WELCOME TO SAMBAR NIGHTSTALKERS...
A free community service for East Gippsland Land owners. WHAT WE DO…
We meet with you, the land owner, we discuss and assess your deer problem. After the appropriate permission forms and property boundary maps are signed…we set up a schedule of visitation to harvest your problem deer. We may install night vision game cameras, we may decide that spotlighting is t
he best solution, or in the case of heavily wooded rain forest gullies we will employ conventional deer stalking, morning and late afternoon. This may include the use of a hunting companion dog. In some cases, we may use a tree stand or mobile platform for better visibility. Landowners and their agents are legally, able to spotlight at night to harvest problem deer. This legislation covers Sambar Deer, Fallow Deer, Red Deer (including Wapiti), Sika Deer-Red Deer hybrids, Rusa Deer and Chital Deer. Hog Deer are not included under the legislation and an Authority to Control Wildlife permit is needed to control problem Hog Deer on private property. Deer can only be harvested using specified firearm calibres and minimum bullet weights to ensure humane destruction, and anyone using a firearm must have the appropriate licence. Landowners on their own properties, their managers, permanent employees or agents are able to harvest the above, identified problem deer. Anyone other than the landowner harvesting deer on a property must carry written permission signed and dated by the landowner of that property. As your agent, we carry that appropriate permission, in a detailed log book at all times. THE PROPERTIES WE HARVEST DEER ON…
Many of the private properties, in East Gippsland, we harvest Sambar deer from are surrounded by State Parks and Crown Land. The access to these properties is usually through watercourses and unique warm temperate rain forest gullies, that are become denuded and damaged by deer. These gullies have become the breeding grounds for Sambar deer, housing resident populations of breeding females. The stags are moving on and off the properties via these rainforest and gully systems, safe without hunting pressure or natural predators. Put simply, it is not the deer’s fault that farming practices and cleared land on the verges of these gullies, provide more fresh feed and water than they would find in natural habitat but they have the capacity to use it to great advantage. Sambar Night Stalkers, deer harvesting on private properties, allows deer numbers to be kept in balance by natural increase, that requires hunting pressure to maintain this natural balance. Deer are here to stay, what we try to achieve is a more balanced outcome, by reducing populations to manageable levels. Many of our more remote properties have two ‘hot wires’ around some of their boundaries. These have been extremely successful in discouraging Sambar deer, but kangaroos and escaped farm fallow deer take no notice of the electric fence wires. Whilst it is incumbent upon appropriate Government departments to approve a management process on Crown Land that is both effective and economical, that process will still leave private land owners with wild animal management issues. THE BIGGER PICTURE…
One of the problems that has compounded the increase in Sambar deer numbers is having large Parks in Eastern Victoria that are no-hunting areas. This is a recipe for disaster and on-going management by registered ethical hunters is needed badly. If this proposed increase in Parks hunting is endorsed it should not be just left to ‘deer hunters choice’ or the emphasis will be centred on antlered Sambar stags only. It is the female Sambar who control breeding frequency and success, so part of the management must ensure that an even number of both sexes are harvested. Hunters won’t like this but it should be a mandatory part of any future Sambar deer hunting legislation. Last year in Victoria, almost 100,000 deer, including 80,875 Sambar and 15,059 Fallow were hunted and harvested in 2016, according to a report by Victoria’s Game Management Authority and the Arthur Rylah Institute. Based on a survey of 1600 licensed hunters, the report found last year’s total harvest was almost twice the average since 2009 (55,681) and 30 per cent more than the 2015 harvest of 71,142 deer. With the ever increasing number of licensed deer hunters in Victoria today, they should be co opted as an effective management tool to control Sambar deer numbers in Parks and Crown Land, certainly if THEY ARE utilised properly in a co-operative manner. SAMBAR NIGHT STALKERS MISSION…
Sambar NightStalkers responsibly and ethically, fills the void for private land owners who do not wish to shoot OR who are not licenced to shoot Sambar Deer on their own land. We remove the deer, including all waste if necessary. We treat the harvested animal with respect in death. We offer a share of the harvested venison and we assist with butchering and effective use of the harvested animal. All venison transported from your property is then individually cryovaced and labelled with property details, date and time before deep freezing. Contact us for assistance with your deer problem at [email protected]
