Stray Cats - Can I, should I shoot them?

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In the article about feral cats in Wisconsin, it was mentioned that state law required that feral cats be killed. Unenforced, nowadays--if ever.

On my ranch near Austintatious, I passed the shot on more than one fat doe or smaller buck I'd been watching, to kill a feral cat. Same attitude at my other places...

Feral cats are like feral people: They'll kill for the fun of it.

Art
 
there is now a breeding population of American lions in Ireland and another in Wales, both as the result of escaped zoo animals from the 19th century.
Click to expand...

They keep the attack squirrel population in check in areas w/o pellet gun wielding grandfathers.
 
i wouldn't use a .22, wound the dang thing and its going to die real slow or crawl back to the careless owner who will be real pissed about fluffys untimely accident.

Trust me, a .22 works.
It is the best choice.
With a .22, you have to get close.
You could easily kill a cat with your 7mm from 200+ yards.
But if you do that, how are you gonna know whether it really was wild, or if it is just a lost pet?
Things like that are best found out before you pull the trigger.
 
"...how are you gonna know whether it really was wild, or if it is just a lost pet?"

goon, if I see a housecat-type cat out in my pasture, I define it as feral. It's hunting; it will kill quail and other birds as well as rabbits and such. End of story.

I'll generally give a bobcat a free pass. He belongs there.

Art
 
If its not in the house, its not a housecat, end of story. reffer to my original post, that if you love your pet, keep it indoors where it belongs.
 
If its not in the house, its not a housecat, end of story. reffer to my original post, that if you love your pet, keep it indoors where it belongs.
Click to expand...

Wild animals don't live in the house. Antifreeze kills them too.
 
Poisoning is a bad choice. Not enough discretion with what you kill and what you don't.

A .22LR fits the bill just fine. Feral/stray cats don't seem to be very wary of people. You can easily get within range of a .22LR. In the ear or just above and between the eyes anchors them reliably, back of the head works too. They will flop around, thats just how it is. Racoons and other critters do the same thing.

If your outside and range/noise isn't an issue than use a good HP, mini mag, golden bullet, stinger, yellowjacket. They all do the job fine. Close range, shorts or subsonic/target loads are fine. Shot placement is the most important thing.

Thats all you need. Blowing them to bits is just fine too if you've got hankerin to use your 12 gauge or varmint rifle :D Clean up is even less enjoyable though.

Don't feel bad about killing fluffy either. Fluffy is now a wild animal that would gladly give you a reason to get an update on your tetanus shot as well as a chance to experience some new vaccines too. They're just pest animals, and are destructive.
 
Be careful with anti-freeze (and other poisons), even if you only get the wanted animal, there is a great possibilty that the cat will crawl into some hole and die there. That hole might be under the boards in your kitchen floor, and that is not a ideal place to have a dead cat.

A few years ago my neighbor had rats in his house, he first tried guns and traps and got a few but never all of them. he then tried rat poison, it killed all the rats but a few of them crawled up inside the walls of his house and died there.....:barf:
 
For everybody after me about the antifreeze thing, i never said it was selective, just effective, and that was without thought to wild critters and such, sorry!
 
It has its place, and your right it is effective. I just don't think this is the proper time to use it, not trying to jump on you or anything. I've seen it put to good use inside barns on racoons. The barn is closed up and the only stuff getting poisoned is stuff that isn't supposed to be in there.
 
goon, if I see a housecat-type cat out in my pasture, I define it as feral. It's hunting; it will kill quail and other birds as well as rabbits and such. End of story.

That is a different story.

I live in small community in a rural area.
The woods commence 30 yards from my house, and so do the neighbors.
So I have to be careful about what I eliminate. The truth is that after the little feline uprising in the '90's, there haven't been very many feral cats. A few "outside" cats here and there, but since they don't cause any trouble or kill just for the hell of it, I let them alone.

I guess cat hunting is just like any other hunting. It differs with the area you live in.
 
Hmmm...I like cats, too...keep mine inside, though.

If you want outside cats to keep down rats and mice, fine, but kindly spay them. If you have ferals, and can't shoot them due to neighbors, I would be inclined to take up archery. Use broadheads - based on shooting jackrabbits field points don't have enough killing power, and I expect cats would be the same.
 
"If its not in the house, its not a housecat, end of story. reffer to my original post, that if you love your pet, keep it indoors where it belongs."




:mad:


My favorite cat in the world (the only one I like actually) is an outdoor cat, is declawed, and if you kill my cat trust me, I will find you. :fire:
 
goon, I fully agree that location is a major determinant.

One thing I noticed with our own housecats: Generally, if they're neutered, they hang around the immediate area of the house. You keep them fat enough, they're generally too lazy to climb for bird nests.

And, it seems to me to be a bit of common courtesy to have a fair idea of the appearance of neighbors' cats and dogs. Pets will indeed wander, upon occasion. I've never shot a cat or dog that I had any reasonable idea "belonged" in the general area, that maybe looked like one I'd seen at a neighbor's house.

:), Art
 
Is it incredible ironic, that last night, I found the bottom torso of a rabbit, or squirrel, under my dining room table from my cat and last night he ripped his collar off?

Maybe I should get him a new collar before one of you guys shoots him.:)
 
zahc,

I wouldn't go out of my way just to shoot YOUR cat, but by letting it roam you show a complete lack of respect for my land and wildlife there. dogs are another story, i've only shot one and it was my own (old yeller scenario, poor fella just got old and sick), but dogs arent the problem

edited because i didn't like how it was worded
 
I've never shot a cat or dog that I had any reasonable idea "belonged" in the general area, that maybe looked like one I'd seen at a neighbor's house.

I generally catch them and take them home.
One winter, my one neighbor's Lab got loose and had one hell of a run. He was an inside dog, and wasn't used to the cold.
Get this; his feet got cold and he couldn't walk.
I had to pick that 100 pound dog up and carry his big dumb a$$ home.
Have you ever carried a big dog a long distance through 8" of snow?
I don't recommend it.

I don't like my current neighbors because the neglect their dogs. They have three, but rarely pay any attention to them. When their dogs get loose, I usually just pet them, give them a little snack, and let them have their fun.
Their German Shepard is very fond of fish-sticks. :D
I sometimes sneak them food anyhow, so I am well liked.
When I pet the Shepard, he will try to "grab" me to keep me from leaving.

The only one that I would shoot is my other neighbor's Tcao. That damn thing is just straight up mean. He gets loose pretty often, and has already been agressive toward members of my family. If he gives me any trouble, he will never give anyone else any.
 
My favorite cat in the world (the only one I like actually) is an outdoor cat, is declawed, and if you kill my cat trust me, I will find you
Click to expand...
By having your cat declawed and then letting him go outside, you have not only shown your lack of respect for other people's property, you have done a fairly cruel thing to the animal. He is now fodder for any of the feral streetfighters that come along. That would be a much more painful death than what we're discussing here. I hope to God you live in a rural area, and your closest neighbor is a mile away.

If you own a cat in the city, or any well populated area, KEEP IT INDOORS!
 
Spay and Neuter is the real thing to be thinking about.

A few cats running around wouldn't bother me, but the numbers do multiply as Nature takes its course. "Fixed" cats wouldn't be nearly as inclined to congregate or be as interested in the world around them.

As much as I hate to get govt. involved, I really think that folks should have to pay $$ for unaltered domestic animals, provided that money went directly to the nearest shelter, which is where a good number of these unfortunate creatures seem to end up anyway, provided folks don't give'em some "frontier" justice instead.
 
Shooting Feral Cats

In Germany if you are a hunter with a weapon and you see a feral cat or a cat more than 100m from the nearest farm house, you are legally required to kill it. If you do not you can be fined if the local ranger finds out you saw but did not kill the cat. They are very hard on the local song bird population and smaller animals.
 
BB Gun

I had a big black dog decided my front yard good place for a dump, BIG DUMP, looked like an elephant had been there. Kept BB gun by front door, saw him doing his job, slid open door and fired one round. Caught him on the privates, dog jumped 5 ft in air and he must have found a new dump ground as he never came back. I guess he decided that what ever bit him lived in the grass of my front lawn. :D
 
I have a copy of the University of Wisconsin report on feral cats on my desk at work. It can probably be found online - the authors are Stanley Temple, John Coleman, and Scott Craven. They estimate that about 40 million (maybe as low as 8 million or as many as 200 million, depending on which study is used as the basis) songbirds are killed by feral and free-ranging semi-domesticated cats (farm cats) every year in Wisconsin. Birds make up only about 20% of the diet of these cats, about 70% is small mammals, which would come to about 140 million a year in Wisconsin alone. Not many people are as fond of mice and voles as they are songbirds, but rodents are very important for the health of the wildlife community - as food for more "important" wildlife if nothing else. Between this and the habitat fragmentation we're seeing as rural development skyrockets, our small critters are in a world of hurt.

I'd guess that southern states have a much bigger problem than we do - I just don't know of any studies that have quantified it.

As usual, we're the real problem, the cats are only the symptom. Something like 60% of rural households nationwide have cats (550, 000 rural households in WI have about 2 million free-ranging cats), and if you suggest to someone that their farm cats shouldn't be running loose they just look at you like you're insane - that's what farm cats do isn't it?:rolleyes:

I have 2 cats at home, and they live in the house, period. As much as I care for them, I'm happy to shoot feral cats when I can be sure that's what I'm looking at, and I'm sure my cats would cheer if they knew about it - they hate feline intruders in a very emphatic and loud way. .22 mag is very effective with good shot placement and isn't loud at all.
 
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