Hunting & Fishing West Australian Pussy

[Rodnoneous]

G'day All,

First hunting related post on the hide. Been going out to a mates 12,000 acre farm regularly (6 or so visits in the last year). This place is a 3 hour drive from my house and we usually clean up a few long tailed rabbits (Kangaroos), rabbits and more often than not a few foxes. Lately we have been seeing feral cats (the farmer has been farming this land for ten years and never seen one). So it's become evident that they are moving into the area.

Last two visits we have shot two juvenile cats. Here is the first:

Taken from my Tikka T3 .223 (1 in 12) from about 200m from a stable rest (seated position on the back of the ute [truck] using the roof as a rest with a bipod).

Here is the second cat taken with the same rifle at about 15m. We turned a corner in a paddock and spotted these eyes right on the edge of the scrub. I raced the ute [truck] right up to it, hoping the guys on the back had the shotgun out and could blast it. Little did I know old mate on the back just picked up the rifle and knocked it off. A good effort in my book!

For those of you interested, our main hunting method is under spotlight. Kangaroos are very flighty during the day and tend to bed down in thick scrub. Nothing else to hunt in these parts (no goats or pigs [hogs]).

Rodney.

 

[h4everything]

Re: West Australian Pussy

Aren't there places where a man can shoot hundreds of feral cats in a night? Are the Kangaroos destructive or just a pain in ass and cause car wrecks and such?

Either way it looks like fun. Most of the dingo's are gone aren't they? They might be fun to call in like coyotes.

 

[hsss]

Re: West Australian Pussy

What does a guy have to do? That sounds like a blast.

 

[Mr Silverman]

Re: West Australian Pussy

Can I have your job? We can trade, you can be a desk jockey!

 

[303_enfield]

Re: West Australian Pussy

So what does an Australian pussy cat taste like?

 

[Rodnoneous]

Re: West Australian Pussy

G'day all thanks for the responses.

H4everything,

If you know where I can shoot 100 cats a night I would love to know. The kangaroos eat about as much as a sheep if left to their own devices. Unlike sheep you can't control which paddocks they get into as they are very adapt at jumping (funnily enough) but they prefer to dig under fences.

Hsss,

Great fun but our county is backwards, the government rules the roost and our rights to firearms are slowly but surely being eroded. We have no second amendment to protect our rights. Pump and semi shotties and semis are banned for your average joe bloggs. You can not own a firearm for self defence and handguns only if you shoot conpetively and even then you can not practise on private land.

Giles,

Im a desk jockey as well but getting out and blasting ferals is great stress relief.

Rod

 

[Rodnoneous]

Re: West Australian Pussy

I'm just going to piggyback this post.

Here's a red coat that I took (one of two) on Saturday night.

We spotted this one just 30m from the ute, I would've preferred to have shot it with my rifle however it took off and showed no signs of stopping. We chased it down with the ute and I hit him with a load of BB's from my 12ga. I'm a huge fan of the Winchester Ranger 34gr BB's. I had set some fox traps in one paddock and didn't have any luck however we did see four foxes in the same paddock. One was taken from approximately 250m by me with the .223. I didn't back myself and thought I had missed as we had seen another fox in the distance running towards some scrub. The next day I found the fox and by that time it wasn't looking very photogenic. The farmer was happy as the farm is home to a "vulnerable" flightless bird known as the Malleefowl (basically a bush chicken).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleefowl

To give you an idea of the distance travelled this weekend. I drove a total of 945 (584 miles) kilometres from home to the farm and back home again (including a fair bit of driving around the farm).

 

[HPLLC]

Re: West Australian Pussy

For a feral cat, that one looks pretty healthy. Are there any local farms in the area?

 

[Rodnoneous]

Re: West Australian Pussy

Only healthy looking because they were both younguns.

Nearest farm would be 5-10km as the crow flies. Cats are checked for collars and microchips after being shot

.

It's legal to shoot somebody's pet if it is on your property.

This area can be prone to wild dogs which can ravage 10-15 sheep without cause. Even a neighbours dog that is bored can do some serious damage.

We also don't have the time for cats. Fox and Feral Cat predation causes a huge strain on our native wildlife and is the leading cause for a lot of localised extinction. The rule of thumb is shoot first and ask questions later. You would struggle to find a farmer in these parts that would own a cat and if they do they're generally desexed and live indoors.

Rodney.