ROWDY TREED A FERAL CAT

I keep mine on speed dial. I know all of the pets in the neighborhood, though I might not know all of my neighbors, and where they belong. Any, and I mean any, strays come around and I'm on the phone. Sometimes I get a thumbs up, sometimes I don't. I had one agent ask me where an animal belonged that he trapped instead of just taking it to the pound.
There are a couple of snowflakes that might complain, but it's not about just wanting to kill something. It's about safety for all involved.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MEC17670
My man Rowdy, an Australian Shepard treed a wild cat yesterday around 11:30. I thought he was goofing off but his attitude was just like when he trees a coon. He was going nuts'O around the same spruce tree where he had a big coon about a month ago. I walked over to see what he had going and to my surprise there was a big feral just about 10 ft up. I first thought to just let it go and do nothing but Rowdy had other plans. He was so jacked up and barking like crazy. Sort of reminded me of Fred Flintstone banging on the door outside at night waking up all the neighbors.

So I got my .30 cal Hatsan and pointed my Lazer at the chest and ripped off a burst of maybe 5 rounds. The big cat fell like a rock but on my neighbors side of the fence, who don't live there. The dang cat ran like a pellet bullet for about 30 yards then dropped. Cats do have 9 lives. Rowdy was ticked he couldn't rip it apart but it's a good thing because these critters are mean and can be full of diseases. They also are hell on wild life like birds and grouse.

One less on earth thanks to my buddy.

There's a lot of these feral here for some reason and I've live trapped many but this is my first tree kill
A good head shot would have dropped the cat in one shot.
Good kill, but wasted a lot of lead.
 
My little 40 lb rescue hound tree'd a large black and white cat this morning. She was approached by a friendly cat on a walk a week or so ago and did nothing to that cat. But when she sees them in her yard or they hiss at her she wants to go after them. I didn't let her out to chase the cat this morning I thought she had seen a squirrel. Then I see her on a full tilt run around some bushes and the next thing is the cat is up a tree. It left when we went for our morning walk. She must have scared the cat it went about 40 feet up the tree and stayed there. I don't want her to get in fights with cats to avoid issues with neighbors and to avoid vet bills. I am pretty sure she would kill the cat but it would still inflict some damage to her and thus cost to me. I don't shoot them in the yard because technically people are not required to restrain their pet cats here and I know of one neighbor that feeds strays. Cat killing would not be a game law issue it would be animal cruelty, I think. But if I was out hunting with no residences around so I knew the cat was feral I'd probably put it down. I refilled the bird feeder yesterday and I think the cat this morning was trying for a song bird. I do not really like cats but I do try to stay out of trouble.
 
Feral cats are nasty. A friend of mine counted 13 on her property, that had been eye balling her small dog. My buddy and I spent a couple weekends baiting them with wet cat food and our .25 Taipans. Even with head shots, those critters die hard.
AMEN on the nasty part, had a feral drop her litter in my garage, even day old kittens were all tooth and claw, they and momma went to the pound. Same time we had another female drop a litter in the garage, sweetest thing you'd ever meet, we kept her and all but one of her kittens all great cats, the male was a rodent killing machine.
 
There's lady down the street that feeds all the wild animals and we pay the price. Racoons, skunks, of course. But the amount of mangy feral cats running around is the worst part.
Same here, crazy cat lady down the street. Had to have her house "tented" by fumigation company for all the insects and vermin that hang around waiting for the next meal, even has a number of turkey buzzards show up regularly. WM
 
Last edited:
A good head shot would have dropped the cat in one shot.
Good kill, but wasted a lot of lead.
Thanks for the advice but I couldn't see its head and besides it would have been to small of a target...hit or miss thing, I wanted a sure kill, not a wouned animal so I shot at the main body with the Lazer, hip shot in other words. Besides, it was about 10 cents worth of pellets and ive shot several cats in the head with a .22 and they lived only to show againabout a week later. :)
 
Our county animal control no longer responds to requests for feral feline removal. Was told by them basically the 3Ss. Even the neighbors are on board with it, even if they won't do it themselves.
Don't get me wrong, I really do like cats and hate that it has to be done, but they are the worst next to raccoons for spreading diseases across the neighborhood yards endangering actual pets.
It blows to have to explain to a child their pet has to be put down due to contracting whatever is floating around at the time.
Seems alot of people would rather think with their emotions than their heads.
I live in (close) to a college town, so lots of liberals & bleeding hearts . We have had no pets since moving here in '96 ,but have many cats wondering through. Many times rabbits have nested in our beds & most of the young never make it . Hawks get some as witnessed ,but most are killed by cats , their heads chewed off & bodies deposited on our sidewalk or patio. This is a sure sign of a domestic cat left out to wander , probably a male ( that's a male's behavior , grew up w/ farm cats), that doesn't need to eat ,just kill. Neighbors write on local chats that my wife reads about some feral cat feeders & most replies by township animal control personal is to stop feeding because of all the issues in prior posts ,PLUS it brings in other wildlife such as coyotes , bobcats ,skunks ,etc AND bears ! We live by a mountain and have all the above in or through the property. They will attempt to trap the cats to a point & fine the " concerned for the animals" citizen(s) . After several calls though , it usually is taken care of by "other means". I am a firm believer in the 3S"s. Along w/safety, common sense & discretion this may be the best way for some folks. Feral cats as pets cannot be trusted any more than any other wild animal in my experience as they have attacked other cats , pets and children and adults .
 
I live in (close) to a college town, so lots of liberals & bleeding hearts . We have had no pets since moving here in '96 ,but have many cats wondering through. Many times rabbits have nested in our beds & most of the young never make it . Hawks get some as witnessed ,but most are killed by cats , their heads chewed off & bodies deposited on our sidewalk or patio. This is a sure sign of a domestic cat left out to wander , probably a male ( that's a male's behavior , grew up w/ farm cats), that doesn't need to eat ,just kill. Neighbors write on local chats that my wife reads about some feral cat feeders & most replies by township animal control personal is to stop feeding because of all the issues in prior posts ,PLUS it brings in other wildlife such as coyotes , bobcats ,skunks ,etc AND bears ! We live by a mountain and have all the above in or through the property. They will attempt to trap the cats to a point & fine the " concerned for the animals" citizen(s) . After several calls though , it usually is taken care of by "other means". I am a firm believer in the 3S"s. Along w/safety, common sense & discretion this may be the best way for some folks. Feral cats as pets cannot be trusted any more than any other wild animal in my experience as they have attacked other cats , pets and children and adults .
You know what the difference is between a feral cat and a domesticated one? The domesticate ones have servants to attend to them. Beyond that they are all killing machines. That Tom I mentioned above, sweetest thing, wouldn't kill birds, until a Mockingbird started harassing him everyday when he was out sunning, well one day he'd had enough, scratch a Mockingbird.
 
Some 25+ years ago lived VERY rural. Had a few neighbors many acres away that let there barn cats breed & breed & breed. We would see kittens wandering around our property time to time so knew feline screwin was constant and problems were getting no better. :eek:

Well ... one summer day/evening we had a BIG party where we BBQ'ed / Smoked a lot of salmon for IIRC about 25 couples. Come about 10pm the last of the guests left and went about securing the yard for the night ... In the fringe of the mercury vapor yard light were CATS !!! They obviously were drawn in by the BBQ salmon in the air over many hours !!
In less than 20 minuets has 11 bagged & tagged with the trusty FWB 124. They were so hungry they just sat there on the edge of the yard light and watched there fuzzy buddies getting culled. Sometimes country folk just gotta do what needs gettin done :cry: Our Pound / cat rescue some 35 miles away would not take trapped Wild / Feral cats & had the attitude of a shoulder shrug with a just take care of your issue/s and keep it on the low down.

Conflict is we love cats and had 2 at the time of this ordeal & still have cats to this day 🥰
 
Last edited:
Like Hank JR.'s song": I hate cats in the house but I'm for LOVE". :)

Lots of great comments about a serious problem that will most likely never be solved by government agencies, just us and by using PCP arms we can do this "Quietly".

Before I owned these high power non firearm guns I'd us .22 or .17 cal riffles or hand guns which would wake up the entire neighborhood. Nobody, I mean Nobody hears my air gun....day or night. Unreal and awesome!! Especially with my DFL suppressor. :)
 
There's no feral cats in Alberta, but our neighbours would drop off all their "extras" on our family farm.

For about a decade we had a wolf dog on the farm. It had a "dominance game" it would play with the farm cats. Whenever a cat walked across the farm yard, it would run to it, and grab it by the neck. If the cat submitted, it would let it go. But if the cat hissed or growled or tried to fight the dog, he'd snap its neck.

When we first got that dog, in the first week there was a pile of cat corpses in the yard. Took a while before we realized what was going on. That was one lovely dog.
 
  • Like
Reactions: john8
Trapped a neighbors' cat that trespassed on my property and caught the birds I feed, in a cage.
Wanted to take him out but changed my mind and hosed him down with cold water. He was properly wet and when I opened the trap door, that cat shot out like a bullet and streaked over the wall, never to be seen again.
 
I recall going to an all inclusive resort in Mexico and hearing feral cats howling as the workers culled them late at night.
That woke me up because I sleep light and it’s a gruesome sound that gets cut short unexpectedly.

My old female Maine coon cat loved to get squirrels even though she was fat and sassy.
One time my wife yelled at Rikki "You’’ve got to eat the whole thing."
On the floor of the basement was the head and tail of a once large squirrel and no body in between. Classic!
That cat weighed 21 lbs and was hell on wheels for any bird mouse or squirrel and even though she was well fed she would eat the entire animal she killed. So no, cats do not belong in the wild.
 
Last edited:
I've got one feral black and white cat that likes to come over to my yard. He likes to hunt the little mice that live in my shed. So far he hasn't been an issue but he's seen my dog and me and scrams everytime. I like to keep him around to control my mice population which I see as the bigger issue right now.
In my neighborhood the city traps a feral cat that lives in the area and neuter or spays it and notches the ear so they know it’s been fixed.
They let the cat go and it lives in the ’hood and keeps other strays away. They started the program 6 or 7 years ago with a tuxedo kitty that hung out in my yard. I honestly didn’t lend much credence to the scheme but it’s kept the feral cat population down until just this year. I noticed last spring there were more feral around. The tuxedo is getting old and even though he’s around he’s not as robust about keeping others out.