Well, these are not house cats or gifts from Egyptians.
They do exist and impossible to track. They watch you and sometimes you are not aware of it.
They don’t know you and they don’t care. They will kill you.
You might be hunting a bear or a tracked animal, a cat is none of that.
Just got back from Alaska and had a bear guide along for protection while we did our work. He was very smart and respectful of the Brown bears. He could smell them and would wander off sometimes just to keep tabs on them. And then inform us later - “Yeah, he was coming up the hill and caught wind of us, so he went around.”
It seemed the locals were more concerned with the wild dogs in the area. That they would kill you just for the sport of it. There was a pack in one area, and the guide went to hunt them down and shot two. He figured that would keep them from getting ideas while we were up there.
Although after that, one of the guys augmented his .44 (bear) with a .223 (dogs). (And I wished I had some buckshot!)
Cats are why God invented coonhounds.
I take mine with me too, he’ll run that cat up a tree, and after that, you be sure he won’t be coming for you again.
I won’t shoot the cat unless it’s in season though, unless it’s a direct threat. I don’t just run around the woods shooting everything I see. I just keep my family safe.