Thread: trapping pukekos

I have hunted and trapped them more or less full time over the last 3 years. Mainly for market Gardners, Lifestylers, Orchard and Vineyard owners etc. They are super destructive and can cause $1000s worth of damage a day. In this region the numbers are very high which just can not be sustained in a food growing area. I counted over 400 of them in the front 3rd of an orchard I was working on, and that was after I had done a big cull back.

Yes they are considered a Native as it is believed they flew here on thier own, they are cute and have a bit of character but they are destructive little devils. As others have said they shit in troughs passing on salmonella to stock and horses etc, they rip out more or less any seedlings that you try and plant (but of course not to eat them, they just prefer to watch the seedlings die on the ground next to the hole), they will poke a hole in every single lettuce of the crop because they only like to eat the heart and they will strip and damage crops of pretty much any variety. I have even known huge Maize plantations to be mulched back into the earth rather than be harvested because the damage from the Pukeko is too high.... mix that in with the shit weather everywhere and the world wide shortage of Maize and you get an idea of why they have become the #1 pest I get called out for.

They are very smart and cunning, you only get a couple of opportunities to hunt them easily before they wise up and then it becomes an escalating war. Trapping is more effective in winter when there is less food around but I am still pulling good numbers every day at the moment, I havent tried using the small individual cage traps and I wouldn't bother - once they see one trapped in them the others will not go near it.

Best option while they are fairly tame is a good shoot up, but don't mess it up as you only really get one chance before they figure it out and stay 400m away from you.

Talk to F&G to get the permit, it's pretty easy to get if you explain the damage they are doing and if the numbers in the region are high.