Hunting NE Ohio or seeing feral cats? Have you harvested a deer lately and feel you have the flu + losing your mind? If I lived in the Cleveland area I would probably have my venison well done. Parasite infects more than half the deer in NE Ohio; cats the primary carriers, per OSU study | cleveland.com More Than Half of Deer in NE Ohio Infected by Feral Cats | Field & Stream
Feral cats are no joke in NE Ohio and NW PA, my dad lives in Akron and there are all sorts of cats running around, hiding in retaining walls and roaming the nearbywoods. Also, at our family cabin in the PA mountains we've started seeing a few feral cats roaming around the mountains and coming to our cabin for freebie handouts so I'm not surprised by these reports. I didn't like cats to begin with, I think I'll start eliminating any uncollared cats I see in my area.
It's a problem in a lot of areas but no one likes to talk about it because they're considered pets. I have several that I get on camera every so often and have shot a few.
I once heard that feral cats are the most destructive predator in the midwest. I believe it too. I have a pet cat, but as for the ferals, i have lots of arrows and a shiny new Benjamin .22 air rifle that is very quiet and very deadly. Fortunately they are not a problem on any of the properties i hunt
I've been getting a lot of feral cats here at home lately. I've not encountered but just a random few in years here. I own three cats, all spayed or neutered and I shoot every wild one I see. I expect I'm getting a lot of them lately just because I'm getting quail and rabbit numbers back up. I've never seen rabbit numbers so high here, re-incorporation of wheat and milo here has done incredible things for the birds and rabbits...unfortunately the predators are also taking advantage of it.
I think the most interesting part of this article is the harvest numbers. A month ago people were all in a tizzy about disease dessimating the deer population in OH, yet according to this article, they are at 91% of last year's harvest. Seems on par for a season with unbelievably warm temps.
