Thread: Possum Trapping

Thanks bully, nightshooter, boaraxa, mooseman and stug for your advice. I'm taking it in like a sponge! Priceless knowledge from guys that have been out there and done it.

Going out tomorrow morning ill spend half the day out there I reckon, plan is to cover a decent area and search for any recent signs of possums. Mark out a few spots where it would be worth trapping and maybe ill finally set some down in the next couple of days. Just need to get some extras to add to the huge barrel of flour I got given - its out of date will that make a difference? Is there anything else I can be looking for apart from runs and scratched trees on my walk?

Originally Posted by Boaraxa

worry iv found in recent years is a total lack of coons anywhere carnt even remember the last time I ran 1 over ...good luck

Wow, if I drive on the road near the land at night guaranteed I'll see 6 or 7 in the 15 minute drive!

Hi, Just a heads up, I saw a trapper once with a pile of curry powder packets, he said the posse's love the stuff, so mix a bit in the flour, good luck.

Wow, if I drive on the road near the land at night guaranteed I'll see 6 or 7 in the 15 minute drive!

That's encouraging my guess would be if you don't get good hits down in that country where there are few coons about is they are trap or poison shy...not saying that they will be at all , just saying if you put the effort in & don't get results don't give up the first time round as it can be a very common problem in handy country..il never forget a place I used to live , a small village called waipori falls it was surrounded by bush , possums all over the show along with blue or red raddle on the trees , rats were a problem to eating my baits no matter what I used , in the end I got some bait stations & some cinnamon prefeed from a mate fed them up for a week by then id go up to top them up & the plastic stations were getting eaten & fur here n there last day id crush up the prefeed in a medium sized pile with 10 or so pea sized blobs of green goo in amongst it that tricked them good & proper one station 15 coons I had around 25 stations they didn't all have that many but the point was proven they where there they just weren't stupid & sometimes they are once I ventured into some new country in nth Canterbury (mid june) for a test run took me a hour walking to get to where I wanted to be started in manuka then into the black beech I did up 1 spur & down another so about 3 hrs , some of the runs I came across in places didn't even have any leaves on them just bare dirt ! so I did my line marking it with toilet paper couldn't believe my luck in the wee hours of the morning the stars disappeared it started pissing down on & off for 2 days day 3 it cleared midday so didn't leave me with much time but off I went ever tried to follow washed in toilet paper lol I don't recommend it ...not good but man there was death possums stacked all over the show I skinned around 100 of the bigger ones & that included dodging the wasps that got me half way around the line & I didn't do anything more than laying poison & lure to get them Good luck

Thanks for the replies guys. I think I'll look into the poison.

Guess I'll update my thread on how I'm doing like I said I was going to do.

So basically I knew almost nothing about possums before I started doing this.
I done my research online, got a lot of help from this forum and asked as many questions as I could think of to people that had experience. Then I got the basic gear and started trapping.
(12 traps)
First day I went out I found a track and thought it looked good so on that bases I laid all my ten traps along it (it was about 100m long lol).
First day nothing, was pretty gutted!
Second day I got 1!
Third day 0
Forth day 0
Then it rained. and rained. and rained.

After the rain i moved all my traps and started spending time while i was in the bush looking for signs of possums and good trees etc. I guess just from all the stuff i've read, heard and seen I had started to piece the puzzle together and make more educated decisions on that basis. And its been working I'm still on 12 traps but this is how its went since.
mon 13th- 2
tue 1
wed 2
thur 2
fri 3
mon (today) 4!

For anyone that's getting into this. From my 2 week experience lol

Keep trying, its trial and error, trial and error. Every trap that isn't catching isn't a loss because its information that possums aren't there. Use all the information your given and act on it.
Look for signs on the tree's (scratch marks) they are very easy to spot once you actually study the tree for a few seconds. You'll soon start realising if they are fresh ones or not.
I've found that google earth is a very helpful tool, lets me see the land and mark each of my traps on there and also keep a record of how each one is doing.
Keep moving traps that aren't catching! I've had to move every one of them bar 1 that I put up after the rain (some more than once). You can see how my numbers each night are getting better this is because of this I'm sure. I've got about 7 that I'm happy with now some of them need more reassurance but they are getting kept even if they don't catch tomorrow. The rest of them are getting moved unless they catch tomorrow but even then, I feel like there's better places to be sticking them from the information I'm getting from my other traps deeper in the bush.

I've still barely even scratched the surface of this land , ill need to see what the numbers are like by the end of the week but probably going to get 15 more traps next week.

Anyway I better stop babbling before I put somebody off, I'm getting right into it maybe even becoming slightly obsessed. Back out in the morning cant wait!

Scotty

Try and track down a book called "Trappers, dogs and deer" pretty sure that it has some very good advice about trapping possums, what to look for when placing traps. Try the library before buying it.

Graham marshal was my favourite books , possum trapping in new zealand

don't be afraid to try difrent lure's,some guy's will add thing's like iceing suger or milk powder.in some place's diffrent lure work better good luck mate it will not be easy

Thanks for taking the time to post this thread Scotsman it's a good follow and some good knowledge coming in which I am taking in also, I've been trapping a few recreationally and messing about learning to tan the skins for a wee home project which was coming along nicely til the pup got hold of it...... Any way I digress.

For those in the know, if you are just plucking the possums you get in small numbers how long can you hang on to the fur to accumulate a decent weight to sell or does it have a use by ?and a best way to store it ,cheers again Scotsman and every one else good luck!

Ha reading this thread while a possum is screaking in the garden. Think he's chowing down on acorns.

ground cloves cinaman and flour worked for me when i was trapping

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Thanks for taking the time to post this thread Scotsman it's a good follow and some good knowledge coming in which I am taking in also, I've been trapping a few recreationally and messing about learning to tan the skins for a wee home project which was coming along nicely til the pup got hold of it...... Any way I digress.

For those in the know, if you are just plucking the possums you get in small numbers how long can you hang on to the fur to accumulate a decent weight to sell or does it have a use by ?and a best way to store it ,cheers again Scotsman and every one else good luck!

Some say they get weavels in the fur bag.
Iv always hung the bag and never got them. And kept it for quite a while.
Make sure the hair is dry too. No doubt mold etc.
So yeah, you could get weavels after some time, look into that. I never have. But apparently you see the likes of dust or something in the bottom of the bag, they eat the fur I think they say. Maybe storing in a freezer would be OK?

I lost a pay out with weavles,mine got binned both my lads thought it was funny when they got paid and I didn't

Freezer

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Thanks for taking the time to post this thread Scotsman it's a good follow and some good knowledge coming in which I am taking in also, I've been trapping a few recreationally and messing about learning to tan the skins for a wee home project which was coming along nicely til the pup got hold of it...... Any way I digress.

For those in the know, if you are just plucking the possums you get in small numbers how long can you hang on to the fur to accumulate a decent weight to sell or does it have a use by ?and a best way to store it ,cheers again Scotsman and every one else good luck!

i keep my fur for up to a year,paper rubbish bags help with mould and a spray on the outside to help with weavel's

Originally Posted by PillowDribbler

Freezer

What does this mean?
Can you use a few more words, so myself and maybe others can understand what your trying to say?