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