# Hunting > Varminting and Small Game Hunting >  New Zealands big Cats

## john m

I hate feral cats and have shot some large toms over the years,before a camera was part of my hunting kit.Who has photos or stories of large cats in NZ?
I will start with a photo taken 2 yrs ago by an American tourist who was camping near me in Mt Cook Nat Park.He came over to our camp to ask if we had Cougars in NZ as he had just seen one about the size of a Labrador dog,it went into the scrub and a hare ran out so he had a size comparison at the same distance of approx 300yds.I asked if he was able to photograph it to which he replied sure and showed me the photo on the camera screen.He later sent me a hard copy.I have since been back to the same spot and looked at the rock the cat is standing on, it,s not a small rock that is a big cat!!.


These are some cat prints in the sand on a remote beach on SI Westcoast also 2yrs ago.That stride bigger than the average moggy.


This cat lost the fight with a .375 H&H Mag.It had no top teeth at the front only the bottom ones, it was a young cat in good nick shot this year Central Otago.

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## Rushy

you certainly don't want one climbing up you!

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## cambo

Nice shooting  :Have A Nice Day: 
Yeah there's some big pussy's out there that's for sure.

We normally get quite a few each time we hit the roos in the Mac. 
Also on the farms I do some bunny population reducing on, I have come across a few. They seem to do very well on the young bunnies.
Heard of a pussy getting drilled at nearly 2000m on a range pass down Qtown way when guys were doing a goat cull.
Was a scraggly skinny feral from all accounts. Best thing was it got taken out.

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## Beavis

There is/was a very large feral moggy living around the Landcorp block to the south of Mt. Tauhara in Taupo. I disturbed it once in a paddock across the road from our farm house while out training for cross country. Thought it was a stray dog at first as it ran away, but it stopped and looked at me before diving through the fence into the black berry. I got a good look at it, basically a very stocky cat of some kind, about the same size as a mature lab, maybe a little shorter height wise, but much much larger than the average house cat. Big enough to take a smaller sheep I reckon, easily able to take a lamb. I got the usual "cool story" when I told my parents. Then my mum saw it a couple of days later in the same paddock. Didn't see it for another 2 years after that, on the same block but about a hundred yards from our neighbors house. We turned up to get some mutton and they were standing out on the drive with binos checking it out. It's facial structure looked more like the big cats in Africa etc. What ever it was it would have been well fed.

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## Dougie

I have seen a couple in Canterbury, they have a weird sort of haunch eh..big, powerful rear end and lower set shoulders.

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## 7mmsaum

This one made the mistake of showing itself while I was culling Goats on a neighbours forestry block. They must eat a LOT of native birds going by the size of some of them

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## Rushy

> This one made the mistake of showing itself while I was culling Goats on a neighbours forestry block. They must eat a LOT of native birds going by the size of some of them


Now that is a good cat.  Dead

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## Dougie

Did you get any photos of its teeth?

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## Spanners

I shot one down Cromwell way that was more like a leopard.. long long tail and long legs - was huge, quite different from your usual big moggie
Didnt get to retrieve it as it ended up in a burrow under a big boulder
Talked to station owner about it, apparently it was a 'Bendigo Tiger'
Great? Grandfather of Bendigo station introduced them 100 or so yrs ago to control the rabbit problem
Imported from India - cant remember the name of the cat - I think they are the ones you see draped around peoples shoulders over there

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## Wirehunt

Same thing is happening over the ditch, some little cats getting VERY big as they get more feral.

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## Rushy

> I shot one down Cromwell way that was more like a leopard.. long long tail and long legs - was huge, quite different from your usual big moggie
> Didnt get to retrieve it as it ended up in a burrow under a big boulder
> Talked to station owner about it, apparently it was a 'Bendigo Tiger'
> Great? Grandfather of Bendigo station introduced them 100 or so yrs ago to control the rabbit problem
> Imported from India - cant remember the name of the cat - I think they are the ones you see draped around peoples shoulders over there


Ocelot?

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## Rushy

> Same thing is happening over the ditch, some little cats getting VERY big as they get more feral.


Do the local wild life a favour and shoot them Wirehunt.

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## Spanners

> Ocelot?


I dunno - founds familiar?
I'm down that way in a month and will ask if I remember

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## Rich007

There was a fair bit about these cats sightings in the media a few years back


Big Cat Sightings in New Zealand

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## tiroatedson

Smacked a cat on the run with a 20 gauge a few years ago. Had my now wife out with me for a rabbit shoot( her 1st and it happened to be her gun i shot it with too(i'd bought it for her)) It would have been a good 40 metres so i was most surprised when i saw it do the dead cat flip. I got a bit of a earbashing from her too when she realised i had shot a cat. just had to explin it was a wild one , kills native birds, spreads disease blah blah blah and that the bet one is a dead one. She understands now though. :Thumbsup:

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## Bill999

Iv caught a tom cat so large and fat that he had to inch his way cm by cm into one of my box traps, getting him out after he had run outta life was a very tight squeeze 

aparently that pan fried snapper was just a little too tempting, 
and he came from the back of my 205 acre property backing onto a landcorp station. 
im yet to see in person any domestic that comes close, but he was definitly from domestic bloodlines. Black typical cat looking with a normal head, Fat as and bigger than average body. very well fed on my phesants and quail me thinks

we do get a constant supply of dropoffs here tho.

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## Bill999

also a ocelot costs close to or over a thousand dollares. 
anyone with one wouldnt let it get away surely.

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## ishoot10s

Oh boy feral cats are great sport for shooting. IMO any cats are...  :Yaeh Am Not Durnk:  Mongrel damn things.  Did a week on rabbits on a station in Otago 10 years ago and it was a huge buzz when a cat would pop up in the middle of some rocks while we were pinging rabbits. There'd be a shout of "CAT" and all the .22's would swing on to it and a hail of lead would be sent it's way. Whoever pinged it earned breakfast in bed from the other shooters in the shearers quarters next morning. Similarly, odd coloured rabbits were worth bonuses too, a black one would get you a rum and coke brought to you by the others at days end, and a ginger one earned you a brandy-dry! We shot 4 cats and 1200 rabbits in 4 days between three of us, after the virus had gone through.

Ray.

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## Pointer

> There is/was a very large feral moggy living around the Landcorp block to the south of Mt. Tauhara in Taupo.


PM sent - either I know you or I know your neighbours. Taupo raised myself. They reckon this cat was the size of a small lab

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## Dundee

Been those sightings down South too, which sounded interesting

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## kiwi39

Got a mate in Pest Destruction who I hunt with . 

He's said for years that the back country is riddled with bloody moggies ... 

I didnt believe him until I saw the cat shit .. and then several cats on molesworth last year. 




Tim

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## 260rem

when I first got my firearms licence at the age of 16 I was staying on a friend of the famlies farm I shot 32 wild cats over a 3 week stay that included leaning on the boundry fence and shooting them on the place next door as well as well

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## Spanners

> also a ocelot costs close to or over a thousand dollares. 
> anyone with one wouldnt let it get away surely.


They were released 100? yrs ago
Ill be seeing them in a few weeks and get the full story

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## Bill999

it really is all bullshit till someone puts a bullet in one and posts the photo. 
Ocelot

it seems tho that most seen are black and large rather than the ocelot pattern 

smoke one spanners. you can do it

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## Dundee

I think its kinda cool theres been a few recent sightings

Big Cat Sightings in New Zealand

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## Spanners

Mine was not black was more Ocelot/tan in colour

Station Keeper was in the paper in 2003 with a 7kg one he had shot

Ill find out what and when they were released

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## 7mmsaum

Forum Ocelot hunt  :Have A Nice Day:

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## Bill999

So who is going to be the first to take a full body mount puma/leopard out into central otago to really get this thread moving  :Grin:

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## 6MMBR

Now days its the mancoon cat that is all the rage.
They grow quite big, 
My wife got a half bread one.
At 9kg when he sunk claws in you new about it.
Found this pic of a mancoon, They also come in moggy colours

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## Munsey

> it really is all bullshit till someone puts a bullet in one and posts the photo. Ocelotit seems tho that most seen are black and large rather than the ocelot pattern smoke one spanners. you can do it


Not dismissing the ocelot ! But have a theory on large black cats . I used to do a lot of pig hunting , most pigs where gey in colour ,andOne out of Ten would be black . When we got multiple pigs the black pigs always appeared bigger , even too an experienced eye . When the pigs where put side by side the black pigs where no bigger just looked bigger .  In open country black sticks out like dogs balls and they appear bigger . Anyone else experience this

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## phillipgr

> Not dismissing the ocelot ! But have a theory on large black cats . I used to do a lot of pig hunting , most pigs where gey in colour ,andOne out of Ten would be black . When we got multiple pigs the black pigs always appeared bigger , even too an experienced eye . When the pigs where put side by side the black pigs where no bigger just looked bigger .  In open country black sticks out like dogs balls and they appear bigger . Anyone else experience this


I once read an article about the Canterbury Panther or Big Cat or whatever it was called, but you know what I'm talking about. The writer said that when domesticated cats became feral, within a few generations, they usually became black in colour. This is by natural selection because the black cats made better hunters, due to being hidden in the dark. The writer also said that they tended to become larger too, for the same reasons. Perhaps part of the reason whenever someone sees the "Canterbury Panther" and thinks its huge is because it is some black feral cat and that colour, like you said, makes it seem larger. Along with the fact that they are probably a bit bigger than a domesticated cat would be (but still no where near the size of a Panther".

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## Munsey

> I once read an article about the Canterbury Panther or Big Cat or whatever it was called, but you know what I'm talking about. The writer said that when domesticated cats became feral, within a few generations, they usually became black in colour. This is by natural selection because the black cats made better hunters, due to being hidden in the dark. The writer also said that they tended to become larger too, for the same reasons. Perhaps part of the reason whenever someone sees the "Canterbury Panther" and thinks its huge is because it is some black feral cat and that colour, like you said, makes it seem larger. Along with the fact that they are probably a bit bigger than a domesticated cat would be (but still no where near the size of a Panther".


Thanks for that , makes sence

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## Bulltahr

> I once read an article about the Canterbury Panther or Big Cat or whatever it was called, but you know what I'm talking about. The writer said that when domesticated cats became feral, within a few generations, they usually became black in colour. This is by natural selection because the black cats made better hunters, due to being hidden in the dark. The writer also said that they tended to become larger too, for the same reasons. Perhaps part of the reason whenever someone sees the "Canterbury Panther" and thinks its huge is because it is some black feral cat and that colour, like you said, makes it seem larger. Along with the fact that they are probably a bit bigger than a domesticated cat would be (but still no where near the size of a Panther".


To behonest, I think that writer is full of it if that's what he says," that a black cat hunts better in the dark" LMFAO right there!!!
Gotta say that all the ferals I have shot in South Canterbury have been small, runty and riddled with worms...............

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## phillipgr

> To behonest, I think that writer is full of it if that's what he says," that a black cat hunts better in the dark" LMFAO right there!!!
> Gotta say that all the ferals I have shot in South Canterbury have been small, runty and riddled with worms...............


Haha you're probably right. He didn't use those exact words, I can't quite remember what he said exactly to be honest, I was skim reading it in NZ Nat Geo while waiting for my burger. Seems like he was on the money about the feral cats being bigger than the domesticated ones, though.

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## Munsey

> Tipped the scales at 10kgI think size is very heavily selected for in the wild, which makes sense, with no large predators its a huge empty niche. In the near future, if it hasn't already happened, they will stop interbreeding with domestic cats and we will have our own big cat.


Looks like you may need a bigger gun , that's a beauty .

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## Dundee

Wow thats awsome!!

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## john m

Tussock
I think that one puts you into 1st place.
John

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## phillipgr

> Tipped the scales at 10kg
> 
> I think size is very heavily selected for in the wild, which makes sense, with no large predators its a huge empty niche. In the near future, if it hasn't already happened, they will stop interbreeding with domestic cats and we will have our own big cat.


Mmmmm nice pussy
TV reporter says &#39;&#39;nice pussy&#39;&#39; - YouTube

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## P38

> Tipped the scales at 10kg
> 
> I think size is very heavily selected for in the wild, which makes sense, with no large predators its a huge empty niche. In the near future, if it hasn't already happened, they will stop interbreeding with domestic cats and we will have our own big cat.


Awesome Cat Tussock.

Gareth would be impressed thats for sure.

What did the back steaks weigh in at?  :Have A Nice Day: 

Cheers
Pete

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## Dundee

Waiting for Toby too say did you eat it

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## Toby

Did you eat it?

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## veitnamcam

> Did you eat it?


You dont want to eat those really big hairy pussys Toby, Look for the smaller hairless variety :Wink:

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## Toby

> You dont want to eat those really big hairy pussys Toby, Look for the smaller hairless variety


I was waiting for that  :Grin:

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## Dundee

The Brazilians or the Agentinians have good pussies too.From what i've seen.

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## Maca49

I think the Brazilian ones are the better looking of the two?

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## Bulltahr

Latin ones are just hotter!!!!! (That's why they have less fur) :Psmiley:

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## 6MMBR

Stay away from African ones. lol

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## Gutshot

Very Angry Cat - FUNNY - YouTube

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