Thread: Possum hunters

Hey all you possumers out there I have a question. Has anybody tried machine plucking a possum after it has been frozen. I shot 34 the other night plucked 19 then my plucker broke . I dont want to waste the other 15. I need to fix my plucker but might take some time .

Thanks
Phill

I dont see why not. Worst comes to worst you could skin them. Last time i was handing in my fur a guy and is kid turned up with a ute load of frozen possums. Was there first time so didnt understand why the buyer gave them such a crap price haha. 34 possums seams like a solid night phill good on ya.

Cheers yea I have been getting a few lately 175 in a week and a half . Yea I could skin them but do they need their tails I have cut their tails off for the plucker so they don't get wraped around my plucker haha.

Na ive never seen people bothered with the tails. Holy shit 175 is that you full time job or just for a bit of spare cash?

If your shooting them why not just hand pluck? I guess you are shooting big numbers

When I first moved here it was my fulltime job but now it's just my spare cash. But I had a few days off so I went out after them before the council refills their bait stations

I've plucked thousands of them by hand I got sick of it haha. I still do ocaaiobally but my most in a night hand plucking is 27 but when I just shoot and throw them on the ute and bring them back to my machine is over 50

Good fun. The most ive got in one night was 5 haha. Are u spotlighting in bush or just farms with alot of trees

Yea it is good fun . It's all good I started at low numbers too the more you go out the more you learn the better you get . I'm still learning. I once went out and was just behind some other possumers I found three possums still warm with only the back fur plucked so I plucked the rest of them and then shot the 6 possums out of the same two trees they had failed to see . They must have been doing something wrong

hey there everyone.
i was just wondering how much hand plucked fur is going for. iv just started me and a mate for some extra cash.
and i am in the north doing it on some farms around us.

Originally Posted by kreepy

hey there everyone.
i was just wondering how much hand plucked fur is going for. iv just started me and a mate for some extra cash.
and i am in the north doing it on some farms around us.

Hey kreepy
I think its about $109 in waikato at the moment

This ad turned up on a FB page I follow....spoke to Gay who is keen to purchase fur for orders. She will be in Te Kuiti tomorrow morning and as advertised on sunday. Price is $100 per kilo for lots less than 10 kg ( hand or machine plucked) and $105 for lots over 10 kg. Apparently the prices are destined to stay static due to Chinese pressure.... Gay suggested being certified for possum body harvest as a good boost to fur income....gross and a bit involved but worth the work if you have access to areas where the possums are poison free. Gay also advised the fur weight decreases in storage as the fibres dry out, so makes sense to trade what you have for what theyre paying as you may not be any better sitting on a heap of fur.....other than having a warm arse LOL

Originally Posted by kreepy

hey there everyone.
i was just wondering how much hand plucked fur is going for. iv just started me and a mate for some extra cash.
and i am in the north doing it on some farms around us.

Welcome to the forum kreepy.

Roughly how many possums does it take to get 10kg of fur?

Originally Posted by k30

Roughly how many possums does it take to get 10kg of fur?

Usually about 20-25 per kg so somewhere round 250