I did. The neighbor's cat kept coming around and hanging out under my
feeders. When I caught sight of the cat carrying off a pine siskin, I went
for the gun... a Sheridan air rifle that I have had since I was about 13
years old. On my work bench was a stick, a very special stick, the kind
that they sell at Archibald Sisters in downtown Olympia. It comes with
sugar candy on one end and a hardwood ball on the other. The stick is 2 mm
in diameter, the ball is 1 cm in diameter.

It wasn't long until the cat was back, a hazard to wild birds despite the
bright collar and bell on his neck. I pumped up the air rifle and stuck the
stick down the barrel. The ball on the end of the stick set against the end
of the barrel. I cracked the slider door a few inches and aimed at the
cat's rump. I shot it. The cat was atop the 6 foot cedar fence in a flash,
down the other side and off toward home. Ouch.

I have been watching the feeders alot since that day (December 22). The cat
hasn't come back. The birds are around most of the time. Happy happy, joy joy.

Kelly McAllister