The taking out of old fence rows, new farming practices were hard on game birds, but once we started seeing cats on nearly every camera check it all took a dive. Luckily for us we still have a lot of old school brushy fence rows, a ton of crp and quite a few trappers that knock the population of cats down every year.
A lot of guys that used to be die hard coyote callers are having a blast calling in cats.
I've caught a handful on the coon line over the past 5-7 years. They are a neat animal but they are also a very efficient killing machine.