"Hip" is stuck in a hole

Executive Summary

I don't know what is in about the Nettleton/Amory area that generates tough rescues, but C'MON MAN! Melinda got my name from Dean Hudson, Monroe County Game Warden, who was involved in my coon dog rescue a few years back. One of her Mom's kitties, 'Hip', was stuck 50 feet up a dead tree. Hip was named after a hip injury sustained from a dog attack when he was initially rescued. The photos of the tree that Melinda sent me looked bad, so I loaded up every rope that I had (and a chainsaw) and headed to Nettleton. I was met on arrival by Melinda, Johnny (Melinda's husband), David (Melinda's brother), and Melinda's elderly parents. All thanked me for coming. Myself, Melinda, Johnny and David all loaded up with gear and headed to woods behind the house. The dead, DEAD tree had no limbs, and Hip was sticking his head out of a hole, crying loudly. It was immediately obvious that the tree was unclimbable. Fortunately, there were neighboring trees that were high enough for us to string a hi-line between them, with the climbing line hanging down from a pulley that rode on the hi-line. This took over an hour for us to install, and we used a 5-to-1 pulley system to tension the hi-line so that it would not sag very much when I put weight on the climbing line. The hi-line required me to join 200 ft, 150 ft ropes together in order get a long enough rope, and after it was tensioned, was above the top of the dead tree. The climbing line hung down near the trunk of Hip's tree, and I used a lanyard around the tree to keep me close to it as I climbed up. I moved very slowly up the climbing limb, advancing the lanyard carefully to minimize shaking of the dead tree. When I finally reached Hip, his head was sticking out of a hole, and part of his body was visible through another hole a little further down. I tried pulling Hip out of the top hole, but it was too small. Fortunately, I was able to manually enlarge the lower hole by pulling dead wood off the edges, and I was finally able to pull Hip out of the tree through the bottom hole. When Hip went into the cat bag, there were cheers from the ground and everyone quit holding their breath. Back on the ground, Melinda took charge of Hip and he was soon inside with her Mom and Dad. Melinda, Johnny, David - many thanks for your help in setting up everything needed for this complex rescue. Melinda, many thanks for your generous donation to the Oktibbeha County Humane Society and for the Outback Steakhouse gift card (yum!).