Thread: The state of pest populations in NZ

Good money for pet food been paid out now. Well ok money.
A farmer i talked to the other day said they have shoot 900 goats in 18months, muster the ones they can and the shot goats they can get a bike to go for pet food.

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

What I know is that every farm inside this defined possum control area is legally obliged to use brodi or some other possum bait, applied 3-4 times per year. Which means we've got 26,000ha (including a very significant deer population) from which maybe there should not have any wild meat harvested?

I've had a bit of a read, seems brodi collects in the liver etc in highest percentages. Eating a small amount of meat excluding any offal should be no problem even if the pest had been eating small amounts of brodi. "should be" no problem....

Only if there's certain poisons that are not present in the area.

The guidelines for hunters is that brodifacoum should have an exclusion zone of 5 km and 6 months for pigs and slightly different for deer.

So it is possible to eat stuff from a brodifacoum area but I wouldn't risk it. And I wouldn't pay a premium for the venison if it had.

Been hunting the Blueys for 35 years more deer down there in the last decade nothing to shoot a pregnant hind who dresses out at 14 kg on the hook more rat like now .Back in the day got excited when I saw fresh shit now guaranteed to bump into something great times just need to shoot more to get meat volume up

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Brodifacoum is a cumulative poison and will be passed through the entire food chain right down to the birds and insects. Its half life in soil (and into water) is twenty years. Very nasty stuff. It is so bad that no aerial brodi can be used except on islands or fully pestproff fenced areas classed as "inland idlands".
Coli' is also cumulative and debilitating. Kills dogs very slowly. Go to Google Scholar and look up the msds data on these poisons.

Originally Posted by sightpicture

Proof?

Observation.
Haven't shot a rabbit for a few years now.
See a few on our place and then the virus cleans them up.
Years ago my brother used to run competitions at his pub.
You would hardly get an entry now.
We used to have a lot of rabbits we don't now.
The conversion to dairy with the longer grass changes things to.
Mind you last time I went to PiroPiro flats they had an impressive amount a couple years ago.

I've seen more rabbits than ever before in Northland. The farmers and lifestyle blockers I know agree. I've stopped shooting on a couple of lifestyle blocks because so many houses have gone up in the immediate vicinity, it's not safe anymore, plus I feel that has been an attitude change towards shooting. I don't want any trouble for the sake of a few rabbits.

Most rabbits I've seen yet this summer in Taranaki. One theory is that with Predator free 2050 kicked off the stoat population has been knocked back. Could be part of the answer.

Adding to my above post small pest wise hare, rabbit numbers have stayed constant. Possum numbers have being creeping up. Yes I have being doing pest control on a regular basis. Give it a good go over winter for the possums. Rabbit numbers could be helped with wild cats around but haven’t seen/shot a cat for a while now though....


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Any comments about pigs?

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

Only if there's certain poisons that are not present in the area.

The guidelines for hunters is that brodifacoum should have an exclusion zone of 5 km and 6 months for pigs and slightly different for deer.

So it is possible to eat stuff from a brodifacoum area but I wouldn't risk it. And I wouldn't pay a premium for the venison if it had.

It’s actually 3 years, for all critters, as it’s an anti colagulant it builds up in the system

I’m sitting on the couch having a coffee watching a couple of rabbits on the lawn. I saw six in a quarter acre “paddock” last night so time for a cleanup methinks!

Originally Posted by Cigar

I’m sitting on the couch having a coffee watching a couple of rabbits on the lawn. I saw six in a quarter acre “paddock” last night so time for a cleanup methinks!

What's your chosen smokepole?

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

Any comments about pigs?

I would have to say pig numbers arent what they were on the coast, yep some of those big farms up the coast still have a heap of pigs. The forestry blocks where the hunting is locked up to staff only still have numbers.
The Motu pigs took a big hit couple years back like a disease went through and wipe them out, numbers dont seem to be what they were. In saying that every man and his dog has a dog box on his ute in gizzy now. Pig hunting is not what it was with tracking gear and even with a hand gps the average guy can walk of the track now and find his way back to his ute.

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

Any comments about pigs?

I don't go in to pig territory enough to give a worthwhile answer, but every pig I've seen recently has had a big litter with it.

Originally Posted by HOO

There’s a ridiculous amount of rabbits in Lower Hutt. Rabbits lead to stoats from what I understand which starts having a bigger effect on native birds and while there’s a pretty good bunch of people trapping in backyards and local forests the council pretty much don’t want to know about it.
I’ve tried getting in touch with local councils to see if I can take a few out with the bow using a thumper rather than a sharp point but they won’t have a bar of it.

As for deer I’d happily shoot more if I could find the bastards


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What about snares? I used them to good effect in Scotland.