Feral cat hunting

[MyGunsJammed]

Hogdogs.....

so your job is like Jim Carreys "Ace Ventura Pet detective" huh?

[prairieviper]

As you probably all heard, they tried to legalize feral cat hunting in the state of Wisconsin. Well the lefties won over, so now we just hunt them using the SSS method.
Shoot, Shovel, Shutup.

So the message is that you only obey the laws that you happen to agree with? Great for the image of gun owners and legitimate hunters. I don't see how you can know if the cat is a stray that might have wandered from home (as cats do) or a feral cat. I would be curious if you would be as supportive of shooting "wild dogs."




"Please don't shoot." "I promise I'm not a feral cat, honest."

[crowbeaner]

Dogs running loose in deer habitat can be shot during a hunt. The laws are in place to keep loose dogs from running deer to death. The law USED to be that feral cats were to be shot on sight to relieve the predation on songbirds and game birds raising young. IIRC these were enacted during the Great Depression. Does anyone think cats and dogs have evolved into thinking individuals since then? Dogs run deer; it's part of their fabric of being; cats kill for the act of killing well beyond the need for food. Feral cats are everywhere, and the people that feed them are NOT helping to control their population. Everybody has a soft spot for kitty kitty that comes up and rubs themselves against your leg. Too bad those people haven't had the opportunity to watch a feral cat hunting. If it doesn't have a collar I watch them very closely. Through the crosshairs.

[The Tourist]

Originally Posted by JohnKSa

I'm not sure exactly what you're suggesting should happen to the "townies & bubbas"

Just a touch of irony and humor. The thrust of the debate is to kill things that upset a balance in nature. Most of the posters were all for killing cats. I simply suggested we start with the real villians first. All of a sudden I'm the bad guy.

Originally Posted by Wayward_Son

What I have a problem with are people who simply hate cats and will blow them away or do terrible, cruel things to them with glee--without caring or bothering to make sure the cat is a stray.

And that's my point. As I mentioned, one member (I believe a THR) mentioned that trespassers had killed three of his dogs.

Frankly, I wish the penalties for slob hunters were even more draconian. Sometimes the DNR can confiscate their trucks and guns and level a hefty fine. I wish they would implement restrictions similar to The Lautenberg Act.

Act like a slob, lose your hunting rights in Wisconsin for life.

What are some of the biggest problems we complain about? Why, it's public land closing, hunting restrictions (like "earn a buck") and pressure to regulate firearms more and more every year.

Who do the lefties point to? Why they characterize us as drunken, law breaking inbreds. Why does it work? Well, it's because there really are such things as drunken, law breaking inbreds who violate (poach deer) and act like my entire state is thier toilet.

If you want to shoot crows, doves and feral cats, then let's see the guidelines. And as a voter I can assure you that restrictions won't allow a guy named Clem with a huge candle-power light blasting away at every shadow. We have enough of those guys.

The DNR here actually has a "statue of a deer," (yes, a fake deer) that townies blast away at during stings.

[JohnKSa]

The thrust of the debate is to kill things that upset a balance in nature.

I understand your point, but equating killing feral cats with murder is a bit over the top.

Act like a slob, lose your hunting rights in Wisconsin for life.

Assuming that there was an objective definition of "acting like a slob" I'd be all for that--and I don't know any hunters who would feel differently.

...one member (I believe a THR) mentioned that trespassers had killed three of his dogs.

The idea that killing feral animals is in any way analogous to shooting someone's pets on that person's property gives me considerable heartburn. That is like saying that picking up litter is the same thing as stealing from someone's front yard.

If you want to shoot crows, doves and feral cats, then let's see the guidelines.

I don't know the laws everywhere, but in TX the only regulation restricting the killing of feral animals that I'm aware of says that the animal may not be killed "in a cruel manner".

[The Tourist]

JohnKSa,

Just using a bit of humor, here, nothing else.

Wayward_Son mentioned guys who would thrill kill. It was that segment of society I was equating with slob hunters who kill dogs on posted land.

And Wisconsin is a whole different kettle of fish. Just as we have slob hunters, and out of staters who consider my entire state to be a 'rental car,' we also have tremendous pressure from the left on all guns.

Feral cats are just what is a current debate. We cheeseheads have heard all of this windmill fuel several times over on the ideas of killing crows and expanding rights to the hunting of doves.

You know as well as I do that some bubba or a slob hunter is going to thrill kill a cat wearing a collar. You also know that when the government takes away a right they usually go overboard and it's next to impossible to get a repeal. It took bikers ten years to overturn the helmet law that no one ever really wanted. (We build Harleys in Milwaukee, the birthplace.)

If I had my way I'd recommend a seven day waiting period on the purchase of double-wides, the mandatory use of condoms by any purchaser therein with eleven toes, and no cable service of the Oprah Winfrey show if your butt is bigger than the hood of your pick-em-up truck.

Once under control, we'll talk about feral cats...

[22-rimfire]

It is difficult to determine what a feral cat is. If it is a feral cat, I'm all for their elimination in a responsible way. Some farmers have cats around to keep the vermine population under control. I doubt any of those cats ever come inside their house, but they are the farmer's cats all the same. Some would consider them feral; in fact most would. They certainly don't haul them to the vet for shots.

I keep hoping the local cats would do something to control the tree rat population. Most seem to ignore the squirrels, but killling a juicy cardinal is a major victory.

[The Tourist]

In the final analysis, and for this debate, the prospect of including the shooting of feral cats is a Wisconsin matter.

We have our own politics, our own sensibilities, with the top third of the state so different from the bottom that they could be a separate state--which has been discussed.

We had a dove hunting issue that caused a bitter division among our citizens and hunters. At some periods we have a truly spooky increase in the number of crows.

To that, we have slob hunters and out of staters.

And I'm not kidding about idiots. One local farmer takes bright orange spray paint and writes the word "COW" on his cattle during deer season. These nuts will shoot at anything. The woman who sang at my wedding is a platinum blonde. In her full length blaze orange coveralls she still got shot at--while in tree stand.

Well, townies love the taste of orange flying cows.

Serously, we don't need more stupid divisive issues here. We have just concluded a dismal hunt, we are still trying to pass our CCW, the lefties are stirring the pot for liberal presidential candidates, and our bubbas have enough to shoot at.

If you're a Madison townie and your third grade son is reading you this thread, don't get angry. Slip off your boots, count to eleven and take a deep breath. You can get Oprah on cable in about 45 minutes.

[Lawyer Daggit]

I also like the .22 Magnum- but when [color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color] is fast and furious down at the local dump, nothing beats a 12 guage....

[hogdogs]

WOW this discussion has run the gamut and not gone to chit!
Tourist, even a thrill kill is worth while on a feral cat.
As for dogs... dogs are not on my permit as they are defined by florida law as "property" so I am never legally hired to eradicate them. I can, trap them and turn them over to Animal Control. cats are defined as "INVASIVE PREDATORY SPECIE" this is why they are fair game. Even with a brand new diamond studded collar and sporting shiny NEW tags... if it is loose and not on "THE OWNERS LAND" They are FAIR GAME! I actually kinda collect them!
As far as Ace Ventura.... No I liken myself more towards the 1970 or so character portrayed by Jan Michael Vincent in "The Mechanic". I take my jobs serious. I do my best to prevent "collateral" damage which will get me kicked off a job as well. My next purchase in long guns is a .17HMR but need a big job to justify the purchase.
Brent

[Art Eatman]

prairieviper, have you read all the way through the thread? Your question might have made sense had it been early on. At this point, however, it does not at all seem germane to the discussion.

And the issue of slob hunters has no place in this thread...

Art

[45Marlin carbine]

a responsible pet (cat) owner would nueter, spay and declaw their pet - and have a collar w/bells on it. if a cat is free to roam and breed uncontrolled it's a danger to small game/birds pure and simple. they're not indigenous species to N. America. even a spayed female cat will hunt. a buddy farmer I know has a couple around his barns - he puts out feed occasionally for them and if the cats breed he whacks 'em hisself. the cats understandably 'shy away' from him!

[Lawyer Daggit]

Gentlemen, this is potentially one of the most serious discussions for us hunters.

Over recent years the Animal Rights Activist has paired with the conservationist and this has done us a powerful diservice as we used to be at the forefront of conservation.

The [color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color] is such a destructive predator and destroyer of wildlife that no serious conservationist can afford to tolerate the cat for 5 mins.

This has the capacity to split atvist from conservationist- with broader benefits for us.

[The Tourist]

Originally Posted by 45Marlin carbine

a responsible pet (cat) owner would nueter, spay and declaw their pet

Amen to that.

While not the main thrust of the OP, the concept of responsibility here is an important subtext.

Neuter your pets, solve the problem. And with that comes the same old mantra, "20% do 80% of the work." And if a guy is a bubba he's going to be a slob in his own ways as well as in my state.

Wisconsin has always been a hunting, fishing and tourist mecca. We also suffer from sloth, over crowded parks, slob hunters and congested highways. Many of us wonder if the tourist dollar is worth the headaches. You can't stop Americans from traveling, but someone has to pay for the mess. My solutions is to jack up fees for outsiders, and I mean way up. You make a mess, you clean it up.

And now we discussing even more possibilities for irresponsible people to act in my state. Yikes.

Pretty soon Leupold is going to have the "Feline Series." A new product with the reticles set for domestic use.

[FrontSight]

What are the odds...I was reading these posts on my blackberry while in a cab going home...when I get home, I walk right up to the garbage cans to put them on the curb, and I hear the craziest snarling across the street, and I turn around to see 2 house cats (now "feral", I guess) fighting the nastiest cat fight I've ever seen. I had been reading this topid not 30 seconds earlier.

Made me wish for a high powered bb gun and the legal backing to take em both out.

[Art Eatman]

prairieviper, I've been thinking a bit more about your question, "So the message is that you only obey the laws that you happen to agree with?"

To some extent, yeah, sure. If a law is the product of a great amount of public emotion, catered to by some legislative body that knows or cares little about the reality of a situation, I'm gonna ignore all but the Eleventh Commandment aspect: "Thou shalt not get caught."

I'm talking about physical reality, here; not any sort of spoiled brat, "But I wanna...!"

Example of my thinking about laws and wildlife: I began hunting on the old family place when I moved back to Austin in 1963. Lived in town at the time, drove out to the place to hunt. Killed a few deer, mostly on the smallish side.

I moved to the place in 1967, and for the first time went out one night with a spotlight. I was amazed: Fifty pairs of eyes in just one pasture! I then began a herd reduction program. The Parks & Wildlife folks would allow me one doe per fifty acres, during the season. That meant that on 230 acres I could only take four does. Nowhere near enough to get the habitat restored and the body size back up to "real deer" conditions.

So I ignored the law. Over a three-year period, I killed some thirty or so does and scraggle-horn bucks and mature spikes. By the fourth year, body weight overall was up some 20% and there were decent racks on the bucks.

A few years later, Parks & Wildlife spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars in an experiment to compare antler and body sizes of deer in uncontrolled vs. controlled populations. They learned what I'd already known since I was a kid: You don't overstock the range. Doesn't matter if it's cows or deer, whether it's by man's action or nature's geometric growth progression.

I'll take reality over politics, anytime.

And a female feral feline's geometric progression is heaps, gobs and bunches of bird-killlers per year.

[The Tourist]

Originally Posted by Art Eatman

uncontrolled vs. controlled populations.

You just nailed the crux of this debate.

A cattleman can tell if a piece of land is stressed. And he can move cattle around to benefit the assets he has. No one, including me, is against this type of management.

However, in the upper part of my state we have flannel clad chest-thumpers that believe poaching is a rite of passage. Get yourself a million candle-power lamp, your pa's lever-action, your no-brother-good-inlaw's Jimmee, the one with the good front tire, and let's go make some noise.

Like I said, they even shoot the DNR's dummy deer.

If cats are a problem, and I'm not sure if they are or are not, then devise a plan constructed by responsible conservation management people who still have most of their toes.

We have a bubba saying in my area, "If it's brown it's down, if it flies it dies."

Are you sure you want this idiot out in the same woods in which you hike?

[Art Eatman]

Well, it's the Wisconsin wildlife biologists who claim a feral cat kills around 100 songbirds a year, and that the population estimate is a million feral cats. Sounds like a problem, to me.

Got bubbas everywhere, which has nothing to do with populations or problems with feral cats or deer...

However, bubbas are handy little critters. You use them as stalking dogs, watching which way they go and then figuring out where will the deer go that they spook. Got me some decent bucks, that way.

, Art

[The Tourist]

My point is that since bubbas shoot at anything--and want to shoot at anything--the safe bet would be to call a guy who has married outside of his family tree. If we let the townies hunt, there wouldn't be any game in Wisconsin. Perhaps a few Flatlanders who weren't worth chasing.

Now, I know I have used humor and irony in bringing an opposing viewpoint to this debate. But there is a very serious side to this idea of rampant hunting.

As you know, you can shoot on public land here in Wisconsin. Extreme bubbas nail up tree-stands and "claim" areas. Many serious hunters don't like public land for fear of being shot. To the multi-toed cheesehead gun fanatic, "blaze orange" is simply another food group.

To this group, "Da Turdy Point Buck" is simply another day at deer camp.

And seriously, this type of self-righteous slob hunter is going to ruin it for everyone.

[prime8]

Wisconsin boarders Illinois!!! Exactly what Ive always feared....


Just my sense of humor..........

[tplumeri]

If I had my way I'd recommend a seven day waiting period on the purchase of double-wides, the mandatory use of condoms by any purchaser therein with eleven toes

+1.
you have to pass a written test to drive a car,
a practical test to carry a handgun
but no restrictions on having kids!

about the cats;
granted they kill alot of songbirds etc.
but they also kill alot of rodents.
I like to keep a few around the barn but will thin out the herd if needed.

[Art Eatman]

The problem is that this thread is about feral cats, not about rampant hunting and bubbas. Some thread drift doesn't hurt, but let's don't go to hijacking the thread...

[The Tourist]

Originally Posted by Art Eatman

The problem is that this thread is about feral cats

If the OP had restricted the debate on how to style their hair I would agree with you. However, the thread uses the word "hunting."

And I have an opinion on that.

Frankly (working in a sporting goods store) we need a lot more hunter safety courses, more knowledgeable hunters--who know which direction you mount a scope--and lots more people who know what ammunition their rifles use after they've owned them for several decades.

As I've stated in another thread, many hunters ask for a box of '7mm's.' To that you have to ask if they want 7mm Mags, 7mm Express (280), 7mm08, 7mm Mauser...

Many times they get snippy and say, "Don't be a wise guy--just get me some sevens..."

The last thing that Wisconsin needs is another thing to shoot at.

You want to control cats, get a professional with plan devoid of unfunded mandates. I live here, and I don't want another in a long list of "gimmees" which jack up state, local and property taxes.

But for heaven's sake, don't ask a bubba! These inbreds would be plinking cans on Schenck's Corners if you let them, claiming they were good environmentalists and recycling aluminum...

[prime8]

Found this...


chaiokitty.com

http://chaiokitty.com/trophy.html

[Art Eatman]

Lordy! Amazing how all manner of trivia shows up on the Inet. I don't really see how killing feral cats is all that big a deal.

Back in the '70s, I bought a Ruger heavy-barrel .220 Swift. Put a Canjar single-set trigger in it, and stuck a Redfield 3x9 on top. Generally, 3/8 MOA five-shot groups with the Sierra 52-grain HPBT.

Behind the corral was a sorta swale valley about six hundred yards across. It was common for various stray cats to meander down the middle in the late afternoon. I'd go sit against a properly-leaning oak tree a couple of times a week, read a paperback and wait. And sure enough...

3,800 or 3,900 ft/sec makes for a short interval in the old boom/whop sound. But soul-satisfying after a day in an office job.