How come so much of the dialog on this forum is devoted to cats? Where I come from small game means rabbit (cottontail and snowshoe), pheasant, grouse, squirrel, etc.

Whats the story with the cat/crat fascination?

As far as I can tell, it's a matter of tradition and personal pride.

I try to focus more on bobcats and coyotes and such as small game, even squirrels, but to be quite honest the occasional felis domesticus has wandered in amongst my crosshairs on occasion as well - but to me, housecats are more a "target of necessity" vs. a "target of opportunity".

As has been shown historically time and time again - introducing a non-indigenous species into an area can have dramatic and very negative results. Rabbits in Australia and housecats in America to name a couple (others are things like the African killer bee, Kudzu, "love-bugs" in the South, etc.) - all non-indigenous species, and now all very real problems.

In both scenarios, the animals introduced did not evolve naturally in the area, and the local ecosystems were dramatically unprepared for the animals in question. In the case of Australian rabbits - there weren't any predators that ate rabbits, and with the abundant grass and flora, coupled with the rabbits evolved reproductive rate (to survive in predator-rich areas), they quickly exploded across Australia with nowhere to go, devouring crops and grass as they went.

In America, and other places as well, the introduction of cats is very similar, although this time they're preying on indigenous songbirds, insects, and other small mammals, and, when coupled with their own high reproductive rate, the population explosion of cats, and now wild feral-cats is threatening entire populations of other local wildlife in areas.

I have no problem whatsoever with folks who want to keep a cat as a pet. But being a non-indigenous species, and that the local ecosystems have never evolved to support that animal, it's very important to limit cats' impact on the local areas.

As far as I'm concerned, this population control can be accomplished by pet owners who spay/neuter their cats, and keep them indoors, or in some metro areas by benevolent veterinarians that spay/neuter stray cats people catch or bring them for free ...

... or by the more "direct" efforts of target-shooters such as you find on this board.

I hope that helps bring to light some of "the cat/crat thing".

The damn crats ate up most of the other small game around here,,Them and chucks are the only game left,,mebby a crow here and there. If you bag one or two and need a recipe,,just ask,,the gang here have some good ones Welcome to the forums!!!Kill'em ALL!!!!!!!!! Clay

Uji,

My take on those who brag it up that they shot a domestic cat are those who think that they are pulling someones chain as they think that they are hiding behind a screen name.

I see it as embarassing to sportsmen. Sure things need to be shot but to dwell on it is, well, immature. Thats my take. I usually just smile and ignore them but I wish that they would not do it.

I believe it was Marterius who humbly put forth the idea that this particular forum (when it involves crats) is quite simply a metaphor for life in general......

More importantly----> What does this board mean/represent to you?

Personally, I love crats----they make excellent bait when strapped about 150 yards from my coyote setups on the Palouse........

IV

Savage,,I'd love to do some upland hunting where I DID'NT HAVE TO BUY THE BIRDS AND RELEASE.The last time I went out in "un disturbed" game land the only thing my dog kicked up were a couple of crats,,then she got bored and started pointing on song birds,,my partners dogs started eying up the buzzards overhead. Yeah,, we go to a "peserve" and they do thier thing,They know what they're looking for,,Just nothing there,, ,,Crat[released],coon,fox,coyote,crows,,have adapted well to encroachment,,,upland game has suffered,,And I do'nt have a crat,,but there's crat tracks on my lawn mower,,and vehicles,,etc.Which seems to me there"s an abundance of feral cats running around or the owners do not abide by the rules,,,should I sit idly by and say hi kitty and let them do as they please on my property? There's no tags on these things,,id or vaccination,,,I put both on my dogs,,and they work.By the way ruby broke her chain one day,,The propietor of a pen raised quail and pheasant operation,called me to please come pick her up as he found her trying to get to the birds,,he's about a 1/2 mile away from me,,and I have never taken her there.If they have tags,,I'll do the proper things,as someone really cares for the piece of shit,,I'll give them some respect,,the rest are rats as far as I'm concerned.Clay

I'm not sorry, I love killing cats! They are vermin and I go out of my way to kill them.I enjoy telling the stories about my hunts for many animals and cats are no different. We all are different and enjoy different things. All cats must die.

Good reply Ben and all. BTW if a small game story shows up it is welcome. But bear in mind CAT SEASON LASTS ALL YEAR!!!!

The moment a neighbor kicks "Fluffy" out of the house at night to go on a killing spree (I raise quails) they become fair game IMHO. Makes no difference to me if they have a collar or not, or whether I know it's the neighbors crat.

Folks can't let their dog loose to run wild. Why is it OK for cats? Cats are destructive little beasts...and will kill or maim other small animals and birds for the sheer pleasure.

Talking to the neighbors does no good. Same with animal control. Besides, I live outside the city. Trapping is NO good as humane society wants $25 per crat to go towards spay and nuetering..... which is stupid as the cats aren't screwing my quails.....they're fricken killing them, and sometimes eat them!

Soooo, every crat on my property who is in the act or has been seen previously in the act of killing my birds gets a .22WMR 40 grain Win. Super X to the noggin.

I don't hate cats. I have one as a pet myself. However, I ensure he stays INSIDE the house. If he were to get loose and kill my neighbors livestock...well, I couldn't blame them for doing what needs to be done.

Pheasants and grouse are game birds not small game.

LAWN TIGERS destroy a lot of the local bird population. I love to knock out a few wild lawn tigers. Really helps the quail and pheasant to make a rebound. Hell would have anything to splat if people would just spay thier animals.

quote:

Sure things need to be shot but to dwell on it is, well, immature. Thats my take. I usually just smile and ignore them but I wish that they would not do it.

Above is what I posted. Sure enough the public cat shooters showed up and embarresed us all. Do what needs to be done but for cripes sakes don't go public with it. It makes us look bad.

quote:

humane society wants $25 per crat to go towards spay and nuetering..... which is stupid as the cats aren't screwing my quails.....they're fricken killing them

Welcome to the Insanity,Uji.
All the folks that post here are small game hunters.
Some of us have indoor crats.I have four.And two mongrels.
Most of which you will find scribed on this forum is 'Tongue-In-Cheek.'
As you can tell from one members post on this thread,they come on as wet blankets for they have no sense of humor and are generally a real drag to be around.Their life is glib and mundane,sorta like a 24/7 365 funeral.
We call these people 'Democrats'.
You will find posts about rabbits,squills,'coon and possums.These stories make good reading.
One of my posts was about catching Bluefish using kittens for bait.We didn't really do this dastardly deed, but we had the whole peir up in arms with hackles raised.
Please visit us often.You will like it here alot more than the ignorance crater.
Pole.

Pussies like Savage99 is why hunting, and gun ownership is in the decline. If you look at activities that are making great strides in popularity in our society, you will see that their practitioners have one thing in common. They are always going "over the top" by doing and saying outlandish things. This causes people to become more acceptive of less outlandish behavior in the same vein.

The spineless turds who have consistently beat the "please stop beating me" siren call of the abused wife on behalf of the blood sports are the real reason for the decline of hunting and shooting, imho. Do you think it is a coincidence that from the moment the NRA started lobbying for rights of machinegun owners, that the restrictions on ordinary firearm ownership started loosening???

Frankly, I think it is high time that hunters and shooters come out of the closet and quit being such wimps. If we start acting less like criminals, maybe the public might start accepting us and our activities.

Until that time, I fear our sport and rights will continue to be marginalized and restricted.

Be not bent out of shape by the forum idiot. N.S. Sherlock

blasting crats is to be considered as a public service

Good Lord!!!

Didn't mean o go an' start a holy war here, gentlemen, just to clarify what the nature of the forum is.

Couple of observations...

Some folks here are serious about protecting their farms/homes from small predators. Good on ya'.

Some are just soundin' off and tryin' to cause a ruckus an' inflammatory dialog. Just bein' funny, really.

Some are pretty into just killin' things. These don't strike me as the sorta hunter I'd want my children to know, or the sort of people I'd want to know.

Lastly, to AOWM, in my neck o' the woods the game commission deals with pheasant and grouse in the same section of regulations in which they deal with rabbits, squirrels, etc. Just because that's not how they describe these game animals in Alberta doesn't mean I don't know the difference.


Later, y'all.

I once had a large aviary with pheasants and quail in it. It was secure but not bullet proof. I discovered that a neighbors cat had found a way to snatch quail thru a tiny crack in the door.
I talked to the neighbor and asked her to control her cat. She agreed to keep it indoors. I discovered that she was putting it out at night and it was continuing its depredations. I bought a Havahart and bagged it. Being a sporting man I released it to give it a chance. It lost. It could not out run
2 1/2 oz. of #2 shot from a 10 ga. magnum.

A few weeks later a cat tore a hole in a plastic aviary covering and killed or released over $100.00 worth of pigeons. (Dog trainers were giving me $0.75 ea. for them) I bought 3 conibear 220's after that. Almost a dozen cats the first month!

That was 25 years ago. My dogs don't trespass on neighbors property and their cats trespass very few times (sometimes once).

I too firmly disaprove of shooting "at" cats.

Now, shooting "with" is another matter entirely.


HTRN

Just finished mowing a lawn today--the owner has a calico that hangs around outside all day while she is at work. While mowing the front, I noticed a pile of mourning dove feathers, and when I finished mowing and took the blower around back to do the deck, sidewalks and patio, I found the rest of the feathers, right beside the cat's food and water dishes.

We have a leash law in our county, but getting the sheriff to enforce it is like getting a cat to walk on a leash.

Oh I have missed my fellow cratwhackers. I just had to insert my 2 cents when I saw this topic. We have an epidemic of feral cats in the small town of thick headed ingrown inbred arrogant - excuse me, in the rural town lawndart practices medicine in (we do have some wonderful salt of the earth types too, who remind us there are good people in our little rural world). In a rare moment of enlightenment, the city council enacted an ordinance requiring cat owners to keep their cats on their own property. While the lazy self absorbed self-aggrandizing "police department" isn't going to stop driving their couches any time soon, much less get into a cats-at-large citation writing frenzy (or, even less likely, bust the local meth labs), this is a good ordinance for a change. Okay, no more editorializing! Anyway, some gracious and genteel senior citizen ladies have offered to trap feral cats for lawndart and I. This is a very good thing. I am deeply touched when I consider the selfless sacrifices these ladies are making in the interest of public safety (sniff).

So, I am in favor of reducing feral cat populations. feral kitties are usually unhealthy (look at them - usually sniffling, coughing and wheezing when not caterwauling, dumpster diving and reproducing) and harbor vibrant populations of nasty, nasty diseases, along with some of their more coddled non-feral brothers and sisters. Lawndart has seen lots of cat scratch fever cases (If it goes too long, the condition can turn into a bone degenerative process), toxoplasmosis (bad bad bad for pregnant women) and ringworm. Feral cat populations also harbor murine tyhus (California, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada and it is moving north), ehrlichiosis, tapeworm, creeping eruption, heliobacter pylori (yup, that is stomach ulcer bacteria!) tick paralysis, Rocky Mountain Tick Fever, not to mention rabies, among others. It is a public service in the interest of national security to monitor these populations and keep them heftily suppressed.

Lawndart has authorized the purchase of two Havabath live traps (these are legitimate medical expenses, afterall) and I must get out the plastic and get these sleek shiny tools ordered right away!

Ah, I squeal with delight!

quote:

Some folks here are serious

Yep, that's me. Sometimes Savage99 drops in just to keep me on my toes. Once when about 6 years old I brought a kitten home and was brought up to speed on the facts of life. A) They are quite skittish around furious adults. B) They are adept at hiding under a '54 Bel Aire. C) They forget to jump off the top of the rear tire(the one with the wheel skirt), and finally, D)...that stands for DEAD...when the very same wheel it was clinging to rolled over it. To my dying day I'll not forget that sound. "Ker-uuunnch. Aw Shit!) I didn't know crats could talk. Also, I didn't think they were very bright after some reflection. The tears dried, I went out back and played with our Liver & White for a spell. His name was Jo-Jo. Great pointer, and loyal friend. I noticed after the fact that he had enought sense to get out from under the car before the door closed. Smart animal.

Dan

Pres., TYHC

http://www.BeenWanderingAwhile.GoodToBeBack

My flower bed is set up in rows. 50' long.15 rows. It's positioned in the middle of the front field. Lots of gophers working the field. "Every" mound has cat shit on it. Try to work you flower bed and not step in cat shit. I don't have any cats!! Sounds to me like a good reason to have "open season" on cats!

I like cats. They taste like chicken!

If you love it dont set it free and we will not have a problem. If you do then I solve it for you by showing you how much you miss your cat.

I found that catching the animal taking it to them does not solve the problem they just let it out and when it doesnt come back this time they know you did it. So get rid of it yourself. I have found when the city has a law against having loose animals. They will charge the hell out of the owner for the second and third offense. So I turn them over to the pound which charges the owner 35 first time 70 second and 100 everytime after.

quote:

These don't strike me as the sorta hunter I'd want my children to know, or the sort of people I'd want to know.

This makes me sad.
Compared to some of the other posters I have run into,i.e. the Political Forum, all most that post here are a pretty good bunch.
Sorry you gotta go.

quote:

Originally posted by IdahoVandal:
I believe it was Marterius who humbly put forth the idea that this particular forum (when it involves crats) is quite simply a metaphor for life in general......

Did I really say that? I must be pretty smart sometimes!

I very strongly disapprove of killing peoples' pets, I think shooting ferals is something that needs to be done and I very much like being in the company of people who can joke without always thinking about what is politically correct!

/Marterius

quote:

Originally posted by FOsteology:
... humane society wants $25 per crat to go towards spay and nuetering..... which is stupid as the cats aren't screwing my quails.....they're fricken killing them

"This makes me sad." Me too PT.

Me too. Ya know I notice a pattern here. Savage never posts here until somebody asks innocent questions about our activities and cause. I sense a troubled soul there, one who tries to dissuade our behavior when opportunity arises, said opportunity occurring in the presence of allies(real or imagined). Otherwise he remains silent...yet...one can only assume that he comes in the quiet of night, lurking, waiting patiently in his foxhole...reading, taking notes and biding his time until reinforcements arrive. OR, The Savage isn't really convinced of his right and wrong litmus, sometimes cackling with myrth in the wee hours behind closed doors...so the others in his house remain unaware of thoughts and emotions contained in the closet of his soul.

I smell a potential convert here...keep up the good work fellas, I think we got us another potential soldier.

Dan

Pres., TYHC

http://www.ItTakesCourageTo.BrandishYourConvictions