Cat Problem! How to fix it?

[naturalistmn]

I know feral cats are not big game, but I figured I'd throw this out there here.   Considering most people here would have a good grasp on what I'm talking about by the amount of time spent afield.   We have a HUGE cat problem in Minnesota.   How do you think this problem should be handled?   My opinion, shoot every one of them you lay your eyes on.   If the birds of Minnesota could talk, I bet they'd agree.   What do you think?

Read my latest post on this subject and tell me what's on your mind.

www.mnoutdoorsman.com/eyeswideopen



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[The General]

I blaze away on all of them.  Put a collar around you cats neck if it's a pet and outside.

[bonecollecter82]

I blaze away on all of them.  Put a collar around you cats neck if it's a pet and outside.

I agree blaze away. I have a buddy who pretty well cleaned a smalll town (pop less then 100) I wont say how he did it though.

[corny13]

The "Other" white meat!!!  Large Live traps with a bird wing tied dangling in the back works great also.

[UplandObsession]

Load up in the back of acouple pick ups with some good buddies and go ditch cougar hunting.  they normally turn out pretty productive nights. Thats my strategy, not exactly legal though but it works... 

[22lex]

As a townie, I usually handle the non-collar ferals quite effectively by watching for tracks along my house and setting up wire snares by my fence. Got two in two years. I always watch for them before I set them up though, there are a few collared cats that cruise the area certain times of the year at night, and being pretty good mousers and rabbit killers I actually appreciate them walking around.

When I lived in the country with my buddy years ago...we had a single shot .22 that we used to take care of all the cross eyed, five toe, farm raised ditch cougars in the area. Had around 50 plus notches under the wooden stock if I remember right.

[FireRanger]

Wack'em all.....I guess 

[TNT]

We have a HUGE cat problem in Minnesota.   How do you think this problem should be handled?   My opinion, shoot every one of them you lay your eyes on.   If the birds of Minnesota could talk, I bet they'd agree.   What do you think?



www.mnoutdoorsman.com/eyeswideopen

well naturlist you asked,
after watching your late season deer bow hunt video, and the little effort you put into retrieving a hit animal close to sundown,(imho) and let it lie overnight, and having it eaten by yotes and thinking that it was just nature at it's finest, i find it hard to believe that your worried about a tabby eating a couple song birds. the main problem i have with eradicating "any" roaming tabby is that it could very well be some little kids pet. removing excess strays is fine, but the job needs to be thought out first, and after all the tabby is only doing what comes natural to it, hunt and kill, they may not eat everything that they kill but it is still instinct, they are only doing what they were born to do, secondly, most people that want to whack the tabbies, do it because the tabby might eat an upland game chick that they want to see grow up just so they can bag it instead. so remove any that you feel the need to but, when your neighbors six year old stops by and asks if you have seen her kitty,tell her the truth why you whacked it.

[JoeFisherman]

well naturlist you asked,
after watching your late season deer bow hunt video, and the little effort you put into retrieving a hit animal close to sundown,(imho) and let it lie overnight, and having it eaten by yotes and thinking that it was just nature at it's finest, i find it hard to believe that your worried about a tabby eating a couple song birds. the main problem i have with eradicating "any" roaming tabby is that it could very well be some little kids pet. removing excess strays is fine, but the job needs to be thought out first, and after all the tabby is only doing what comes natural to it, hunt and kill, they may not eat everything that they kill but it is still instinct, they are only doing what they were born to do, secondly, most people that want to whack the tabbies, do it because the tabby might eat an upland game chick that they want to see grow up just so they can bag it instead. so remove any that you feel the need to but, when your neighbors six year old stops by and asks if you have seen her kitty,tell her the truth why you whacked it.

 

They also kill a lot of rodents.  Possibly more rodents than birds.

naturlist, there's a hawk that frequents my bird feeders and nabs a songbird now and then.  You wanna come over and blast it?

[Bobby Bass]

We have a HUGE cat problem in Minnesota.   How do you think this problem should be handled?   My opinion, shoot every one of them you lay your eyes on.   If the birds of Minnesota could talk, I bet they'd agree.   What do you think?



www.mnoutdoorsman.com/eyeswideopen

well naturlist you asked,
after watching your late season deer bow hunt video, and the little effort you put into retrieving a hit animal close to sundown,(imho) and let it lie overnight, and having it eaten by yotes and thinking that it was just nature at it's finest, i find it hard to believe that your worried about a tabby eating a couple song birds. the main problem i have with eradicating "any" roaming tabby is that it could very well be some little kids pet. removing excess strays is fine, but the job needs to be thought out first, and after all the tabby is only doing what comes natural to it, hunt and kill, they may not eat everything that they kill but it is still instinct, they are only doing what they were born to do, secondly, most people that want to whack the tabbies, do it because the tabby might eat an upland game chick that they want to see grow up just so they can bag it instead. so remove any that you feel the need to but, when your neighbors six year old stops by and asks if you have seen her kitty,tell her the truth why you whacked it.

  I tend to agree, have to put a little more thought into this then wack anything that has fur on it in a ditch. KIlling of songbirds is a huge problem but untill people care for their pets you are going to have feral cats out there doing what they have been doing for thousands of years, hunting and surving. I always wonder about the posts I see about cats and wolves killing game birds and deer. It seems to me people are more upset that they may be killing something that the hunter thinks is only his to kill. 

[Cody Gruchow]

i work on a game farm(pheasant) and cats CAN be a huge problem. theres a difference between cats that kill to eat and cats that kill just to kill, and that is most house/feral cats. one single cat could get into a pen of hundreds of pheasants and wipe out half the pen in a single night and they wont eat any of them. they do it with song birds as well. it is a big problem and i do shoot one on sight. whats with attacking the guy about his video, i dont care if you liked it or not theres no need for it, and he did what 75% of the people on here would of done, left it overnight and not push a marginal shot deer in the dark. happens to the best of us. collar or not if theres a cat roaming around the land or at work it will get blasted

[JoeFisherman]

one single cat could get into a pen of hundreds of pheasants and wipe out half the pen in a single night and they wont eat any of them.  collar or not if theres a cat roaming around the land or at work it will get blasted

A dog would do the same thing if they got into the pen.  Gonna blast a dog with a collar on too?

[nic53]

The main issue I see here is the owners of the animals need to keep them contained. If you see a dog chasing a deer during a certain time on the year you can shot it legally, collar or not and i personally would. So if i see a cat stalking a bird or rabbit I'm taking the same action. Keep your little kitties on your property and they wont get targeted.

[Cody Gruchow]

never had any problems with dogs, so we will go down that road when it happens. keep the pets at home and no problems come up.

[MTCOMMER]

Well, I hate cats, so I would have no problem getting rid of some - especially 'stray' ones that just roam around.
However, the  is a cat lover - so good thing she doesnt get on this site.  Ha!  Its just like fox, coyotes and raccoons.  I wont go out and hunt them just to hunt them, but if im sitting in a stand and one comes by, I will take a shot to get rid of it. 
Stray cats around small towns are fine, they just eat trash, mice and other small animals.  If they are feral and out in the wild on my hunting property, thats another story and they will be shot (I just have to be careful not to shoot our land owners - his roams around sometimes....  )

[The General]

Notice the skid marks before the cat.............yeah I don't see any either




In response to the dog.  I live out in the country and know all of my neighbors very well.  If I saw their dog over here I'd load it up and take it home.......good way to get out of the house and have a beer.  But if it's some stray  

[naturalistmn]

TNT,
Lack of effort retrieving a deer?   I'm not really sure your comment deserves a responce, but by your obvious lack of experience and knowledge perhaps I could help.   There is no better way to approach a situation with a deer hit far back than to leave it alone.   It is much harder to turn away for the night then to press on only to jump the deer.   It was a perfect recovery of just under 100 yards of the hit site.   It is, however, unfortunate that the coyotes found it so quickly.   The beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess.   Seeing an ecosystem at work in front of your very eyes is a beautiful thing.   The relationship and co-excistance between species is a wonderful thing.   Have you ever hunted with traditional archery?   It is archery in its purest form, much like the coyote that eats the deer.

You are one of those people who are in denial.   Your vision of a cat is one that is all fluffy and batting around a ball of yarn.   Have you ever managed anything for waterfowl or any bird species for that matter?   My Grandfather is being inducted into the Waterfowl Hall of Fame by the MWA this weekend and has made over 120 wetlands in Minnesota, and is a veterinarian, perhaps he could explain the impact of domestic and feral cats on Minnesota birds better than I could.   What education do you base your answers on?  

You think feral cats kill a couple song birds?   This is yet another assumption that is largely inaccurate.   Your main problem is that one of these cats may be someones pet?   Really.   Well, if that's the case, why are they where they shouldn't be then?   This problem was caused by the people and their carelessness of domestic animals.   Period.   If these "pets" are so presious why are there so many feral cats?   If wildlife management problems took this "what if" approach, there would be nothing left.   Creating a problem and justifying it with false assumptions doesn't fix anything, and makes for a poor future.   Such as justifying it by saying it is their instinct.   This is correct, it is the cats instinct, but it does not give someones cat the right to be on others property causing harm to wildlife.  

Family members, including myself, have devoted a part of our lives to bird, especially waterfowl reproduction.   Yes, I do want to shoot some of the birds these cats are killing.   Why wouldn't I?   Hunting is a management tool.   The very same people that shoot these birds are the very same people that give back to the birds.   All the revenue spent and all the habitat restoration comes from the outdoorsman, not the cats.   So, to say I don't want the cat to kill them so I can is a sad attemp of justification.   We are a part of wildlife, wildlife is not a part of us.   We put this upon them and we need to take care of it.   It is our duty and responsibility.  

You are absolutely right about telling the youngster the truth.   They need to learn from our mistakes and take care of this land, perhaps better than we have.   I involve young people with the outdoors and I will certainly not dance around the truth.   What have you done to make Minnesota better than when you found it?    Tomorrow depends upon the decisions we make today.  

[naturalistmn]

i work on a game farm(pheasant) and cats CAN be a huge problem. theres a difference between cats that kill to eat and cats that kill just to kill, and that is most house/feral cats. one single cat could get into a pen of hundreds of pheasants and wipe out half the pen in a single night and they wont eat any of them. they do it with song birds as well. it is a big problem and i do shoot one on sight. whats with attacking the guy about his video, i dont care if you liked it or not theres no need for it, and he did what 75% of the people on here would of done, left it overnight and not push a marginal shot deer in the dark. happens to the best of us. collar or not if theres a cat roaming around the land or at work it will get blasted

Nice work Cody, thank you.

[kenhuntin]

Some cats will only kill cardinals and some will only kill aids infested mice.It is hard to judge a good rodent killer from a songbird eradicator. Cats prey on alot of things. Flying squirrels to Loon eggs. I have met cats I would not harm but most I show no quarter.

[JoeFisherman]

Cody,
If my neighbors dog craps on my yard again can I shoot it?

[MTCOMMER]

Cody,
If my neighbors dog craps on my yard again can I shoot it?

I believe you can twist it into 'trespassing' and I think its a law that a dog must leashed if its out of an enclosed area (atleast its the law behind my house).

[DDSBYDAY]

 

Cody,
If my neighbors dog craps on my yard again can I shoot it?

  If you ask your neighbor that same question the problem will be solved and you can save a shell.

[Mayfly]

TNT,
Lack of effort retrieving a deer?   I'm not really sure your comment deserves a responce, but by your obvious lack of experience and knowledge perhaps I could help.   There is no better way to approach a situation with a deer hit far back than to leave it alone.   It is much harder to turn away for the night then to press on only to jump the deer.   It was a perfect recovery of just under 100 yards of the hit site.   It is, however, unfortunate that the coyotes found it so quickly.   The beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess.   Seeing an ecosystem at work in front of your very eyes is a beautiful thing.   The relationship and co-excistance between species is a wonderful thing.   Have you ever hunted with traditional archery?   It is archery in its purest form, much like the coyote that eats the deer.

You are one of those people who are in denial.   Your vision of a cat is one that is all fluffy and batting around a ball of yarn.   Have you ever managed anything for waterfowl or any bird species for that matter?   My Grandfather is being inducted into the Waterfowl Hall of Fame by the MWA this weekend and has made over 120 wetlands in Minnesota, and is a veterinarian, perhaps he could explain the impact of domestic and feral cats on Minnesota birds better than I could.   What education do you base your answers on?  

You think feral cats kill a couple song birds?   This is yet another assumption that is largely inaccurate.   Your main problem is that one of these cats may be someones pet?   Really.   Well, if that's the case, why are they where they shouldn't be then?   This problem was caused by the people and their carelessness of domestic animals.   Period.   If these "pets" are so presious why are there so many feral cats?   If wildlife management problems took this "what if" approach, there would be nothing left.   Creating a problem and justifying it with false assumptions doesn't fix anything, and makes for a poor future.   Such as justifying it by saying it is their instinct.   This is correct, it is the cats instinct, but it does not give someones cat the right to be on others property causing harm to wildlife.  

Family members, including myself, have devoted a part of our lives to bird, especially waterfowl reproduction.   Yes, I do want to shoot some of the birds these cats are killing.   Why wouldn't I?   Hunting is a management tool.   The very same people that shoot these birds are the very same people that give back to the birds.   All the revenue spent and all the habitat restoration comes from the outdoorsman, not the cats.   So, to say I don't want the cat to kill them so I can is a sad attemp of justification.   We are a part of wildlife, wildlife is not a part of us.   We put this upon them and we need to take care of it.   It is our duty and responsibility.  

You are absolutely right about telling the youngster the truth.   They need to learn from our mistakes and take care of this land, perhaps better than we have.   I involve young people with the outdoors and I will certainly not dance around the truth.   What have you done to make Minnesota better than when you found it?    Tomorrow depends upon the decisions we make today.  

 

[Outdoors Junkie]

When my family moved to Spearfish, SD 4 1/2 years ago, we found a beautiful log home to purchase.  There is landscaping timbers around the outside of our log home on three of the four sides.  There was mulch inbetween the the timbers and the house (along with bushes).  My wife and I noticed that these "flower beds" were full of cat crap.  It really stunk on warmer days.  Shortly after we moved in I noticed several cats running around mostly at night.  There was no song birds to be found.  My wife and I replaced the mulch with small river rocks.  Which has stopped them from constantly using our "flower beds" as the toilet.  We also discovered a neighbor lady would bring out a metal trash can lid full of cat food every other night and dozens of cats would come to feed.  She was attrating more feral cats to our neighborhood.  None of them were fixed.  There were serveral with liters of kittens all over (in the wood pile, under our shed, in horse pasture).  We asked the lady to stop feeding them, but she didn't want to.  We called the animal control but found out we lived about two blocks out side of their jeridiction.  We called the sheriff dept and asked if they could help.  They said if they continue to be a nuisance they could come out and try shooting them.  I didn't want to have them blasting away with kids in the neighborhood.  I decided to start trapping them with a live trap.  I caught 9 of them the first night.  I brought them to our local humaine society, but they were full and couldn't take anymore.  I brought them to a local ranchers place.  The next night I caught 11 more.  I had only one trap.  I would catch one, put it in a crate and set it again and repeat the process until I would go to bed.  I caught 87 cats in two months.  I reduced the heard down to about 5-6.  Now we have song birds at our feeders. I have to catch  a few each year a since.

[Mayfly]

When my family moved to Spearfish, SD 4 1/2 years ago, we found a beautiful log home to purchase.  There is landscaping timbers around the outside of our log home on three of the four sides.  There was mulch inside the the timbers and the house (along with bushes).  My wife and I noticed that these "flower beds" were full of cat crap.  It really stunk on warmer days.  Shortly after we moved in I noticed several cats running around mostly at night.  There was no song birds to be found.  My wife and I replaced the mulch with small river rocks.  Which has stopped them from constantly using our "flower beds" as the toilet.  We also discovered a neighbor lady would bring out a metal trash can lid full of cat food every other night and dozens of cats would come to feed.  She was attracting more feral cats to our neighborhood.  None of them were fixed.  There were several with liters of kittens all over (in the wood pile, under our shed, in horse pasture).  We asked the lady to stop feeding them, but she didn't want to.  We called the animal control but found out we lived about two blocks out side of their jurisdiction.  We called the sheriff dept and asked if they could help.  They said if they continue to be a nuisance they could come out and try shooting them.  I didn't want to have them blasting away with kids in the neighborhood.  I decided to start trapping them with a live trap.  I caught 9 of them the first night.  I brought them to our local humane society, but they were full and couldn't take anymore.  I brought them to a local ranchers place.  The next night I caught 11 more.  I had only one trap.  I would catch one, put it in a crate and set it again and repeat the process until I would go to bed.  I caught 87 cats in two months.  I reduced the heard down to about 5-6.  Now we have song birds at our feeders.

That is completely nuts!! 87 cats!? Doesn't surprise me though. When bow hunting no matter where you hunt it seems like you always see a stray cat walking through the woods. Down on the property I hunt in Red Wing we run into them a lot.

[TNT]

you asked and i answered,
not trying to stir the pot or start a pissing match, just commenting.
even on your site you ask if i agree or disagree, and by the sound of my comment, i disagree. now right from the start of watching your video, i thought to myself, boy that is a narrow shooting lane, when i seen you bleat and stop the deer in the lane, secondly, when you said that you would leave it till morning, i thought  there goes another one to the yotes, and then after watching the rest of the vid, wa-la, history. in the after vid you say that your arrow hit a branch and the deer is eaten by yotes, just what i expected, i've seen this so often when animals are left overnight. and as far as it being nature at it's finest, no not realy, the only reason the yote got that deer is because you didn't put enough effort into the retrieval(imho).
i never said to rush right in and follow, but i was taught that if you shoot in the evening, you better be prepared to look at night, now most often, two or three hours would have been a good time frame to resume the search for the hit animal, and at a 100 yards it would have been quick, and on the other foot, most often deer left overnight are more times than not gassed to the point of being not edible, but to each his own. now back to the cats. i think my comments earlier say what i was trying to get across, and what gets me the most is that most people that want to whack these cats do it just so they can whack the birds that the cats are getting anyway. and as far as lack of my experience, well i'll take my 50 years and put up against yours anytime.

[Outdoors Junkie]

I am not a cat person, but my wife is.  She adopted two kittens from the humaine society the summer we moved in (while I was out of the state at a two week training for work).  Our two cats have collars (with bells on the collars) plus they are declawed in the front.  They are inside cats, but go out once in a while in the summer.  Those darn cats can still catch mice and an occasional bird.  They drag them back home and leave them outside the door.  It pisses me off every time I see it!  If a well fed declawed house cat, with a bell on its collar can catch a bird, what kind of damage do you think a feral cat can do?

[The General]

[The General]

I am not a cat person, but my wife is.  She adopted two kittens from the humaine society the summer we moved in (while I was out of the state at a two week training for work).  Our two cats have collars (with bells on the collars) plus they are declawed in the front.  They are inside cats, but go out once in a while in the summer.  Those darn cats can still catch mice and an occasional bird.  They drag them back home and leave them outside the door.  It pisses me off every time I see it!  If a well fed declawed house cat, with a bell on its collar can catch a bird, what kind of damage do you think a feral cat can do?

Sounds like a responsible pet owner.  I would not shoot this cat.  I DO look for a collar and it sure is nice if it's a bright color (camo collar may get your pet shot).  My animals wear blaze orange collars.

[black-ice]

Notice the skid marks before the cat.............yeah I don't see any either




In response to the dog.  I live out in the country and know all of my neighbors very well.  If I saw their dog over here I'd load it up and take it home.......good way to get out of the house and have a beer.  But if it's some stray  

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