On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 22:48:27 -0500, "Wolfgang"
wrote:


"Peter Eisch" wrote in message
om...
I don't think the citizens of my fair state have given up on the issue.

Nor has the Department of Natural Resources. They know as well as anyone
that cats have long been considered fair game by a large contingent of
hunters, birders, and various others. They've never been very vocal about
it for reasons of their own. They also know that now that the cat has been
let out of the bag (so to speak) the carnage will continue at an elevated
level regardless of the law. Bubba has never been squeamish about offing
varmints. Now that the notion that he'll be doing the world a favor by
smoking Fluffy has gotten a great deal of public attention, he will be glad
to oblige.....regardless of the law. Whatever the eventual outcome of the
current politcal and legal wrangling, the feral cat population in Wisconsin
is about to take a serious hit.

Wolfgang
um.....but the bobcats and lynx aren't going to be real happy about it.



Which brings up the question of whether feral cats when subjected to
shooting pressure will become as elusive as bobcats and lynx. I've
been living in WI for pretty much my whole life (if you can call that
living... ba-bump) and the closest I've come to seeing an actual
bobcat was hearing a noise emanting from a dense stand of spruce
trees. A fellow hunter identified as a bobcat purring. It sounded like
a cat purring loudly and we were a long way from any habitations but
even though I spent half an hour moving around and peering up into the
trees I never caught a glimpse of the animal. There was also the time
when my dad had us come outside in the middle of a warm late winter
night and listen. Up from the river bottom that wound through our farm
came the godawfulest wailing that I've ever heard before or since. It
made my hair stand on end. My dad identified it as a bobcat that was
in heat (although I had no idea of what "in heat" meant, which means I
was fairly young).

g.c.