|
Art, if we're going to take up varmint-hunting for the quail, I can recommend no finer boon to your local quail population than to thin out every stray housecat in the area. They are HARD on the coveys.
(Feral) Housecats are harder to kill than they look, believe it or not-- a .22 WMRF is suggested medicine, with Hornets and .222s and .223s being better still. I've found that #2 high-brass 12 ga. is an excellent killer on 20 lb toms at 25 yards.
Although it can be done with .22 L.R. R.F., it takes a careful ear-shot, or a good neck-shot, to be sure you put it down. Mere cranial shots can riccochet off very easily, and shoulder shots tend to send 'em running.
Feral cats are a real pest to the semi-rural neighbors, too, who have problems with the toms raping their housecats, and the whole lot of them ripping into their garbage and fighting over the domestic cats' food.
|