Note to the squeamish: If you are squeamish about blood, dead animals or opossums in general please do not read any further and definitely do not scroll to the end of this post.
The dogs have been doing a LOT of barking lately. To the point where I've become so fed up of it that I won't even go see what it is they're barking about. A couple of nights ago I sat a bag of trash outside my front door while I finished up a few chores. When I went out after dark a few hours later to carry it down to the garbage can I found an opossum chewing through the bag. I squealed and ran inside for my twenty two, but it ran off. We've been having reports of confirmed rabies cases in raccoons in my area, so I'm paranoid about the possums, not to mention they can give EPM to horse and they enjoy dining on my cat's food and will also kill chickens, so I definitely planned on killing it if I saw it again.
Last night I was in the shower and when I turned off the water I heard desperate barking from Jackal. It sounded very different from his usual bark. I threw on a robe and grabbed the flashlight and ran out the front door. I didn't see anything so I went around to the back deck to see which direction he was looking in. I was shocked to see he was barking at the back door very aggressively. I leaned around the corner and there it was. The same opossum from a few nights before. Jackal had it cornered between two boxes near the back door and was barking at it hardly a foot away. I was terrified it would bite Jackal so I ran back into the house and grabbed my twenty two. I peeked out the back door and could hear the little critter growling! Very unnerving. Every encounter I had with them as a kid they were already playing dead so I'd never heard one growl.
As soon as Jackal saw me coming out the back door he ran off into his yard. It was like he'd called for backup and when backup came he hightailed it out of there lol. I shot the possum and called Jackal inside. I was very relieved to find that he'd not been bitten. Anyway below is a picture of Jackal's first hunting prize. He may not be much of a squirrel dog but he can catch an opossum by cracky. :D
Keep an eye out tomorrow for pictures of our turkeys. They're so cute!!!
My sister's dog has killed a number of possums in her backyard. They are so dumb, they keep sending more in to see what happened to the last one. He's a black, terrier Lab mix with pitbull eyes.
ReplyDeleteEverytime she sees one in his mouth, she panics and thinks it's her cat. They get along fine, but she still panics.
I would have been afraid, too, of rabies... especially if your area has been having a problem with it. Hopefully Jackal is vaccinated, but still, I'm glad he wasn't bitten and that you were able to get that one. I always take a twenty-two to any dangerous (ie. around here that would be rattlesnakes) animals. We will have to put something in our next post about this so that we can award you Dott's Mighty Hunter Award. It's been a long time since we've handed one of those out. :)
ReplyDeleteI was wondering when you were going to start posting about Jackal, but was not expecting that! You must be so proud :)
ReplyDeleteHaving confirmed cases of rabies about must be so scarey. Good shot, I couldn't hit anything at any range, lol!
ReplyDeleteWow, Jackal, you are a real hunter! Although I do hound racing, I have never actually hunt any game. I wonder when I can make use of my powerful nose!
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