Lined up possum carcasses on the floor of a Waitanguru woolshed.
Waitanguru’s community blasted 1269 possums out of existence on Sunday, after a family hunting day went gangbusters.
“We didn’t think many people would be interested. But the turnout was huge. Way more than we thought,” local farmer Lance Petersen said.
A recent explosion in the number of the Australian pests is believed to result from several good seasons in a row.
“Everyone was moaning about how many possums we had around the area.”
A month ago, Waitanguru stalwarts decided to do something about it – soon, with organisers including Dayna Holmes and Mark Fagan planning a hunting extravaganza.
“They worked real hard,” Lance said.
The event drew 18 creatively named teams such as the Slayers, No Plucks Given, Meet the Pluckers and the Mother Pluckers.
Team Two Moons, the winners, terminated 267 possums, followed by Pungarehu Poachers who took out 235.
It was fun for young and old.
“We cooked on the BBQ; everyone was in good spirits. We had nice weather, and a lot of positive people out there [having] fun. It was good to see a lot of families getting out there with their kids,” Lance said.
On social media, Waitanguru-ites also thanked the hall committee – especially Dayna – for “spoiling” the kids with goodie bags and other prizes.
“The kids were so lucky.”
Dayna and Mark had organised sponsorship for the children’s events, which included a possum throw and a “possum run” obstacle course.
Jake Peterson won the latter with a time of 25.57 seconds in the 10-15 years; Eva Simpson won the 5-9 years with 49.87 seconds, while Penny Youngman won the under 5s with 138.2 seconds.
“Every kid that entered got one,” Lance said.
“We made no money. Everything went back into prizes, because it was just community fun.”
The Waitanguru Hall Committee hopes the possum hunt will become an annual event.
