JD> opie's are tough little suckers (or maybe they're just too stupid to
 JD> know when they're dead), something I learned the hard way a long time
 JD> ago. I had a real embarrassing episode with a possum, my cats, my
 JD> 10-22, and a partially finished house one summer many years ago. I
 JD> posted it on FIREARMS a few years back when we had 
 JD> a possum discussion
 JD> there...........like my german great grandmother 
 TG> used to say, "too soon
 JD> oldt, und too late schmart".  ;-)
 TG> can you tell me the story?
Once upon a time in rural deep south Texas a young & dumb shooter (now I'm 
older and dumb) was living in a small trailer behind his partially finished 
house.
             =================XXXXXXXXXXXXX------------+
             =                X           X            |
             =                X           X            |
             =                X           X            |
             =  foundation    X  finished X   deck     |
             =                X           X            |
             =                X    (!)    X            |
             #################X           X            |
             #               #X  house    X            |
             #  foundation   #X  section  X------------+
             #  with floor   #X           X 
             #  completed,   #X           X 
             #               #X           X 
             # * <- cat food #X           X 
             #################XXXXXXXXXXXXX
(definitely not to scale)
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT[ door ]TTTTTTTTTTTTT
T                           trailer                               T
T                                                                 T
We had 5 or 6 'outdoor' cats, which we'd feed every evening on the corner of 
the floor. Well, about mid July, I started noticing that the cats were still 
back at the cat cafe sitting next to the empty dish and looking at me 
accusingly the next morning, something they didn't used to do. I started 
watching from the trailer's back door evenings after I put the food out, and 
several days later, after dark I noticed that cats were all sitting a good 8 
or 10 feet away from the food looking daggers in that direction. I peeked a 
little further around the door jamb and in the faint spill from the yard 
light saw a good size possum chowing down on the cat food. I had a Ruger 
10/22 to hand, and five of those factory 10 round rotary magazines fully 
loaded with .22lr solid. The possum was on the corner of the open floor with 
nothing behind him but a big empty yard and an 8 foot tall irrigation canal 
embankment.
I eased the screen door open, loaded a magazine in the Ruger and quietly 
cycled the action, leaned my back against the door frame and drew as good a 
bead as I could in the dark. I could see the barrel, could see the possum 
real good, couldn't really see the sights hardly at all. Squeezed off one. 
Possum goes on munching. Squeeze off another one. Possum keeps munching. 
Ditto remaining 8 rounds. I change to magazine number two, Possum starts to 
head diagonally accross the floor, I pump off all 10 of magazine number two 
before possom vanishes behind corner of house from where I am. I cuss, shove 
in magazine number three, grab flashlight, and sprint for corner of house, 
round it just in time to see Possum dive off far edge of floor headed under 
finished part of house. I back up a couple of steps, drop, and shine light 
through forest of concrete foundation piers, 4x4 runners and 2x6 floor 
joists. I see a pair of close-set eyes shining back at me from under the 
middle of the house.
Dipstick decision #1: I must of missed all the first 20 rounds cuz I couldn't 
see the sights. Dipstick decision #2: I know right where possum is at, 
there's still a safe back stop behind it, I'll set up the light behind me, 
assume prone and finish him off so he can't beat up on my (useful, 
mouse-catching) cats anymore and eatup their food and my catfood budget. 
I set up light, go prone, sight between the glowing eyes and start shooting. 
While I go thru the remaing 3 magazines possum keeps turning sideways like 
he's thinking about  running for it, then turning back to look at me/the 
light.
Now I'm pissed, I'm out of ammo, I figure I've missed every  round 
other then maybe a couple of marginal hits because of the nearly non-existent 
lighting, I figure possum is laughing at me, cats are saying rude things to 
each other about humans that can't aim worth a darn, and I've basically done 
the equivalent of throw a box of .22lr in the canal. I shrug, clean Ruger, 
put stuff away, make a mental note to work on my marksmanship, and go to bed.
Did I mention that the low temperature at night is mid 80's and high during 
the day is mid 100's at that time of year? Well, after about 3 days there's 
this smell.........I take a look under the foundation during the day with a 
flashlight, and there's this furry lump smack under the middle of the house 
among all the piers and supports where I can't reach it with anything like a 
rake or a hoe, too far from house ends, can't get there from the front 
because of front porch/deck, just out of reach from back where floor hasn't 
been put on over foundation. I was putting in a lot of time at work during 
daylight hours; and it was too hot to dig during the day anyway. So I spend 
the next three evenings digging a tunnel under the house in 80 degree heat 
thru clay soil that's baked to a brick-like texture and hardness, wearing a 
wet bandanna round my face to keep the smell down enough I could work. At the 
end of the 3 evenings I was far enough under the house I could reach the 
carcass with a rake. One fragrantly dead possum, with enough .22 entry and 
exit holes to make him look like swiss cheese from Hades or a grey furry 
sponge with nasty teeth on one end and a bare tail on the other..........
I'd been shooting at the body because it was the biggest back-lighted target, 
and I'd landed pretty near every one, had not got any head shots landed, and 
possum never dropped.............
Which led me to realization of Dipstick Decision #1/2: Using a .22lr solid 
for body shots in lighting that made me doubt my hits.
Moral of the story: Never use .22 on a possum unless you're close enough/can 
see well enough to put one well placed round thru his head AND never use 
solids on him, only hollow points. Associate Moral of the story: Never use a 
.22 rimfire on a possum, when you've got a 20 gauge sitting next to it in the 
closet.....the results of the 20 guage would have been just as messy, but 
wouldn't have smelled near as bad, and would have saved me three evenings of 
digging......... four if you count the evening it took to fill the tunnel 
under the house back in again. The next time I had small varmint problems, I 
had learned my lesson, and used a Ruger Blackhawk 6" .357 magnum for a head 
shot from the roof of the trailer. Said varmint dropped like a stone minus 
the bottom half of his head. Maybe a tad excessive, but it beats 3 days of 
digging under unpleasant conditions!  ;-)
--- Maximus 3.01
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