Opossum hunting

Opossums originated in South America, where they described over 100 species of these marsupials (meaning the female carry their young in a pouch, like Kangaroo). One of these species, the Virginia Opossum, managed to cross to North America and settled the greater part of what is now the United States. During the introduction craze of the late XIX-early XX centuries people released Opossums (and immediately wished they didn’t) in many places, including New Zealand.

The original methods of Opossum hunting included trapping and hunting them with dogs. The dogs either chased an Opossum up a tree, where the hunter could hit it with a projectile from any weapon from gun to slingshot, or the Opossum “played dead”, and could be dispatched with any convenient means. In places where Opossums are considered pests, it is legal to hunt them at night with an artificial light. .22lr rifles and air guns are considered the best Opossum medicine. Today most Opossum hunting is done opportunistically, when dogs run into a Possum in the course of hunting for wild boar.