BOWFANATIC,

I have no intentions of making this another 100 page thread. I can see your concerns because they are REAL. If not delt with correctly this can and will become a black eye for hunters. My problem is I don't like it when hunters sit on their hands and back away from doing what's RIGHT simply because it might portray them as something they are not. That is a defeatist attitude and I won't be a part of it.

I get the feeling from your posts that you truly don't believe there is a feral cat problem across the country, and you base this on your observations on your land. As you said, you have never seen cats kill/destroy game birds and their nests, and I'm glad there not, on your land. However, feral cats ARE a problem, they do kill/destroy game birds and their nests and it won't go away unless something is done about it.

By NOT getting involved in a JUST cause that will make for a better and balanced eco system, only makes hunters look like they don't care about conservation. It gives the anti's more ammunition in the future. How can we preach about healthy deer herds and the need for extra tags or extended seasons so more does can be killed in order to prevent over poulations when we just ignore the feral cat problem.

The anti's will have a field day with that, I can just hear them now....."You hunters don't care, you just want to be able to kill more deer to satisfy your thirst for blood." And "If you, as you say, do everything in the name of conservation, where were you on the feral cat problem?"

I don't think we have the luxury to pick and choose our battles, we need to address everyone of them as they surface or risk looking like a bunch of inconsistant and selfish group of killers who really don't care about conservation but hide behind it in order to kill more deer.

If you can't see the danger in that, then there is nothing I can say to change your mind.