Those natural predators existed around here, there were few if any feral cats, and dogs. After the housing developments started to spring up the natural predators disappeared, or died off from habitat loss, first feral dogs started to appear, they didnt last long between the lack of suitable resources and those who decided to get rid of them. What feral dogs that were around died out after a few winters, the cats in turn just kept reproducing and doing well. I also discovered that years ago a neighbor nearby set up a place for feral cats to come and go as they please in their garage, with all the food they could ever eat (they thought it isnt right to keep cats indoors and that strays deserved to live as good as they can). These people admitted that they had 23 feral cats that spent time regularly in their garage, of course since that time a good strong winter with deep snow (years ago) killed off around 6, these were replaced by others since. From years of roaming the local fields and woods here I have seen very very few feral cats, but around the housing developments they thrive, life is so much easier there.
I guess if you live in an environment that allows them to live easier in the woods they will spend less time around houses. I can also tell you that the coldest weather, and when snow is on the ground I can set a trap and catch a cat in hours, but it may take days to weeks in warmer weather or with no snow on the ground. If you look at feral cat crap around here in spring, summer, and fall, it seems to consist mainly of undigested insect shells, this tells you what is most commonly eaten at that time of year, during winter they seem to prefer squirrels, voles, rabbits, and hand outs from people.

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