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Legallity of shooting big cat


Dustem Dave
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Another "big cat tale" :rolleyes:

 

But yet again nothing to back it up with.

 

should ave gone to specsavers :good:

 

Ok.. I've been to spec savers and have still seen 2 in the wild. first one was a Kellas Cat back in the mid 80ies, the second was last year and I'm certain it was a Puma. It was near one of my permissions so if I see it again I'll subdue it with the triple and get a pic for you :)

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does a Kellas cat count, its a big moggy :lol:

 

and as for Black Pumas there seem to be more in the UK than anywhere else if you go by peoples sightings.

 

We had a big cat spotted the other week near me, puma like were the reports. Less puma like more domestic when I saw it as shortly after that it went near a high seat with a mate up it :lol: seems like cats at last light are pretty deceptive with some peoples eyesight

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Up a bit higher in these posts,someone said that no one has ever seen a body :hmm: well i have been shooting only for two years (apart from air guns) and have been lucky enough due to contacts to have gained permission on nearly every farm for miles along a certain road in suffolk,the areas concerned are rural and covered in woods,in a year i counted over 100 deer and have only found ONE skull of a roe deer so thats less than 1%,so what are the chances of finding a big cat........0% :hmm:

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That's true, I've read that they can cover 60+ miles in a day. So would be hard to track one down. They certainly were in our country side due to the dangerous pets law etc etc but with a life expectancy of 20-30 most would have died off by now unless they find a mate which is doubtful, I personally have seen a large sandy coloured puma like cat and so have others in my area but that was 10 years ago. I would only have a pop if I had .308 or larger or could be certain of a headshot with .243 or larger. Sporting rifle is currently offering a bounty for a welsh big cat! £1000 I believe. Dave

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Out of interest can anyone point us to any verifiable cases of FACs being revoked on the basis of species specific conditions being contravened?

 

Dustem - did you happen to see both these black cats anytime near dawn or dusk?

NO neither dawn or dusk, been dark for hours.

Eyes weren't playing tricks see normal domestic cats all the time at night along with muntjac,roe,red,otters polecats, owls,badgers etc

plus the two farmers have seen them on numerous occasions in broad daylight up close and they hadn't mentioned it to me till i told them what i'd seen

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Make sure you aren't seeing Maine Coon cats - my missus' brother has two, one of which is 12KG , stands nearly 40cm tall and is nearly a meter long. When it stretches out, it hangs over the edges of a double bed!

 

So it's a big cat, but not a "big" cat.

 

:hmm:

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Im sure u could add at least a 0 to that figure!!!

I know people who claim to have shot more than 1 and are quite open about it. Lost of pics of damaged carcasses and footprints etc but none of a cat :hmm:

Interesting tho!

Edd

 

I think ultimately thats why so many are sceptical about big cats in the UK - lots of reported sightings, some pictures (usually at distance)and if anyone claims to have shot one

" I ...er...buried it...er... somewhere..."

 

If I ever shoot one, I'm having it stuffed. THen no-one could disbelieve me :good:

Edited by The Duncan
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Back in the 60s when there wasn't the regulation there is now posy people bought exotic big cats as pets. Mostly people who had more money than sense and very little idea how to look after them.

 

The chances of some of them escaping or being turned loose in the wild must be very high.

 

Coming back to the OP, this time of year the ground is very wet. There must be footprints.

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Back in the 60s when there wasn't the regulation there is now posy people bought exotic big cats as pets. Mostly people who had more money than sense and very little idea how to look after them.

 

The chances of some of them escaping or being turned loose in the wild must be very high.

 

Coming back to the OP, this time of year the ground is very wet. There must be footprints.

SAW these cats months ago and about a month apart,i don,t need prints,i know what i saw but if i shot one i'd want it mounted but keeping that quiet would be difficult thats why i asked in my original post, was it legal :no:

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Back in the 60s when there wasn't the regulation there is now posy people bought exotic big cats as pets. Mostly people who had more money than sense and very little idea how to look after them.

 

The chances of some of them escaping or being turned loose in the wild must be very high.

 

Coming back to the OP, this time of year the ground is very wet. There must be footprints.

 

big cats live approx 15 years so while they may have been turned loose you have to then believe we have a breeding population of them. There isn't much of the UK's wildest places that aren't shot or hunted over and they just don't turn up on shoots, people see them at last light and a few under the lamp and that is when your eyes play tricks on you. Look at the states where they hunt big cats, they are pretty elusive but not hard to find with decent dogs, as for the rabbit print being evidence of big cats that has ruined my monitor from where the coffee landed I was laughing that hard :lol:

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SAW these cats months ago and about a month apart,i don,t need prints,i know what i saw but if i shot one i'd want it mounted but keeping that quiet would be difficult thats why i asked in my original post, was it legal :no:

 

Some interesting posts, as well as the above. In the OP you say that livestock are being taken, so I would say that you should get in touch with your FEO. If they are sceptical just get the farmer to either photograph the fleece up a tree or to contact a big cat group to come and assess the carcasses.

 

I would ask some of the others, would you shoot it if it wasn`t attacking livestock ? Just for the skin/photo ? I know I wouldn`t.

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