Did you ever watch Wild Kingdom when you were a kid? Marlon Perkins and Jim were always catching tigers or some sort of critter and used a long handled pole with a noose on the end, thats where the idea came from.
Back in '87 the Wife and Daughter and I lived in a trailer outside of Keystone SD on a ranch owned by a 97 year old man who we were supposed to sort of watch and keep out of trouble. He was full of old stories and very sharp. His family would not put him in a nursing home, because he wouldn't go. He lost his driving license, but since he built all the roads out there with a team of mules back in the 40's, he said the hell with it and drove anyway. He was a sheep rancher, and hated coyotes, I was a trapper, so we got along just fine. He let me use some old govt issue malleable jaw #4's that had a 6' chain, though I prefer snares, I did use them for a few sets. The daughter was 7 years old and always went with me to check traps early in the morning. I had a nice blind set made on the edge of a water hole down in the school section, so when we went down there to check it, instead of a coyote, there was this big bobcat sitting there. Just sitting there all relaxed and cool, glaring and lowly growling not like he was mad or hurt, just like he was wondering who did this, and maybe they needed their butt kicked or something. It was 2 days before the season opened, and I had a couple of options, #1, kill the cat and turn it in to the GW. #2, kill the cat and put it in the freezer for a couple of days until the season opened, or #3, let it go and try to catch it again later. #1 was of no profit, #2 was illegal, so I decided to let it go. We went back home and got the Wife and a friend of mine and an old salmon fishing rod made by St. Croix I had from the salmon snagging days in the 70's in Michigan. It was as stiff as a fence post, so I figured it would work, wrong! I ran a snare wire through the guides and fashioned a loop on the outboard end, and tied a screwdriver for a handle on the inboard. We all went back down there and the wife was taking pictures which I cant find right now. I got up to the cat and popped the loop around its neck, with little fanfare, just as Marlon and Jim had done, my buddy got in there and depressed the double long springs of the trap and the cat was free! Thats when the fun began! Once free of the trap, the cat went absolutely crazy, jumping and screaming and trying to get to me! The rod was doubled over and so strong it would sort of pole vault me up and out of the way as we tumbled and thrashed around. Everybody else was watching the battle from the safety of the pickup cab. I figured I should give the cat some slack so he could run off, but when I let go of the screwdriver, it caught on the rod eye, and ripped them all off except for the last one, so now the cat had six feet of cable and was still trying to get to me! on one particularly close pass, that I once again successfully dodged, it looked like he wanted to go straight away, so I let go of the entire coccamamie capture ensemble and let him run off with my fishing pole, good thing too, he took off and climbed a nearby scrubby pine tree still wearing the noose and dragging the rod. After checking myself over for damage, both externally and of a potentially embarassing sort, It was determined I was not leaking any life threatening amounts of fluid, so we all went over there and I had my friend climb the tree and pull the cat down, I was too shaky at that moment to hardly walk, my knees had come unhinged from the loss of adrenalin, and the previous acrobatics. He was so excited about the fight, he wanted in. With a mighty tug on the end of the rod, down came the cat. Then, I got my Wifes coat, and threw it over the cat and pounced on him and held him down while my buddy took the noose off its neck. We counted to three, and sort of gave him a fling, he landed on his feet of course and just stood there glaring at us, trying to decide to attack or flee I suppose. Then, he just slowly turned and wandered off. I never did catch him later, he was a nice big cat, well marked, worth 250 at the time...but the story is worth more to us. I still have that St Croix rod out in the garage, just in case I get stupid in the future, I dont think it has helped much in this regard, but its there as a silent reminder to try to think things out a little, and that not everything you see on TV is a good idea. Mud
Back in '87 the Wife and Daughter and I lived in a trailer outside of Keystone SD on a ranch owned by a 97 year old man who we were supposed to sort of watch and keep out of trouble. He was full of old stories and very sharp. His family would not put him in a nursing home, because he wouldn't go. He lost his driving license, but since he built all the roads out there with a team of mules back in the 40's, he said the hell with it and drove anyway. He was a sheep rancher, and hated coyotes, I was a trapper, so we got along just fine. He let me use some old govt issue malleable jaw #4's that had a 6' chain, though I prefer snares, I did use them for a few sets. The daughter was 7 years old and always went with me to check traps early in the morning. I had a nice blind set made on the edge of a water hole down in the school section, so when we went down there to check it, instead of a coyote, there was this big bobcat sitting there. Just sitting there all relaxed and cool, glaring and lowly growling not like he was mad or hurt, just like he was wondering who did this, and maybe they needed their butt kicked or something. It was 2 days before the season opened, and I had a couple of options, #1, kill the cat and turn it in to the GW. #2, kill the cat and put it in the freezer for a couple of days until the season opened, or #3, let it go and try to catch it again later. #1 was of no profit, #2 was illegal, so I decided to let it go. We went back home and got the Wife and a friend of mine and an old salmon fishing rod made by St. Croix I had from the salmon snagging days in the 70's in Michigan. It was as stiff as a fence post, so I figured it would work, wrong! I ran a snare wire through the guides and fashioned a loop on the outboard end, and tied a screwdriver for a handle on the inboard. We all went back down there and the wife was taking pictures which I cant find right now. I got up to the cat and popped the loop around its neck, with little fanfare, just as Marlon and Jim had done, my buddy got in there and depressed the double long springs of the trap and the cat was free! Thats when the fun began! Once free of the trap, the cat went absolutely crazy, jumping and screaming and trying to get to me! The rod was doubled over and so strong it would sort of pole vault me up and out of the way as we tumbled and thrashed around. Everybody else was watching the battle from the safety of the pickup cab. I figured I should give the cat some slack so he could run off, but when I let go of the screwdriver, it caught on the rod eye, and ripped them all off except for the last one, so now the cat had six feet of cable and was still trying to get to me! on one particularly close pass, that I once again successfully dodged, it looked like he wanted to go straight away, so I let go of the entire coccamamie capture ensemble and let him run off with my fishing pole, good thing too, he took off and climbed a nearby scrubby pine tree still wearing the noose and dragging the rod. After checking myself over for damage, both externally and of a potentially embarassing sort, It was determined I was not leaking any life threatening amounts of fluid, so we all went over there and I had my friend climb the tree and pull the cat down, I was too shaky at that moment to hardly walk, my knees had come unhinged from the loss of adrenalin, and the previous acrobatics. He was so excited about the fight, he wanted in. With a mighty tug on the end of the rod, down came the cat. Then, I got my Wifes coat, and threw it over the cat and pounced on him and held him down while my buddy took the noose off its neck. We counted to three, and sort of gave him a fling, he landed on his feet of course and just stood there glaring at us, trying to decide to attack or flee I suppose. Then, he just slowly turned and wandered off. I never did catch him later, he was a nice big cat, well marked, worth 250 at the time...but the story is worth more to us. I still have that St Croix rod out in the garage, just in case I get stupid in the future, I dont think it has helped much in this regard, but its there as a silent reminder to try to think things out a little, and that not everything you see on TV is a good idea. Mud
I laughed out loud when you described the pole vault effect. Thanks Mud.