + eucalyptus/curry/licorice is the go? Making the mix a bit more tacky if its raining/wet weather.

Traps: I'm buying 100 because it seem's you get a better price and from what I've read - more is better? Still unsure of what brand to get though, and I was reading something about prepping them from when you get em as new, any more info on this? Walling the trap so the possum can't easily avoid it by placing sticks etc in a \_/ formation with the _ being the trap and the \ / being the sticks. I am going to experiment with high-vis tape, reflectors, and a few other thing's I've seen around the internet.

Location: I am thinking Coromandel area. Still need to talk to DOC about whether they going to throw their toys out of the pram for going rogue in the bush with my traps, but have read that native bush scores alot of rats and stoats in your traps, and rural areas/farm land is a higher ratio of possums, how true is this? If its valid then I may do some cold calling to farmer folk to utilize their land if that's cool with them.

Tracking: Possum droppings, chewed leaves/fruit, scratches/damaged trees, urine stains - anything else?

Plucking/skinning: Avoid dirty/cum/piss stained belly fur, coarse tail fur, and fur under 2.5cm, is that basically right? I was under the impression that there was certain parts of the possum that had finer/softer fur, that I could put in a separate bag and get a bit more money overall by putting that extra effort in - but is it worth it or don't bother? Also, I have seen requests to have orders filled of skins - what is the go with this? Is skinning possums difficult/worth the time, do you get more money by doing this? What tanning process would I have to do, if any, while skinning in the bush? I've never skinned anything and plucking seems a lot easier, although I have no qualms about skinning the bastards if you get more cash for it. What do I do with the body once I've got the fur? Just let it rot there? Or should I bury it?

Hazards: Angry possums, obviously - be quick to kill them when you find them so as not to give them time to wind up. Avoiding steep land/dodgy areas that would land me a life threatening injury in the middle of nowhere. Wear bright orange gears to not be mistaken for a deer by hunters. Be careful with fingers/hands while setting traps - don't get complacent. Anything else? Should I be concerned about using bare hands on these animals when plucking? TB? is that contactable to us humans from these guys?

I'm going to use GPS to mark traps because I figure thats the best, most accurate way, and I'm not so great at navigation/terrible sense of location and will sleep easier knowing I haven't forgotten a trap somewhere with some possum starving slowly to death.


Comments/criticism please

Welcome to the forum JVJ. You have what appears to be a well considered plan and I am sure there will be some on here with experience that will give you some advice. My only comment is please do not rely solely on your GPS as batteries go flat. Make sure that you have a good compass and map and learn how to navigate with them. The New Zealand bush can be very unforgiving toward the poorly prepared. I applaud your positive attitude toward unemployment.

Welcome, good luck with LSV, your plan sounds good - you've obviously put some thought into it

Look at doing some Mountain Safety Council courses : river safety and bushcraft as a minimum, and ask the instructors on LSV to focus on map reading and off track navigation with you.

Down the line look at buying yourself an personal locator beacon.

Thank you! Yes here's hoping, this community appears to be pretty damn cool, been stalking it for a couple days, thought I'd finally make an account. Really like the cooking/food section... maybe that's just cause I usually look at it while hungry, haha. I will ensure I have backup navigation, but will be bringing solar charger/enough batteries to not stress about it.

I am just sick of living in poverty and contributing nothing to society, slowing rotting away.. I'm still young so may as well do something right, and why not kill two birds with one stone while I'm at it. I am taking on this new life style with a good friend of mine who is in the same situation as me and has an equal desire to get out there and do something. Should be a little bit safer that way, too.

Been looking into a few courses but wasn't really sure what I should do, thank's, will definitely look into that!

What these guys have said. Learn to map read and navigate and buy locator beacon. You don't have to fall off a cliff to be screwed, just rolling your ankle on some uneven ground could have you in serious strife.

You sound amped. Have fun and be safe, great to have a job you enjoy.

Good plan and advise so far JVJ. Just a warning not to get to carried away at the start. Start off with small trips and work you way up as your skills and confidence grow. Good luck

If your budget can allow you to but a cordless drill with 2 batterys for plucking the possums you just need to make/buy something to go on the end of it that spins with rubber like flaps on it so then all you need to to is hold the possum over the bad and run the drill up and down that's what me and my mates do when we go shooting on the farm and we can pluck a possum in under 1 min

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Yup, was thinking of going out to my grandma's property out in the Waitakere ranges and doing a few trials before I leave the Auckland region and do anything too serious, the property is infested due to a pine plantation me and my family planted almost two decades ago that's been completely abandoned and left to do it's own thing due to family disputes. Gun use was banned on the property so the possums took over, but I think it'd be sweet to go trapping.

Rolling of ankle's shouldn't be an issue, got a decent amount of experience bush-wading from mushroom hunting expeditions - will definitely watch out for slippery root's and all the other danger's in there though. Cheers

That's a bit too far from the experience I would like, RODSTA. The less gear we can take the better, don't really wanna be worrying about any more electronic equipment than I need to, if I can avoid it. Besides, I have heard electronic plucking reduces the quality of the fur and buyer's don't like it??

Sounds like a great place to start and hone your skills. Mushroom hunting? ha ha that happens a bit on the orchards in my town at a certain time of year

You could be struggling to find a buyer for your fur.

Originally Posted by Gapped axe

You could be struggling to find a buyer for your fur.

Yeah its quite hard to get the fur off mushrooms aye

Yup here's hoping the crazy auntie doesn't have a problem with it, she's the one who stopped the possum hunting that me, my brothers and my dad use to go up there and do, but gun's are loud so yeah, was a bit of a different circumstance that led to that. Been mushroom hunting since I was 15 almost every autumn, I love it!

Why would I be struggling to find a buyer for fur I collect? All research indicates its extremely sought after?

Not at the moment, buyers around here aren't. Those that are, aren't paying much

Ah well, that's not a concern for me to be honest, sound's like people might be trying to fetch too high of a price for their product and not accepting a lower payment, I live off 70$ a week and have for over 12 months, so I'm really not fussed under-cutting others money's money.

Originally Posted by Gapped axe

Not at the moment, buyers around here aren't. Those that are, aren't paying much

Yea I agree my opinion is collect the fur and wait for the price to go up

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