Hunting Cats; What About Crows?

La Crosse, WI... a city with which I am pretty familiar... is not known for having some sort of a pigeon problem.

When he talks about cats prowling around his bird feeder, I'm pretty sure he's talking about songbirds... like cardinals, chickadees, finches, etc.

It might be a bad idea to encourage people to fire guns in the city limits. Bullets can ricochet in strange ways.

Mark: Oh sure, I'm talking about here. I'm entirely sympathetic to Mr. Smith's desire to rid himself of wandering cats.

BB: Wouldn't have to use guns. Traps are just as good, or sling shots. Reasonable precautions would have to be taken to prevent injury and property damage, of course.

"BB.. wouldn't have to use guns"

Ha! Sorry, that just sounded funny to me when I read it.

Considering my newfound profession, you would know my stance on this issue.

*sobs quietly into beer*

I've never understood the aversion people have with pigeons, and the whole "rats with wings" thing. Then again, I've never lived in an urban environment so maybe it's different than in the suburbs. The times I see pigeons (which is still fairly frequently) they don't seem any different than any other bird in particular.

MW: Traps won't work. We had a family of stray cats living underneath the unoccupied house next door. We called Animal Control and they gave us a trap, which we baited and set underneath the house. We only caught the other neighbor's (licensed) cat, over and over. He kept coming for the free food, so we gave the trap back.

You'd have to be pretty fast to catch a cat with a slingshot. I'm not too sanguine about shooting within city limits; there's a reason for those ordinances prohibiting it. So what else is there besides traps, slingshots, and firearms?

Bombs!

WH: Why wouldn't animal control take care of the cats themselves? Anyway, if a cat's hiding under a house you can probably shoot it safely enough. Or not, who knows. If you offered a bounty for catching it, I bet someone would build a better cat trap.

DD: How many times do you have to tell you? Bombs can't solve every problem.

Don't kill the cats. They've done nothing wrong. It isn't humane. My wife love's 'em. She will create a hoo haa.

Sling shooting is a skill that needs to be mastered and aimed toward the arse of the cat killers.

Unite to destroy the cats. They are vermin and serve no purpose in society.

i am 15 years old and i am totally against this petition for killing cats and believe me even though i live in indiana i will fight it to make sure no cat or any animal that is consider a pet has to go through pain....i think ppl that want to kill cats and mess up in the head and are sick for wanting to kill innocent animals...you should all be ashamed...i know i am for living in this country of heartless ppl who think shooting guns freely in the streets should be legal....now if we could get a law legalizing shooting you...now that would be something i support...

wow - I think that Mark Smith has a condition that maybe he needs to be checked in for... Killing cats? Treating them as "fair game" as you said? What kind of freak are you? Obviously you have inhaled too much gun powder from all your other hunting you have done - Get a life and invest your time in something that can make a difference to the world - and quit worrying about your stupid hunting and bird watching. And although the person who posted above me is only 15 - I agree with them...what heartless people. Ya what about when you accidently shoot someone's child because you are sooo concerned with those pesky cats - hope you end up in jail or they legalize a law against 48 yr old firefighting hunters and the tables turn on you ...
And btw Fascisto - you are just as much of an idiot....
Pls stay in Wisconsin and DON'T come over to MN.

Hey
I use to live on this shit hole island in maine. it was great. crazy folks, snobby people who came to visit and a lot of wild animals too inbred to think for themselves. I am all for hunting unlicensed cats. I think there ought to be a seasn, there ought to be laws etc. Its not like I am gonna lean out of my window and shoot them as they run down the street. I lived in a place where that was pretty legal( or atleast it happened, legal or not)but they didn't shoot cats. we shot deer. well its not like there is a craze sweeping the nation about this.

Ignorance. Sheer ignorance. I will undoubtedly never visit your primitive Wisconsin.

I think this is the wrong way to take care of this issue. But I do believe its a huge problem, cat owners feel they do not need to comply with common decent rules. If my dog goes in someones yard I go over there and clean it up, but this would not happen as my dog is on a leash and collar all the time. Cat owners let their animals out to roam and shit and make noise anywhere they please. These cats destroy property and kill other animals. They also need to be controlled as in my neck of the woods there are so many strays I have taken care of a few myself. I think the owners need to be held responsible as I am. OBTW I have been and am currently a cat owner, my cat never goes outside. So he is not a problem. Other neighborhood cats will soon enter into my Cat Relocation Program...

works for me. if all these cat lovers got out there and rounded up the offending beasts then there would not be an issue. i had a problem with a cat pulling garbage out into my yard and drive. a $30 investment in a pellet gun and 1 well placed bb resolved the situation, at least on my property. not sure where it was when it finally stopped running but have not seen it in a couple of years. if they are running around in the wild then no one cares about them, so unless you are prepared to go pick them up and shelter them then you really don't care and you can just shut your trap!

i think that hunting cats is really wrong!!!!!
i have 12 cats plus more, but i cant buy collers 4 all of them.they are outside cats,'cause we live on a farm. i hate this new law!!!!! just imagine a animal thet u really love that is allowed to get shot. like birds 4 example!!!!!

ok, let me imagine.... ok i'm getting it, and we could call it...BIRD HUNTING. sounds like you are responsible for part of the problem. 12 cats plus!! you don't even know how many you have. they are just running around spitting out cats.........

ok " " i ment i have 12 cats and one of them just had babies, thats what i ment by plus more!!!u dont have to be rude about it. i like cats a lot. do have any pets!!besides i ment PET bids. fine then just imagin ur a dog, what can u picture now sparky!!!

yes, i have a registered russian blue. she is taken care of very well and does not leave the house. she is not a bother to anyone. on the otherhand i have had problems with cats and dogs who may or may not have had owners. these problems i resolve with my trusty bb gun. if ever it were not enough then i would move to what ever level it took. if you have a dog running around on your property that is bothering you then by all means get rid of him. would not bother me in the least. if my neighbor had 12 plus cats and they were coming in my yard craping all over the place then he/she wouldn't have 12 plus cats long.

dogs need to go outside once in a while you should let them be free fresh air will do them some good. i would never "get rid of" any dog that comes on our property, or cat. thatis just makes me sick thinking of it. what if ur dog escaped and it didnt have a callor, then it peed insome1s yard and they shot it,how would u fell then. i think ur hooked on the fact that i have 12 cats "plus" i no a lot of people that have more.

krissy is my girlfriend cats shouldnt be shot

Two things...(1)Fuck Wisconsin...(2)Fuck Wisconsin again. I appologize to all the people who do not suck in the state, but WS is a shit hole and I personaly feel violated by residing so near the anus of the northern midwest states. It is policy like "lets all get together and shoot the stray cats" that makes me desire to puke upon the faces of the intelectual prodigies who consieved such a plan. Let it be known that (a)the majority of stray cats were caused by the irresponsible ownership of persons with IQ's equal to those of such esteemed individuals as those creating this policy (Smith); (b)nuisance is no cause for shooting the perpatrator. Might I remind you that most rural Wisconsin dwelling hicks who make their way across the border into the more elegant state of Illinois cause us much anxiety and create a less than desirable situation, does this allow us the right to shoot you? Please say yes. However, I am not opposed to the extermination of stray animals causing problems to society provided that they are in fact causing problems and the extermination actually leads to a solution. As far as the evidence suggests, this new law is nothing more than allowing redneck, ignorant neanderthals to wield their precious guns, provided to them by the "right to bear arms" (which is taken out of context you NRA dumb-fucks) and shoot things in a meager attempt to boost their ego.

i agree wi is not the finest place on earth followed closely by whatever state resides to the south. if it were rats few would care but MY GOD NOT A CAT!!! i say if it is on your property and you can't get the owner to remove it or there is no owner to be found then you have the right to dispose of it in any way you see fit. oh, the 2nd ammendment is not there to allow us to shoot cats but rather to allow us, as a last resort, to keep the government from taking our rights. or so said jefferson. maybe he took it out of context also but if he is a redneck then it would be an honor to be considered one also.

Please do NOT consider a proposal to allow “hunting” of an animal which by its very nature is domesticated. Rather, educate ignorant citizens that it is their failure to spay and neuter cats, as well as abandoning them that has caused the feral cat problem in the first place!!!!!!!

It is a sad day when something that is typically at least a misdemeanor in any other state is considered on any Wisconsin ballot.

Please support those opposed to Mark Smith’s insane proposal. He feels that uncollared cats are “an invasive species”. I feel precisely the same about Mr. Smith and his supporters.

I love cats, they're delicious.

You are all fucking sick bastards!

When taking into perspective the choice of killing cats, I believe the decision is wrong on everyone's part. It is just like killing an unborn child when you do this. They have no choice whether or not they are born, and they are just like us when it comes to living in the world; It's sheer survival.

Please, if you want to kill a cat, tell me why you want to, and what it did to create such a bother.

Ignorance is bliss if they're bothering you that much.

Yea...So killing an unborn child is criminal activity, eh Miranda? Well, let us then define the unborn child. When is it passing from being potential HUMAN life to actualy by definition being HUMAN. In order to do this you must first define what is human. Upon your definition of human, you must then recognize that there is a difference between potentialy being human and actualy being human. There must then be some point during a pregnancy when the fetus is no longer just potentialy human life and is in actuality human life. I would be in support of forcing a woman to keep the pregnancy going only when the fetus can be determined to be human; i.e. no partial birth abortions. Prior to that, it just a collection of cells that may potentialy become a human, or may not, it would be criminal of you to impose your beliefs onto another, meaning it would be a case of freedom of choice, which I support. Now, this is not an abortion website, so onto the matter of this law. If you are smart enough to read the proposed law, which apparently many are not, it states that any cat not under the direct control of the owner or with no identification is considered fair game for hunters with a small-game license. Now I would assume that in Wisconsin the requirements for a small game license would be hands, after all you need a hand to have fingers and fingers are what pull the triggers on guns (for any too stupid this is an example of sarcasm directed to offend one from WI). Let us examine the hypothetical situatuion of some annoying children causes some disturbance in your yard. Could we not suggest that the child is fair game for a hunter as long as he has a small-game license? I am sure the majority of you would not find this to be a proper solution. So what then would one do in this instance? Probably call the police. So then what is a rational solution to this problem, to immediately exterminate the violator of your such deserved peace, or to call some form of authority that can then handle the situation in a more reasonable manor. Either way, you must first recognize that the problem exists because of irresponsible people. Does this then suggest that life irresponsibly created or maintained should be held in lower regards? Oh, and in response to the implication that WI is only slightly worse than Il, I challenge you to then defend why it is that Milwaukee is north of the border line and Chicago south. In addition I would like to remind you that Joseph McCarthy was born and raised in the lovely (again sarcasm) state of WI.

("if they are running around in the wild then no one cares about them, so unless you are prepared to go pick them up and shelter them then you really don't care and you can just shut your trap!"
As someone who volunteers at an animal shelter 3xs per week[3 yrs now], I feel that I can speak, oh mighty wizard of words...)

Hey, maybe he could move to Florida...that way he can tell the judge that the cat looked at him as if it intended to do harm, so he killed it...
Moving past the ridiculous idea that stray animals should become "fair game" (though I've never seen a cat with a .45--how is that fair?), it's easy to throw around blame and dump the responsibility upon others to ease a guilty conscience while having to do absolutely nothing. Having said that, you're right about owners taking responsibility. I don't think anyone would argue that its the owner's responsibililty to care for and look after their own pet. I feel very strongly, however, that the pets themselves should not be punished when the owner is less than responsible.

As far as a solution for keeping animals away, one humane suggestion is using a spray bottle to keep them away. It's just as easy as using a gun, and it doesn't hurt them. Having worked in a vet's office throughout college, and volunteering, I have seen my fair share of helpless victims of animal cruelty. We definitely need much stronger laws for this.

ah, the animal shelter person. i wonder if hitler called his gas chambers "shelters". people that are responsible for killing more animals than anyone else short of a slaughter house telling others they should not kill animals. i guess only the government knows when a dog has got to go! and people keep calling these animals "pets". they are not pets. these are wild animals that perhaps had tame parents. like i have said, if it is on your property and you can't find an owner then you should take care of the matter in your own way. i try several methods to keep unwanted animals off my property, moving up in severity as needed. if a yell will work, great. if it takes a 12 gauge, that's ok to. i might try your spray bottle idea. how many times do you have to hit them to kill them with a spray bottle?

My trap, simple Erin, may not be silenced, although I do commend you on your ability to soften and misuse the language we have adopted. I believe what you mean to write is that you think I am wrong and because I have an opinion different from yours you wish for me to not share it on a site dedicated to discussion. Furthermore, running around in the wild, as you suggest, does not imply that none care, at most it is a result of the irresponsible [lack of] ownership of the consequences of ones actions. If you had taken the time to actualy read what I had written instead of wishing to immediately attack what you percieved my views to be. According to you, you have the qualifications neccesary to formulate an opinion because you volunteer at an animal shelter. Perhaps we should apoint you to be in charge of visualizing the solutions to many of societies problems. Do you think you could handle it? I know that you assume since I stated an appropriate form of action, based on human rationality, would be to contact proper authorities to handle the situation. Never did I suggest that all these animals be taken to an adoption shelter where I will be waiting to pick them up. Your insight seems to be more of an oversight and a misunderstanding. I refer you to my previous responses in which I state my objection to such a law as I do not see it as a rational solution. I am not in favor of people discharging firearms in residential locations based on the justification that it is their property. And in response to your proposal that it is my efforts to ease my guilty conscience by placing blame on others I would first ask you how you came to the conclusion that my conscience is guilty. I had no part in creating the overpopulation of cats in my immediatee area, or anywhere for that matter. Blaming others only assigns the responsibility of the consequences of actions taken, as clearly stated, not by myself, but by others not assuming responsibility for their cats and thus allowing conditions for over breeding to occur. You follow up by stating that I do nothing to resolve the problem and then later deliver your thoughts on justice by stating that you do not think the animals should be held responsible for the owners lack of responsibility. Might I inquire as to what you have done to resolve the problem. Is it your suggestion that somehow a haven is created for every stray animal? I care not of your value of life, for I tell you that while being worth everything it is simultaneously worthless. I only propose that a more rational, orderly way of dealing with a problem must exist rather than simply enabling persons to kill every discrepency they have with the world the masses have created. With regards to your solution of this problem resting on the use of a spray bottle, I ask you if this is a domestic issue of training. If you admit that it is not, which surely you must as you have admited that these are wild animals, a spray bottle will serve little, if any, function in keeping animals away. To train an animal in that respect it would take consistent action by the homeowner to spray the animal in question every time it approaches the vicinity of the property. This would first require the person to come in close range of the animal. So, if I am not mistaken, you suggest that a person monitor their property and anytime a wild animal comes near they quickly respond to the situation with spray bottle in hand and "humanely" eradicate the problem. You put emphasis on a humane solution without accepting that by definition what is percieved to be humane is open to interpretation. If you wish to debate anything else with me, pick a topic and argue it better; that way it at least challenges me to defend my position.

just returned from my first cat hunt. man, they are tough game animals. the first one was moving so fast i missed. the beast was on me before i could chamber another round. lucky for me i had my trusty hunting knife. after rolling around in the dirt, fighting hand to paw, i was able to stab the tabby again and again and again. after 2 hours it was over. then i had to drag the body out of the woods. does anybody know a good taxidermist?

Sounds like it was a well fought battle and let me be the first to congratulate you.
I live in Japan, a non, gun-toting country, but man they've got a wicked selection of fine bb guns.
I have a fair sized yard here, unheard of in japan, that i like to enjoy in the warm months of the year, but have been unable to due to the cat crap that is everywhere.
People here follow their dogs around with little baggies so as not to offend neighbors, so dog crap is not a problem. in fact, i shit you not, I've even seen someone wiping their dog's ass with toilet paper. Anyways, what gets me is the unwillingness of people to keep their cats just as civilized. i dont mean wiping their cats ass after they dump a load, but if you want pets, i think you should have to be responsible for them. I sound like my mother. Anyways, in order to deter the cats from crappn in my yard, i've taken it upon myself to purchase a bb gun and start defending MY TERRITORY! Just got it today, and while i am sitting at the computer i've got a great view of my yard. i've already pegged off 5 of the bastards. i love it!!! i might just sleep at my desk tonight so as not to miss a golden oppurtunity at gettin back!

maybe all of you who want to take a life should be hunted....there are educated ways to handle the problem....maybe thats more like work than pulling a trigger....maybe its just that your all just too lazy....I think that thats probably the real problem....Someone said that cats serve no useful purpose, maybe neither do you so watch yer back for hunters withnothing better to do....There must be a good reason why cats have become extinct and reinvented themselves at least three times throughout Earths history....
Bottom line.....the big guy upstairs said....Thou shalt not kill.....period....but then again, besides humans,who said humans were intelligent....If we are the intelligent ones, this universe of ours has a real big problem....Right now we seem to be cavemen in the middle of all this technology....I am ashamed of everyone here who has talked about killing anything....Maybe you like rats and mice better....

M. Wright wrote,

"Maybe you like rats and mice better...."

i ask, if you are such a defender of cats that intrude my home and find themselves in the scope of my bb gun, why do you condone me shooting rats and mice?

"Bottom line.....the big guy upstairs said....Thou shalt not kill.....period...."

Let's not trample on our own arguements.

dear m. wright,
actually it takes quite a bit if thought to aim a firearm and get off an accurate shot. i feel it is the mindless person that sits around and whines or just lets things happen because they lack the mental ability to resolve the situation quickly and cleanly. as to cats "becoming extinct and reinventing themselves 3 times" i'm not sure about all that. i'm pretty sure extinct is kind of permanent and would thus make cats nonexistant which wold make this argument pointless. since allen is popping cat asses with his bb gun as i write this i must assume that cats have never been extinct. also i don't beleive the "big guy" said not to kill but rather not to murder. he told noah it was ok to eat meat and again told peter that unclean animals were fine to consume. i think he meant for us to kill the animal before we actually ate it. maybe allen needs to also pop the cat owners in the ass also. go getum allen!

For those of you who wish to hunt small game with pellet air rifles, take a look at this article on what it takes to do so humanely. (A lot more than your Red Ryder BB gun.)
http://www.velocitypress.com/pages/Woodchucks.php

My son had at one time an issue with dealing with stray cats and the proposed "hunting" of cats. After personally adopting 3 of the cats he found wandering around and going through the process of taming them and getting odd jobs to support their care..ie vet bills, vaccinations and food,litter etc. He soon found those 3 added to our own personal cat was a bit much to handle. He then looked into the local shelter for a way to save anymore he could. Due to a lack of funding here in Wisconsin our local shelter had to reduce the number of days a stray can be kept. They had expected a windfall of support in addition to the government funding after this issue came to light.(They did however get flooded by cats being rescued from this possible danger to them} However the actual donation revenue stayed relatively the same as usual. Other than my sons $25 donation..part of which was mine...yes I figured to learn an experience for him it was worth it to let him go through the process and even help him along. He was apalled by this and figured a privately shelter may be the answer. However the local private shelters are running at over capacity and have also been flooded by "rescued cats" from the evil hunters.So another donation was made to help provide food for these unfortunates as well. He sees the shelters becoming "warehouses of death" and costs and funding being balanced by the animals survivability and "cuteness" factor necessary to be adopted being weighed against euthanasia.
We live on the outskirts of a town in Monroe county which borders LaCrosse county. Our woods is starting to see reduced squirrel and rabbit populations and an increase in feral cats. While it is not the cats fault for existing..neither is it the rats,ticks,lice or any other living creature. You can't get that close to a feral cat in the woods with a spray bottle( My son has tried the results were comical and required peroxide and bandaids } and even if you did his need for food would overpower the little lesson and he would adapt to hunting when you aren't around or move to another area and start to decimate it as well. Many of the species on our states endangered list are small mammals and birds which the cat only sees as prey.
After much effort on his part and dismay that the number of complaints against it haven't generated enough or even some more funding to save these cats. He has decided that perhaps all cats should be liscensed like their canine counterparts and implanted or collared and tagged so that their owners are legally responsible. The chamber they use here doesn't seem that humane or sitting in a cage waiting for it for days or weeks that humane either. With winter here comes food problems..simple supply and demand. Enough food to carry a certain population over the winter in the wild. Slow starvation doesn't seem that humane a solution either which is what doing nothing would be. He would not particapte in shooting cats but would not find it anymore objectionable than any other solution. The problem is here already and has to be dealt with. Spaying and nuetering will prevent future problems from arising but not deal with the present problem at hand. While behaviour modification of pets at home is wonderful.. those are not feral cats in the wild and are already under control supposedly.It's just silly to think of a grown man chasing a 25 lb feral cat through brush,burrs and prickly ash in the woods with a spray bottle and doing it on a regular enough basis to work; let alone on a scale large enough to cover just the few thousand acres of county owned forest here in Monroe county let alone the entire state. Our hearts have to go out to these creatures and we wish there were homes for all of them;reality is there isn't nor is there enough funding privately or publically to handle it.

seems i remember the anti-gunners being up in arms over bb guns after a child was killed by one. that aside i would not actually hunt cats with a bb gun. a .22 rifle or pistol would be good. the .17 would be great (the fuzz would really fly) a great choice to terminate the critter. a bb would just run them off causing enough pain to perhaps make them find a new garbage can to invade.

So whats going to happen to all these dead cats not that people are killing are they going to be left in the area they were killed??? Where my mother lives you can go out any night of the week and see 20 or 25 cats running around with no homes. My sister has two she has taken in because they were sick but she can not take them all in. Just a question...

all you can eat chinese :o)

People would kill a rat, but they wouldn't kill a cat...they both have feeling when we have fun shooting them and besides, my friend's giving me 50$ to stab a cat so yeah...they're not really a bother to me, but they're pretty annoying when they stare at you or run away when you're about to shoot them so..

hey there,
Well i do consider myself an animal lover, i always carry a set of twesers and anitsepitic when i go bushwalking in my area because uncaring dog and cat owners let there animals loose in my area which is a WORLD heritage area! these animals spread desease and kill the native wildlife not for food but because its there natural instinct. As a result the native reptile population has decreased due to the above reasons and a massive outbreak of tics the reason i carry the tools is to remove these killer tics from snakes and lizzards that have no chance of survival because of this menace(the tics) they can not remove them and will die if left alone. So heres a nice picture in Australia most snakes are very dangerous so think about this for a second im risking my life to save these native animals because of an introduces pest and preditor.
Think about what your really doing by allowing
your "pet" to stray out into the wilderness kill mame, spread desease and parasites and reduce native species.
Japenese translation of pet- spoilt brat,
If i could bring myself to harm these brats i would!, no joke. Think about what i have said and try to argue.

u cat lovin freaks are retarted. people who let their cat run around are very irresponsible. Their cats destroy the natural ecosystem because cats aren't natural preditors. most cats u freaks let run around dont even eat what they kill and leave it and kill more. so shut the f******* up and lets shoot some cats.

how bout hunting drug dealers and gang bangers. with my .50 bmg rifle i would give them a mile head start.

After reading some of the earlier comments I purchased a basic slingshot and 3/8" shot at my local Wal Mart a few weeks ago. I've been practicing ever since.

It paid off! This morning as I was having coffee in the front courtyard I spotted the obnoxious cat of our neighbor perched in the grasses near our bird feeder. I took aim, launched - bullseye! For the first time since I've encountered this cat it stumbled away - didn't run like it normally did. We'll see if he returns.

His sister appeared about 30 minutes later, in for her morning snack I'm sure. She's not the brightest of the litter and didn't mind my sitting out there with a slingshot trained on her. She took rest in the same spot her brother did, facing the bird feeder.

She never saw it coming. Thank god today is garbage pick-up day.

Have any of you actually seen this?
www.feralcathunt.com
there is a video of people hunting cats