Maybe not precisely varmint hunting, but didn't know where else to put it.
***
I was just looking through our monthly community newspaper, where I saw this ad:

"Feeding a Stray/Wild (Feral) Cat? Neuter or Spay!"

It goes on to offer free spay/neuter Feral vouchers for all residents of our fair city, and low cost ones for non-residents.

"Trap, Neuter, Return and Maintain. It's Humane." Reads the ad. OH Boy!

'Borrow traps and learn how to trap!'

"Trapping assistance available!*

*Some restrictions apply. (This in very pale gray ink and small type.)

***
ARE THESE PEOPLE NUTS?
I had no idea that some people feed those critters! It must do their hearts a lot of good. I got called several kinds of names on another forum when I posted this.

Well, they adopt wild mustangs (maybe not so bad an idea,) and burros (Not convinced THAT is such a good idea), but feeding feral cats? Spaying and neutering them? Do they give them shots at the same time, too?

Maybe "someone" could borrow a trap or two, but how soon do you think they would get wise to the "no luck" returns?

I still think the best remedy is 38-40gr @~1000 fps., or an airgun pellet @ ~800 fps. , then the SSS.

The most effective remedy I have found is 55gr. of copper plated lead in a .243" package@ around 3900 fps. Second best is 40gr in .22" @ just over 4100 fps. Either one makes 'em stop peein' under the porch!!

Joe: AAAhhh, Yessss, I'd say that is a damned adequate kitty load!

okay here is the kitty lover in me. My little/big kitty came to us as a stray. Best thing that ever happened to our family. I won't shot you hunting dogs that bark all night if you won't shot my grandma's cats.

Being a trapper of farel cats during a time I was working on a Naval base in the USSR of C I trapped over 50 cats in one year. Reason I trapped that many cats next to our building is because a cat bit** wouldn't stop feeding them. Even after I told her to stop and that I was trapping them and turning them over to the city animal control people where they were being euthinized...Her comment: "But their hungry". It is against the law in most states and cities to feed these strays. They carry deseases that can transfer to humans and their existance is damned poor even if you are feeding them. Cats are food to larger animals like fox and coyotes.

If I hadn't been on a Naval base I would have used my .22 to thin them out...

By The Way This is a human problem not a cat problem...
I'm down to one house cat and one barn cat who is never allowed in the house. She has a barn to live in and she is spayed..

I agree that it's a human problem. If people would just fix their cats this problem would go away. While I don't like the idea of shoting cats I do know that it is much kinder than letting them starve to death. The only problem I have is if the "ferrel" cat that gets shot is really a pet as in the case of the idiot who shot my grandma's cat with a shot-gun which didn't kill it just hurt the heck out of the poor thing. IF, and this is a big if and hard for me to say, if you are going to kill the ferrel cats make sure it's a clean kill just like with any other animal, they don't deserve to suffer.

Where I live they have a ferrel cat resuce where they try to adopt out the cats. Megan, my kitty, came as a stray but at one time had been a house cat that was truned lose. I think that it is the stupid people that don't fix their cats or turn them lose that need to be smacked at least a few times so they get the idea of what they are doing is hurtful. They think that by letting them lose in the "country" they are saving the animal when in reality they are painting a target on them for other animals or people and condeming them to starvation because most house cats don't know how to hunt and will starve to death.

So long story short, IF you kill them do it clean and DON'T leave it somewhere that little kids can find it, it tends to freak them out if their not used to it.

I probably owned more cats than anyone on the boards. At one time, on a farm, I owned 36 cats. I know cats for exactly what they are. They are not cute or cuddly when you are a bird or a squirrel. They are vicious killers that hunt for fun, play with and torture their prey and breed like rabbits.

They are in fact more like a plague upon the land, killing all manner of small game animals, birds and song birds and it does not stop there, they also kill insect control animals such as, lizards, snakes, frogs, etc. They hunt and kill when full and when they are well fed. There is no hunger involved.

My Spay device is a 22 CB Cap or short and a post hole digger. On the farm we had folks drop off sacks of cats up the road from us. We had to start shooting them, just to keep cats down to our knees.
Ed

SwampFox wrote:

They are in fact more like a plague upon the land, killing all manner of small game animals, birds and song birds and it does not stop there, they also kill insect control animals such as, lizards, snakes, frogs, etc. They hunt and kill when full and when they are well fed. There is no hunger involved.Ed

Yep, what he said

The people who drop off the cats in the country need to be treated the same as the cats they drop off. There is no reason for a cat to have an unwanted litter. Most of these people know what is going to happen to the cats they just don't want to do it themselves. My grandpa used to toss them into the cannel behind the house in a gunny sack whenever there was a new batch born.

And I have the scares on my arm to prove how mean they can be but I still love my cat. She NEVER goes outside, besides her tail goes off everytime she sees a bird so they fly away any how.

I know this part is going to get me yelled at but I really don't care. Pets and wild/feral are 2 different things. I watched those raised inside have no idea how to hunt and I watched the feral have no idea how to be inside.

If you don't want your cat "off" it yourself don't hire someone to do it or at the very lest take it to the pound.

I live in central Phoenix and these buggers are a sore spot for me. Heaven forbid that there is a stray dog around, but cats get the run of the city and crap in your yard, squirt on your windshield, eat song birds etc. Occasionaly I see a coyote in our area and while I'm tempted to call the G & F, I don't because I figure the coyote is eating some of those strays.

Whenever I'm out calling I hope to be able to paste a couple feral cats, that might be just as exciting as getting a coyote.

One last rant to all those cat lovin' freaks out there...Domestic cats, as we call them, are not indiginous to this continent. They were brought over from Europe by sailing ships...

Bushmaster wrote:

One last rant to all those cat lovin' freaks out there...Domestic cats, as we call them, are not indiginous to this continent. They were brought over from Europe by sailing ships...

DUUHHHHH a lot of what we have was introduced from else where, including most of us. In the wild yes they are a problem in the house they are great stress relevers and calm down a lot of people.

rdncktink wrote:

If you don't want your cat "off" it yourself don't hire someone to do it or at the very lest take it to the pound.

Gotta agree with that, do your own dirty work.

I have no problem with someones "pet" cat. My neighbors pet teased the dogs for well over a year. He refused to heed my warnings, and his cat ended up in leg-hold traps that had been set for nuisance groundhogs. I tried to tell him that those things will snap her legs, and he should keep her in the house until the traps were no longer needed, but he refused to listen, and she had to be put down. As for the scroungy-ass, missin-half-yer-fur, rip-off-a-rabbits-head-for-no-reason cat, I have NO PROBLEM eliminating them!!

Most people around here keep their cats inside because of the cars and the drivers that don't care. My friend lost 2 cats to stupid drivers. Ast for the "scroungy-ass, missin-half-yer-fur, rip-off-a-rabbits-head-for-no-reason cat" its better for all cats if they are "taken care of" just do it clean so it won't suffer any more.