sporting shooter looking to help with fox, feral animal issues locally

A tourist was shot while walking through a paddock in the farm next to my dad’s. Granted, we are Victorians, but still, it’s not ok to have randoms firing away anywhere.

I have land and I allow trusted people to hunt on it.

The numbers of ferals being shot in State Forests was miniscule. I mean the animals, not the hunters.

Other than that, I wish you friend all the best in finding somewhere to shoot.

IP

Sorry to freeload off somebody elses request, but don’t forget me!

I’m prepared to remove all variety of feral animals safely and efficiently from rural properties around the ACT. I’m an SSAA member with insurance and 34 years experience with firearms, and safety is my number one priority.

I did some rabbit control on a rural property near Goulburn a couple of weeks ago and culled over a dozen rabbits in a couple of hours. The landowner was happy to have me there and has invited me back. And I ended up with food on the table! 🙂

There is a growing population of deer in Canberra. Fallow deer seen in various places including one hit by a car near Black Mountain! And Red and Sambar deer seen in the Namadgi as well as Tidbinbilla also caught on trail cams and what looked to be Fallow seen around Paddys River area. Also reports of a Fallow seen in the vicinity of the War Memorial lol.

I would be very interested in the shooters being on private lands and not in the forests where people go hiking.

Two examples to back up my point:

First:
I was walking in New Zealand last year when we came across a group of hunters who were waiting for their mate and the hunting dogs to get back from the area we had just been walking through. Apparently they’d just shot a deer.
Suddenly I was wishing I was wearing fluro, something that had not occurred to me until that moment. Mostly because it hadn’t occurred to me until that moment that someone could have been aiming a gun in my general direction.
These were nice blokes, who were (as far as I can tell) all keeping to the regulations and taking part in responsible shooting. Still don’t want to be around when they’re shooting in my direction.
If I had known there was hunting in the area, I would have chosen to go elsewhere. But there was no signage or notification. (I don’t believe that they have to, in New Zealand, but it’s something that I believe is important.)

Secondly,
As a teenager, I was hiking the Hume and Hovel Track, and we camped near a dam.
Later that night, another group drove up and set up.
This group were having a great time, consuming several cases of cans and generally being loud.
I don’t know what they were fishing for in the dam, but they sure were using a lot of ammo.

I’m not saying that a group of inebriated yahoos shooting willy-nilly is a good example of normal gun etiquette, nor that most hunters are like that. Just that if they weren’t allowed to have the guns in a public campground, there would be a lot less inebriated yahoos with guns and we’d have to stick with our garden variety inebriated yahoos sans deadly weapons.

Animal control is important, and I support the efforts of those taking part. I just don’t want to be at the wrong end of the stick when it goes off. A property owner has control of whom goes on their land, and can make the choice whether they want to follow safe practices or not. It keeps the general public safe and out of the area (and if they choose to trespass where someone is shooting.. that’s their own silly mistake.) I’ve shot guns on private land before, and it’s also nice to not have to worry if some knob is going to walk out where I’m shooting.

And for the first person to say that hunters don’t shoot people:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Cheney_hunting_incident

I’m not anti hunting, I’m pro hunting in a controlled environment and fully support responsible feral animal management.

There’s a few of us in Canberra too.

Now that the NSW Game Council has been abolished and hunting in forests has been declared banned we now need to resort to getting permission from land holders.

Land holders are going to want to start getting in contact with licensed and insured shooters as the increase of feral animals will occur due to our efforts in the forests being stopped.
Myself and a few mates who live in Canberra are also interested in any opportunities and can provide paperwork and even a reference and we’re willing to travel.