Catch and release...Cats!!!??

[thecfarm]

Good question about a wood chuck eating grubs. I have no idea. BUT I do know a wood chuck will not go too far from it's hole or a place to run,hide. We mow the fields like a lawn now,when ever it needs it. No more woodchucks in the fields. Now they are in the woods and the stone walls.

[Al_Smith]

The usual culprit of digging in the yard is squirrels .I doubt seriously if a ground hog is the perpitrater nor a cat for that matter .Let the grass grow a tad bit longer than normal and you'll never see them .

[isawlogs]

 Here it sure aint the cats that dig up the lawn, it is  a small rodent like a mouse with a long nose ... they burrow under the lawn just at the root height and make tunnels you can easily follow, the cats hunt these with a passion. ;)
  In the fields you can see the fox hunt for them also ( the rodent not the cats )

[Chuck White]

Meadow Moles, and Star Nosed Moles!

They don't root up the ground like a skunk will, but they tunnel just under the grass and the dirt gets pushed up to the top.

Moles are harder to get rid of than skunks!

[Magicman]

You had better hope that you never get armadillos.   :-\

[martyinmi]

I caught this cat(first two pictures) this morning. After spraying it with the garden hose for a few seconds I let it go and it made a B-line for home. Now mind you this was the 4th(fourth) time I've caught this cat!
I got home from work about a half hour ago and guess what....catch number FIVE! The dumb thing was purring up a storm, all dried up and fluffy and just wanting love. I couldn't bring myself to hit it with the garden hose again, so I just took the cat, trap and all, and set it on it's owners picnic table.
It is to me one of Gods dumbest creatures, but it is also one of those creatures that are just so incredibly stupid that you can't help but like them :-[  I have a few humans in my life that fit that bill also
Man, I'm getting soft!


  

  


Here is a picture of my wife's cat with the new sign I just received in the mail from Busy Beaver Lumber. I love the sign. I'm not so sure that Scamper the cat appreciates it's not so subliminal message! :D

[Chuck White]

Marty; Did you put your name on the boxtrap?

You've returned that cat to his home enough times now, it's only right that the cat owner returns your trap once in a while!   ;D

[red oaks lumber]

stop baiting! if theres no food they will move on. far as the grubs they sell fertilizer that has a grub  killer in it.that too will get rid of the digging. put the trap away.

[petefrom bearswamp]

cats cats cats, what can I say, my loves our 2 and I am ambivalent as they are a pain to me and a "child" to my missus.
Skunks visit every summer. I trap them in my Havahart and take them to my pond for scuba lessons which they fail every time. 

[Al_Smith]

Marty you'd just as well leave the cat alone .It's a cat you can't make it do anything. Cats will be cats that's all there is to that story .

[woodandtractors]

Marty-That cat has got you trained to feed and bathe it!
Mike

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Glad you like the sign Marti. Thank you for the business.

We are coming up with a bunch of new designs all the times.

Fred

[WmFritz]

Marty-That cat has got you trained to feed and bathe it!
Mike

:D :D :D

[Peter Drouin]

Marty-That cat has got you trained to feed and bathe it!
Mike

One smart cat :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[martyinmi]

One smart cat :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

As well as a very pathetic trapper! :-[

Perhaps if I'd try to capture the cats I might actually catch the DanG skunks? 8)

[beenthere]

You might try a mess of earthworms or nightcrawlers as bait. Doubt the cats would be interested in that, and I suspect skunks are not keen on sardines (as you are finding out )

Or some grubs ??

[NWP]

I finally read through this entire thread and at times had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard.

I use those same air horns on the telemarket callers when they try to sell me something over the phone. >:(

We do this exact same thing.  My boys think it's the funniest thing ever.

[BaldBob]

I have 2 stock responses to telemarketers that work very well.
After asking them to repeat what company they are with, I either say:
1. "Well its about time you folks called me back. Where's the $600 you owe me? "  or
2." My attorneys have advised me not to talk with you folks until our litigation is settled."
Either one causes them to immediately hang up or leaves them sputtering.

[scgargoyle]

When I was a kid, I baited a trap with apples, and used to catch our cat all the time. She didn't eat apples; she was just curious about the trap, I guess.

[thecfarm]

Curious about the trap.  ;D   That reminded me of the trappings going on at work. They was having wood chunks problems. One of the guys put a trap out with no bait. In they would go. He caught quite a few that way.

[Randy88]

I read this whole thread, never laughed so hard in my life, we had the same problem and the culprit was possums, I have no idea how many we've trapped over the years, we blamed the problem on cats too, but turned out they weren't the culprit at all.   

Now how to solve your problem, let the government do it for you, around me we have a protected bird called the bald eagle that's making a comeback and apparently they really like cats, was wonding if anyone had issues with eagles eating cats, or should we teach eagles to respect private property too.

To degrub or deworm your backyard, use an electric worm rod and that should do the job, works great on stray cats too when you water the yard and all you have to do is plug it into an outlet, quite a show, seems cats are really sensative to electricity, but it won't kill them or cause long term damage either, but they tend to not come back either.   

If some are having problems with cats, don't you have dog, ours uses cats for sport, especially strays and I'm not sure if I should retrain the dog to be kinder or strays to avoid the dog, somewhat perplexed on that issue myself. 

[Roxie]

Cowboy Bob just told me this past week, that a farmer friend of his had an eagle grab a barn cat and then drop it into the field.  Poor kitty survived, but the vet had to give it stitches where the talons pierced it's back. 

We used to have a white cat that would lay on the rug by the sliding door.  We were drinking coffee sitting at the table when a red shouldered hawk slammed into the glass door trying to get the cat.  The hawk hit the door so hard, it left a schmear.  It was a toss up who was more shocked, the hawk, the cat, or us.  :D

[clww]

 :D :D :D

[Randy88]

Anyone who's against animal control or think to control the population is somehow cruel has never had small kids in their own yard when a rabies outbreak has taken place in strays, especially skunks.  We used to have a lab dog when the kids were little that took pretty good care of all the kids looking over and out for them, he had all his shots but two rabid skunks went at him one afternoon just moments after the kids came in for dinner.   I had to shoot one of them that had him by the throat and another off his belly that was latched onto him there, he recovered but it took a long time, we had to pen him up for a while during his recovery though just to be on the safe side.   

We had the dnr involved on another incendent where the raccoons were so bad, one big old male raccoon took after my middle son and tore his face up pretty badly while he was doing chores, feeding cattle by throwing hay down and was attacked in the barn that time, the dnr trapped and shot about 3-4 dozen that time out of the buildings.    My son at the time had to have stitches in his face over the ordeal and luckily the claw marks missed his eye's by just a fraction of an inch.   Some were tested and came back with no rabies but had other problems, when push came to shove from the dnr officials and my wife, my son underwent rabies shots, something nobody who's ever done it will ever forget no matter how long they live.   

We had at that time standing orders from the dnr official to shoot anything stray on site, and call later, when it came to kids and their safety even the dnr was on our side, they were very good about it and even provided traps and help to us.   Incidentally when an animal attack happens and medical attention is required by the victim, the dnr are notified immediately by the medical staff and they take action, I was very impressed at the time what help and response we had from them.    The dnr took care of the whole problem in weeks and checked back for years afterward to make sure it didn't happen again.   And no they didn't practice catch and release on that ordeal, and I wasn't supposed to either.   

[LeeB]

I just shot a feral hog this afternoon that chased one of my neighbor's kids. Dadburn thing had no fear whatsoever.