Thread: Thar extermination

Originally Posted by Projects

I was trying to find a video. @The Hunters Club had posted on facebook earlier this week. Basically showed a helicopter hovering in a basin bombing up a hill side where they were glassing into, there were Tahr the boys were watching from the other side of the valley.
This clip just seemed ruthless what the chopper guys were doing, obviously no evidence who it was or who they worked for though.

P.S great series so far Dave @The Hunters Club

@Projects

Were you thinking of something like this?

This image really got to me:

Originally Posted by Cordite

@Projects

Were you thinking of something like this?

Attachment 95467

It seems 1080 always has to be thrust into every conversation. Its a distraction from the core issue here.

The proposed cull is by helicopter shooting of very large numbers and without any consultation or recognition of the current Tahr (albeit dated) plan.

1080 has nothing to do with it.

An email I have just received from NZ First. I imagine that it has been sent to all that emailed him. The first half of the email sounded pretty good to me until the part where they say "The established Himalayan Tahr Control Plan accounts for only 10,000 animals and the population is now estimated at 35,000. Because of this the Minister has asked the Department of Conservation to step up efforts. It will take work from all interested parties to bring the population back down to a sustainable level.
Urgent, additional intervention is necessary to protect alpine habitats and prevent further population explosion."
It seems that they still don't understand that the current tahr control plan is 25 years old and needs to be reviewed to meet the current situation. The tahr need culled but not to the extent of what Ms sage is saying.

Originally Posted by Lukeduncan

An email I have just received from NZ First. I imagine that it has been sent to all that emailed him. The first half of the email sounded pretty good to me until the part where they say "The established Himalayan Tahr Control Plan accounts for only 10,000 animals and the population is now estimated at 35,000. Because of this the Minister has asked the Department of Conservation to step up efforts. It will take work from all interested parties to bring the population back down to a sustainable level.
Urgent, additional intervention is necessary to protect alpine habitats and prevent further population explosion."
It seems that they still don't understand that the current tahr control plan is 25 years old and needs to be reviewed to meet the current situation. The tahr need culled but not to the extent of what Ms sage is saying.

Attachment 95482

Shit that reads like a real kick in the teeth, like NZ First have washed their hands of it ..... "you've been consulted, the population is 35,000, so piss off and get out of the way. The Minister has decided what to do ...".
We need some one with political clout and balls to point out that the actual count might only be 19 - 20,000.
And that the DOC estate has increased by xx,xxx HA since 1990 when the Tahr Plan was drawn up due to retirement of HC grazing.
Ya might have 10,000 extra Tahr but 100,000 ? 200,000 ? (some very large number) of sheep no longer grazing that high country tussock.

Jenny Marcroft: is that the bird that replaced Richard Prosser who Peters betrayed three weeks before the elections?

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

Where is the actual evidence that animal was killed by poison?
It looks like any other dead deer which has been exposed to the elements to me. I suspect that it's eyelids have been chewed by rats (not a very clear picture, but rats often go for the soft bits). 1080 bowls rats, so perhaps that area didn't get 1080.
When people want to believe a scenario, they will often fall for any crap that is put in front of them.

@7mmwsm @kiwijames @Marty Henry @nak

I found it! Actually from an old disturbing posting on this forum by @Rushy

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....0-poison-2684/

Poison is the wrong topic to side track this issue with. F and B and DoC will happily paint hunters as self interested poison chucking crazies, all day long.
But yes if you thought DoC were treating hunters in good faith AATH, WARO in the Ruahines, and a good old fashioned impromptu tahr cull should speak volumes on trust.
Hunting in NZ will survive this, many people’s faith in DoC may not.

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

Where is the actual evidence that animal was killed by poison?
It looks like any other dead deer which has been exposed to the elements to me. I suspect that it's eyelids have been chewed by rats (not a very clear picture, but rats often go for the soft bits). 1080 bowls rats, so perhaps that area didn't get 1080.
When people want to believe a scenario, they will often fall for any crap that is put in front of them.

Yi right...rats killed it,seen it many times myself.They somehow manage to crawl in through the arse whole,eat their way through the gut and end up in the brain area. They chew off the eye lids on their way out.


Back to the topic in question eh..............................THAR.

Originally Posted by Tahr

It seems 1080 always has to be thrust into every conversation. Its a distraction from the core issue here.

The proposed cull is by helicopter shooting of very large numbers and without any consultation or recognition of the current Tahr (albeit dated) plan.

1080 has nothing to do with it.

Until the helicopter cull does not work and they decide green rain is justified.....

Yeah so 1080 is shit but this isn’t that thread.

Trappers arent paid $60+ per ha to trap possums and rats. This is the cost (at least) of 1080 operations. It is not a level playing field and if it were, as the anti 1080 people have been advocating for over a decade, there would be a thriving trapping industry in NZ instead of a wasteful poisoning debacle.

Same applies to Tahr. If aerial access and incentives were given to hunters to cull, along with recovery, there would not be a problem.

Originally Posted by Cordite

@7mmwsm @kiwijames @Marty Henry @nak

I found it! Actually from an old disturbing posting on this forum by @Rushy

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....0-poison-2684/

Bloody hell. Have I really been banging on on this forum for over six years?

No but ive seen pigs go in the bung hole of dead cows. Back to the photo thanks @Cordite looking at the rest of thread there is a strong probability that poison was the cause.
Its interesting to see a 6 year old photo trotted out with the implication its a recent event.
And now back to tahr.
In docs proposed genocide are there provisions for recovery of the carcasses and what is there final destination pet food or human food chain. Or will tourists be treated to the sight of carcasses littering the landscape.

Behind the current Minister's and DOC's (and many previous administrations) lies the dogma and ideology that "introduced species" are bad.

Maybe we need widen the public's eyes a bit and think beyond the current situation.

Are we (NZ inc.) really going to be able to shoot or poison our way past possums, gorse, mustelids, trout, rabbits, wilding pines, undaria, deer, tahr etc etc ??

What are the long term implications of blindly pursuing the current dogma??

I think we need (as hunters) to work to change this dogma in the eyes of the public. It's long term strategy but unless we have a proper conversation with all Kiwi's about all introduced species it will never end.

Ideologies like "pest free NZ" need to be challenged and reconsidered in various frames e.g. are they best use of resources (money etc), are they practical?? are they what we really want??