Wild cat hunters showed poor judgment

We have enjoyed the beauty and quiet of living in the woods for many years and realize that living near public land comes with logging, wild animals, and hunter encounters. Most of the latter have been congenial and respectful. This January there were three groups of cat hunting dogs in our neighborhood for several weeks. While I understand the need to control wild cat populations it eludes me why it might be necessary for so many hunters to repeatedly be in one small, populated area?  

What really outraged me though was to hear that several monster trucks had trailed their dog pack up from Forest Service land to the beginning of our populated road where a bobcat had been chased up a tree right next to a neighbor’s driveway. Apparently that a very distressed neighbor happened to walk by did not keep them from shooting the cat and making a horrible bloody mess all the way from the tree top to the surrounding snowy ground. It seemed like it was a convenient way to have a Sunday family spectacle for them but for the rest of us it was gruesome to walk or ski by the massacre place for the next week.

We realize one can’t control where the cat and dogs go but if you start out on a public road and end up in an obviously populated area with distressed neighbors it would seem ethical and respectful to let the cat go. An app like Onyx clearly shows where private property is. 

GABRIELLE DUEBENDORFER, NMD

Sandpoint