PIG hunters from across the state have taken to Mackay's canefields, bringing in nearly six tonnes of hog and raising $26,000 for valley schools and sporting clubs.
The annual Pinnacle Big Boar competition was held at the weekend and recorded its biggest turnout ever.
A total of 493 hunters registered while spectators from every state and territory other than Tasmania attended.
Organiser Paul McFarlane said it was a tremendously successful event.
"There were thousands, it was a big crowd," he said.
"(It) is now considered the biggest event of its kind in Australia."
The biggest sow weighed in at 129kg, while the biggest boar was 114.4kg and was caught by Trace Cronin from Bundaberg.
But it wasn't just pigs the people came to see.
The "Ugliest Dog" prize went to a mongrel named Gooch, while the longest tusk was brought in by Dean Jenkins and measured 207mm.
A total of 70 pigs were weighed during the competition, with $21,000 going towards computer equipment and a veggie patch for Pinnacle State School.
Mirani Kindergarten, the Pinnacle Cricket Club and Gargett, Eungella, and Finch Hatton State Schools each received $1000.
Mr McFarlane said the competition went a long way towards keeping feral pig numbers down in the valley.
"If we didn't have recreational hunters here the farms would be overrun," he said.
"I know the blocks I hunt, if I leave them for over a week they (the pigs) will move back in.
"We keep onto them - it keeps them on the move."
The money donated to valley schools and clubs was raised through registration fees, raffles and food and drink sales.
PIGS
70 weighed, totalling nearly six tonnes
Biggest boar weighed 114.4kg while the biggest sow weighed 129kg
$26,000 raised for Pioneer Valley schools and sporting clubs
Hot shot: Broadford's Alicia Kurtz has shot 1165 foxes since the Victorian
Government introduced the bounty in October 2011. Picture: Greg Scullin
EXCLUSIVE: THE number of wild dog pelts handed in to the Victorian Government has almost doubled since January.
In January the bounty increased from $50 to $100. Since, the number of fox scalps has also jumped by almost 50,000 since April to 200,064.
At the start of the year, 430 wild dog pelts had been handed in, but the latest figures reveal 793 wild dogs pelts have now been received.
Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh said he was "very happy" with the figures.
"I think it proves that the increase in bounty that we did from $50 to $100 has given that added incentive for people going to hunt them," Mr Walsh said.
Ballarat and Bendigo remain the areas where most fox scalps have been handed in, with 27,317 and 29,652 scalps respectively.
Bairnsdale has received the largest number of wild-dog pelts, with 360.
Broadford teenager Alicia Kutz is one of thousands of hunters cashing in on the bounty since its inception in October 2011.
She has presented 1165 fox scalps for a reward of $11,650
The 16-year-old is saving the bounty money to buy her first car.
Alicia said she and her father would often go spotlighting several nights a week.
"I started at age 10 just holding the spotlight and opening the gates and then I started actually shooting at age 12 and have done it ever since," she said.
"I've got 344 (scalps) this year and Dad and I together ... 636."
July 30, 2013 By Hailey Renault & Jasmine Barber The North West Star. M Isa
MOUNT Isa's State member Robert Katter has described the anecdotal evidence of people's experiences with feral cat populations across the North West as astounding.
Last week the politician called on the State Government to introduce a Queensland-wide $15 bounty on feral cats to manage t.he problem.
He said the McKinlay shire paid out for 880 tails in the 2010/11 financial year but during the first two months of last financial year were brought more than 5000 tails.
"Even when they started their financial year with a reduced bounty of $5, in two months they had a 570 per cent increase in tails coming in."
Mr Katter spoke of his conversations with people around Mount Isa shocked to see so many feral cats, normally elusive creatures, ambling through town in pairs.
"We think they came out with the rat plague in 2009 and thrived on the good seasonal conditions," he said.
"I've had people telling me they've had their chooks destroyed by different feral cats, they've come outside and seen them feasting on their dead animals.
"Once it was rarity to ever see a cat on the road, now its nothing to see two on the road going to Julia Creek during the day."
Mount Isa resident Taffy Jones said the whole of Queensland had a "hell of a problem" with feral cats that just wasn't going away.
Mr Jones said he was concerned if a bounty wasn't put in place soon a number of native animals wouldn't exist as we know them in the wild.
"You'll have to describe a lizard through photographs because they won't be able to see them, they'll be gone, overrun by a feral killing machine," he said.
Mr Katter wouldn't link pet ownership to the feral cat plague affecting Mount Isa but Mr Jones said it was a fact that people dump their pets when they move away from the region.
"When people leave town they don't take their cats they dump them, they just dump them and they get wilder and wilder," he said.
"In the end they are like a shadow and then go off and breed."
Paws Hoofs and Claws manager Sue Carson said when people fail to desex their cats they breed "profusely".
Her biggest concern with introducing a bounty Queensland was whether or not people would differentiate between pets and feral animals.
"That is my concern because when a bounty if offered people are out there to make money and there are some unscrupulous people out there and domestic cats are easier to catch," she said.
"I realise there is an enormous problem and they are decimating the natural environment, but it upsets me that it has come about because people have not done the right thing in the first place."
As fox numbers boom in far west New South Wales, the local pastoralists association is calling for the animal to be recognised as a pest in legislation saying they create as much havoc to livestock as feral pigs and wild dogs.
Already in some states foxes are declared as a pest animal but in New South Wales they're not.
President Chris Wilhelm of the Pastoralists Association of West Darling (PAWD) says he sees the fox as a feral pest.
"Seems a little bit strange that we classify pigs, dingoes and wild dogs as pests under the Act and the fox in its own right is doing as much damage."
"We think the three animals should be classified as pests. Fox numbers concern me all the time because they do account for quite a few lambs."
Invasive species director Glen Saunders for the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) says there's provision under the Rural Lands Act to list foxes as pests but it's not as easy as it sounds.
"There's lots of reasons why it's difficult for foxes. They're a cryptic animal and they're really difficult to census. One of the things you've got to do is that you've got to have some sort of criteria for assessment and you've got to be able to demonstrate that on a particular property foxes are an uncontrolled pest. That might be alright in word but in defining that to satisfy in a court of law is really difficult."
Contract shooter in far west New South Wales Steve Lee says a fox bounty is a good way to reduce booming numbers as a reward would encourage shooters to target foxes when out hunting.
"A $10 or $20 bounty on a fox would definitely make it more viable for guys to go out and actually get rid of them. A good fox shooter can probably get up to 50 foxes a night."
Invasive species director Glen Saunders for the NSW Department of Primary Industries disagrees, he says a fox bounty isn't an effective control method.
"They universally don't work as they're just a method of sustained harvesting. Bounties don't drill down to that local level."
"Foxes are taken from large areas on presentation of a bounty but they don't tend to solve local problems as well as a co-ordinated baiting program."
A feral pig hunting competition is planned for Bourke this weekend to raise money to help support cancer patients from the town. Photo contributed
AN UNUSUAL fundraiser will take place in the state's west this week
A feral pig hunting competition that will raise money to help support cancer patients from Bourke has attracted entrants from western NSW and much further afield.
The inaugural Back O' Bourke Boar Buster will be staged from August 2 to 4, organiser Courtney Oakman said.
A hunter who has lived in Bourke for 18 years, he said he wanted to help a charity that was close to his town's heart.
"The beneficiary, the Blue Robinson Foundation, was started locally and it helps cancer patients with transport and accommodation when they have to travel for treatment," he said.
Mr Oakman said while the main aim was to raise money for charity, there would be other positive spin-offs.
"In recent times some pig hunters have given the sport a bad reputation, but I wanted to show that there are good ones among us," he said.
Mr Oakman said the local economy was expected to benefit too.
"I see a lot of pig hunters travel through this area and they spend a bit of money while they're out here," he said.
Some of those local businesses were among sponsors who had offered prizes in a range of categories across the weekend.
"Local businesses have donated about $4000 worth of prizes, and I have a few items up for auction ahead of the event on the Facebook page Back 'O' Bourke Boars," he said.
"Plus shops and magazines and hunters who aren't in the area have put up another $4000 in prizes. Some of the stuff includes accommodation, and a 2013 St George rugby league jersey has a few people interested.
"I don't know some of these people from a bar of soap but they're all donating things and being so generous for a worthy cause. They may or may not know someone with cancer but they can appreciate what it's like to have to travel hundreds of kilometres for treatment."
When the Daily Liberal spoke with Mr Oakman, he confirmed that 40 teams had already signed up for the event.
"We've got people travelling from as far as Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Longreach," he said.
Strict rules would govern the event to make it as safe as possible, and Mr Courtney had spoken with local police and Bourke Shire Council about the event to brief the authorities during the planning stage.
"Each team will have a minimum of two people and a maximum of five," he said.
"Every entrant will need to have signed permission from the property owner before they can take part, and the vehicles that are taking part will have a special sticker they need to attach.
"All of this has to be done before they enter, so people can't just turn up on the day. They need to contact me first. There are a lot of rules in place to make sure we are doing the right thing.
"It also shows that there are genuine blokes out there willing to jump through a lot of regulatory hoops to have this event happen."
Mr Oakman said the event was open to "shooters, bow hunters and blokes with dogs".
"All dogs have to be wearing GPS tracking collars, and we will have access to make sure they have been where owners said they have been," he said.
Entrants would assemble for signing in from 2pm on Friday, and from there would go to nominated properties to commence the competition, Mr Oakman explained.
Weigh-ins would take place on the Saturday and Sunday mornings after the previous nights' hunting.
Prizes would be awarded in a range of categories, including biggest boar, biggest sow, biggest set of tusks and heaviest load of five pigs.
Children and families would not be left out, Mr Oakman said, with a series of activities having been arranged for daylight hours.
"There will be an obstacle course for kids, they'll have to carry a mock weight that simulates a pig, I'm thinking at this stage that will be a bag of dog biscuits," he said.
Other competitions would include lure casting, an endurance competition that would see a series of tasks such as changing a tyre and a series of chin-ups, a dog high jump, ugliest dog, prettiest dog and fastest-eating dog competitions.
Would-be competitors can contact Mr Oakman on 0427 315 949 for an entry form.
Dog breeding plans progress in a good hunting week
(July 22 - 28, 2013)
Up high on Happy Valley.
By Ned Makim
Dog breeding plans dominated the start to this week with the hunting pushed into second place for a moment.
One of the working dogs, Suzie, was finally in season and I had to get here to Luke on the grain block north of town for a rendezvous with one of his dogs.
Suzie is one of the most honest dogs son Paul and I have bred. Paul produced her from a pair I had bred, Kevin (Russell x Cathy) over Hannah (Russell x Milly) and from five months she was at the pointy end of some rough pigs.
Suzie attached to a boar on the plains.
She has a beautiful nature, not a scrap of nastiness in her, but good Lord is she tough. Like all of ours she can find and stop a rough pig but Suzie is just that extra level of hard. If she's attached you could send a little kid in to grab the pig...
Luke's dog is not one of our family of hunters but that makes no difference to me. I've wanted his blood in my yard since I saw him and his brother work a few years ago. Like a lot of great workers, he doesn't look anything out of the ordinary but he is a genuine one-out big boar dog and he throws excellent pups. Within 24 hours of dropping her off the pair had been joined. There were a couple more matings during the week, so if all goes well we should be welcoming some pups in late September.
With the dog breeding plans under control, it was back to hunting. I headed out to Trap Rock to scout for a few more pigs. The landholder had also asked for a goat for his sheep dogs.
I decided to get the goat early in case I got caught up with the pigs and headed down to the creek country. It's permanent water fed by steep rocky slopes where the feral goats like to prop. They aren't always there but if you cover the country and pay attention there is always a chance.
As it was, the ball bounced my way and I spotted a decent billy high up in the rocks and apparently unaware of me down on the creek. I'd been driving along a track with the dogs loose in case they picked up on a pig scent when I saw the billy. I stopped where I was, locked up the dogs and grabbed the 30-30. A bit of climbing and then a careful stalk and I was within 80 metres or so of the billy. I used a spindly sapling as a rest and put one through his chest. The goat dropped on the spot.
I got him back to the truck and dressed him for the landholder before getting the dogs out of the cage and heading off again.
A feral billy taken among the rocks for the landholders sheep dogs.
The rocky outcrop where the goat was perched.
While I was in the creek country I saw some relatively fresh pig sign so after getting myself a bit further through the rough country in the vehicle I stopped and started stalking the gullies with the dogs. Of course, I left the rifle behind. I don't like to mix up working pig dogs and a rifle much. For me there I just too great a margin for error...and it's just another thing to carry.
I'd covered about a kilometre when I followed the dogs up a feeder gully. They were having trouble settling on a scent and that often indicates a sow with little ones. Single family groups like that leave a lot of confusing sign, lots of crisscrossing scent. After a minute or so doing circles, the dogs went further up the gully and took me with them. Ahead of them I spotted the sow and piglets in the long grass on another slope and prepared for the inevitable.
Something of a climb later, the sow and one little pig were removed from the property and it was back down to the truck. I took a different track out and half way up the hill from the creek Dave jumped and took Alice with him. Within 300 metres they had another small pig and I had another climb ahead of me, this time down and then back up... Three for the day.
I managed to get back up to Happy Valley during the week and pick up another two pigs there. Nothing special again but the object on my blocks close to home is pest control, not ego, so every pig counts and every pig makes my landholders happy. One thing that might excite the trophy hunters though was the combined mob of red stags and fallow deer bucks I saw on the oats in Happy Valley just as dawn broke on my way to the high country pair of porkers. A couple of decent heads among them and I was tempted but time was a factor and they were allowed to live for another day.
One of the two little pigs from Happy Valley.
At home again and I was well and truly over the backyard fox. It hadn't come close to stepping in my leg hold trap. I dug around in my bag of tricks and added some of Ted Mitchell's smoked egg lure and bingo. One little vixen was taken out of the equation. I live backed onto a 5000 acre Conservation Area and this female would have added to the pest burden in Spring time. There is still a dog fox to catch so the trap is reset.
The first backyard fox.
The final excursion for the week was back out to Trap Rock. The landholder had seen three pigs since I'd been out for my goat shooting run earlier in the week so I headed out Sunday afternoon for another look. I visited the pig trap and it still hadn't attracted any interest so I moved it into the lambing paddock for another try. While I was there the dogs indicated a pig but could not find it in the horse grass. Around and around they went but it wasn't until I walked with them that Dave found the little sow.
From there it was up to Ironbark Gate where a pair of sows had been seen during the week. Through the gate and Dave jumped again. Within 60 metres we had another little sow. On to the scrub block and a walk up hill with the wind from the Northeast and Dave and the pup Alice worked back and forth ahead until I heard the scrub cracking and a third little pig squeal. That was Alice's and Dave was yipping on the butt of a fourth for the day.
To his credit Dave stopped the sow through some terrible sticky scrub on a bad slope and I had four before dark.
The fourth pig from Sunday afternoon's run.
WEEK 4:
Pest animals removed 11 Free range dog food 32kgs Kilometres travelled 391kms
PROGRESSIVE TOTAL Pest animals removed 22 pigs
1 goat
1 fox Kilometres travelled 1503kms
Visitors to one of France’s most beautiful tourist areas were today warned to be on their guard after a pack of feral cats launched an attack on a young woman.
Photo: Alamy
About six cats pounced on the unnamed dog owner as she walked her poodle in
the city of Belfort, in the popular Franche-Comte region, on the Swiss border,
dragging her to the ground and mauling her.
She was bitten repeatedly and left with a torn artery which could have proved
fatal, while the dog was also badly hurt.
It is thought that particularly high summer temperatures may have made the
cats far more aggressive than usual.
Josette Galliot, the mother of the 31-year-old victim, said: "They jumped on
her and managed to knock her over.
"The feral cats bit her on the leg and on her arms. They even pierced an artery," Mrs Galliot told l’Est Republicain newspaper, adding that her daughter had been "living a nightmare" since Sunday’s attack.
The woman was rushed to hospital where she received treatment for her wounds,
and a number of injections including one against rabies. The poodle was treated
at a nearby veterinary clinic.
A local police spokesman meanwhile suggested that the attack was "very
unusual" and therefore "a cause of great concern".
He added: "Tourists from countries like Britain should certainly be wary –
they should certainly not approach these cats, or try to feed them."
There are an estimated 8,000 feral cats born in France every day but they are
generally considered relatively harmless.
Colonies of feral cats usually begin with people dumping unwanted,
unsterilised pets.
Farmers and pastoralists on the front line in the battle with wild dogs and foxes have backed a push by Shooters and Fishers Party MP Rick Mazza for bounty hunters to control the problem.
Mr Mazza wants bounties of $100 on wild dogs and $20 on foxes to cut the huge toll they take on livestock and native animals.
The system would be in line with Victoria, which put a price on wild dogs and foxes in 2011.
A new study published in the Australian Veterinary Journal shows stock losses threaten wool and sheep meat production.
The Invasive Animals Co-operative Research Centre study found sheep could disappear from rangelands in 30 to 40 years because of wild dogs.
Mr Mazza said the State Government should make the bounty available to licensed shooters.
"Foxes and wild dogs are particularly vicious and prey on vulnerable livestock, lambs, calves, poultry and wildlife," he said.
"The Government can immediately reduce, not only the financial burden on farming communities, but also the distress of discovering mauled livestock and the remains of dead indigenous species."
He wants anyone who kills a dog or a fox - usually with a firearm - to redeem a bounty with the animal's scalp.
The Pastoralists and Graziers Association said WA producers lost livestock worth millions of dollars a year to wild dogs.
It called for the Federal Government to introduce a $200 bounty last year and its dog control spokesman Will Scott said attacks were at plague proportions.
WAFarmers president Dale Park said a bounty system had merit if managed carefully.
Victoria doubled its bounty on wild dogs from $50 to $100 this year. Under its system, more than 130,000 foxes and 430 wild dogs have been eradicated in less than two years.
Acting WA Agriculture Minister Bill Marmion said international experience showed bounties could encourage a "scalp-count" mentality, which put the focus on the number of kills rather than minimising the impact of dogs and foxes on livestock.
He said the Government preferred a strategic approach of baiting, trapping and shooting at community or regional levels.
The Government recently spent millions trying to control the problem. It reinforced WA's 112-year-old, 1170km barrier fence for $1.13 million, employed eight extra doggers and gave dollar-for-dollar funding to local biosecurity groups.
Mr Mazza's party emerged as a force in WA when he won a Legislative Council seat in March.
'Wild dog attacks on livestock are at plague proportions.'"PGA spokesman *Will Scott *
Mount Isa MP Rob Katter says feral cat numbers in parts of western Queensland are out of control and he wants a State Government funded bounty.
Mr Katter says while some councils already have a bounty, there needs to be more coordination across Queensland.
He says a $15 per tail bounty would be enough incentive for landholders to take up the challenge.
"The Smithsonian Institute in the US blamed cats for the global extinction of at least 33 species," he said.
"There's other risks that they carry in the wild in Australia with different disease with native domestic livestock, in humans, so they are a problem that needs to be controlled.
"Certainly they're out of control at the moment."
He says the money can also be an added financial bonus for graziers who are struggling with low cattle prices.
"We just want the State Government to take some notice of this issue and take some ownership of it and I think that's an effective way to attack it," he said.
"Clearly from the numbers there - the McKinlay Shire and other shires - the bounty was an effective way to attract people.
"I think the bounty is good because it allows people in the area to earn a bit of money just from dealing with and everyone help dealing with the problem."
Bulloo Mayor John Ferguson says his council has discussed a cat bounty.
He says something needs to be done about the situation.
Councillor Ferguson says his council would welcome a State Government funded cat bounty.
"We did talk about this about 12 months ago and that was mostly about the money, the $15 that we were talking about," he said.
"Maybe we as councils should be putting a bounty on cats to try and steady them down when the roo shooters are out."
"Particularly when they're out shooting roos, they might see 20 to 30 to 50, 100 cats a night.
"If there's a bounty on them - $15 - well they're going to go after them, aren't they.
"I suppose there's always been cats out here but nowhere near like they are and they just seem to be killing everything."
A 10-year-old boy who was attacked by a feral pig in far north Queensland says his friend is a hero for trying to help him.
Ashton Davenport was trying to retrieve his friend's kite at Wonga Beach, north of Cairns, on Monday when he was gored in the neck.
He says he was not scared at the time but he is glad his friend Scott Cam was there to help.
"We got to the creek and a couple of metres after it I heard something in the bush and I jumped off my bike because I thought it was a bird and then it ran out, like charged at us, so I got on the ground and it started to attack me," he said.
"He was trying to find something to hit the pig with, get it off me.
"It was too late because the pig ran away because it hit itself on the bike - Scott, you're my hero."
Ashton was treated in the Mossman Hospital for a neck wound.
There is an estimated two million feral pigs in far north Queensland.
Ashton's mother, Sue Davenport, says she does not want to see the animals shot but says families in the area should remain vigilant.
"Think twice before you let your children go out on their own at the moment, but you can't wrap them in cotton wool," she said.
"You've got to let them be kids but he's just been told stand still and if there's a tree, climb a tree."
Meanwhile, the coordinator of natural management at the Cairns Regional Council, Russell Wild, says it needs landowners to help manage feral pigs.
Mr Wild says the council trapped 633 of the animals last year, mostly between Mossman and the Bloomfield River, but it is thought there's up to 6 million feral pigs in the far north.
"There is some hope on the horizon with the development of a new bait," he said.
"Obviously that's got to be tested and then approved.
"In the meantime it really does fall back on landowners to manage their properties and we encourage people to think about feral pig management."
Published July 23, 2013 Associated Press
A barred owl perches in Calais, Vt. (AP)
GRANTS PASS, Ore. – Federal wildlife officials plan to dispatch hunters into forests of the Pacific Northwest starting this fall to shoot one species of owl to protect another that is threatened with extinction.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday released a final environmental review of an experiment to see if killing barred owls will allow northern spotted owls to reclaim territory they've been driven out of over the past half-century.
The agency has been evaluating the idea since 2009, gathering public comment and consulting ethicists, focus groups and scientific studies. It will issue a final decision on the plan in a month.
"If we don't manage barred owls, the probability of recovering the spotted owl goes down significantly," said Paul Henson, Oregon state supervisor for Fish and Wildlife.
The agency's preferred course of action calls for killing 3,603 barred owls in four study areas in Oregon, Washington and Northern California over the next four years.
The plan is expected to cost about $3 million and requires a special permit under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibits killing nongame birds.
Neither the timber industry nor the Audubon Society was pleased with it.
"Shooting a few isolated areas of barred owl isn't going to help us as forest managers, nor is it going to help the forest be protected from wildfires, and catastrophic wildfire is one of the big impediments to spotted owl recovery," said Tom Partin, president of the American Forest Resource Council, a timber industry group.
Bob Sallinger, conservation director for the Audubon Society of Portland, said saving the spotted owl is of paramount importance, but the focus must remain on protecting habitat.
"To move forward with killing barred owls without addressing the fundamental cause of spotted owl declines, from our perspective, is not acceptable," he said.
Henson said the Northwest Forest Plan, which cut logging by 90 percent on national forests in the 1990s, has done a good job of providing habitat for the spotted owl. But the owls' numbers have continued to slide.
Henson said unless barred owls are brought under control, the spotted owl in coming decades might disappear from Washington's northern Cascade Range and Oregon's Coast Range, where the barred owl incursion has been greatest.
It has taken the federal government a long time to get to this point. The California Academy of Sciences killed some barred owls in spotted owl territory on the Klamath National Forest in Northern California in 2005, and the owner of some redwood timberlands in Northern California regularly kills barred owls to protect spotted owls.
The idea of killing one type of owl to protect another underscores a fragile balance of nature that biologists have struggled with for years.
Between 2000 and 2006, wildlife officials captured and removed more than 40 golden eagles from the Channel Islands off Southern California to protect the island fox. They also hired a company to kill 5,000 feral pigs on Santa Cruz in a controversial program to restore the island's ecosystem.
In Oregon, officials have used lethal injections to kill selected California sea lions that feast on protected salmon in the Columbia River. And in Yosemite National Park, saving bighorn sheep has meant hunting protected mountain lions.
The northern spotted owl is an icon of bitter disputes between the timber industry and environmentalists over the use of Northwest forests. Because of its dwindling numbers, the little bird was listed as a threatened species in 1990, which resulted in logging cutbacks and lawsuits.
Barred owls are bigger, more aggressive and less picky about food. They started working their way across the Great Plains in the early 1900s, and by 1959 were in British Columbia. Barred owls now cover the spotted owl's range, in some places outnumbering them as much as 5-to-1.
The Fish and Wildlife Service's proposal calls for a combination of killing and capturing barred owls. But capturing owls is far more expensive and difficult. And the agency has found only five zoos or other facilities willing to take a barred owl if it's captured, said Robin Bown, the wildlife biologist in charge of the evaluation.
Henson said the service has yet to work out details of how barred owls will be killed, whether by government hunters from the U.S. Agriculture Department's Wildlife Services, or by contract hunters.
The favored method involves luring the birds with a recording of a barred owl call, then shooting them with a shotgun when they fly in to drive out the intruders.
Hunting would start this fall on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation in Northern California, where the locations of barred and spotted owls are well-known, Henson said.
It will begin in fall 2014 in three other study areas made up primarily of federal land. The northernmost is in the Cascade Range near Cle Elum, Wash. Another is in the Oregon Coast Range west of Salem. The third is in the Klamath Mountains south of Roseburg.
Hunting will take place only in the fall and winter, to prevent taking birds when they are caring for their young.
Each study area will be divided in two, with half serving as a control with no barred owl hunting. Scientists will see if spotted owls move back into areas where barred owls have been killed. The four study areas add up to 1,207 square miles, which amounts to 0.05 percent of the northern spotted owl's range.
The Winters can be cold at home but the bush can be surprisingly bright.
The wattle has come into bloom a few weeks early and makes a colourful backdrop.
A bit of rain put a dampener on the hunting plans this week. I never complain about the rain and often hunt in the wet but my main block (Happy Valley) carries a lot of clay and is steep in parts...a recipe for trouble in a downpour.
Instead I went south to check on my second pig trap and see if there was any more information about the wild dog. This spot is in the granite country and is all grazing with a bit of oats to help stock through the Winter. It also runs close to some wild public land that sheds the odd wild dog into the open. I'll call this place Dog Trap to help identify it in his project and keeps it's actual ID private.
Anyway, down to Dog Trap to see the landholder with a few bags of cracked corn on board to freshen up the pig trap. It's another top hinged door trap just outside the oats crop and so far not a single pig has come near it. The landholder has don a bit of shooting so the pigs are a bit stirred up but I'm happy to have the trap there just to maintain access.
In other news he has created a dead cattle dump with three old cancer eyed cows so if the trap doesn't bring in the pigs, the carcases should. Normally they would take about five days to really bring in the swine but in Winter time that cane take two weeks. We'll see.
He also told me he'd seen the wild dog again. It was only a few days ago and in the same spot. Once the predicted rain passes, it will be worth setting a trap for two for the dog. The cows are due to calve in the next month or so and the dog's potential impact is significant.
Back up to Happy Valley east of Inverell and the rain had definitely made things slippery. It wasn't so much boggy as greasy and I appreciated the Max-Trax again, I can tell you. They worked.
The Max-Trax gave me the grip to get up the slippery slopes.
On the oats crop again and Dave jumped and took the young dog Alice (his daughter out of Mary) with him. They ranged out in front, Dave with his nose in the air and Alice just along for the ride. They went over a rise and out of sight. I was still driving the boundary and noted the dogs had not reappeared out of the fold they'd entered. When I topped a little rise I saw why. Both were holding a rough little boar just inside the boundary and outside the nearby blackberry bushes. Alice had been a hot and cold pup but this time she as attached and showed evidence of five decent hits from the boar. Nothing serious by any means but enough to test a young dog's will and she'd passed that test.
Dave and the little boar.
Another two little pigs were found on the ridge above the oats and they too were taken out of the equation. So, three pigs for the morning and back home in time for work.
Later that night I was awoken by Alice barking. At night this often indicated a fox was in the yard, attracted by the smell of the meat from the day's hunt. I decided I'd set a leg hold trap and see if I could get rid of the annoyance to my household and threat to the native animals that live nearby. The fox doesn't visit every night and sometimes goes a month between visits but I wanted something in the ground if it wandered back in looking for a feed.
I used a food bait in what's called a dirt hole set which simulates a small burrow or cache of food. The trap is buried not far in front of the lure.
The fox trap is just in front of the disturbed soil holding the lure.
WEEK 3:
Pest animals removed 3 Free range dog food 42kgs Kilometres travelled 291kms
PROGRESSIVE TOTAL Pest animals removed 13 pigs Kilometres travelled 1112kms
Back in May one of my dogs, Dave, grabbed a big boar that did some significant damage. Some good field first aid and excellent work by the Gowrie Vet Clinic in Inverell saved the day but a pig like that is something that stays front of mind.
I'd hit him on ridge on my mountain block (I call it Happy Valley...) and spent every hunt since trying to pattern his movements in the hope of finding him again.
Before I got the chance for a look during Week 2 of the For The Record project I had to duck up north of town to the place I call Trap Rock. That's were I have a trap set for pigs and where we cut the ironbark for firewood. There'd been a pig or two sighted and getting out for a look is all part of keep faith with the landholder. I didn't find the pigs but did have a great chat with him and his wife. Over a cup of coffee they asked me if I was interested in opening up their property to people who might want to join in their environmental management program. I said it would be a great opportunity for city bound parents with kids who might want to learn about hunting with a purpose beyond just enjoying themselves. More thinking to be done but might be something there...
Prickly pear fruit, ripe and ready for the pigs...
Before I left I checked the cameras again (nothing terribly interesting) and stopped to photograph a prickly pear in fruit. The fruiting pear is one of the reasons the pigs appear on Trap Rock from about May onwards each year. They love the fruit and will travel a long way to get onto them. Worth remembering if you hunt pigs in areas where the pear grows.
With that done it was back to the high country and the Happy Valley block for another look for pigs in general and the big bloke in particular.
Within 20 minutes of hitting the place I had a little boar on the ground thanks to Dave. The pigs had been feeding on an oats crop and it is always a good spot to have a look.
With a bit of fresh dog food on board, I pressed on, but not for long. Dave and Suzie jumped and showed intense interest in one little section of ringlock. I thought pigs must have crossed out of the paddock but when the dogs got over the fence they pounced on a small patch of thick grass right against the fence and flushed a mob of little pigs. Suzie grabbed one and Dave picked up one and then a second after I lent a hand. Four for the day so far.
Dave in his new Grunter Plates breastplate (watch for upcoming review).
That's the first pig of the day...
None of the pigs were world beaters but my role on the private land I am allowed to access is pest control so every pig taken is counted.
A bit further on and I decided I'd put the dogs into a bit of scrub for a look on spec. I got out of the truck and almost immediately stepped into some fresh digging hidden by the long grass. There were a couple of big rocks turned over as well and I thought I might no be far behind a big pig...
I went into the bush with Mary, Dave and the pup Alice loose and Suzie on a lead just in case. Mary and Dave threw their noses in the air and flew into the scrub. A dark shape moved at pace ahead of the free dogs and I knew they were onto another pig. They hit what sounded like a reasonable boar and as they did a genuinely big fella moved to my left and tried to cut and run. I still had Suzie on the lead and she had seen the big pig. I unleashed her and within 40 metres or so she had him. He was more than a handful and Suzie was airborne, attached to his ear but airborne all the same.
I ran to Mary and Dave on their boar and stuck it. Dave was first to realise there was another pig to be had and he flew up the hill through the rocks and scrub to hit the boar which was still absolutely belting Suzie. Mary went next and the boar had three dogs to contend with...but not for long. I was right behind Mary and got my hands on the big bloke. I used my purchase on the boar to pull myself up hill and into position to put an end to him.
The big boar. The photo doesn't come close to doing him justice. I've since
practised taking selfies so I don't miss the opportunity again.
He had fair tusks and they were thick.
So that was six pigs for the day and I really think this was the boar that hurt Dave. It was close to where I had struck him the first time and I hadn't seen anything approaching his size on the 16,000 acre block I was hunting. I think it's him but time will tell. What is certain, however, was that this was the biggest boar I had put on the ground in 12 months. My own big boar drought was over...
WEEK 2:
Pest animals removed 6 Free range dog food 21kgs Kilometres travelled 263kms
PROGRESSIVE TOTAL Pest animals removed 10 pigs Kilometres travelled 821kms
The first week of the For The Record project was hardly a record breaker in hunting terms.
It started with a call from mate Luke who has been catching and trapping a lot of pigs on a grain property north of my home town of Inverell.
He had another trap full and there were some good eating pigs in them. He had a few on the hook ready to be dressed for the table if I was interested.
I certainly was...
I slipped out to his place and in relatively short order we had the pigs skinned and the fillets, boned shoulders and back leg roasts bagged up ready to go.
Free range, grain fed pork for four households all for the cost of a bit of time and a short drive out of town.
Next was collecting some more ironbark for son James. The wood was perfect and the saw sharp so we knocked over the job reasonable quickly. It helps if there are two blokes loading...
While we were in the area we checked on a pig trap and a couple of game cameras. The trap is more of an indicator than a serious attempt at catching. The landholder wants his pigs controlled so the cameras and trap provide information on activity that can help focus my efforts with the dogs.
We checked for nest holes that might hold birds or bats...
The cameras didn't tells us a lot. Although we learned how often the sheep walk around the paddock...and that there is at least one fox that follows them. If he escapes a baiting program, I'll whack a couple of leg hold traps in the ground to get rid of him and a few of his mates.
One of the cameras watching a natural bottleneck with a track,
a fence and the head of a gully coming together to force animals
into concentrated spot. The pig trap is just to the right of the
ironbark tree in the background.
The pig trap gate with game camera in the background.
I had a second trap on the property but it needed some maintenance and was destined for duty on yet another property so I zipped back out to pick it up. This time, however, I took the dogs. After hauling the trailer up into the hills to collect trap 2 and bring it back down near the house, I took the dogs for a quick look around the oats. I spotted a couple of pigs at the time they spotted me and they were off. I was still a paddock away from them but you get to know your blocks so I went for where I assumed they'd reappear yet another paddock over. The ball bounced my way and Suzie and Dave grabbed one each. More dog food and a happy farmer.
The next day it was on the road again for dogs and I as I carted the repaired spare trap south of Inverell to site it behind another oats crop that was being hit by pigs. The cocky had given me a set of keys so I could come an go as I chose so the trap was set-up and another camera was positioned to capture all the action. I had chat to the landholder and said I'd seen wild dog tracks on a previous visit. He said he'd seen a dog about a month ago and believed it was coming from some nearby public land. One to watch...
I took the dogs for a drive and picked up another two little pigs.
WEEK 1:
Pest animals removed 4 Free range meat 64kgs Free range dog food 81kgs Firewood1.5 tonnes Kilometres travelled 558kms
The best boar for the month so far. Read about his capture
in tomorrow's first instalment of For The Record.
By Ned Makim
I get asked a lot of questions about hunting for a lot of different reasons.
Non-hunters want to know why and some hunters want to know how. But, for me every answer opens the door to another question, and another answer, and on it goes. It's made me think, how can I explain to people what it is I do and why I am doing it? And then I had an idea... What if I provided a week by week account of everything I did that was hunting related and not just the successes but the failures too, even how much it cost and how many kilometres were driven. The object would not be to set any sort of a standard or win any prizes but to illustrate just what goes into one hunter's attempt to breed and train a few dogs, support landholders and my own environmental agenda and put some meat on the table as well.
So today Hands-On Hunting launches For The Record: A Year In A Hunter' Life.
It will start back at the beginning of this month and bring readers up to date with where I am up to and then move on week by week through the next 12 months documenting hunt preparation, participation and post mortems.
There will also be detail on the dogs I use on pigs, the traps and related gear I use on foxes and dogs and whatever else I think might help colour inside the lines in a portrait of one man's hunting life.
The first instalment will be published tomorrow night and, as mentioned earlier, will cover the first three weeks of July 2013.
It's been a quiet month so far in terms of yield but there has been a lot of prep work with two pig traps set, a fox trap in the ground and news of a wild dog in a new area.
So take a look tomorrow and come along for the ride.
Video: Wild pigs, whose population can triple in a single year, are invading communities in Florida, and with no natural predators, ranchers say they are posing a major problem, destroying fields and lawns and spreading diseases. NBC’s Kerry Sanders reports.
Digging up fields and lawns, killing livestock and spreading disease, wild pigs have gone from a regional nuisance to one rapidly spreading across the nation.
The animals have razor-sharp tusks, a bottomless appetite and no natural predators, and experts say the invasion of the feral pigs has become a major problem that is moving north.
“This truly is becoming a national crisis,’’ John Mayer, the manager of environmental science at the Savannah River (S.C.) National Laboratory, told TODAY on Friday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that wild hogs, which can weigh more than 200 pounds, are responsible for more than $1.5 billion in agriculture damage and destruction every year. TODAY’s Kerry Sanders took a ride in a helicopter to see them firsthand, watching dozens on the run across the 2,000-acre South Fork Ranch in Okeechobee, Fla.
“It’s like having a rat in your house,’’ Southfork Land and Cattle Company’s Bill Wallace told Sanders. “They’re just not a good thing.”
In 1987, there were an estimated two million wild pigs in about 20 states, primarily in the South and concentrated in Texas and Florida. Now there are an estimated six to eight million wild pigs roaming 47 states.
“This increase that we’ve seen in wild pigs is unquestionably dramatic,’’ Mayer said. “We don’t have another species here in the U.S. that has increased at this same rate.”
Experts say the explosion in the wild pig population is partially due to hunters transporting them across state lines, plus some escaping from hunting preserves. The animals also produce two litters a year, rapidly swelling their numbers.
All of it could add up to a higher grocery bill for Americans. “The reason people should care is because eventually it could result in increased costs at the marketplace,’’ Wallace said.
As reported late last week, the New South Wales Game Council is no longer.
The State Government accepted the key recommendations of Steve Dunn who conducted a governance review into the organisation.
As the former Director-General of the NSW Maritime Authority, Mr Dunn says he was brought up on a farm in England in a place where firearms were commonplace.
In his first interview about the review, which is now known as the Dunn Report, Mr Dunn says he only had the terms of reference to conduct the review 'warts-and-all'.
"It was refreshing (to speak with people from the Game Council) who were open and frank," he said.
"There was already quite a lot of anxiety about the issues the Game Council was facing and there was recognition that there were some issues that needed to be addressed and a willingness to give me all the information that I needed to help me draw my conclusions.
Mr Dunn says the Game Council achieved a lot during its existence.
"They've put too much emphasis on their outward activities and not enough on their internal governance structures," Mr Dunn said.
"The people that are involved will no doubt have issues with some elements of the report.
"They may think other elements are worthwhile."
Steve Dunn speaks to ABC Central West's Angela Owens about his review into Game Council.
The author of the controversial report into the Game Council explains his findings.
State forests could get the same hunting rules as national parks. Photo: Chris Lane
Hunting in state forests is likely to be permanently curtailed under a government shake-up.
New rules will be imposed that are likely to restrict volunteer shooters to participating in supervised culls of feral animals, with tougher training requirements.
The NSW Forestry Corporation is contacting 600 hunters with permits allowing them to shoot independently in 400 state forests, to advise them hunting has been suspended until a risk assessment is done.
A spokeswoman for Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson said this would be modelled on the process that resulted last week in the imposition of strict controls on a trial basis for shooting in national parks.
Under the national park rules, amateur hunters would need training equivalent to that of a parks officer, and would either work shoulder-to-shoulder with parks officers or be supervised in culling operations.
While the details for state forests were yet to be worked out, the government wanted a ''tenure-neutral'' approach to pest control, with one set of rules across national parks, state forests, Crown land and private property.
The O'Farrell government had to pass legislation to allow volunteer hunters access to national parks in the name of pest eradication, under a deal with the Shooters Party, which controls the balance of power in the upper house. But a scathing independent review of the Game Council, which issued hunting licences and regulated hunting, led to it being abolished on Thursday.
While the national park trial will proceed in October, the fallout from the Dunn report will also result in state-forest hunting being suspended as the rules are overhauled.
The only previous risk assessment for hunting in state forests was done in 2009 by a private consultancy that found 17 corrective actions needed to be taken for the safety risk to be deemed ''acceptable''. These included reviewing hunter education to include map-reading competency, putting emergency meeting points on maps, and introducing electronic surveillance of hunting.
But no electronic surveillance is in place, and hunters are not required to demonstrate map-reading skills to get a licence. The 2009 risk assessment said the Forestry Corporation should consider tougher controls.
Until last week, hunters needed only to sit an open-book paper test and undergo a police background check to be issued a licence by the now defunct Game Council.
They could then make a booking to go shooting in any of 400 state forests that were listed as containing a mix of feral deer, pigs, goats, cats, dogs or rabbits.
The new system would be modelled on volunteer bushfire brigades, and it is likely that volunteer shooters would only be called upon to take part in organised pest-eradication programs where a pest was deemed to be out of control.
The executive director of Sporting Shooters Association of NSW, Diana Melham, said its members were ''concerned at the potential loss of public access, having invested considerable time, effort and expense assisting the government, at no cost, to reducing the environmental devastation caused by feral pests''.
The Game Council will be abolished. Photo: Greg Newington
Amateur hunting in NSW forests will be suspended until at least October following the damning findings of a review into the Game Council of NSW.
As a result of the review, by retired public servant Steve Dunn, the Game Council of NSW will be abolished and responsibility for licensing of amateur hunters transferred to the Department of Primary Industries, the state government announced on Thursday.
The concerns raised in the review have led the government to announce the suspension of all amateur hunting in state forests until governance issues identified within the council are resolved.
In a simultaneous announcement, Environment Minister Robyn Parker revealed the introduction of amateur hunting to national parks will proceed in October, but on a trial basis in 12 parks.
Pending the results, hunting may be rolled out in up to 75 parks and reserves as previously announced by the government under a deal with the Shooters and Fishers Party.
Ms Parker said the rules for shooting in national parks would be significantly different to those in place for state forests.
Shooters would be closely supervised by National Parks and Wildlife staff in all areas where shooting takes place, which will be closed to visitors for the duration. Shooting will not take place during school holidays.
Additionally, no one under 18 would be allowed to participate, and use of bows or black powder muskets would be prohibited.
The Dunn report, released on Thursday, slams governance the Game Council, which it says is ‘‘deeply embedded in politics’’.
In a scathing assessment, Mr Dunn says public safety ‘‘does not receive a high level of attention’’ in planning documents prepared by the organisation, which is responsible for overseeing licensing of amateur shooters in NSW.
He says the council has been unable to resolve the ‘‘inherent conflict of interest’’ between representing the interests of hunters and regulating their activities in NSW.
The report says the council has ‘‘achieved significant results’’ since its establishment in 2002. But they have been achieved ‘‘at the taking of governance risks not normally associated with government bodies.’’
It concludes: ‘‘Allowing the Game Council to continue on its current path is not an option.’’
The review was ordered by Mr O’Farrell in March after an investigation found alleged illegal hunting by two Game Council senior employees on a property in outback NSW.
In January Fairfax Media revealed police were investigating Andy Mallen and Greg McFarland over claims they crossed a national park and onto private property in a council vehicle and killed a goat.
The pair was suspended by the Minister for Primary Industries, Katrina Hodgkinson.
Mr Mallen, a game manager with the council, was later cleared of wrongdoing and reinstated after supplying proof to police that he was in Sydney at the time of the alleged incident.
But Mr McFarland, who was the council’s communications manager and acting chief executive, was the subject of continuing investigations.
The IAB report also identified ‘‘possible breaches of Game Council policies and procedures, information which raises questions about governance procedures within the Game Council’’.
Sensitivity over the allegations were heightened by the decision by Mr O’Farrell to open NSW national parks to amateur hunting.
The decision was part of a deal between the government and the Shooters and Fishers Party, which holds the balance of power in the upper house, over passage of electricity privatisation legislation.
Mr Dunn’s report notes that the Game Council was established in 2002 because of the ‘‘influence and power’’ of the Shooter and Fishers Party. He says this power has resulted in the creation of an organisation lacking in accountability.
Shooters and Fishers Party MP Robert Brown is a former Game Council chairman.
More than a decade after the Game Council was established, a strategic plan has yet to be finalised and made public, Mr Dunn notes.
His report recommends the 18-member Game Council be replaced by a NSW Game Board of not more than eight members.
It would be subject to control of the department and be responsible for representing the interests of hunters, promoting feral animal control and providing policy advice to government.
However, licensing, education and law enforcement functions - currently the chief role of the Game Council - would be handed to a government department, along with policy and legislation functions.
Reaction is being sought from Game Council chief executive Brian Boyle and the Shooters and Fishers Party.
