Just started setting traps over the past two days. All pee posts targeting coyote, fox, maybe coon. Just set yesterday, one of the posts is knocked over and I follow the drag trail to this. A young male bobcat up in a tree. Our bobcat season starts in two days, so he must be released. I don't think I would keep him anyhow, as he is small. As I approached him with the catch pole, he went higher up. Should I call the fire department? Anyone ever read the kid book "Cat Up a Tree"? That is how I feel, because I do not know how to get this animal down without it getting hurt, or me getting hurt.
All useful suggestions welcome. First sarcastic commenter gets drafted into helping out, like climbing the ladder to reach kitty kitty.
Thanks, men. Sorry photo is sideways, but that is how I feel about this situation, sideways
PA

Those back foot catches are the ones I've had problems with on cats also. If he stays in that position, if you can get a loop on each lever you should be able pull down and release the trap. You can use a long pole with a fork on the end to place the loops on the levers. How high up is he?

I would call the fire department. You should do the work. I would be afraid of the cat jumping out of the tree and the trap getting tangled on a limb. Also maybe animal control could help.

Is it your property cut the tree down

I’ve never been in that situation and I wish you the best. I would leave him there till Saturday lol-no I wouldn’t but I am interested to hear the solution to this predicament.

If you can reach him, Put the catch pole on him and get him down. They are pretty resilient. If you catch him around the neck, you need to act fast, as they go out quick, and you can lose them if you dawdle. Another person would help, one to catch and control the cat, and one to take the trap off as soon as you can safly do it. Take him a short distance from where you are and take the noose off, and make sure he is breathing. If not, blow air into it's lungs. I do that by grabing the snout, and making a ring around his nose with your thumb and forfinger, put your lips against the thumb and forefinger, and a good puff from you will make his ribs rise. May need to do a couple of times. I've done this many times, turning cats loose. Time is of the essence!

Call your regional PGC office and see if they have anybody available to help.

Thanks guys. I have a text into our game warden, who is swamped with deer season violations paperwork. I asked him for a deputy or cadet to help. It is my tree, so I can cut it down, and I guess that might end up being the solution. To be continued, that is for sure

+1

No help from me, but great full pad catch in that 550!

I wouldn't waste the time and I would anchor the end of the chain to something and drop the tree.

There is one fear of drags comfirmed

Lots of unknowns but the best option IMO would be to get him back down close enough to the ground to use a catch pole. Can you reach the drag from the ground? Add an extension of some kind to the drag if needed and try to pull or use a pole to coax him down. I would definitely try to get the drag anchored so he could not take off if he decided to come down. Throw a chunk of meat under the tree and leave for a while. Watch with binos, he may come down on his own and get tangled where you can get to him.

I just realized your image was sideways when I looked at the horizen instead of focusing on the bobcat.



Like 160user said, anchor the drag, wire it to the tree then cut the tree down.

Let us know how it goes.

Yep my first thought was cut the tree down

Good luck

Never been in that situation with a cat. Me personally I would anchor the drag and since the cat is vertical with a back foot catch I would climb slowly and reach to release the jaws. I would also try to keep a branch or 3 between me and jaws just in case it decides to jump.

This Isn't good PR you should keep this deal as quite as possible.

Asking for advice to RELEASE an uninjured animal is bad PR? Funny, Jackpine Savage posted a picture nearly identical of a cat in a tree and no one said BOO.

I wouldn't cut the tree Just see if you can get close enough to pull the levers on the trap . Remember you are just trying to get the trap off. Don't worry about getting him down. I think he will be too worried about hanging on to bother swatting you. Most advice is focused on getting him down when it should be getting the trap off !!!!!!!!!

Ladder to reach him , leather gloves in case he gets aggressive !!!! open levers cat released !!

X2

this
Is that a power line in the way too?

That tree isn't sturdy enough for me to climb.

The power line looks like it’s out of the way, probably a 500kv transmission line.

Can u get a couple buddies with ladders (2) wire off drag, catch pole the head, release jaws? 2 ladders and a couple buddies would go a long way. Wire him off so he dont keep going up. Wire cutters in case he jumps too.

I would do the same as jbyrd if I was in that situation

Grab the end of the drag with a pike pole and pull him out of the tree.

Ol Wildcat Lynch would just wrassle him down and put a collar on him. Was that a wise guy comment? I can never tell...
I agree that all you gotta do is find a way to pull down on the levers and he'll release himself.

reach up and let him go,..quick like a bunny.

Just never know what a day will bring! Hope it turned out ok for all.

get out the hockey pads & helmet and have some fun with a ladder. make darn sure you film it for us

Savell would just slap tame the kitty

Thank you to everyone for the positive and humorous advice. The situation turned out well. All of the tree cutters here were correct, and it is what we had to do in the end (cut down the tree), after trying every other option. Two big problems we faced were a defensive animal capable of inflicting real damage, and pushing the situation hard enough to injure the animal. After we spent half an hour disentangling the grapple and chain, and catching him and then losing him from the catch pole, the bobcat climbed up as high as he could go. Way out of reach. There was no way either of us was going to climb up there and get into reach of his claws. Every time we had tried to get up to him, the cat would become alarmed and stress out his leg, which would lead to an injury, or he would jump down and confront us. So we cut down the tree, cut away all of the intervening branches in the midst of a briar patch, used the catch pole to anchor him on the ground (loop through armpit and around neck and shoulder), put the blanket over him, and released him. I have photos of all of it except the blanket and release. That is because my wife refused to record "two idiot men playing with matches," is how she put it, I think. So it was just me and the Game Warden. What a great guy.
Photos forthcoming.
PA
p.s. to me, this is instructive material. The animal was released unharmed to the satisfaction of the state Game Warden, who actually inspected it carefully while it was in the trap and anchored on the ground, and again after we released it. He felt fine about letting it go, and he was firm that had he thought it was injured, he would have euthanized it. I released the trap, and both Scott and I peered carefully to look at the leg where the trap had it; the skin was not broken and there was no blood. There was no blood on the trap, which is an offset MB550, pretty much everything I use now. I will say this is the most difficult release I have done, and I hope to not have to do it again.
p.p.s. grapples have an important role in trapping. They are very useful for catching animals along roadsides, where you would never want to anchor an animal, allowing the critter to move off into the brush and out of human sight.

THANK YOU, Lugnut, for editing the photo. That is really helpful

That turned out great. I'm glad you got a warden to show up and the cat was released uninjured, great write-up! Looking forward to pics.

LOL!

Your from central PA, God's Country. I'm assuming that means Potter County? Was it Warden Bill Ragasta that showed up?

Potter County lays claim to be God's Country, and my camp is a stone's throw from that sign on Rt 44 and it is spectacular country for sure, but to me our entire Central PA region is God's Country. As a region, it is the most, or one of the most, politically and culturally conservative areas in America. Which for me is A+. I am proud of that fact. Specifically this event today is in Dauphin County.
Game Warden is Scott Frederick, a super guy and one of the "new" wardens in terms of being positive, friendly, etc. I was lucky to get him yes, but he happened to be exiting a violation hearing about three miles away when I called.

agreed,i aint leavin

If you're not fast, catch pole would come in handy to keep it from lunging towards ya and assisting it to the ground to do ya biz. Call the fire department!

I agree with you. My camp is on the other side of the County, in the northwest corner near the NY state line.

struggling with the photos here, sorry for the delay. They are almost all over the 2.2 MB limit, and I do not know how to save a new copy as a smaller file. I am trying, though

Open with Paint......Resize......then Save As

I typically use the original file name and add -1 at the end. That way, I still have the original and the resized pic and I know which is which by the -1 at the end of the name.

I am trying to follow your guidance, QBD, and how do I resize the file? Thank you

And I am using the "Resize" button, but the file remains the same 3.3MB as it was before. Or so it says

Try opening them in Windows Live, go to gallery, right click and choose resize-medium.

After this there are no more photos. Scott held the cat down properly and I put a heavy wool blanket over it, twice, because it knocked it off the first time. Second time the cat quieted down and I was able to grab the trap and release it. The whole time we were studying its leg. Then Scott loosened the loop, I pulled off the blanket and stepped back, he popped the loop off and over its head, and as usual, the cat sat there staring at us, hissing. A few gentle prods with the pole and it went into the brush. We watched it carefully to make sure it was not injured.
Let's not do that again

As you can see, I finally figured out your directions. The booger was that my computer maintained the original size (3.3MB), whereas the file was significantly smaller. Anyhow, you helped a lot, QBD, thank you. And thanks to you, Lugnut, for stepping in again.
I can do this, I really really can

Looks like you got it done anyway.

After you click on Resize, you have to change the value in Horizontal or vertical box to something less than 100 and then Save As

Thank you. I finally did figure that out. I never claimed to be smart! Really appreciate your help, QBD

Awesome pics, you had quite an adventure today. I’m glad it all worked out.

Thanks, Lugnut! As you well know, our bobcat season begins in two days. I started setting traps yesterday, and just putting in pee posts, that's it, thinking that I'd get coyotes, fox, and maybe coon. Possums have showed up in my pee post sets in the past, so it stands to reason that a bobcat could, too. But t.h.i.s. c.l.o.s.e. to the season is tough to take, because this will probably be the only cat I catch all season. Oh sure, I saw bobcats during bear and deer seasons. Of course! But Murphy's Law is likely to step in here. Other irksome thing about this is the first set was perfect. So perfect for a coyote. I used dry field grass for bedding, and dry crisp golden rod tops and leaves for the cover. It was so perfectly blended....now, who knows how it will perform.
Anyhow, you are right, it was an adventure, and I learned something new.

Lugnut: "I agree with you. My camp is on the other side of the County, in the northwest corner near the NY state line."


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Lugnut, your camp is in a very special, quiet corner of the world. Member here PCR is up there too, I think. A real good place to live, or to retire when you can. Not too many other places I would want to be. Maybe Alaska. PA still has a high freedom index (guns, trapping, hunting, etc.), which is why I strongly support the PGC; that one agency is one of the very few left in the nation that will send a uniformed officer with a badge and gun to stand in front of a class of young students and, among other related things, explain how they have second amendment rights. Gotta hold on to PGC

Glad it worked out. THanks for sharing your day with us

Thank you! That set was perfect. I will probably never be able to replicate it

I couldn't agree with you more about everything you've said.

PCR's place isn't very far from my camp and I do have plans to retire up there, or at least spend much more time up there in the next few years.

Yes, we can't let the state legislature continue to financially strangle the PGC and turn almost 1.5 million acres of SGL's into bike trails for spandex wearing yuppies!

Lugnut, your camp is in a very special, quiet corner of the world. Member here PCR is up there too, I think. A real good place to live, or to retire when you can. Not too many other places I would want to be. Maybe Alaska. PA still has a high freedom index (guns, trapping, hunting, etc.), which is why I strongly support the PGC; that one agency is one of the very few left in the nation that will send a uniformed officer with a badge and gun to stand in front of a class of young students and, among other related things, explain how they have second amendment rights. Gotta hold on to PGC

[/quote]
I couldn't agree with you more about everything you've said.

PCR's place isn't very far from my camp and I do have plans to retire up there, or at least spend much more time up there in the next few years.

Yes, we can't let the state legislature continue to financially strangle the PGC and turn almost 1.5 million acres of SGL's into bike trails for spandex wearing yuppies![/quote]

Amen, Lugnut, well said. Exactly

Cool photos and story, I'm glad it worked out.

Somebody ought to invent a device with some sharp cutting teeth on it that would make it easier to cut that tree down.

Not too many beavers around here, though a pet beaver would be neat. "Sic that tree, Beav!"
I chose not to use a chainsaw for several reasons that seemed self evident, and the warden concurred. I can explain them, if anyone wants to know

had several cats do that over the years on drags or cable extensions. Had a buddy show me how he was going to handle one of these cat situations a few years back in Kansas.

I fell down laughing so hard. I got a couple of photos before it got interesting. He snared it with a pole all right then the tug of war began. That cat didn't want to come down. All of a sudden I see this stream of yellow come down all in my buddy's face and shoulders from this big cat.

Oh my gosh that was priceless, you just had to have been there to see it all unfold. LOL Needless to say his lunch tasted funny that day.

I agree about the chainsaw. I would have thought the Warden or you would have had a small hand saw. Would have kept the cat calmer than pounding on it with an axe. I keep a folding Gerber along with me. Comes in handy for cutting poles or guide sticks and whatnot.

Bob, I'll have to ask Mick about that!

Wish I was closer, I would have tackled that job just for fun! Three thingsm you have to. watch out for, teeth, claws, and pee! lol

We thought about that, too, believe me, and the axe gave us a lot of advantages for moving the cat, lopping branches where the chain got hung up, lifting and pulling things that a saw could not do. Just two guys with four hands, so we had to improvise and make choices with trade offs. One thing mentioned above is the animal going potty during this event. Let me tell you, it is stinky stuff and staying as far away from it as possible is a real pleasure. I have only previously encountered dry or mostly dry bobcat doody, but this was the real fresh stuff, and it stank horribly, and got everywhere, as well as the urine. So the axe was a good tool to have on hand for a bunch of things, and it did not seem to bother the cat much. I'd like to see how the next guy handles his cat up a tree. Surely there are different ways too skin that cat. For us, it all worked out right. The critter was uninjured and the humans maintained their dignity.

22 will get him outta that tree

I knew that tree wasn't big enough to climb, but it was only half as big as I thought. Good job, with both the cat and the pictures. Like Lee said I wished I was closer, I might not have tackled it just for fun but I sure would have made a good spectator. The fire department might have a boom truck for getting kittens out of trees, need to check that out before this happens again.

Is that scrubbrush what you call a tree in Gods country,lol.You could whack that down with a Sandvik.

So did you remake the set?

Heck yeah! Nothin in it yet since then, daggonit. That trap had been there about twelve hours when the cat hit it. That spot has produced coyotes and now one cat, so it should produce again. But come Monday I am moving to a new spot, and it is raining raining raining, so it is tough to imagine much happening until I come back in January.

Boco: "Is that scrubbrush what you call a tree in Gods country,lol.You could whack that down with a Sandvik." It is a tree nevertheless, and a tough one at that, a thorny honey locust. Only about five inches in diameter and twenty feet high, but tough as iron and no fun to handle. They grow to about twelve inches in diameter and make lifetime fence post material. Right up the hill from this spot we clearcut twelve acres eight years ago and the trees were 185 to 195 years old, most in the 48" to 56" diameter range. Oaks and poplars. Those definitely qualify as trees, and a bobcat up in one of those is just gonna have to stay there.

Ryan: "22 will get him outta that tree," is factually true, but because the bobcat season started today and not two days ago, getting him out of the tree with a .22 would have earned me some time away from hunting and trapping and a lighter wallet. I told the warden that had it been Friday, I would have just left it up there and gotten it at midnight. But two days up in that tree would have been too long. And not legal by any measure.