But you're not a real okie til you drop the "o" and just say "possum."

Funny That's how I say it but spell it with the O!!!

I've never heard of possums eating moles but they do eat venomous snakes.

Possums are primarily opportunistic scavengers, though they can kill small prey. I've never seen them eating anything that wasn't already dead or kingdom Plantae.

Apparently they are very efficient at killing ticks.

Here is a link that might be useful: possums vs ticks

Now that's a use for opossums I never thought of...I typically don't kill them unless they're making a pest of themselves. I usually don't see them as being the ones eating the tomatoes (I'd rather blame rabbits).

Years ago I am pretty sure a possum ate the baby chicks under my hen. The hen was not harmed. Chickens should all be locked up at night or something will eat them.

One stole my ripe cantelope one year. He moved it about 10 feet and hid it behind the air conditioner. He came back the second night to finish his feast and went head to head with my little poodle. He hissed but backed away to hide. That's when I found the remains of my missing melon. Tick eaters, or not, I still hate the nasty things.

Possums will kill and eat chickens of any size. I have never eaten one myself, but my grandparents used to eat young ones baked with sweet potato's. They said that they were real good that way.

My father once tried to have mom cook one...we did...it was awful by my way of thinking...never tried that again.
Strong gamey....much worse than any other wild game I've eaten (elk, deer, frog, squirrel, turtle).

dbarron, you have my attention and respect. You're the first I've ever heard (or read) that tried possum.

I can remember my parents on both sides talking about eating possum, and they both said that they sure hoped times never got that bad again.

I can empathize with them. I'm glad I tried it, many of my cousins won't eat any wild game (my grandmother would tell them it was something domestic when she served it). Heck, I even had a dog that wouldn't eat wild game to save her life, though she had no problems with domestic...couldn't figure that out.

I believe I'd become a vegetarian before I ever resorted to eating possum.

Your dog had standards, you know. : )

I think it might be possible to make possum into an edible meal. All you need is a box of Possum Helper with some sort of noodles and a cheese sauce, and it might taste just like.....Hamburger Helper or Chicken Helper.

LOL. Suppose George will come on to tell us what it tastes like? I never know if he is pulling my leg or really eats all of those things.

Sorie, One of the things I love about living here in rural southern OK is the abundance of wildlife. I've seen things, like ring-tailed cats for example, that I never expected to see in the wild. (With the wild, in this case, being our back yard.) We haven't seen many possums, coons or skunks this year and I'm not sure why, but we have had the biggest rabbit population ever. It hasn't been unusual to see 10 or 12 or 14 of them out in various parts of the yard eating at night. About 3 weeks ago the rabbit population started decreasing, and it likely is a bobcat feasting on them because I've seen the bobcat in our yard a couple of times. It also is a really good deer year, which makes me happy because I enjoy watching the deer.....but not hunting them or eating them....just watching them.

There is a recipe for roast possum in my "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe" cookbook that I've had for many years, but I've never made it and don't intend to try. I suppose they included it because the cookbook is full of traditional southern recipes, but that one was just too weird for me to even contemplate making it. The cookbook does say you can substitute pork for possum.

Carol, I think George is very adventurous and has eaten lots of stuff I've never tried.

I know people here in our rural area who eat lots of game I've never tried, like squirrel, for instance. If God had intended for me to eat squirrel...or possum....or rabbits...they would come wrapped up in a nice little package at the grocery store. I grew up in Texas, so you know that what I really like to eat is beef. You cannot grow up in Cowtown and not be a beef eater, right?

Dawn

They do come wrapped up at ye local wild game shop...there's one in Arkansas called Pelfrees...I'm sure OKC or Tulsa has such (though I never found it..but then I didn't look either). I know a fair number of meat processing shops have at least some wild game for sell, all packaged up and frozen.

I've eaten almost everything that's non purely carnivorous there is to eat...and frankly I like squirrel, and rabbits ok if it weren't so boney. Rabbit fillets maybe ? :) One day, I'd like to try bear...but there's so few here, I wouldn't want to kill one to eat it. I might not like it...and then where would I be ? :)

I've never seen a ringtail cat...I didn't live far enough southwest for that :(

Hawks lay more eggs when there is an ample food supply, like rabbits. They nest in early spring, so I am guessing next year you will see more hawks and fewer rabbits.

I have eaten bear, elk, deer, squirrel, rabbit and caribou from the wild and the only thing I liked was elk. Also liked the caribou made into summer sausage. Oh, and moose, which is OK.

I don't think we have a local wild game shop here in or near Marietta. Ardmore might have one....I haven't gone looking for one because I don't like wild game.

The hawks are all over the place this year, but we still have had plentiful rabbits. In fact, everyone around us has commented on how huge the rabbit population is this year. Maybe it is just that the rabbits come out near sunset and the hawks might already be settling down for the night. The wildlife is so abundant here this year that I really don't think the hawks have to look very hard for their dinner. It isn't just rabbits that have been extremely abundant this year, but also foxes, squirrels, voles, rats, field mice, snakes, lizards, frogs, turtles, etc. Our chickens can free-range most of the year without us having to worry about hawks or even coyotes, except in late winter when the hawks already have eaten up all the wild critters they can find. Our bobcat population fluctuates a lot more than the hawk population does, but I don't miss them when they aren't here. It really hasn't even been as bad of a possum, coon or skunk year as usual (yay!).

The rabbits have been disappearing rapidly for about the last month now, likely because this year's coyote pups are up and running and learning how to hunt. After a relatively quiet summer (in terms of hearing coyotes howl), it suddenly has gotten really loud out there. Sometimes I just sit out in the yard and listen to them howl.

Carol, I guess you gave all the local game a try when y'all lived in Alaska?

Dawn