[bwire]

I think most people on this forum knew about this. Glad they did a study to prove it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/science/that-cuddly-kitty-of-yours-is-a-killer.html?_r=0

 

[Barberry]

No way...the reason small game populations are in trouble is because of all the redtail hawks and the coyotes the PGC stocks...we need to set a bounty on hawks for sure. Think about all the rural farms and houses in Pennsylvania, most have a "few" cats hanging around the barn to "control" the mouse population. These cats can range for miles from the barn, killing 365 days a year 24 hours a day. I have a high school buddy that has a farm in Venango County. He said to me one day "you hunt woodcock don't you?" I told him I did. He said "boy those things are dumb, my cats brought back a bunch of them this spring".

 

[Dale Sholder]

 

[jimsdad]

Ya' I read that report and I am shocked. SHOCKED! Frankly though, as many times as I have been hunting I have only seen 2 x cats in the woods. I know they probably hunt at night and just get out of the way in the daytime. What gets my shoes on the wrong feet are the people who, having decided they no longer want a cat, take it to an SGL and let it go.

 

[angus]

Wait. It's not the hawks and owls?

If only a discussion I had with a fellow HPA'r last saturday had come to fruition sooner...

 

[FLDBRED]

And I was just getting convinced that it was hawks, owls,and eagles! I guess we should have a bounty on house cats too! Nah, it's the avian predators for sure, this study must be wrong!

 

[LostintheUplands]

If only a discussion I had with a fellow HPA'r last saturday had come to fruition sooner...

I was so close.... Now I need to photochop in a cat also..

 

[Clinton County]

Maybe fishers aren't all bad. They wipe out the cat population. No strays around here anymore.

 

[burk313]

Coyotes were never stocked by the PGC...Coyotes have been in PA since the 70s and 80s..Just in smaller numbers...

 

[thwho]

Cats are a real problem! Read the NJ quail plan
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/bobwhite_plan10.htm#plan

Cats are one threat to small game that is 100% controller, I do my part every chance I get.

 

[angus]

If only a discussion I had with a fellow HPA'r last saturday had come to fruition sooner...

I was so close.... Now I need to photochop in a cat also..

 

[bwire]

The one area I hunt usually has several cats on it and I think they do a number on baby rabbits. I've seen some take some killdeer birds when nesting close to home as well.

 

[jimsdad]

I wonder if PITA will do the right thing and put out a bounty on cats? No, wait a moment. That question shows that I have had too much wine.

 

[LostintheUplands]

I wouldn't hold your breath
Crazy Cat Lady site

and I have a number of crazy cat ladies in my neighborhood.
Frickn cats are everywhere.

Estimated 39 million birds a year, avian predators are the least of their problems.
Bird mortality

This thread has potential to go a good 10 pages..

 

[Barberry]

Everyone, the first sentence of my first post on this topic was sarcasm...just wanted to make that clear...although I do think PA's mountain lion population...forget it I better not go there.

 

[LostintheUplands]

the redtail hawks and the coyotes the PGC stocks...

Well, I for one never did like hunting their pen raised Redtails, they just didn't fly well...

 

[222Shooter]

SSS

 

[jamesh]

Cats are brutal on baby rabbits too. Are you legally allowed to dispatch cats on SGL's or are they protected too?

 

[The Rakist]

I wouldn't worry so much about the law with feral cats. I think its an unwritten gray area. Wildlife officers and DNR know darn well how bad feral cats are, I'm sure they aren't looking to actively cite and prosecute feral cat assassins.

Shoot, shovel, and shut-up seems to be the way to operate. It's how I have gone about it thus far.

 

[Lyco Setter]

That report doesn't come as a surprise to me, my dad has been saying that FOREVER. I have local, yet feral tomcat hanging around. It swipped a grouse I had hanging off a hand railing. I'll be investing in a live box trap... and some sub-sonic aguilas for 24" 22lr. With grouse being somewhere around $50 an ounce ($54 or so after said trap and ammo), that acted as last meal so to speak for that dirty bugger.