Scouter Cat Herding

[5thGenTexan]

2 hours ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

Understood...and I wrestle with this daily.  My wife wishes I would just leave Scouting and start beekeeping and gardening...and start a cat rescue, too (she's a cat-lady‐in-the-making).  Things haven't gotten so bad that I'm ready to go so far as the cat rescue thing yet.  

Being a leader with Cub Scouts is good experience...  Makes one an excellent cat herder.

[InquisitiveScouter]

24 minutes ago, 5thGenTexan said:

Being a leader with Cub Scouts is good experience...  Makes one an excellent cat herder.

Whoopie Ti Yi Yo, Git Along, Little Kitties!

Edited December 26, 2021 by InquisitiveScouter

[Oldscout448]

Purrfect!  Where can I get one?

[sierracharliescouter]

1 hour ago, 5thGenTexan said:

Being a leader with Cub Scouts is good experience...  Makes one an excellent cat herder.

I agree, wrangling Cub Scout parents is excellent training for herding cats.

[InquisitiveScouter]

37 minutes ago, Oldscout448 said:

Purrfect!  Where can I get one?

Officially licensed, even 😜

https://tradingpost.classb.com/official-licensed-cat-herder-patrol-patch/

[gpurlee]

Just so you know it, we are probably on the verge of starting a new thread on cat herding.  It is amazing how these threads take the strangest turns. But, I will leave that decision to the discretion of one of my fellow moderators.

Nevertheless, I will share our cat herding story. 

This past summer we decided to "adopt" two outdoor cats from the local Humane Society  for the storage barn at our troop camp. Win-win situation was the plan. Save the lives of the cats and encourage the rodents to move out of the barn.  It seemed like a really good idea and very Scout-like.

Perhaps we went a little overboard? Installed automatic cat feeders, little heated cat huts, heated water bowls. Even cat cams on which online visitors could enjoy the antics of the cats. 

Understand, our camp is located in "the middle of nowhere." 

Well nevertheless, soon the cats found friends. Other cats mysteriously appeared out of the woods.  Perhaps enroute from nowhere to anywhere.

Then came the raccoons who discovered they had a truly great deal. Our efforts to scare them away with loudspeakers and remote controlled floodlights just amused them. They enjoyed the company of the cats and would sit together and pass the time of the day (usually night). They even seemed to enjoy my company and would sit and stare when I entered the barn.  Much nicer than the unappreciative cats, who simply ran away.

But we realized that this probably was not a good thing since raccoons can carry disease, fleas and eat A LOT of food. Any way we really did not want to encourage a family of little raccoons to take up permanent residence.  Plus they make amazingly big poops.

Much to my total shock, my peace-loving, animal caring wife suggested that I simply  take the Glock up to the barn and get rid of them. I could not believe that those words came out of her mouth (and still remind her of that to this day). No way!  A Scout is Kind. This was a now game of chess, of strategy,  and you don't shoot your opponent (typically).

After at least a month of efforts, we finally got rid of the raccoons when we managed to raccoon proof the feeding table, MUCH harder than you would think and we held regular strategy meetings to plan our countermoves.  But we were determined that no raccoon was going to outsmart us and it had become our mission in life. But that is another story for a different time.

Plus I told the raccoons that I would sit out a bag of corn on the opposite side of the camp for them on a regular basis if they would just leave peacefully. I have kept my end of the bargain and the corn disappears, so all are happy at the moment. Except for the cats who continue to wait expectedly to see who will slip under the sliding door next.

So, cat herding is certainly not for the faint of heart or weak-willed. 

Edited December 26, 2021 by gpurlee

[qwazse]

@gpurlee, I was waiting for that to end with the Mrs wearing the new fur coat you got her for Christmas. You are truly exceptionally kind.

[MattR]

A cat herding thread or a raccoon thread?

I have bird feeders. And squirrels. So I got a bird feeder that shuts when the squirrels climb on it. Great, but what does this have to do with raccoons? Raccoons are not only smarter than squirrels, they are much heavier. They figured out if they just swing from the bird feeder they'll pull it off the tree and, voila, bird seed everywhere. I assume they shared with the squirrels. They did drag the feeder away and it took awhile to find it. I used their weight to my advantage and hung the feeder way out on the thin branches. Even the squirrels haven't figured it out. Then the hawk showed up.

[Oldscout448]

A hawk is a bird and it's feeding at the bird feeder.   Seems appropriate.

[MattR]

On 12/27/2021 at 9:27 AM, MattR said:

A cat herding thread or a raccoon thread?

I have bird feeders. And squirrels. So I got a bird feeder that shuts when the squirrels climb on it. Great, but what does this have to do with raccoons? Raccoons are not only smarter than squirrels, they are much heavier. They figured out if they just swing from the bird feeder they'll pull it off the tree and, voila, bird seed everywhere. I assume they shared with the squirrels. They did drag the feeder away and it took awhile to find it. I used their weight to my advantage and hung the feeder way out on the thin branches. Even the squirrels haven't figured it out. Then the hawk showed up.

 

On 12/27/2021 at 2:43 PM, Oldscout448 said:

A hawk is a bird and it's feeding at the bird feeder.   Seems appropriate.

Update on the hawk: it tried 3 times to pick off our dog. The dog is a 10 lb fluff ball that we got after my mother in law passed. It will ignore any shouting to come home unless it's wearing a beeper collar. But it's 5 degrees out so I figure it won't go far. He didn't. I got to see the whole thing.  That hawk had to pull up every time at the last second. Unlucky for the hawk. Very lucky for the dog. And the dog is usually very timid but this time he wanted to play with the big bird with the big talons. And I'm shouting at the dog while also wanting to watch this fascinating bird hunt.

[ThenNow]

1 hour ago, MattR said:

Update on the hawk: it tried 3 times to pick off our dog. The dog is a 10 lb fluff ball that we got after my mother in law passed. It will ignore any shouting to come home unless it's wearing a beeper collar. But it's 5 degrees out so I figure it won't go far. He didn't. I got to see the whole thing.  That hawk had to pull up every time at the last second. Unlucky for the hawk. Very lucky for the dog. And the dog is usually very timid but this time he wanted to play with the big bird with the big talons. And I'm shouting at the dog while also wanting to watch this fascinating bird hunt.

What type of Hawk? Any impact between them? Sounds like not. Good thing. The pup jumped at the bird? Trying to get the full image. 

We live several houses away from about 250 acres of woods, then another similarly-sized tract over a two lane road. We have a small strip of it behind the house. Very small, but there is a creek which is attractive to all. We've had a pair of Barred Owls (which are so fun because they are often out in daylight) and pair of Red Tails since we moved in. Lately, with the cold rain and nasty weather, a Sharp Shinned has appeared in the Cypress tree near the bedroom window. At first, two sessions of multi-hour hunkering, the house protecting a major flank. Since then, she's been hunting. I guess she spotted all the birds while in her bivouac. She has driven no less than 4 Cardinals (birds not Priests) to crash into the window, fleeing for their lives. My wife has her office in there since Covid and she's nearly had multiple cardiac events as this has ensued following the bird's decision to hunt the feeder. Okay. I admit it. I also occasionally shoot critters out of the bedroom turret, er, window. That creates a complete circle of life menagerie as various predators vie for the bounty. They are lazier than I realized. One day, it was one of the two big Hawks, an Owl and a Red Fox. The Fox had the squirrel and the two dive-bombers wanted it. Was pretty cool while it lasted. 

Edited February 23, 2022 by ThenNow

[qwazse]

A bald eagle swooped in on our Lake Erie lawn. The 90 lb dog must have looked worth the challenge until the bird closed in.  I was relieved that all parties involved thought better of tangling. I was less concerned about the vet bill and more about the legal ramifications of "finding" a feather in my pets' maw.

[yknot]

I had chickens once. 

Somehow in my head I had this painting-like image of a rambling farmstead with county fair worthy chickens free ranging around the place. I've had a lot of livestock but never chickens. Finally got them and after a few months of careful husbandry set my prize flock free in the front yard for some hours of eye candy viewing. Knowing that we have predators galore I kept a close watch while doing chores. But the phone rang. I went inside and I swear I was not gone more than 5 minutes. I came out to piles of feathers exploded all over the yard and not one bird left. Same thing happened to my neighbor. The electric fence kept the bear, fox, opossum and coyotes out but not the Cooper's hawks which we have in abundance. 

[T2Eagle]

1 hour ago, qwazse said:

A bald eagle swooped in on our Lake Erie lawn. The 90 lb dog must have looked worth the challenge until the bird closed in.  I was relieved that all parties involved thought better of tangling. I was less concerned about the vet bill and more about the legal ramifications of "finding" a feather in my pets' maw.

Our National bird is not to be messed with.  One of my WB patrol mates had as his first job out of college working for the Ohio DNR climbing up to  each of the in state nests and banding the live chicks.  When grabbing one of the birds his chain mail glove/sleeve slipped, and he was left with a beautiful fore arm long scar --- from a chick too young to even fly yet.

At the time there were only two nesting pairs on the entire Ohio Lake Erie shore.  Today, thankfully, there's too many to count with precision.

[yknot]

16 minutes ago, T2Eagle said:

Our National bird is not to be messed with.  One of my WB patrol mates had as his first job out of college working for the Ohio DNR climbing up to  each of the in state nests and banding the live chicks.  When grabbing one of the birds his chain mail glove/sleeve slipped, and he was left with a beautiful fore arm long scar --- from a chick too young to even fly yet.

At the time there were only two nesting pairs on the entire Ohio Lake Erie shore.  Today, thankfully, there's too many to count with precision.

We have done falconry and some of the instructors have eagles, which they do not allow students to handle. One falconer had a Golden Eagle who he said was capable of eviscerating him in close quarters if he didn't keep her well fed and happy. The PSI in their talons is off the charts.