Friday Feral Field Lion DOWN!!! Called in... NO PICS...

[hogdogs]

*DISCLAIMER... I NO LONGER POST PICS OF MY "CAT KILLS" SINCE SOME THINK IT IS CRUEL TO PROTECT MY STATE'S NATURAL RESOURCES!!!

Well Friday I had been out to the farm my dad is on and had struck out bassin'... We shot a few tubes of .22lr thru my Winchester 190 (round-a-bout acquired from a recently died viet-nam vet) and several thru my dad's new Henry carbine .22.

After wifey got home I was wanderin' around lookin' for a late workin' tree rat but all was quiet in the tree tops...

Decided to make a walk to the barn and make sure no feral cats had moved back in yet.... None stirred in there with a few of my "mouth squeaks" I have done since 6 or 7 years old...

Stood in the back opening (door fell off years ago) fired up a smoke and gave a quick series of squeaks... Not one pull on the cigg was complete and I see what looks like a little black "Scotty dog" lookin' black head top and ears, literally, bounding in from the north east corner of my 5 acre spread...

I DO NOT SHOOT LOOSE DOGS!!!! But a cat has a short lifespan on my place... Our ecology cannot support their highly efficient and indiscriminate predation...

One real fast squeak series and silence... Critter sits down to figger out where it went and gives me 100% positive ID on a long hair pure black cat at 75-85 feet...

Leveled the irons on CoM front on and laid to the trigger... BANG FLOP... Field Lion vanishes for a split second then the fluffy tail stood straight up and gave me the sign that a follow up shot was not needed...

If a person wishes to own exoctic pets, they need to keep them in the house or at least in their own yard...

Florida offers no protection for these vermin and evens considers them to be an "non-native predatory specie"....

I just wish there were many more with my short tolerance of these nasty killers of wildlife...

Brent

[Hansam]

Maybe I'm going to be the only person who will respond to you maybe not. Here goes anyway.

First off:

Good job with the cat!

I've been trying my best to keep the feral cat population down in my area too. Every day I sweep the fields to the north and west of me to see if there are any signs of cat activity. So far all has been quiet around me for the last couple weeks. I take that as a good thing.

Now about loose dogs - I don't shoot loose dogs on sight however if they are being destructive with my property and I can't chase them off I WILL shoot them. Preservation of my personal property is more important than someone else's pet that they couldn't control. Same goes for my family. I've already had to shoot a dog because it was advancing menacingly on my children while on my property. Yes the dog had a collar and yes the collar had a phone number (which I called after the dog had been shot and died) but no way was I going to let that thing attack my kids or be attacked myself while I tried to read its tags. I have young children to protect and that will always be my choice over the life of a dog.

I'm an amateur dog trainer (a hobby that happens to help support my shooting interests) and as such I firmly believe that when it comes to dogs if they run off and are running amok its entirely the owner's fault. The same goes for cats. As a pet owner myself if my dogs ran amok and endangered other people's safety and/or property I'd hold no ill will against them if they shot and killed my dogs... those dogs' deaths would be my fault and nobody else's. I have no cats so I can't say that about cats but if I DID own them I am sure I could say that about them too.

This topic goes far beyond just protecting our natural resources (which feral cats and dogs are huge threats to) but also about pet owners actually being responsible and maintaining control over their pets. Cats should ONLY be indoor animals and dogs must be properly trained and that training needs to be maintained so as to have a 100% recall on dogs so they DON'T run away. I won't accept people telling me that some dogs just won't come back. While I train primarily bird dogs and retrievers I have also obedience trained many other types of dogs. I've worked with breeds ranging from chihuahuas to pit bulls to mastiffs, wolfhounds, german shepherds, huskies and other popular breeds. Every one of them can be trained to a 100% recall. If I can train a dog to come back on command even when tempted away with bacon then its possible.

All feral cats on my property are eliminated with prejudice. Friendly dogs are captured and relinquished to the county authorities. Unfriendly dogs are also eliminated with prejudice on my property.

Once again good job protecting your natural resources. I for one do not consider it cruelty.

[BoogieMan]

You tell a great hunting story. Good job with the cats, but I would love to hear about using a MUCH larger round. No sense in letting them suffer. Maybe a .460 S&W or a 165 BT out of a 30-06. I know its to much but I beleive in being extra humane.

[hogdogs]

This being my first semi-auto .22 in 20 years, I considered goin' for a true "double tap" but decided not to as I am aware that I can make the nickel work just as well as a dime.

I will also make decisions to handle dog issues but it is so rare for one to bother me...

If one gets too skinny, I will get Junior to lasso it up and haul it to the unwanted pet disposal center...

Brent

[Tuzo]

Keeping shooting feral cats.

University of Nebraska study estimates $17B damages to bird populations inflicted by feral cats. There may be flaws in the study but even if the estimate is off by minus 50%, it is still a substantial degree of damage.

Groups that advocate neutering and spaying of feral cats may solve the over population problem. But these treated cats still hunt and kill wild birds.

Hogdogs, keeping shooting these feral cat critters and please post an occasional trophy photo.

[mnhntr]

Good to hear there are others who protect the wildlife from idiot cat owners loose cats. I take pride in the fact that the neighbors know where to come if a barn cat had not made it home in a while. Usually it is a 12 gauge, 45acp, or .223, but whatever I have on had works.

[Buzzcook]

Good job with the cats, but I would love to hear about using a MUCH larger round.

Here ya go.
http://www.buckstix.com/CoehornMortarHunt.htm

[langenc]

Groups that advocate neutering and spaying of feral cats may solve the over population problem. But these treated cats still hunt and kill wild birds.
From post #5

Those animals eat and kill w/ claws/teeth not their reproductive organs. Any trapper can tell you that.

[JerryM]

Both feral cats and dogs need to be destroyed.
Jerry

[Art Eatman]

Conclusions from a State of Wisconsin study, some 20 years back or thereabouts:

A feral cat will kill some 100 songbirds per year, give or take a few.

The feral cat population in Wisconsin was estimated at one million, give or take a few.

Even if it's wrong by an order of magnitude, it's still ten million songbirds.

Here in south Georgia, about six or eight years back, the animal-shelter folks did a cat-trapping program near a neighbor's house "out in the country". 72 feral cats were trapped and taken to the shelter. I thus don't really argue with the larger number for Wisconsin.

[Kimbertron]

I don't think I could personally shoot a cat or a dog but one thing that I cant stand is out of control pets. Between my fiance my mother and I we have 6 dogs and 2 cats. The dogs are outdoors and fenced in (accept for the little fluffy one, he sleeps under the couch) and the cats stay inside. Owners that blame the dog for getting out or think because cats don't kill people that they should be let out frustrate me to no end. I really sucks that people have to shoot an animal because the owner couldn't do what they are supposed to do. I guess I just restated what everyone is saying but it really grinds my gears lol.

[Hansam]

Conclusions from a State of Wisconsin study, some 20 years back or thereabouts:

A feral cat will kill some 100 songbirds per year, give or take a few.

The feral cat population in Wisconsin was estimated at one million, give or take a few.

Even if it's wrong by an order of magnitude, it's still ten million songbirds.

Excluding the past couple of weeks I killed on average 1 feral cat a day since the beginning of the year. That's right, 1 feral cat a day! You do the math. I believe now I may have made a large enough impact in the population early enough in the year that this year the cat problem (at least in my neck of the woods) won't be so large. Judging by the fact that I haven't seen a cat or signs of another cat in the area makes me believe this just might be true. Of course I might just be dreaming and I'll wake up to find yet another feral cat stalking birds in the early morning.

In comparison I "captured" a stray mutt dog (more like it came to me and I just clipped one of my dog's tie-out to it's already existing collar) and that dog's owner was happy to have him back. That was in February. My wife told me she had a stray golden retriever walk up to her a couple weeks back and she was able to pet it but she couldn't get it to sit still long enough to put a collar on it for a tie-out or leash. That dog walked off while she was calling the county LE and she never saw it again.

So how many cats did I encounter vs. stray dogs? Feral cats in WI are a huge problem but so many people call me a monster and cruel and cold hearted when they find out I shoot feral cats on sight. They say I should trap, spay/neuter and release them. I say then I'm still letting them go kill wildlife.

EDIT: I forgot to mention I talked to more than a few vets and they won't spay/neuter a cat for free. Thus people are telling me I should trap these little monsters, pay for their spay/neuter, and release them so they can continue killing off song birds and other small animals for the remainder of their natural lives. No thanks! I'm going to continue to contribute to the decline of the feral cat population in my neck of the woods... and anyone else who has a feral cat problem that asks me for help.

[FrankenMauser]

If they don't belong, they don't belong. I don't care if it's a family pet or a feral.
And, yes, I'm talking about dogs, in particular.

Let your scruffy animal cause problems on my property, be it a cat, dog, snake, cockroach, or llama.... and it's not going back under its own power.
I don't shoot on sight, but I also don't hesitate just because the destructive mammal happens to have a collar. A problem animal is a problem animal. I don't make exceptions, just because it happens to be named "Captain Brownie".

Your property is your business.
My property is my business.
Don't let them mix under the wrong terms. (Yes, I expect the same in return; and don't hold it against my neighbors.)

[gyvel]

This is a another double edged sword situation. While I'm no great fan of cats, I tolerate them, and have even had one or two over the decades that I actually liked a little bit.

Agreed, cats kill birds, which makes me very angry; On the other hand, cats also kill rodents, which are causing me big problems since my last remaining cat fell prey to the coyotes. Rodents are also very destructive and the cats I had around the place did a fair job in keeping them under control.

Mice are causing destruction in my workshop (including damge to some gun related items I had stored), gophers are killing my trees, and some unknown rodent just did $500.00 damage to the wiring in my month old car. I can't import snakes fast enough to take care of the problem, and poison is out of the question, so I have to resort to cats.

Be careful what you do with cats. You may be stepping on your whatzit if you're not carried away.

[Hansam]

There are some small breed dogs that are fantastic mousers and rodent killers. A friend of mine has two rat terriers that live in his workshop who kill mice and other varmints that get in there as effectively as cats do. They do not however leave his work yard and as such are not threats to the ecosystem. Their jobs are to free roam the workshop and kill rodents. The only problem with this is that he has to constantly deworm those two dogs because they also eat the majority of the rodents they kill.

So far they've kept his workshop rodent free for over a decade and have even killed a good number of coons as well.

Oh and I was wrong about the population of cats in my area - I thought perhaps I'd wiped them out. I was very wrong. I was out with my dogs this morning and spied one stalking something in my field about 100yds away from me. So at 0600 or so (more like 0610) I put down another feral feline. I definitely didn't enjoy having to bury a cat so early in the morning though. The thing is I could have sworn I had seen the tail of yet another cat scampering off into the underbrush as I was walking back home from burying the cat I'd just shot. I was hoping that I'd eliminated all the ferals in my area.

So 20 yrs ago WI had estimated some 1,000,000 feral cats were living in WI then. The way that cats reproduce and seeing how many there were then what do you believe the population of feral cats in WI is now? How many of these cats do you think are going to wander onto my property in search of prey?

[hogdogs]

Fortunately for me, I have enuff native predator activity in the area...

I have a known fox pair in the vicinity for several years...

I also have non-venomous snakes I see and the venomous ones I do not see (if seen I remove the threat to the dogs)...

Coons and possums cover a little predation duty too...

I do have 'yote population(s) as well but not often right on top of my place as I always have several dogs on chains with territorial barks...

My own 5 acre piece of peace and serenity Is handled by 4 total indoor dogs that freely roam my place... 3 of these are of size and stature and mindset to hunt down what they see as a threat which includes every songbird and squirrel they see... They will run full bore with collar tags jingling for a hunert yards to try and pick off a mocking bird but it is a rare instance that any of these dogs gets a kill... 2 together sometimes gets a squirrel...

My dogs are not allowed to step onto pavement when a passerby is passing or it is considered a heinous sign of aggression by me and currently none get within 50 feet of the road when a nice family walks 2 full grown Golden Retrievers and 2 younger smaller dogs... Owners have no idea how I get these dogs so well trained. I just don't tolerate "transgressions" against man or beast without real provocation! Then they know they are free to unleash all they have.

Currently 2 of these same indoor/outdoor dogs are pushing their luck IMHO as they "go for a stroll" each morning and may not be back for a couple hours... Both are spayed gyps so no risk of unwanted "Handy and Ready" lines of pups I figger, they have found a yard dog to visit but if they don't come home, I can guess they got called to the carpet for "trespassing"...

I love a cuddly friendly cat as much or more than any cat lover out there... Even had a few but won't tolerate a litterbox. In the house I consider them an exotic pet no different than a tiger or an imported predator snake...

My last try at a house cat ended when the little bugger snuck out the door and was carhit in front of my house by time work ended... Used the opportunity to show my, then, very young children what happens when you get to close to the road...

Brent

[Art Eatman]

After I moved back to a family place near Austin in 1968, some 300 acres, I kept an eye out for feral cats and dogs. No mercy for the feral cats. We usually had a couple of house cats, but they were mostly indoor critters. (One was so housebroken, he'd mew to come in to use the sandbox.)

I'd cut slack for a stray dog with a collar. Dogs roam, and not all dogs are problems. But if I saw a dog without a collar, and particularly if he were chasing a deer, too bad, so sad.

[rickyrick]

My buddy puts out a pot full of food every day for the cats on his farm and has no problem, I wish I could shoot them at my house in town but I can't. I have some pet cats that stay out but they never leave the yard.

I had a chocolate lab that would hunker down and wait for birds at just the right altitudes. She could leap and catch them sorta mid backflip landing back on her feet. I had a shovel ready to fling the leftovers into the garbage.

[gyvel]

There are some small breed dogs that are fantastic mousers and rodent killers.

My property borders national forerst land, and I am a bit off the beaten path and paved road. Unfortunately, small dogs like you describe are every bit as delicious coyote bait as well as cats. I have three large dogs, but they are too well fed and lazy to go after rodents.

For that matter, there are some huge owls and even eagles that inhabit the area, and cats and small dogs are fair game for them, too. (Not to mention the bobcats and mountain lions that sneak in at night.)

I have to agree that feral cats are a nuisance and are highly destructive of other species, but they are predators, and act solely based on their instincts without any abstract moral judgements. The real blame goes to the irresponsible people who were too lazy or stupid (or both) to keep their own cats neutered to curb the population growth.

If I recall, there was an instance where cats were introduced to an island (I'm thinking that it was one of the Galapagos Islands), and within a short time had managed to wipe out every speice indigenous to that particular island.

[Bamashooter]

When my father was alive we quail hunted alot. Whenever he saw a feral cat he would go out of his way to kill it. He said they would kill the quail during hunting season and the young ones in the summer. The ole man has been gone for 20yrs and I still kill every cat I encounter in the wild. Sometimes I would feel bad like when my son saw me do it one time and flipped out but after retelling the ole mans story he understood. Judging from some of theposts Ive read here Ive actually been doing some good. I wont feel bad anymore.

[shortwave]

As a wildlife lover, it's my obligation to eliminate feral cats while in the woods....and since I live in the middle of the woods, my responsibilities also include these expert predators that are stocking various 'victims of prey' around the house as well.
Many bunnies have been saved from the fangs of these ferocious felines.

[mnhntr]

Got one tonight. On the way home from the range and a neighbors barn cat was creeping in the woods on my land so the HK 45 barked and one less cat.

[Vermonter]

In the last two months I have rescued two stray dogs. Both were pets, both had collars, and both had terrible worthless good for nothing owners. One was at a property we manage alone and one came to my office and walked through the proped open door.

In both instances I wish I had adopted or sheltered the dogs. Surley someone will hit them in a vehicle crash.

Regards, Vermonter

[gyvel]

Thankfully, the coyotes et. al. do a pretty good job of controlling feral cats around my area.

Now if I could only find more California Kings to take care of the mice, gophers and rattlers around the house.

[SavageSniper]

It amazes me how I will see cats in the middle of the Apalachicola National Forest miles from any house. I know that they are from people dumping them off, or thats the way the population started. They have adapted and are thriving. They also get shot on sight if possible.