Thread: Feral Cats

Obviously they are out there but I’m interested to know if any of you have shot/trapped any in the bush? Another forum member has trail cam footage of a bunch of them rolling around in the sun, and I’ve seen one cross a track in Pureoras. Too slow on the rifle unfortunately..

not in the bush nailed neighbors pet rabbit, any cat i see while hunting buys a 308

Son picked a couple off a trail cam. This was down Southland and about 40km away from any housing.
Basically middle of nowhere, DOC land.

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....control-22269/

Jump into this thread in the varminting and small game section on here. Pages of trapping info that will give you a bit of an idea.

I shoot them every chance I get, but they are not easy to find. We had a huge feral cat trapping campaign done in this area as part of the "Cape to City" pest free project, maybe one cat trap every 10ha or so, so it was a massive undertaking. No cats caught on my place at all, although I believe there were almost 50 on the neighbours. But overall the traps seemed to not work well, I heard the major problem was finding a bait that was attractive enough to lure the cats in that also had any longevity. Most of the stuff they used only had a few days of prime life in it, so by the time the cats had got over their cautiosness they no longer wanted to eat the bait.

Saw one last summer. Central Kaimanawas, Tussock and Monoa basin. At about 1200m. at least 25km from anywhere, and 35km from any dwellings. Is missing a small piece of fur off the back and hopefully some internals (fluffed shot).

Have opened them up previously from similar locations, and full of skinks and bits of feathers

They are everywhere and anywhere, shoot as you see them.

I have seven neighbours is close proximity.
Native bush all around.
and between them there is 11 domestic cats....
Dicks.

Anyway, I managed to trap one that does not fit the description of any of theirs, so off it went to Valhala

I wonder what legal effective techniques one could use to hunt them (not trap) on doc land? Assuming they are most active at night which poses a challenge.

A tray of cat food, some night vision goggles, a long long piece of electrical wire, a detonator and some gelignite....

Oh, I see you mentioned legal. I was thinking effective

Got this one in the Tauraunga Taupo a few years back. It was walking up the river bank looking in holes for blue duck chicks. There were quire a few blue ducks around so it got the 7mm08.
It was super healthy and a true killer.

Yes they are a huge problem in the wilds. When we used to night shoot in Kiangaroa Forest and do our pre and post poison counts we would see a lot of cats. Most of these were many kms from any houses. Most forestry blocks are full of them.

Originally Posted by thatguy

Obviously they are out there but I’m interested to know if any of you have shot/trapped any in the bush? Another forum member has trail cam footage of a bunch of them rolling around in the sun, and I’ve seen one cross a track in Pureoras. Too slow on the rifle unfortunately..

you have two ideal calibres for cats , 243 and 454 ......so your spoiled for choice

Originally Posted by mimms2

Pretty much any cat anywhere any time, I'll do my best to take the light out of it's eyes.

This had me in a fit..
I don’t appreciate cats either, I’ll be honest. My wife had to leave her cat at her parents’ place when we got married..

Originally Posted by scotty

you have two ideal calibres for cats , 243 and 454 ......so your spoiled for choice

Haha wonder if 240gr XTP would be enough tho?