Feral Cats

[CatsEye]

Alright. I know technically they aren't considered game animals but they are making a wreck of my place. I can't keep them away from the chickens and they always wind up with one or two at least a week. They are about to kill all of my good laying hens and I need them gone. They are never going to be pets so if I catch them, they are just going to have to be killed by me or someone else. I would rather kill them with a clean shot but they've gotten quite crafty and can "sense" me when I'm in the tree in the deer stand. Besides that, there are at least 50 out and around that I've seen (different colors, markings), so there have to be many more. Any suggestions?

 

[le Metis]

We were having the same problem....we trapped the ferals with a live trap

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....then gave our local animal control agent a call. In our neck of the woods, they either will put them them down, or else, in the case of an alpha male, nueter them for release back into a feral pack....

 

[hunter44mag]

I feel for you. Growing up, my grandfather had the same problem. I my state, killing a dog or cat is illegal, even feral. He just protected his chickens and keep quite.

 

[MoreTime]

I doubt the 'sense' you-they probably simply smell you. I second the traps, or else you will need to work on ramping up your defences against the little blighters.

 

[BCBabe]

I'm afraid my answer isn't likely to be popular.

Shoot a crow, poison the carcass, and hang it from the outside chicken coop. The cats will go for what's easiest, and you won't lose more birds.

 

[dinosaur]

Kill them. Kill them all.

 

[BCBabe]

Kill them. Kill them all.

I'm just roaring with laughter for that one.

I'm reminded of a conversation with my grandfather (almost 90 now) about how to deal with some local vermin going after our garbage cans: coyotes and particularly raccoons.

His answer? Shoot the b**stards.

Um, Gramps? if I could get away with that in the City, I wouldn't be asking the question in the first place....and I admit I've been itching to use the local coyote population for moving target practice for years now.

 

[ChadTower]

Put the dead crow on a catapult. If you can't shoot them see if the cats will survive being flung 50 yards.

 

[MosseyOakGirl]

Target practice? It works. In our area live traps can be used and Animal Control will put them down.

 

[Grandpa]

If it's illegal, shoot, shovel and shut up. A pellet gun is noisless in the city. Here, people dump them off to get rid of them. But we are having major problems with voles and gophers so the cats are welcome.

 

[mikepond]

I remember a few years ago I heard some wild cats or so the locals would say back in the hills of WV. I had never heard anything like that before and it gave me chills and that seldom happens.