Feral cats in Australia

[ve7poi]

don't get me wrong but i wish people who had cats looked after them better instead of letting them out to wander

 

[bruce moulds]

the 243 is not a bad dingo gun, but the 25/06 is better.
bruce.

 

[CBH Australia]

the 243 is not a bad dingo gun, but the 25/06 is better.
bruce.

I reckon it would , Ive been told the .25-06 are quite a flat shooter out past 200, assuming they dont recoil much the year could be used from the car too.
I know they are a standard chambering but I don’t think they are that common but certainly have a use.

 

[crs]

Feral cats do make good running targets.
They seem to thrive in towns, but not in a rural areas where there are proper predators such as, coyotes, bobcats, cougars, large hawks, eagles, feral and wild hogs, poisonous snakes, etc. Hey that sounds a lot like Texas!

 

[leslie hetrick]

a .223 is enough for them to 300 yards.

 

[Dinosaur]

Nah, you’ll be fine, just make sure the cat doesn’t see ya

G'day Opposite Pole, your response has made my day, I just can't stop chuckling.

I do have a Fearless Polish mate who was to scared to shooting cats, as old superstition noted that bad luck would come to him if he did so!

He was always warning me not to shoot them.

Mind you, that will probably explain all my past bad luck

Regards

Rob

 

[Opposite Pole]

G'day Opposite Pole, your response has made my day, I just can't stop chuckling.

I do have a Fearless Polish mate who was to scared to shooting cats, as old superstition noted that bad luck would come to him if he did so!

He was always warning me not to shoot them.

Mind you, that will probably explain all my past bad luck

Regards

Rob

I’ve killed my fair share of the ferals and would have to consider myself fairly lucky so I wouldn’t worry about them.

 

[Dr Ray]

I was hunting wild pigs one day near Dalby when I saw a feral cat.
I shot it with a 150 grain silver tip Winchester bullet from my 30/06. The bullet traveled along the backbone and filleted the cat.
The meanest feral cat I ever saw cane out of a rib cage of a kangaroo.
It looked like it had been spun dry with coagulated blood all over it, I horrible looking critter.
An acquaintance of mine in outback Charleville trapped two wild cats. When I walked past the cage they carried on and snarled and hissed dramatically.
There’s no way they could ever be tamed/domesticated.
Likewise I sure wasn’t putting my hands in the cage to pat them.

 

[CBH Australia]

Nice shot Ray, we have all seen them et carrion bu the experts say it does not happen. That is a part of the reason that there is no approved poison for cats. If you ok at the research to find a cat solution it does not focus on an ingestable poison.
It’s interesting as landholders see a decline in cat numbers after baiting for foxes with chicken wings. It’s a good thing the cats don’t know that they won’t take a bait.

 

[sambarhunter]

That is a part of the reason that there is no approved poison for cats. If you ok at the research to find a cat solution it does not focus on an ingestable poison.

Oh yes there is,"Curiosity" is one bait and there is also "Eradicat"

Dated to 2 years back is this link.

https://www.environment.gov.au/biod...-cats/expression-interest-curiosity-bait-2018

 

[Dr Ray]

Have ever noticed that the antis like poison??

 

[CBH Australia]

Oh yes there is,"Curiosity" is one bait and there is also "Eradicat"

Dated to 2 years back is this link.

https://www.environment.gov.au/biod...-cats/expression-interest-curiosity-bait-2018

Fair enough, I am in NSW and had worked in an agency on pest management with links to researchers and updates, I’m in. Different department and a little out of touch but my reasoning above was often cited as why there is no approved bait. I am still not sure if there is in NSW.
Western Australia are using 1080 and others are using PAPP, both can kill a dog. A dog bait with 1080 can kill a cat.
I know South Australia were researching a robot or mister unit that can spray a toxin on a cat.
Just bait for foxes with chicken wings, they work no research no fuss, shoot the ones you see and clean up our cat problem

 

[Longwalker]

I really enjoy shooting feral cats. In fact the first time I used a .22 rimfire rifle without supervision was to shoot a cat that my dog had treed. I was about 10 years old at the time. Seemed like my family duty. We lived on a turkey farm on the edge of a small town and town people were always replenishing the feral cat population with their discarded or neglected pets. They were awful pests. Besides being "toxic waste" indiscriminately and opportunistically killing all wildlife that they can, cats are a serous threat to intensive poultry production. Many turkeys died in our barns from panicking from fright, piling up and smothering in the corners when stampeded by cats prowling through the flock at night. Or the cats transmitted diseases of wild birds and animals, like Fowl Cholera, Avian influenza, and Erysipelas. Losing a few thousand turkeys to an outbreak of Fowl Cholera tends to form ones' opinions about cats.
.22 Long Rifle hollow points or a 12 ga. loaded with #4 shot were my preferred cat killing tools, but it would be a good job for a .243 I suppose!

 

[Ridgewalker]

My personal preference for taking care of someones kitty is a stick of dynamite up the rear! The less pieces left around, the better!
Obviously being an upland bird hunter, i really really REALLY don’t like cats!
JMO about the evil little beggars!

 

[Dinosaur]

In Queensland, Australia, my friend had a hunting property along the 'Dingo Fence", and discovered that the local council dropped 1080 Dingo baits by air onto his property, and he was sent the bill, which is another story in itself.

Either way, he had a large population of Lace Monitors (Goannas) on his property, which were a pest, and I am guessing ate the baits. But I never found dead goannas, which was strange, until read an article in a hunting magazine stating that Goannas could eat up to 70 x 1080 baits before passing away.

Honestly, I have never eaten Goanna, and I was interested until I read the 1080 article. 1080 accumulates in bodies, so I am guessing if I eat one, it will be instant death ???

Honestly, the 'First Australians' are the only people who can officially eat protected species, so I do recommend them to check out the local bait laying zones before going walkabout. Same too with any future survivalists.

Regards
Rob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

the 243 is not a bad dingo gun, but the 25/06 is better.
bruce.

Bruce moulds
Any thing is better than the 243 even a sling shot. Would love to hit one with the 35 and a 200 grain flex tip launched at 2,900+fps. Should do a dandy job of rearranging it's anatomy.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

In Queensland, Australia, my friend had a hunting property along the 'Dingo Fence", and discovered that the local council dropped 1080 Dingo baits by air onto his property, and he was sent the bill, which is another story in itself.

Either way, he had a large population of Lace Monitors (Goannas) on his property, which were a pest, and I am guessing ate the baits. But I never found dead goannas, which was strange, until read an article in a hunting magazine stating that Goannas could eat up to 70 x 1080 baits before passing away.

Honestly, I have never eaten Goanna, and I was interested until I read the 1080 article. 1080 accumulates in bodies, so I am guessing if I eat one, it will be instant death ???

Honestly, the 'First Australians' are the only people who can officially eat protected species, so I do recommend them to check out the local bait laying zones before going walkabout. Same too with any future survivalists.

Regards
Rob

Dinosaur
Goanna are great eating, the tail is particularly sweet and tender.
Bob

 

[bruce moulds]

Bruce moulds
Any thing is better than the 243 even a sling shot. Would love to hit one with the 35 and a 200 grain flex tip launched at 2,900+fps. Should do a dandy job of rearranging it's anatomy.
Bob

maybe you would compromise on a 6mm rem ackley?
bruce.

 

[CBH Australia]

@Dinosaur 1080 is an acute poison. It does not accumulate in the body. A non lethal dose may cause sickness and be passed with faeces etc.
A chronic poison my build up in the system.
1080 poison Sodium flouroacetate is naturally occurring in many Australian native plants and most native animals have tolerance to it.
Foxes and dogs have very little tolerance.

Your friend probably has a bio security obligation for the property. It is law just like if you want to drive obey the rules, if you own a house pay rates or if you have. Property control pests. I would think he would be notified if they were expecting. Contribution toward a broadscale program. Let’s not get into that one.

Scientists work out what Lethal dose Is to kill a type of animal to effectively kill 50% of a tested simple 100% of the time. That is a LD50, Lethal dose 50. From that they set a rate of dose for a bait expecting to kill a target animal .
A fox bait has .1ml injected in a fresh bait containing 3mg of active ingredient. A dog bait is double. A pig bait is generally a commercially manufactured long life bait with 72mg of active.
The poison we use is a synthesised version manufactured in the U.S where they do no they use it. It is imported by companies in Australia for distribution or preparation. The science is no secret it could be produced by the same people importing it. Scientists.
Most animals would show symptoms within a few hours and likely dead within 6 after consuming a lethal dose. There are distance restrictions and rate of laying for baiting that are set to eliminate cache in general by individual animals or multiple baits being taken by non target animals like Quolls or Goannas.
It breaks down readily in the environment etc.
There are recorded incidents of accidentally poisoning of humans that resulted in death. The short version is that you would need to eat a lot of unpalatable baits to succumb from poisoning of 1080 or have access to the restricted 1080 concentrate.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

maybe you would compromise on a 6mm rem ackley?
bruce.

Bruce moulds
No mate it's just a 257 AI necked down. Waste of a good 25.