Its simple. You buy the cheapest .22 caliber semi auto rifle thats worth a damn, a Savage Model 64. Then you buy a box or two of CCI Stinger hyper-velocity 22 LR rounds. Take them home and practice and set your iron sights to be dead on at 15 yards or less… you wll need to adjust the rear sight all the way down (have the dovetail sititng on the last ”step” of the elevation blade towards you.. this will set your rounds for very close range shots. If your shot pattern is too far left then move the front sight to the right. adjust both until you are placing rounds in a half dollar size circle consistently at 20 yards. Watch for him at night until you identify the path he takes through your property. He will always follow the same pattern… once you found it set up in a line of fire away from anything that your common sense tells you wont hit someone or something if you miss… but you wont. Not at that range and not with the practice youve had. I suggest attaching a small ”tactical light” or securing a small bright flashlight with easy on/off button not a twist on/off type to the lower left hand side of the barrel.. at about your 7 o clock. far enough forward on the barrel as to not block out front sight visibility in the barrell shadow. remain quiet and still until you see him. He will normally keep to the same schedule so if you can figure that out then get to your ambush spot a half hour earlier. When he appears slowly slowly raise rifle and set your shot up. control your breathing. pop your light on, make a small tisk tisk sound and he will freeze and look right into the light and wont move until he can figure out what that blinding light is. He wont see you behind the light. Aim for the neck. if your shot goes a little high its a headshot, a little low… the vitals, lungs, heart. If your dead on and hit him in the neck… same result as either one of the other shots… dead. a hyper velocity round with a hollowpoint lead nose will hit him like a freight train at that range. It will mushroom upon entry and dump its kinetic energy into him. Thats the importance of hollowpoint rounds. a regular 22 LR round will also kill in any of the three hit zones before mentioned… the problem is a 22 round is a penetrator by nature… like a laser it will punch all the way straight through and come out the other side still retaining its shape, mass, and a lot of its energy if you dont hit in the exact right spot ie heart, lungs, neck, brain. anywhere else and hes taking off like you never hit him and unless you hit an artery hes not gonna bleed out from the tiny entry and exit wound. He may die eventually.. maybe… in a bad way. You dont deserve to take the shot if you arent confident you can make the kill quick and clean. If he bolts after you shoot dont freak out… only shot you are gonna get that will drop him instantly is a brain shot. the neck and vitals are guaranteed death within 30 seconds.

Thanks Dee, that's what I meant. I thinks logs or some sort of edging, seem to finish off a garden bed nicely. We are slowly edging our beds but as they are so long we are having trouble finding enough logs. I don't want to buy timber as we want a more natural look. As for the plants growing faster, I think the logs help stop water and mulch running off. No doubt you will get termites though. If I see any around I chuck the logs into the chook pen and let the chooks have a feed then get rid of the logs. They are all part of the natural process and as long as they're not near your house and you keep your eyes open you shouldn't have a problem

Chris I'd let nature take its course without tampering too much. In theory that's what the wells are there for - to collect litter, dirt and dead insects for nutrients. I would not be chucking raw organic material on mine but can't see that a bit of possum poo would be too harmful. Still, I don;t expect it's ever been tested. We will see as our baby re-emerged from the bush land last night into the trees above my broms.

Yeah, I heard that cat poo can have a very toxic effect on pregnant women, though I can't remember the name of the pathogen involved. This info would be enough to make me quite cautious, and vigilant in trying to get the creature to change its habits. In terms of our co-evolution with felines etc, we have probably altered any natural immunity to many pathogens by our use of antibiotics and improved (obsessive?) hygiene. mudlark