Don't worry about the kitty cat. Mo Dept of Conservation keeps telling us that the cats are young males "just passing through"
Of course they have also totally denied their existence in our state for years.
BTW, DNR doesn't plant the food plots, Mo dept of cons. does. In MO the state DNR has nothing to do with fish and game.
Congrats on finding a "free" place to hunt in south MO as the dreaded 'hunting lease buff has also hit that area in the last 15-20 years. My mom was born and raised in the Mtn. View area and a lot of the private land in Howell and Shannon counties has been leased up.