Thread: Help / tips with Possum shooting

Hey Guys, my young fella is keen to go possum shooting this weekend. Sounds like fun and we have a friends hill country farm avaible with bush etc.

Any tips to help with success ? is there a better time of night ? obviosuly dark but hopefully not 2:00 in the morning !! What tree's do they like ? Do we have to be real quiet ? We have .22 (open sights) and a couple of good torches.

Thanks (from a novice dad.)

No1 rule be aware of what's behind the target

Originally Posted by northdude

No1 rule be aware of what's behind the target

Yea for sure - we know this farm well and whats in the firing zone.

So if it gets dark around 5 ish - how late would you recomend for them to wake up ? and how easily are they spooked ? recommend waiting in one area and quiet torching or keep moving ? He's planning on plucking them for sure.

Check out the parallel thread on this subject that's running at present:

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....-tricks-42448/

By my experience the possums are out and about from dusk to dawn and the best time to shoot them is when you're feeling enthusiastic enough to go out and do it.

Pick a warm, cloud-covered night so the Lad doesn't get cold and miserable and make it fun so he wants to come back and do it again. Do a few short missions first and extend the duration as he gets experience and can handle the late nights.

I love hunting with the kids, it's so rewarding. Good on ya for getting him out there.

avoid shallow angles of fire for safety reasons. otherwise have a blast.

dont forget to remind him that your first possum has to be eaten.

Thanks guys for the tips and that other thread had some good info. Knowing my young fella he would probably love to eat possum !

This time of year trees are not budding or flowering so a lot of possums will be feeding on the ground fresh grass one crops will be worth a look.Good on ya kids love it.

Originally Posted by Rangidan

This time of year trees are not budding or flowering so a lot of possums will be feeding on the ground fresh grass one crops will be worth a look.Good on ya kids love it.

Thanks - I did not know Possums eat grass but makes perfect sense over winter. Thats good to know.

A small bright torch fitted under the barrel of the rifle makes it much easier for the shooter to get the sights on the possum, with 2 people working, light man and shooter, sometimes one can see the possum or eyes and the other cant. Only shoot 2 or 3 before you pluck them, they need to be plucked within a few minutes or it becomes too difficult. Take all the fur you can pluck, the head, the belly, the tail, everything. Dont get too stressed if you shoot a couple and can still see more, its more important to get the first ones plucked, the others will still be there if you dont make too much noise. I shot 50 one night, on only 2 grass paddocks, most of the time I could put the light on 7 or more, but shot only 2 or 3 at a time. When I finished plucking I could see more in the light from right there. That 50 possums bought me a new 10/22.

Bit like humans,wake up have a wash give the partner a nudge see how that goes then have a feed more mucking about eat more food back to camp give another nudge have a scrap then sleep. More noise the better so they are looking at you.

Originally Posted by Husky1600

A small bright torch fitted under the barrel of the rifle makes it much easier for the shooter to get the sights on the possum, with 2 people working, light man and shooter, sometimes one can see the possum or eyes and the other cant. Only shoot 2 or 3 before you pluck them, they need to be plucked within a few minutes or it becomes too difficult. Take all the fur you can pluck, the head, the belly, the tail, everything. Dont get too stressed if you shoot a couple and can still see more, its more important to get the first ones plucked, the others will still be there if you dont make too much noise. I shot 50 one night, on only 2 grass paddocks, most of the time I could put the light on 7 or more, but shot only 2 or 3 at a time. When I finished plucking I could see more in the light from right there. That 50 possums bought me a new 10/22.

Good stuff Husky - thankyou. He's got an old Remington Model 34 .22 with open sights, at 12 years old he's a much better shot than me so I'm on the torch. We were thinking of putting bright yellow nail varnish or something to help see those signts. That sure does beat paper round for pocket money.

Originally Posted by PillowDribbler

Bit like humans,wake up have a wash give the partner a nudge see how that goes then have a feed more mucking about eat more food back to camp give another nudge have a scrap then sleep. More noise the better so they are looking at you.

Brilliant - I must be half possum then. Too easy !

open sights for spotlighting definitely not as good as a scope. Sometimes a little tricky to get the light on the sights right to see sights -possum etc.
Mind you didn't do it much, usually had scopes real early on so a lot easier.
Otherwise... Shotgun. That's awesome fun on jackos.