Thread: Wanting to get into possum trapping - looking for tips and advice.

Originally Posted by kotuku

Used to set a trapline ala Mickey duck style but bait traps with bitsd of apple and pear! bugger me we got some fat ones whose migraines were terminal upon the "jacko smacko" being swung by little brother.
speaking of skinning we were taught the jacket method .
laay jacko on its back rear legs to you .cut round leg joints and zip across groin to connect those two cuts .to get tail skinoff two flat bits of wood either side of tail;and pull .

right thats his arse end bare -now grab it and pull up tillyou reach front legs -fiddle about rtillyou get skin and leg apart to ankle-cut around .

pullup till you see base of ears -cut agross these and right round to sever skin from carcasse.
take a lump of 4xc2timber (or metric equivalent)and insert into skin tube .now stretch and takc in position ,put somewhere cool and airy to dry .check skins daily .

yes that was called sleeve skinning - some skins were dryed on a bent no 8 wire with a U shape -fur side out - we used to skin quite differently and tack out on nailed boards - got a more square shape to dryed skin - and we got a better price for skins done that way over sleeve skinned

I can sleave skin from either end....tailend first is faster,head end first is cleaner..and open skin,but havent opened one up for years...and these days most just pluck..but the prices Ive heard for skins are very good...

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

I can sleave skin from either end....tailend first is faster,head end first is cleaner..and open skin,but havent opened one up for years...and these days most just pluck..but the prices Ive heard for skins are very good...

Dunno about yours and my last effort though still the greens will think we're the bees knees with our composting effort!!!

Interesting about skins .years ago when i was training at Seaview in Hokitika ,Basil Detlaff ran a very well patronised possum skin industry at Ross.Some of the deer recovery crews used to buy fur inners for sheepskin jackets worn whilst bowling deer in the freezing slipstream of a screaming Hughes 500 way up the back of godnoswheere in the southern alps.
Two women i worked with bought ladies evening jackets also -first was hip length made from matched red skins -second ordered as hip length was made floor length and it was bloody spectacular. wouldnt have looked out of place at the Oscars!
Also rich Yanks developed a fetish for skin products .bloke i knew ran a menswear shop[ in hoki-he told me of a well off NY socialite and her sugar daddy who ordered a bedspread made of matched skins and had one of New Yorks top designers redesign their luxurious apartment around this.
Apparently he was heard to say "whaat ma babe wants ma baabe gets!"

An old bloke a scotsman who lived near my grandparents up the Grey valley used to shoot em with a single shot .22 as they gazed enchanted by his flickering acetylene miners lamp .Old Jjimmy got more than a few silver greys which he shipped to the european fur markets in London.Apparently his product was very well rated often fetching 26+pounds per skin.

European furriers prized these skins for manufacture of topline furs for ther rich and elite royalty included.

Originally Posted by indigo141

I realise it's an old thread but I would also like to know the answer to this question. Anyway, found a good deal so I have ordered some Pestgo traps. Will let you know what I think of them once I start using them.

Sorry for the late update. The traps are ok. Great for $5.50. It turned out i had been using them for a long time and didnt know it. They were the same traps Twign from Trademe sold. Alas Twign has stopped selling traps. Pest Control Solutions Traps + Bait Station was good to deal with. The Pestgo traps seem to hang on to a possum alright.

Originally Posted by kotuku

Dunno about yours and my last effort though still the greens will think we're the bees knees with our composting effort!!!

Interesting about skins .years ago when i was training at Seaview in Hokitika ,Basil Detlaff ran a very well patronised possum skin industry at Ross.Some of the deer recovery crews used to buy fur inners for sheepskin jackets worn whilst bowling deer in the freezing slipstream of a screaming Hughes 500 way up the back of godnoswheere in the southern alps.
Two women i worked with bought ladies evening jackets also -first was hip length made from matched red skins -second ordered as hip length was made floor length and it was bloody spectacular. wouldnt have looked out of place at the Oscars!
Also rich Yanks developed a fetish for skin products .bloke i knew ran a menswear shop[ in hoki-he told me of a well off NY socialite and her sugar daddy who ordered a bedspread made of matched skins and had one of New Yorks top designers redesign their luxurious apartment around this.
Apparently he was heard to say "whaat ma babe wants ma baabe gets!"

An old bloke a scotsman who lived near my grandparents up the Grey valley used to shoot em with a single shot .22 as they gazed enchanted by his flickering acetylene miners lamp .Old Jjimmy got more than a few silver greys which he shipped to the european fur markets in London.Apparently his product was very well rated often fetching 26+pounds per skin.

European furriers prized these skins for manufacture of topline furs for ther rich and elite royalty included.

school mates mum in Taumarunui was doing the fur manufacturing thing way back then...saw a fur blanket and yip spectacular...we used to get a weird variation around the area a black skin with the cream markings,like the greys have..very strriking.other school mate was keeping all of them and intended to jet fur coat made from them...would love to see the final result.....back then those two larricans could burn up 300km on weekend night driving around spotlighting roadsides..was a different world back then.

I heard a story from a few years ago of a tourist outlet selling possum products. A tourist bus turned up and one of the men saw a possum duvet and asked how much it was. The shop owner looked him up and down and decided to have a bit of fun with him and doubled the price to 4K, with out an flicker of response the man said, right I'll have 2 of them.....

When you kill em, check for little uns in the pouch amd dispatch them cleanly too.

Bloke I went with use a bit of reflective tape - same as on life jacket as a lure, he's semi professional, couldn't fault the logic, they see the reflection , then up close go the icing sugar cinnamon smell

Originally Posted by indigo141

..... They were the same traps Twign from Trademe sold. Alas Twign has stopped selling traps.

Just jumped on Twign website and its not active
Lisa was very helpful, she gave me a lot of good useful info when I first started.
Bought a hundred of possum traps off her at ridiculously cheap price but just realized now, maybe... it was a closing down sale.

Originally Posted by Bol Tackshin

When you kill em, check for little uns in the pouch amd dispatch them cleanly too.

Joey have this reflect or nerve even after few stabs in the head, they still moving around for another 10 min.

Originally Posted by Sharki

Bloke I went with use a bit of reflective tape - same as on life jacket as a lure, he's semi professional, couldn't fault the logic, they see the reflection , then up close go the icing sugar cinnamon smell

I did a story a few years back about a young possumer who used a cheap small (25mm-osh) Aliexpress solar light on each tree that he had a trap on as an attractant, He reckoned they worked well

landcare research do a really good PDF on trapping and its comprehensive including care and setting up of traps how to adjust the plate etc google it

Check out some of Shay's early videos on his 'keeping it wild' youtube channel.

Excellant info on 'how to' possum trapping

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