So anyways, buddy showed up last night, with lights, babysitter, and guns as promised.

First we called the game warden, and he told us that bobcats were actually pretty docile and that we were basically pussies if we had to shoot it to get it out from under the house. He also told us that this was not the first time he had heard of this, and we could easily live trap it. I also spoke to a WDFW licensed nuisance trapper and he told me that he believed my story too.

To prove the game wardens point about being pussies, we loaded up and jumped into the crawl space. I actually had a loaded staple gun, but my buddy had full on tactical sh!t. He looked legit, I took some pictures of him crawling around with his sweet black pistol with red dot scope, head light, and uber-bright mag light.

Anyways, we dropped in and I sent my buddy back into the area that I saw it last night, and I hung near the exit and a shear wall that would stop .22 rounds. I had no sooner dropped in and started looking when I saw it again. This time I got a side view. Most definitely a bobcat. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on if you were the cat or the commando) I was in between my buddy and the cat. So I didn't say peep, and it ran off right through the opening. I had my camera, but could not get it up in time. That sucker moved so quietly, it was really amazing.

My bud came back and I feel bad about this; I didn't tell him that I saw it leave. We made a "plan" and I staked out the opening while he crawled through every nook and cranny of the crawl. Picking up insulation and visqueen, sticking his gun in there, and generally leaving no area unturned. There is a reason he shoots more game than I do, he is a fantastic hunter. I figured that would be a good way to ensure that my crawl space was pest free, and let him "hunt" a little. After he had scoured the area, I blocked the hole from the inside, and we left.

I did find fresh scat in the areas I had cleaned the night before. Clearly this was not feral cat sh!t, it had small dead mice, and some kind of vegetation in it. Plus it was huge. We found that it was sleeping on top of my main heat plenum, right underneath the dryer. Gray hair was everywhere. Later on I went to my remodel project and got some tools and sealed opening 100%, I had to remove part of my porch to do it, so that sucked.

Anyways, you animal lovers can rest easy that we did not kill the anything, just evicted it.

Now, I need a contractor to come in and remove my old visqueen and replace it with new. There is about 20 square feet of insulation that needs replacing as well. I could do it easily but the R/E contract specifically states a "licensed and bonded" contractor has to give a service report on it. Whatever.