BOWFANATIC - curious .............. would you, or did you, fight to protect trapping rights ? Did you fight the battle on cougar hunting ? Spring bear hunting ? Bear baiting ? Dove hunting ?
Just for your curiosity. YES!!!! I stand up and fight every chance I get to defend hunting rights we currently have. Wether it be a phone call , letter , or email to a representative , it might seem insugnificant to some , but I do it.
Exactly why I'm standing up now! All the above have been attacked , and continue to be attacked. We have non hunters on our side now. I dont want to lose that!!!
Or did you lay down each time and say " well, its making us look bad to try and hunt XXX animals, so we'd better just not fight the battle "
Nice try!
All the above animals you've mentioned were always considered a wild animal and a hunted species. Unlike the cat.
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.
I thought I covered that here...
I guess? Only because they tell me "their a problem" and "they need to be killed". I haven't witnessed enough "feral cats" causing problems myself , to even consider making this an issue , let alone a hunting issue. But , just because it's not rampant in my corner of the world , doesn't mean it's not real.
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.
Nobody said to "ignore the feral cat problem". I covered that already also here...
Here is how I believe the cat issue should be handled , if you have a problem in your area.
It should be a landowner issue! Period. It doesn't point fingers at hunters and for the farmers/landowners who have issues with feral cats , allow them to remove/kill them as they see fit.
The anti's will have a field day with that, I can just hear them now....." hunters don't care, you just want to be able to kill more deer to satisfy your thirst for blood." "If you, as you say, do everything in the name of conservation, where were you on the feral cat problem?"
Kind of like the-"Wisconsin hunters are blood thirsty hicks for wanting to shoot cats, that their saying now? And thats by non hunters , not anti hunters.
And you dont honestly believe ANYONE , especially an anti hunter , is going to ask hunters "where were we on the cat issue?" Like they want us to kill more cats to balance the eco system?They dont want us to kill
wild animals to balance the system , let alone a domesticated animal.
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.
Your absolutely right , "we dont have the luxury to pick and choose
our battles! Because their constantly attacking us from all sides , we have to stand up and fight to
keep our rights! Do you understand where I'm coming from? Shooting feral cats is NOT a right we have to stand up and defend.
There's a feral cat problem? Allow each individual landowner to solve the problem how they see fit.