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Hunting with a house cat?

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boomhowzer:
Ha! I haven't called a cat off a trail. Actually haven't seen the cat catch a trail. Once the prey leaves, she just watches it go, she rarely chases after it and if she does, most small critters can out run her and she has no interest in pursuing prey by the end of her nose.

One of the squirrels I killed last year was chased up a tree by the cat. Cat started climbing tree, squirrel jumped down, ran in my direction and when the squirrel realized the cat was still in the tree, it stopped on a stump long enough for me to shoot him through the heart with a blunt tipped arrow. I would call this my only confirmed kill as a result of hunting with my cat. Many an arrow's been loosed, but only one little red squirrel made it to the grill.

You're right, some control must be relinquished to the cat. But I think she knows what's going on when I get my bow in my hand, and she is surprisingly eager to follow me out into the woods. She often wanders away, but I have a clicking noise I make with my mouth that she responds to. Or at least she recognizes as me seeking her attention. She does come running sometimes, but it certainly isn't a surefire way to call her to my side. Compliance is completely on her terms. That's the interesting part of utilizing a feline companion, you have to completely change the paradigm of expectations and strategies for getting close to game. There are pros and cons, and I'm only just beginning to figure out what they are.

JW_Halverson:
There is a reason folks say dogs have masters, cats have staff.

boomhowzer:
Part of her staff? I haven't collected a pay check yet. I did manage to get a picture of her working a turkey though!

Turkey season ended three weeks ago and I hadn't seen one walk through the yard in probably a month until today. In the picture, the cat is leaving a bramble of maple shoots where she had been sitting for the last 5 minutes or so, watching the hen. The turkey, for her part, sort of alternated between foraging under the apple tree behind her and approaching the cat, clucking and purring (turkey purring), and then backing away again. I didn't get a picture of them at their closest because the cat was completely hidden in the maples, but I would say they got within 5 feet of each other, maybe closer.

Neither animal was afraid of the other, and when the cat left, she didn't run away. The turkey, at least while she was focused on the cat, was completely oblivious to the rest of the world and I was able to sneak close enough to take the picture. Probably out of bow range, me being such an amateur, but progress! In fact, that was closer than I ever got to a turkey during turkey season!

The scene ended with the cat hearing a rustle of leaves near our wood pile and going over to check it out while the turkey wandered off into yonder hillside. Maybe this fall it will end with the turkey in my oven, its feathers on my arrows, and its foot at the end of a string (the perfect cat toy).

WhistlingBadger:
That is really cool.  My wife has a very small tabby that use to stalk rooster pheasants and foxes.  Both seemed like a really bad idea to me, but what do I know?  Anyway, the fact that she's still with us tells you that she never caught up with either one.  ha ha

To answer your question from a while back, no, Scud never made a sound when he was on the hunt.  I think his owner didn't feed him much, so he wasn't messing around!

boomhowzer:
Yeah, we feed our cat plenty. If you watch the video that mmattockx posted, the Indian royalty use hunger to persuade their cheetahs to hunt gazelle. I wonder if I kept my cat's food bowl in the cupboard for a day or two if she would go after a turkey. Probably not a big male, but maybe a younger one. That'd be quite a sight. A turkey and a house cat? Get your popcorn ready.

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