Thread: Pre baiting 1080

East coast of Opotiki

They are pre baiting Te Kowhai forest locally and have ground baiters cutting tracks into shitty gullies. You wonder if the bureaucrats know they have landed a man on the moon.

Got any more information on 1080 pre-baiting for East of Opotiki? Looking at DOC pesticide summary I'm not seeing anything for that region forecast for 1080 drop?

Originally Posted by Rusky

Got any more information on 1080 pre-baiting for East of Opotiki? Looking at DOC pesticide summary I'm not seeing anything for that region forecast for 1080 drop?

The Raukumara is going to get it.

Originally Posted by Rusky

Got any more information on 1080 pre-baiting for East of Opotiki? Looking at DOC pesticide summary I'm not seeing anything for that region forecast for 1080 drop?

A lot of the 1080 work is being done by OSPRI, not DOC.
https://www.ospri.co.nz/tb-and-pest-...al-operations/

Originally Posted by Puddleduk

The Raukumara is going to get it.

That doesn't surprise me. The terrain, size, and accesibility just doesn't allow for effective ground control.

Depends. Possum moves seasonally and with changeing food availability; also with attrition of resident animals from an area /locale. Strategies using traps can be applied over months rather than hours can be identified.

Originally Posted by Rusky

That doesn't surprise me. The terrain, size, and accesibility just doesn't allow for effective ground control.

They had 5 different machines in there recently apparently logging over 2200 animals.

Originally Posted by TeRei

They had 5 different machines in there recently apparently logging over 2200 animals.

Heard a similar story a couple of days ago from a mate whos brother is friendly with a chopper pilot down there.

Originally Posted by charliehorse

Heard a similar story a couple of days ago from a mate whos brother is friendly with a chopper pilot down there.

My mates friend is a shooter on a 500 and an evening run saw a stag they estimated at 350 DS on the edge of a pine block bordering the bush.

Originally Posted by Woody

Depends. Possum moves seasonally and with changeing food availability; also with attrition of resident animals from an area /locale. Strategies using traps can be applied over months rather than hours can be identified.

Perhaps, actually come to think of it nah I don't believe ground traps is even a viable option. Having ventured in there myself recently, its thick in places and steep. The under storey was dead (no seedlings or new growth), and bird life virtually 1/4 of what it should be. Saw 2 stoats in just three days there and multiple possums in the day time. Plenty of feathers scattered around the place. I don't like 1080 as much as the next guy, but there are times and places where you either sit back on the anti-1080 wagon and watch your biodiversity crumble, or you do something (if deer are caught in the cross-fire so be it).

Problem with it is steep country, thick bush, 1080 bait charactersitics and 3-day weather cycles just don't work either. As soon as you roll a bait or wet it it's effectiveness is spent, especially at the sowing rates they are quoting nowadays. Part of the issue with the old bush in steep country like that, it's so bloody hard for a seedling to get itself established and going properly that a lot of steep areas are pretty open and dead appearing under the old canopy. When I was last fit and able to go out and about I run into an area like that where the understory had basically been washed out, quite weird and not like anything I had seen before. Only new growth was in little bowls or behind things that diverted the rain flows away - possibly going to get worse too with the amount of rainfall we are seeming to get every month now.

If a man can walk the terrain then it can be trapped. Remote access to prepared helipads allow trapper bases and block shifts.

Originally Posted by Woody

If a man can walk the terrain then it can be trapped. Remote access to prepared helipads allow trapper bases and block shifts.

Were talking a LOT of man power and resources here and something this government isn't prepared to throw money at. They are happy to announce New Zealand will become "Predator free" by 2050. I'm yet to see some logical and proactive steps to getting the desired outcome.

@No.3, have you ventured into Otanewainuku forest per chance since you are in Tauranga? That bit of forest is by far the best well managed forest for predators I have seen on my travels in NZ. The bird life is incredible, and the Kokako are thriving. A bait line every 200m apart with Pindone is doing well. But I see back in 1997 1080 in bait stations were used.

The AHB was supposed to have the problem possum sorted by 2013 and ose down but whoopsee daisy; Oh extend to 2026 under new OSPRI brand and now Ooooh, 2040+. Billions have been spent on 1080 ops and billion more planned, due to tunnel vision.