OK Hit this Poll: Should it be legal to shoot ferel cats.

Ozzieman, you're forgetting a few things: Feral cats are generally found out in the boonies, around farm and ranch lands. There, shooting is legal. Town cats, feral or not, are not in a place where it's legal to shoot.

So how many "hostile witnesses" would one expect to see out on a farm or ranch?

Back when my old family place outside of Austintatious was "attacked" by a subdivision, with cars killing more deer than I did, one of the new neighbors questioned my shooting of feral cats. My response was simple: "I'd rather watch native quail than imported cats." End of problem.

Since there is no way to please a rabid "anti", I just tend to my own business and ignore the silly twits. My pasture, my gun, my red mist enjoyments. Don't trespass, and nobody sees nuttin'.

:), Art
 
No ARTEASTMAN, Im not against it

But when I hear about people wanting to make it leagal, it will just put one more black eye on gun owners.
I know that there a problem, I am just against the bad press, and thats all you will hear is the bad press against gun people.
shoot them, but dont try to pass a law making it ok.
 
cats

I think the problems arent the cats but they are the people that dump them and let them roam free. Since people dont want to keep thier harmless cat inside other measures will have to be taken. And as for cats not catching birds or other animals I have to say that is not true at all. I had an old black cat (came to our family as a stray) She would sit below the humming bird feeder all day waiting for a bird to land and she would swat it out of the air (I never could figure out how she did it since she wasnt the thinnest cat around) but she wouldnt eat them, just sit them on our door step. She also had at least one rabbit to her name before we had her de-clawed and turned into a house cat.
 
Art,
I agree.

I know one fence sitter ( leaning more to anti side) converted because of feral cats. Single mom moved in where I used to live, before "attacked" by a subdivision. Childs kitten, the pet to help heal the child from abused father [ hence the divorce and moving ] fell victim to feral cats. I gave her a Rem 514 pawn shop special,lessons ammo, definition of Three S's.

Mom progressed quite well, the 514 is now the daughter's.

Never told the child at the time the reason for the Bonfires we neighbors would fire up...the "dawgs and 'mellows seemed to do fine job of healing and positive memories for the little girl tho'. ;)
 
shoot 'em up!

A friend of mine loves to tell the story of the first kill he had with his Tikka 22-250. it was an offhand shot at a large feral cat. He popped that sucker with the first slug. Feral cats are a menace here in Australia and I would have no problem with shooting one in a rural/bush area.
 
Special Delivery

This thread reminded me of a great cat shooting article I recently read.
If you wanna see the police report http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0329051cat1.html

Indiana man receives nasty package acknowledging dastardly deed

MARCH 29--Since shooting a neighbor's cat last month, Kenneth Nailleux has been the object of much scorn from fellow Valparaiso, Indiana residents. Nailleux, 65, told cops that he leveled his .22 at the animal because it kept coming onto his property and attacking birds using a feeder. That explanation didn't wash with neighbors, especially when the cat had to be put to sleep as a result of the gunshot wound. Since then, Nailleux has complained to the Porter County Sheriff's Department that he is being harassed over the shooting, pointing to the recent arrival at his home of a gift box containing, as the below police report notes, a "replica of a pile of excrement." Somebody, cops determined, used the services of fecalgram.com, which will anonymously mail a revolting, non-toxic pile of what looks like crap. In fact, the brown stuff (now on sale for $24.95) is actually a manmade concoction of flour, water, salt, and other ingredients that give the product its stench. The box delivered to Nailleux also included a 12-character password that, when keyed into the fecalgram.com web site, delivered the anonymous sender's message: "It's time for you to move out of our neighborhood. No one likes having you live among us and this 'gift' is a reflection of what we think of you. Remember this feeling every time you leave your house and have to drive through the neighborhood. We do not want you here." While the prank may not rise to the level of criminal conduct, Nailleux has told cops that he will be contacting a lawyer as a result of the harassment. (4 pages)
 
Heard alot about this topic on talk radio recently. Feral cats are the number one cause of songbird mortality as well as the number one killer of rabbits. We have been breeding cats to live with us for thousands of years, while continuing to let them, no we require them to hunt. Everyone wants a good mouser! The problem is when these well fed, highly tuned, killing machines get loose, lookout! They have all their stalking, chasing, and killing genes enhanced, while the need to, kill to eat, is no longer a concern. Who has not seen a cat "play" with a mouse only to lose interest when it can no longer run away. The cat just goes and finds another "playmate". Most times a well fed kitty, that just pigged out on gourmet food, will just go through a mess of baby rabbits like teens through junk food. I say let's open the season on "Morris" and all his feral friends :D By the way I do have a cat.
 
Feral cats are a disaster for native birds here in Hawaii. Their population needs to be limited but you still see bleeding hearts feeding them where they congregate.
 
Anyone who doesn't believe that feral cats are a problem needs to leave their declawed indoor kitty outside a few nights then count the scars. :eek:
 
I live in an area that's pretty much between farm and rural. Everyone in my neighborhood used to have dogs, but now many of those neighbors have moved and been replaced with cat owners. I personally have always hated cats, but here recently especially. Here in VA there are no leash laws for cats and neighbors just basically tell you to screw off when you ask them to keep their pet contained. I woke up the other morning to two things that really pissed me off:
1) Weather's been nice so I sleep with my window open. Woke up at 5:30 to two cats "gettin busy" in the tree next to my window. This is a pretty loud event, so i pulled out the blowgun and shot the bastards with stun darts (one fell out the tree and it was great).

2) My Jeep which I have been very anal about keeping in good condition has paw prints and scratches all over the hood.

I have a shed and there are mice under the shed. The cats like to help control the mice, but the mice aren't mating in my trees or scratching up my jeep. I am however gonna poison the mice with spiked bait (dogfood, heck maybe even catfood) and I can't help it if there are any other casualties, I'm "just trying to kill the mice"

If I could shoot cats i would not discriminate. If it's on my property it's an intruder and goin down. I might try using the bow, much quieter than guns so the neighbors won't be alarmed.

other than cats I'm a big pet lover and would never consider shoot a dog unless it attacked a family member.
 
i know cats can get out of hand but i think it needs to be monitored. i love my cats and dogs, but the cats stay indoors. we did have a barn cat that belonged to the people who lived in a place before we bought it, and we used to leave water and stuff out for it, it was skittish but a pretty good cat... unfortunately our psychotic socialist neighbors decided the cat "could have gotten sick" and lit it up. we really didn't think that was necessary. it was really the only outside cat between the two of our properties, not like we've got a cat problem up there, and we've certainly got enough rodents in the barn that the cat was of good use. anyway, i think there's better ways to go about regulating the cat population than declaring it open season for any nutter to pick up his .22 and go to town with. i'd sure be upset if someone shot a pet of mine that might have just wandered a bit.
 
i'd sure be upset if someone shot a pet of mine that might have just wandered a bit
Click to expand...
Would you be upset if someone allowed their 'pet' to come into your yard and eat up your elderly, half blind cat's food and chase her around?

Just asking.
 
i think it's clear that's a trouble cat. not everyone might assess degrees like that though. i was just getting at there's people out there as dumb as the cats who are just itching to shoot anything they can. i'd be saddened but not surprised to hear if something escalated between people based on that sort of a misunderstanding.
 
I got pretty chewed up as a kid courtesy of a feral cat.

Not a cat hater now, bur ferals are a real problem. They take out the songbirds, and I saw one a few years back kill a squirrel.

I lived out in "The Boonies" a while back, and I can't count how many cats and dogs got dropped off near my home. I finally put up a big sign:

If you 'drop off' a pet here, be sure to 'drop off' $100 in cash or food to cover the costs. Failing that, drop off at least a box of .357Mag rounds.

Got a lot less 'dropped off' pets after that, and once even got a 50Lb bag of Purina Dog Chow.
 
Ive lived in rural areas in several states. Feral cats were anywhere from a minor annoyance to a large issue depeding on where and who you ask. I was more than happy to help remedy the situation myself, courtesy of my 77/22 Mag and some Win. Supreme ammo. I couldn't even begin to count how many were put down. You would go to the dumpsters (yes in certain areas they do still have county maintained public acces dumpsters) and throw a bag in and anywhere from 5 to 50 cats would scatter. Many were in very sad shape, and were mercy killings to be sure. As well I have worked in the animal control business, and let me tell you, the absolute MEANEST animals I ever trapped on a regular basis were feral cats. You could tell a feral from a domestic in split second upon approaching the cage. A feral cat is the only animal I have ever had to reach out of the trap to get at me.
 
Several have said they favor shooting feral cats but not someone's pet. I believe the problems associated with cat predation are more attributable to the pet than the truly wild-all-the-time feral cat. When any predator has a shortage of prey, the predator's numbers decline in relation to the population decline of the prey species. The problem as I see it is that the natural balance is skewed when the pet cat kills what it can but isn't dependant on the kill for survival. Fluffy or Morris just goes home, fills up on Tender Vittles and is back out, killing, tomorrow. The truly wild cat will eventually starve if there is nothing for it to eat, which takes pressure off of the prey species allowing the prey species to begin building back.
House cats, feral or otherwise, need to be controlled. If a pet, it needs to be prevented from ranging freely. People should not feed stray cats unless they intend to assume ownership and keep the cat contained. I suspect that will never happen so the obvious remedy would seem to be CAT SEASON!
Steve.
 
I wish!

I wish I could move to Wisonconsin till all this "feral cat" crap is over. I think it's a great freaking idea that responsible taxpayers take out the abundance of overpopulation of these cats. The Liberals cry "don't kill the cats, they're domesticated!" Fine...you want a million cats? HAVE AT IT MORON. "But we can neuter/spay them." They taxpayers already f'ed it up by not doing it themselves, and now these people are seriously proposing this an an option to controlling a situation that was created by their own laziness/stupidity/love of animal rights? Are you freaking serious? I tell you what...you get all the cats, and all the liberals, put them together in a enclosed area with a few loaded weapons on a table for a week. I betcha they'll be begging for more ammo. The obvious solution is:

Taxpayers created the problem, taxpayers can take care of it. A million feral cats in one state is ludicrous. As I understand it, a $6 license can be had by each person to go out with someone else and plink away at the overpopulation. Some that shoot may have a moral objection to the shooting of non-game animals, or those that are not creating a nuisance for them directly (killing livestock, etc). I say lock and load. Hell, I'm about ready to shoot my own damn cat, and he's not feral, is collared, and stays in the house. All dogs go to heaven, all cats go on the end of my barrel.
 
haha 40cal, you said put the liberals and cats in a room and lay some guns on the table and in a couple weeks they'll be beggin for more ammo. you never specified who "they" were. Now are we talking about the cats learning to shoot and shooting the retarded liberals here, b/c that makes more sense. Between a feral cat and a liberal, my money is on the cat learning to shoot properly first. haha that would kill two birds with one stone (get rid of the liberals and without the liberals we could start shootin the cats)
 
Now that you mention it

Obviously, what was meant was that the Bleeding Hearts would shoot the cats, but now that you mention it...all we can do is hope. I agree though...a two'fer would be prefferable.
 
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