Possum on Cold Windy Day

Has summer faded away this fast? It seemed that way on Sunday. The ground was still pretty wet from last weekend when it dumped about 10 inches of rain over two days, and there were a few more sprinkles during the week to keep the ground pretty wet. What really sucked the life out of me on Sunday, however, was the wind. It was really blowing, and it did not help matters that I forgot a hat for my bald head.

It was short day, as I had to get back home by 3 pm to see my daughter back off to college, but Sailor managed to score this possum which was in a very shallow dig under thick roots.

Mountain scored something else, but for the life of me I could not find her and she went missing for at least an hour. She was not far off, but about six fences and as many hedges run together in this spot, and Sailor found just as Mountain went missing.

I left Sailor at work in the ground for a bit and blundered around looking for Mountain, but only managed to raise a feral cat and a four-point buck who had to decide whether to run me over or hop a high wire fence to get away. Lucky for me the deer chose the fence. It got hung for a second, but rattled free and I went back to dig out Sailor, the one dog whose location I knew.

After tailing out the possum and a quick picture, Mountain had still not appeared despite my repeated calling. I finally went back to the car, drove it up the fresh cut corn field (praying I did not get stuck in the soft earth) and the blew the horn. Fifteen minutes later she was out and running back up the field, looking a bit dirtier for the experience, but otherwise unharmed and quite pleased with herself. Foolish dog hunts too damn wide.

In any case, back to the possum. This is an adult male of about average size for an adult. The picture below shows a fairly impressive set of canines, which is as good an excuse as any to mention that America's only marsupial also has the most teeth of any North American animal -- 50.

Depite the teeth, possums are the easiest of American terrier quarry, and I do not count them for much, as they are pretty slow and quite stupid. Though they will hiss and bluff, they cannot do much damage to a dog, and so are a good animal to start a young dog off with. I generally let possums go if I can, but this one was living next to a farm with horses, and possums can give a brain worm to horses so it is best if they are removed from the area.