Shot size for feral cats?

[Spec ops Grunt]

My grandparents have sorta become a harbor to a feral cat colony. There is this huge mean tomcat that attacks our pet cat and my grandparents pet cat.


So finally after seeing my cat limp home enough times I decided to do something about it.

I shot at him a few days ago with a 22 at bout 10-12 yards I think, I went for the head. He took off like a rocket and I haven't seen him since. No blood trail either.


Apparently my grandpa saw him with a pretty bad head injury today, and that was like 4 days ago I shot him and apparently hit him.

This is killing my conscience right now honestly. I feel like I need to find the cat and fix my mistake. What shot size would be most reliable out of a 20 gauge to preform a humane kill?

I have some #3 buck shot 2 3/4 high brass, and some #5 shot 2 3/4 high brass available. Should I use the buckshot or the #5?

Should I use IC, modified or full choke?

I've also got some slugs but that seems like way too much gun.



I'm starting to think that 22 is a caliber that needs to go the way of the dinosaur for everything except paper punching. I was happier beating myself up over a miss.

 

[illinoisburt]

22LR for small animals is more than enough -- assuming you are using hollow points. The simple answer is not that the bullet under performed, it's that you made a bad hit. Things happen. If it's already been 4 days, chances are good the cat will survive the injury unless he cannot eat due to jaw or throat damage.

If you feel the need to use a shotgun to assure a better hit, the 5's are fine at reasonable distance. Buckshot is extreme overkill. Slugs would be ridiculous.

Choke is all about distance. The farther away your target, the tighter the choke. Use whatever you can hit with.

 

[Spec ops Grunt]

I can be fine with a bad hit on paper.

A bad hit on another creature doesn't sit right with me. I'll use the 5's then, think mod choke will give me the most versatility.


Also whats your definition of reasonable distance for 5's?



But yeah bad hits happen I guess. That being said the iron sights on marlin 795's leave MUCH to be desired especially with my bad eyes. I oughta get some tech sights or a scope.

 

[CajunBass]

Don't try for a head shot on most any critter. There is a lot of non-vital stuff in the head, and the brain is a very small part of it.

 

[oneounceload]

Close range an air rifle will do the trick, so a 22 will as well; you really don't need a load of #5s for a feral cat, sounds more like you need to practice with that .22....... just sayin'.......

 

[Onmilo]

Close range an air rifle will do the trick, so a 22 will as well; you really don't need a load of #5s for a feral cat, sounds more like you need to practice with that .22....... just sayin'.......

I'm in this camp.
If you can't cleanly kill a feral cat with a .22, what makes you think you will kill it any deader with a load of birdshot?
Buckshot at close range on an animal that size can be explosive in the end result unless, of course, you can't center it on the target any better than that .22 bullet.

 

[boatdoc173]

My grandparents have sorta become a harbor to a feral cat colony. There is this huge mean tomcat that attacks our pet cat and my grandparents pet cat.


So finally after seeing my cat limp home enough times I decided to do something about it.

I shot at him a few days ago with a 22 at bout 10-12 yards I think, I went for the head. He took off like a rocket and I haven't seen him since. No blood trail either.


Apparently my grandpa saw him with a pretty bad head injury today, and that was like 4 days ago I shot him and apparently hit him.

This is killing my conscience right now honestly. I feel like I need to find the cat and fix my mistake. What shot size would be most reliable out of a 20 gauge to preform a humane kill?

I have some #3 buck shot 2 3/4 high brass, and some #5 shot 2 3/4 high brass available. Should I use the buckshot or the #5?

Should I use IC, modified or full choke?

I've also got some slugs but that seems like way too much gun.



I'm starting to think that 22 is a caliber that needs to go the way of the dinosaur for everything except paper punching. I was happier beating myself up over a miss.

all lives matter--to me anyway

I would have(and you still can) calla group which fixes ferals and releases them to the wild

or they can move them elsewhere.

it is shame that you wounded an animal and it is still suffering

 

[ClickClickD'oh]

all lives matter--to me anyway

I would have(and you still can) calla group which fixes ferals and releases them to the wild

or they can move them elsewhere.

it is shame that you wounded an animal and it is still suffering

We kill dozens of feral cats and dogs on the ranch every year because **amended for THR** keep releasing them into the wild. Kicking the can down the road doesn't do any good for anything other than one persons conscious. It just become our problem to deal with.

He didn't get a one hit kill. It happens. At least it happens everywhere but on the internet where everyone is a grand master marksman who has never ever pulled a shot and always shoots dime sized groups off hand with rusty milsurps from 500 yards... with a crosswind. His only mistake was shot placement. But now he knows. Everyone has to learn sometime.

And back to the question. The .22 will do fine if you see the cat again, just put the front sight right behind the shoulder blade, halfway up the torso, and you won't have any more issues from it. If you don't trust the .22 anymore, either of those loads from a shotgun will do as long as you keep it down to conversational distance. That's kind of why I would suggest trying the .22 again... that cat probably won't be getting withing conversing distance any time soon.

 

[Hookeye]

You might have just bounced the bullet off the head.
Cats can survive, and thrive, after being dealt a fair amount of damage (dogs/yote, fan belts/blades, minor tire bonk, other cats etc).

TNR?

Sure that might limit the amount of toms in an area (or not). But even if that does, that just means any new ones will stay out of that zone and expand the range of the problem.

You can live trap and try to have a shelter take them in. You can live trap and try to domesticate them yourself (if on a farm then it's cool to have a couple of mousers).

Or you simply exterminate them.

You turn them back into the wild, you are part of the problem. Rabbits quail and other............you should be so shamed to never post again on any hunting or sporting forum.

.22lr works. .22 mag is better. .243 is superb. So are turkey and coyote loads in a shotgun.

Looking over, there's my 17 yr old Himalayan. Been a wonderful pet. Got a big calico that thinks she's a dog, and some other dustmop of a cat that's a bit timid (rescue cat) but a sweetie.

Love my pet cats.

If they tossed a collar and got out, somebody popped 'em...........so be it.

Hate feral cats. Most pets are easy to spot as escapees..........but if there is a question, IMHO it's better to err on the side of good conservation.

Years ago I remember DNR vehicles with 10/22's behind the seat. Feral cats have been a huge problem for decades, just was never discussed.

Again, TNR is a joke.

Urban environs there's not much one can do.

Outside of city limits? Nuke on sight.

 

[Jim Watson]

Yes. Let him have it with whatever it takes.

You have seen the pictures of the Baron's trusty gamekeeper with his old but well kept shotgun? One of his duties was shooting cats and dogs that were killing milord's pheasants.

 

[Sheepdog1968]

I'd go with the number 5s. You still need to aim with a shotgun but you will have some spread making a solid hit a bit easier than with the 22.

 

[PJSprog]

Lessons learned, Grunt. Real life is not at all like a video game, is it? Man up, and go dispatch that animal. You may see it as a damnable feral cat, but it's still a living, breathing, and feeling animal. We have to occasionally dispatch feral cats and dogs on our farm, too. No one likes doing it, but it's just an accepted fact of life when you live in a rural area. It needs to be done, but it also needs to be done right.

Your .22 (assuming Long Rifle) will do fine with the right shot placement. As noted above, it's best to use hollow points on anything larger than a squirrel. If you're uncomfortable with your ability to get a clean hit on vitals, then a shotgun with #5 will work, too, provided you can get within range.

Do what you can to end the suffering. That cat deserves that, at least.

 

[rcmodel]

#5 pheasant loads killed them like lightening out to 35-40 yards when we ran across them hunting.

I'd go with that.

rc

 

[Choctaw]

all lives matter--to me anyway

I would have(and you still can) calla group which fixes ferals and releases them to the wild

or they can move them elsewhere.

it is shame that you wounded an animal and it is still suffering

And how much did you spend last year on wildlife habitat? Do you have any idea what feral cats can do to a quail population?

 

[Spec ops Grunt]

I miss the song birds we used to get

 

[yugorpk]

Feral cat lives don't matter to me any more than coyote lives matter or rat lives matter or nutria lives matter. Non native nuisance species can die whatever kind of death they get.

12 gauge with 5 shot is good enough but I'd like more penetration. In the city a buckmark with a silencer works well.

 

[Spec ops Grunt]

Lessons learned, Grunt. Real life is not at all like a video game, is it? Man up, and go dispatch that animal. You may see it as a damnable feral cat, but it's still a living, breathing, and feeling animal. We have to occasionally dispatch feral cats and dogs on our farm, too. No one likes doing it, but it's just an accepted fact of life when you live in a rural area. It needs to be done, but it also needs to be done right.

Your .22 (assuming Long Rifle) will do fine with the right shot placement. As noted above, it's best to use hollow points on anything larger than a squirrel. If you're uncomfortable with your ability to get a clean hit on vitals, then a shotgun with #5 will work, too, provided you can get within range.

Do what you can to end the suffering. That cat deserves that, at least.

What pray tell, does videogames have to do with anything? Why do you assume I don't care about its well being? This post rubbed me the wrong way.

 

[200Apples]

.
I agree, Spec. I was about to post "Bravo" for having a conscience. It bothers you that you didn't get a clean, humane kill. I applaud you for feeling that way. I won't hunt with barbarians.

Now then, to Sprog: SpecOps DID man up. He did so by posting. He's now better-informed (as am I, thank you all) to bring about a solid torso hit and end this animal's suffering. That said, I agree too with yugorpk's post. Pest control has to be done.

 

[vietnam vet]

First let me say I like cats.I have three now,that are house cats.A few years back I moved to a new house that had a cat problem next door.There were 35 adult cats and several liters of kittens that roamed free on there property and mine. I put up with them for as long as I could but my front porch had out door carpet and they used it for there litter box and stepping in cat s - -t got old fast.I wanted to be a good neighbor so next door I went,I was polite and asked if there was some way she could pen or fence them in.Her reply was there cats and cats need to run free and would I please get off her land.My next move was to call the animal control for my county and was told that there were no laws for cats only dogs.Not long after that the cats started dying of some type of disease and roting under and old building she had on her place.I called animal control a second time and was told the same thing,no laws for cats and they could do nothing.The smell of dead cats and watching them slowly die moved me to live trap them and then shoot them with a 22.The cat population dropped fast an the smell left and all was well until one Saturday when the dog warden pulled in my drive.He said he had a complaint of me killing cats and wanted to know if I had been to witch I said yes.I told him I had called and was told there was nothing that they could do so I had no other recourse.Cats were a domesticated animal he said and I could not kill them.He said I could live trap them and call him and he would pick them up at a cost of six dollars each and they would gas them.He left and I never called but the cat problem soon got better.A few years latter the cat woman was my nurse after surgery and I had to sleep with one eye open for a week,that was the longest week of my life. The End!

 

[Ohen Cepel]

Quote from a recent study;
“If we extrapolate the results of this study across the country and include feral cats, we find that cats are likely killing more than 4 billion animals per year, including at least 500 million birds. Cat predation is one of the reasons why one in three American bird species are in decline,” said Dr. George Fenwick, President of American Bird Conservancy.

Article here;
http://www.wildlifemanagementinstit...-than-thought&catid=34:ONB+Articles&Itemid=54

I do not like to kill things. However, feral cats are a real threat to the environment and wildlife, as are "domestics" which are allowed to run lose.

 

[Gordon]

Heavy field load of #5 from a full or modified choke will make them DRT if you center them in the pattern out to 100 feet or a little better with #4. Actually it lets you use up all that old lead duck and goose loads . I used to use #4 duck loads on them to get rid of infestations.

 

[Steve C]

Any Duck and Pheasant load with 4 to 6 bird shot will kill a cat at up to 60 yds pick any gauge.

Your cat didn't die from the .22 because you missed anything vital and a head shot means you have to hit their little brain. Learn to shoot for heart lung on a 4 legged creature just behind the shoulder. A little too far forward and you go through the shoulders and they won't run away, hit the heart or lungs and they'll die relatively quickly.

 

[PJSprog]

This post rubbed me the wrong way.

It wasn't the wrong way. That's the way it was supposed to rub you.

Yes, kudos to you for admitting you made a mistake and seeking information to correct that. However, by your own timeline it's now been an entire week since you wounded that animal. Have you dispatched it yet? Is that cat still out there suffering while you're browsing the internet?

This was the point of my post. Please go kill it.

 

[SwaneeSR]

This has been one of the most interesting threads.

Cats people , nurses, clean kills, song birds.......

OP - hope you found the wounded feline and cleaned up that mess. It happens.

 

[Spec ops Grunt]

I got him yesterday. #5 modified choke. He was dead right there. Broadside shot.


Looking at his skull either I missed and the big scrape on his face was him running into barbed wire as he ran from me, or the .22 hit the side of his nose and instead of penetrating slid around the bone off the side of his face and just scraped him up that way.