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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 177
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Campfire Member
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 177 |
I find leaving feral cats to defend for themselves a cruel decision. I live in the Boston mountains of the Ozarks in Northwest Arkansas, and am surrounded by thousands of wooded acres. We had a feral cat living on our property when we moved out here and watched him closely during our first Spring. We named him "Dorsey" and wondered just what he would do when Winter rolled around. Covered in ticks all Summer, his weight dropped significantly and we began to feel sorry for the little guy; clearly he was suffering. My wife suggested we feed him to put some meat on his bones to help him survive the Winter, so reluctantly I agreed. By Fall, he was a strapping male brute of a cat and began to harass our own cat when she was outside. Concerned and thinking he had plenty of fat stored to survive the Winter, we stopped feeding him as we moved into Winter. We didn't see him thereafter for a long time and then when the following Spring rolled around he reappeared shriveled and sickly looking. Once again we found ourselves feeling sorry for him but this time we felt it best we end his suffering. I dispatched Dorsey with a Ruger 10/22 and it wasn't easy considering we'd kind of adopted him there for a while. Long story short, I should have done it when we first crossed paths; local animal shelters are already brimming with the unwanted "pets" that are the byproducts of human irresponsibility. Most will never see adoption and will be euthanized. Give the ones that are already sheltered a chance by eliminating the ferals you find; you'll likely be doing them a favor.
I'm Kev
<---He's Grady. Australian Shepherd... aka. Super-G.
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Joined: Nov 2003
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Campfire Ranger
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OP
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 18,321 Likes: 1 |
What's wrong with the havahart idea? I have a pair of linesmans gloves I could use to remove the cat from the trap.
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 9,190
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Oct 2006
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I find leaving feral cats to defend for themselves a cruel decision. I live in the Boston mountains of the Ozarks in Northwest Arkansas, and am surrounded by thousands of wooded acres. We had a feral cat living on our property when we moved out here and watched him closely during our first Spring. We named him "Dorsey" and wondered just what he would do when Winter rolled around. Covered in ticks all Summer, his weight dropped significantly and we began to feel sorry for the little guy; clearly he was suffering. My wife suggested we feed him to put some meat on his bones to help him survive the Winter, so reluctantly I agreed. By Fall, he was a strapping male brute of a cat and began to harass our own cat when she was outside. Concerned and thinking he had plenty of fat stored to survive the Winter, we stopped feeding him as we moved into Winter. We didn't see him thereafter for a long time and then when the following Spring rolled around he reappeared shriveled and sickly looking. Once again we found ourselves feeling sorry for him but this time we felt it best we end his suffering. I dispatched Dorsey with a Ruger 10/22 and it wasn't easy considering we'd kind of adopted him there for a while. Long story short, I should have done it when we first crossed paths; local animal shelters are already brimming with the unwanted "pets" that are the byproducts of human irresponsibility. Most will never see adoption and will be euthanized. Give the ones that are already sheltered a chance by eliminating the ferals you find; you'll likely be doing them a favor. Nailed it. I have had lots of cats. Some were better companions and more useful than some of my dogs. That said, ferals catch a bullet. They are virtually impossible to domesticate, fight with your pet cats, spread feline aids and kill many indigenous species.
Proud NRA Life Member
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 32,220
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 32,220 |
17HM2, THE final solution for feral cats.
Last winter, I was out checking fences about 15 miles from the nearest town, Oelrichs, SD, when I came across a cat hunting mice in the weeds around an old corral. I watched it for awhile and kinda felt sorry for it being in the middle of coyote country, but I don't care for cats, so I invoked "Insh'Allah" (if it is GOD's will) and went about my business.
Jeff
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,696
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Apr 2009
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What's wrong with the havahart idea? I have a pair of linesmans gloves I could use to remove the cat from the trap. It will take to long. The world has enough cats already. Its not as fun.
Whatever a 7x57 can do a 270 can do better.
True fair chase is you in the woods buttnaked with nothing but your finger nails and teeth.
If you'e fixin' to put a hole in something, make it a hole to remember.
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 177
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 177 |
I don't doubt that house-cats can survive after several years of wild "boot camp" if dumped by an incompetent cat owner but likely anyone who would abandon a pet probably wasn't responsible enough to have it spayed or neutered. When the, "need to breed" urge presents itself that's exactly what they will do and will travel as far as need be to do so. Suddenly one feral cat becomes hundreds and having been domesticated thousands of years ago, their food source is whatever is easiest to catch. Too often as others have stated, that food source is low nesting songbirds, ground nesting gamebirds, young rabbits, squirrels and of course field mice which no one could care less about. The problem is that suddenly they become an nonnative species that can throw a monkey wrench into a delicate system of checks and balances. Unless we're ready to accept a new breed of small predator in our wooded ecosystem, feral cats should be viewed as a threat and eradicated should the opportunity present itself. If hunters are conservationists then they should acknowledge this threat and deal with it as necessary.
I'm Kev
<---He's Grady. Australian Shepherd... aka. Super-G.
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Joined: Feb 2006
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 43,914 Likes: 11 |
Sam, i bet you could sell that photo to Scenarshooter so he could put it on his web sight... Who do you think was the guide???? (grin)
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Joined: Dec 2004
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 20,379 |
Havahart traps work great in conjuction with 55 gallon barrels of water..
I replace valve cover gaskets every 50K, if they don't need them sooner...
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,534
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,534 |
Ny uncle's dairy farm is about five miles from town, on a relatively good road. He gets cats dumped by the traincar loads, it seems like. They keep the toms, but kill all the females, toms eat as many rodents, and don't drop litters. Every now and then, though, they have to cull a bunch of toms, too, when the numbers get too big.
My cousin always bitches about not having any rabbits to shoot, but you can't drive by their place without seeing at least two tomcats out prowling the pastures, either on his place or across the road. No rabbits????? Well, the reason is right in front of his nose..................
You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,547
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2008
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What I have heard is catch the cats in a havahart trap and spay and neuter them... Then return them to there home range... They still will fight for there range and keep other cats out and not reproduce... That is the key... It's better to have one or two cats running around then 20..
Ps I am not a Cat lover....
John
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Waterfowler at hart along with my late Baydog 9/26/20 ..
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Striving to be turdlike.
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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Why use lineman's gloves to remove a cat or any pest from a havahart??? Just set them in a deep place in the creek and wait for the bubbles to stop.
If you just want to relocate a varmint caught in a havahart, cover it up with a quilt or such and take it to the drop off place. Uncover just the door and aim the trap so there is some brush or woods in front of the door. Stand behind the trap so the animal can't see you and open the door. The animal will scoot for the brush.
Aim for the exit hole.
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Joined: Jun 2007
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 21,959 |
Our rule has always been "if more than 100yds from a building, its feral".
Never understood why folks need to grace the world with their pets, some of which never seem to be "home".
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 18,321 Likes: 1
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 18,321 Likes: 1 |
I think tough times force people to give up their pets. They cannot stand the thought of taking it to the animal shelter knowing full well that more that half will be euthanized and they are ignorant regards the impact of releasing the animal into the wild. I bet if the muslim is in office another term folks will be keeping their cats in order to eat them in order to keep from starving. Personally I have never had fricaseed cat but several hobo's that frequented my fathers home when I was a child said they taste like the dark meat in a chicken.
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Joined: Dec 2004
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 20,379 |
What I have heard is catch the cats in a havahart trap and spay and neuter them... Then return them to there home range... They still will fight for there range and keep other cats out...
WRONG.
I replace valve cover gaskets every 50K, if they don't need them sooner...
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 138
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 138 |
Always had "barn/farm" cats and it seemed like once every other year we would have to cull. "Bell" and "Mr." always stayed, the rest got 55grn sleeping pills, as most have already said once a cat goes back wild you can forget it.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 18,215 |
I am not sure they hurt anything VERY BAD ASSUMPTION...! I took in a stray half grown kitten last year that's turned into a good cat. He continually kills and deposits animals on the doormat right outside the door. He's killed and left mice,lizards,birds,snakes,cicadas,rabbits,gophers in front of the door. He's even killed 7 SHREWS to date. I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WE HAD SHREWS till he started killing them. Where he gets them I don't know. Cats are pure born killers, don't be fooled. They will wreak havoc on the local population of things small, feathered and furry. If you don't want them as pets, kill all the feral cats you can.
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 5,508 |
Feral cats have little or no impact to the natural environment, IF you ignore song birds, quail, rabbits, and anything else that a cat can kill.
Some spelling errors can be corrected by a vowel movement.
~ MOLON LABE ~
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 12,156
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 12,156 |
Cats are very efficient killers. That's good if you're a cat, bad for every other living small critter around.
I live in a very rural area and occasionally get a feral cat around the house. As long as they don't bother anything I generally don't shoot them, even though I know it would probably be better for all concerned if I did. A couple of years ago one showed up and started running my three outside cats off of their food bowls, attacking them in the process. I told my wife I wanted to shoot it but she didn't want me to. She tried to feed it away from the others and in a few days one of the other cats, my wife's favorite, was limping. A few days after that the injured cat disappeared, never to be seen again. The wife's attitude changed from "poor starving kitty" to "shoot that effing thing". It quickly sucked up a 22LR round. I shouldn't have let her talk me out of shooting it when I wanted to, if I hadn't we'd still have our good cat.
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 101
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 101 |
There are more feral cats in Australia then the population of humans in the country. I used to use 110grn spitzers in my 308. To take them out. Good to watch. Now my 264win mag loaded with 85grn serras are the way togo.
Save the wildlife and kill a cat.
Our F1-11 gets retired this week. What a shame.
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Posts: 67,757 Likes: 5
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 67,757 Likes: 5 |
it seems that I have seen more feral cats on one of our leases over the last few years here in GA. People just dump them out when they don't want them anymore. I am not sure they hurt anything, wondering if the stagnant economy and the cost of keeping a pet has caused this trend to increase. Does anyone else notice a trend towards an increase in the number of feral cats? call me. I'll come up and kill them all with my Mini 14 
Last edited by Mannlicher; 08/22/10.
Sam......
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