Kia ora fellow trappers,

first time posting here, but have been enjoying reading others experiences from around the world!
If anyone is interested below are a few images of how we trap possums in New Zealand. These are the most commonly trapped animal. They're considered a pest due to their destructive nature to our native plants and animals (of which many are on the brink of extinction).

Cheers

This is a typical set.
#1 Bush Master leg hold with a flour/cinnamon mix as lure

Neat pictures. I would trade our grinners for yours.

a few more photos

typical set...

Thanks The Beav...yes they certainly are a nice animal!

Yeah our possums over here are ugly as sin yours are great looking.

Thank you for sharing a glimpse of what you have going on down there I also really enjoy seeing how others are dealing with .
Thankfully we don't have possums in Montana yet !
Keep up the good work and welcome to trapperman !
Allan

Thanks for posting, very neat looking critters!

Here is one of our north American possums for comparison.

Do you get paid to trap them? Trap them for food? Does the fur have value? Is it done primarily because and needs to be done?

Are foreigners allowed to trap in New Zealand? I remember reading a story about feral domestic dogs killing sheep there?

Is there any market for the fur?

.

Hey Danny, no I don't get paid to trap them. However I believe the government employees some trappers. The fur is worth $75 - $120 NZD per kilo, there isn't much of a market for the pelts. Harvesting fur from possums in NZ is probably a bit different to what is typically done around the world. Once the possum is trapped and dispatched the fur is then plucked from it, this must be done with a few minutes of it being dispatched otherwise it becomes near impossible to pluck!

From what I understand anyone is free to trap in NZ, no licence is required or anything. As with most places there are regulations in regards to trap sizes etc.

The possum fur market is worth about $120million per year here. The government has a goal to be predator free (this includes possums, mustelids, rats etc) by 2050. Which is fairly ambitious I'd say considering there is an estimated 30 million possums in NZ alone, of which only an estimated 1.2million are harvested each year!

What you say about dogs killing sheep is correct. Once a dog (feral or domestic) has a taste for sheep they cannot help themselves and go on a rampage worrying and killing sheep. Dogs that do this are usually put down as they cannot be trained out of it and are a huge risk to the livestock.

Question of plucking the fur. Is the whole critter plucked, or is there a difference between back and belly fur? What is it used for besides dubbing for fly tying?

They are quite different looking than what we get!! How big do these grow to?

Adults average around 10 lbs and are 2 to 2 1/2 feet long.

Yes the entire critter is plucked aside from the tail. There is often a colour difference between the back and belly fur (see image, these are couple I'm tanning myself) but fur buyers don't typically worry too much about this.

Its used alot for clothing and is often blended with merino (sheep) wool.

Interesting, similar size to what we get down here.

Thanks Allan. Sure is interesting to see how everyone else traps.