In 1980, there were about 50,000 feral deer in Australia and by 2002 the population was estimated to have grown to 200,000. Now, the population is likely to have reached more than 2 million.
Saying it’ll be the “next rabbit” etc.
Knew we had them, never knew they were becoming such a huge pest.
Deer are a point of division in the hunting community.
I don’t know the rules for all the states, but I can highlight the different approaches different places have with just 2 examples.
In Victoria, they only want to hunt deer “sustainably”, so they have recognised “Deer Habitats”.
It’s also illegal to hunt them at night with a spotlight (the easiest method, they’ll literally stand still and look at the light) or use a thermal scope (which of course helps silhouette a naturally camouflaged animal), even during the day.
In South Australia, we have shoot on sight laws - as in you’re legally obliged to attempt to humanely kill feral deer when possible.
Kind of says it all, doesn’t it?
So the use of feral deer. Are domesticated deer common in Australia?
There’s venison farms.
I don’t know how many or where.
Theoretically all the ferals are escapees, as they have never been officially released (unlike rabbits, foxes, cane toads etc).
The other issue in Victoria is that we had High Country grazing for decades. This changed the environment which resulted in former bushland becoming grassland.
When High Country Grazing was banned, these grasslands were perfect for other feral grazing animals, such as deer.
Then deer culling was restricted…
Now we have major feral deer problems.
I say this without context, but this just sounds absurd. They’re an invasive and destructive species, right? To sustain native wildlife, we don’t want to sustain the deer population.
Regulatory Capture.
The government didn’t want to be in charge of this, so they’ve offloaded the responsibility (and the power) to a private organisation, in this case the Game Management Authority.
The GMA aren’t all bad, they are also a primary driver behind the protection of native waterways (that just coincidentally happen to be duck shooting spots).
As a shooter, I have complex opinions about groups like the GMA and SSAA that theoretically exist for my benefit.
I stopped giving SSAA any of my money. I don’t agree with most of their political lobbying stances, especially for reducing requirements around accessing firearms and legalising higher rate of fire guns.
Hasn’t been any great loss.