A week ago today I found a cat stuck in my neighbor's tree. I felt bad for it but 1) it wasn't my or my neighbor's cat and 2) it wasn't my tree. Plus, the cat figured out how to get up there so he'll probably figure out how to get down.

2-3 days go by and it's becoming apparent that cat can't get down. The tree is right behind the boys swing set so they hear it crying and wondering what's wrong with the cat.

It's difficult to tell from the picture but it's in a soggy bottom area that no reasonable person would drive into it. Not to mention they can't because they'd have to destroy personal property to get to it.

The tree is also young and would be borderline dangerous to climb

Having said all of that we couldn't find any service willing to come get it. It's understandable given all of the factors of the situation

I decided I'd try to throw a weight attached to a rope to hoist something like a bucket up to it but there are other smaller trees surrounding it with lots of limbs. The only clear line of sight to it was by standing further away which meant I couldn't throw that high/far

I tried like hell though. There's still a line and a weight that got wrapped around a limb that I couldn't and won't be able to retrieve that came in about 10 ft too low from the cat

At this point, it's day 5. The cat is still crying. We had started making jokes about "that dumbass cat stuck in a tree"

Still, it was becoming increasingly difficult to think that there wasn't something that could be done. So I mounted a tarp a few feet off of the ground at the base of the tree in case it tried to get down and couldn't make it

Day 6 comes and I've about had it. That dumbass cat is still stuck in that dumbass tree and it needs to try and come down.

So I get this hair brained idea and grab my fishing pole and bow. I open the spool on the reel and tie the line to the arrow. Shoot the arrow over the top of the tree and once it lands on the other end I can tie my cord to the fishing line.

It took a few attempts but it actually worked!

After attaching the cord to the line I can reel the fishing line in and voilá! I've got the cord all of the way over the tree!

So now I tie a bucket to the other end. Put a few rocks in it to weight it so it will fall towards the tree while using another rope to pull it away from the tree. That's the only way to get the bucket high enough otherwise it would get stuck on every limb on the way up

Finally, the sun is setting on day 6 and I've got the bucket just below the limb the cat is on! NOW'S YOUR CHANCE YOU DUMBASS CAT! GET IN THE BUCKET!

The cat has no idea to get in the bucket. In fact, he's not moving or making noise at all. I watch for an hour or so as it's getting dark and the cat, with the bucket under it, just sits there.

Dumbass cat

So I leave the bucket in the tree and like the previous week I go inside for the night thinking I'll see it in the same spot the next morning.

Today is day 7 and this morning I didn't see the cat.

I'm thinking it fell out of the tree so I go check. No sign of him. I don't hear him or see him. So I decide to bring the bucket down out of the tree.

With the bucket about 10 ft off the ground I see the cat leap out of the bucket and into the tarp. It rolls down onto the ground and right before it runs off into someone else's backyard lets me take this picture.

The dumbass cat is finally out of that tree and he's fine.