Episode 13, Season 1

In this episode of I Am Hunter, you’ll see the team culling wildlife from farmland. This style of hunting is often referred to as crop protection hunting or even pest control, and is probably one of the most common forms of hunting in Australia. 

It doesn’t really matter what type of farm it is, whether it’s growing crops or livestock, all farmers have to manage the balance between their farm and the surrounding wildlife. 

If they grow crops, they need ways to stop wildlife eating those crops. After all, the whole goal of crop farming is to grow produce that can be sold either as whole foods (fruits, vegetables and grains) or used to create other food sources. 

If they raise livestock, they need to find ways to reduce wildlife from grazing pasture and fodder crops (otherwise known as competitive grazing), or to stop predators such as foxes, feral dogs and cats, and birds of prey from predating on livestock (pest control). 

Farmers also need to be able to protect vital water sources (ducks are notorious for fouling up dams and watering holes), and reduce the damage that wildlife can cause to farm infrastructure. 

While farmers have several tools they can employ to manage wildlife, each of them has its pros and cons.

Exclusion fencing is not only expensive to install (the going rate for wallaby fencing in Tasmania is between $38 and $50 per metre!), it is also only a partial solution. Small wallabies and rabbits will push under the fencing and large kangaroos will go over it. Possums can climb and birds can fly. Exclusion fencing is also responsible for many animal deaths when kangaroos and deer get caught up in the wires, break limbs and have to be destroyed. 

Farmers can use poisons such as 1080 but this is becoming increasingly controversial. For starters, it can take the target animals several days to die, during which time they suffer immense pain. There’s also extremely high risks of secondary poisoning, which occurs when other animals eat either the poisoned animal or something that animal has come into contact with. There are also numerous studies that have examined the environmental costs of poisons running off into streams and waterways, or ending up well outside of its target area, with pets, livestock and even humans being affected by the deadly poison! In fact, there are so many negatives to 1080 poison that it has been banned in almost every country around the world. Only six countries still use it regularly: Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Korea, Japan and Israel. The USA still use a very small amount to control coyote populations but have banned its use for all other purposes. 

They can employ non-lethal management including things to scare the animals and birds away, but these are limited in their effectiveness and do nothing to reduce the actual number of wildlife impacting farms.

So while hunting may not be popular with the masses, it still remains one of the most cost-effective and humane methods to control pest species and browsing wildlife on farmland. It is also one of the few solutions that allows the meat to be utilised, either to feed humans or pets. 

Farmers are generally free to engage recreational hunters to help them manage any pest and feral species. However, to manage native or protected species, the farmer must generally apply for specific crop protection permits or cull tags. 

In this episode, we are mainly targeting wallabies, brushtail possums, rabbits, and hares. These are probably the most common animals you’ll see hunted on farms as they don’t require any special permits or tags.

However, you’ll also see Jess field dressing a Forester kangaroo. This species is protected in Tasmania and can only be shot under a crop protection permit with a specific cull tag. Only farmers can apply for these but they can distribute these amongst the hunters who help manage their land.

While we do lots of different styles of crop protection hunting (in Ep 7, you would have seen us using dogs to flush wallabies out of the bush, and in Ep 8, you would have seen Rod shooting cockatoos on foot with a shotgun under a crop protection permit), in this episode, most of the hunting occurs at night, under spotlight. 

This is another activity that does require a permit so you can’t really just head out with a spot light and shoot a bunch of animals – at least, not here in Tasmania. 

It can also be a bit controversial, as the ethics of fair chase hunting would rule it out as unethical because it increases the hunter’s chance of success and decreases the animal’s chance of getting away. However, when it comes to crop protection and pest control, that’s kind of the point. You want to cull as many animals as you can in as short a period as possible using the least amount of effort. 

From that perspective, it’s probably less hunting and more shooting but it’s a necessary part of hunting and farming around the world, and can be a great way to put organic, free range game meats on the table while helping solve a problem.