Hunting squirrels with CATS

[Cat Whisperer]

As strange as this sounds, I know that I'm not the only one who does it.

A friend of mine, who lives on a farm in central Iowa, will take his cat out to the wooded area 1/4 mile from the house and hunt squirrels.  His technique is natural - he lets the cat loose.  The squirrels see the cat and start scolding - at their expense as he carries a Marlin lever action .22 .

I do it differently because I live in town.  I've done this for over 15 years with several of my cats.  It started quite by accident back in Iowa (I live in Virginia now).  I was walking behind the house where there were many tall oak trees and many more fine fat squirrels.  I came up behind one of my cats - Slinky.  He wasn't moving an inch - faced off with a squirrel some 10 feet in front of him.  The squirrel wasn't moving an inch either - Mexican standoff.

So I spoke to Slinky.  No movement, but he knew who was behind him.  I walked slowly, quietly five feet to the right, then ten feet to the right.  I then moved forward slowly - the squirrel was watching Slinky.  I moved forward some more - off to the right but now getting even with the squirrel.  I had become a threat to the squirrel because if I went forward more I would be behind him.  The squirrel turned his head to see what I was doing - breaking eye contact with Slinky.  Slinky took the opportunity to charge - racing straight at the squirrel.  Almost got him!  Off they raced.

It's not something that can be planned but when it happens it's great fun for both man and cat.

[olter]

Now thats interesting . From observing my wife's cats not all cat critters are up to the job .

[Dogshooter]

Sounds like fun to me. After you shoot all of the squirrels that come out to look at the cat, you shoot the cat too. I'd call that a well rounded hunting experience.

[hiddenhunter]

I always said a good cat is a dead one but not anymore. I have always lived on a farm with cats didnt care for them much until they were gone. In one summer the place was over run by mice and red tree rats. I picked up to kittens and no more varmits. They would tree the reds  and I would hear the chatter and shoot them. Cats have there place outside.

[Catfish369]

I once lived next to an old overgrown woodlot with huge pecan trees on it.  There were always squirrels on it, so one day I decided to take the .22 out and look around.  Well, we had an cat that we would feed from time-to-time and he decided to follow me.  

I went out next to the lot and just sat down in a lounge-chair and started looking.  The cat just sat next to me, wanting attention so I scratched it behind it's ears while I looked around.  It wasn't long until I spotted a squirrel or 2 in the barren tree tops (late Fall) and raised my .22 for a shot.  Right as I took the shot I noticed the cat run away from me....I thought he was leaving because of the sound of the shot, but instead he ran into the woods, out of sight.  As I quickly stood up, I heard the sound of the squirrel falling through the bushes and hit the ground.  This lot was very neglected and overgrown and the underbrush was very thick.  As I made my way through the bamboo and briers towards where I thought the squirrel had dropped, I noticed the cat just sitting there, his back towards me and his tail dancing around.  His tail was what first got my attention.  As I got closer, I found him sitting directly beside the dead squirrel.  I picked up the squirrel and petted the cat, telling him "Good Boy" and returned to the chair for another wait.  The cat followed.

This same thing happened twice more that day and on many other days as well.  Was the weirdest thing I had ever experienced while squirrel hunting and is still a very humorous and enjoyable memory.

I moved away from that house and left the cat behind, as he was never really mine to begin with, but he'll always be a "Huntin' Buddy" of mine.

[World Wide Hunter]

I know yall might find me weird for saying this but Falconers have Raptors. I am trying to train my cat to hunt hehe I breed mice for my corn snakes and his doing pretty good with them. Going in for the fast kill and his even starting to bring them to me! Now we just need to move to bigger game maybe some rats?

[bgjohn]

Sounds like fun to me. After you shoot all of the squirrels that come out to look at the cat, you shoot the cat too. I'd call that a well rounded hunting experience.

  Do you shoot dogs too? :roll:
JM

[6-24x42]

They have a DNR hearing in WI tonight to leagalize the shooting of stray cats. I will keep you updated if you are that interested. :?

[King Catfish]

I know yall might find me weird for saying this but Falconers have Raptors.

Not weird at all. I am a falconer here in PA. I use a big red-tailed hen for squirrel hunting. Absolutely best way to kill squirrels, hands down, no question.

I used to have a huge hen red-tailed hawk named Tilla that would take every cottontail she saw and rarely missed, but her love and talent was murdering squirrels. She would chase them up the tree until they got to the top and bailed, then she would either bind to them in th air or shortly after they hit the ground. My job would be to stay under the squirrel so it did not run straight to the ground (which puts the hawk at a disadvantage). Tilla took 43 head of game the season I flew her (2003). I released her back to the wild to make more squirrel killers.

Limit is 6 per day and for falconers, squirrel season is Sep 1st-Mar 30th, every day but Sundays. I like to shoot squirrels, but hawking for them is much more fun.

If you're interested in falconry, take a look at the November Archives of my blog, http://featherjournal.blogspot.com.

[Cat Whisperer]

What a hoot - hunting with falcons!

Here's a squirrel that Peaches got by herself (note that she's a small pure-bred Persian declawed on the front), also small squirrel.

[/url]

[/url]


I don't mind the squirrels getting the walnuts, but MY chestnut trees are off-limits!  Peaches now spends most of her day just waiting for the next squirrel.