Feral deer typically live and move across a large landscape that may involve several properties. The actions of individual property owners and public land managers to control deer will have limited success unless there is a collective and coordinated approach.
It is now becoming more common for local groups to form and take a collaborative approach to manage the impacts of feral deer in the landscape by raising awareness, working together and learning from each other.
At our recent webinar, we heard from a number of people that are in various stages of supporting the formation of local deer control collectives and learn from their experiences. These included the Cardinia Deer Management Coalition, South Gippsland Landcare Network (SGLN), Upper Murray Landcare Network and the Harrietville Community Forum.
As an example, Jenny O’Sullivan presented an exciting new local network initiative that the SGLN is championing. It is to work with landowners collectively to raise awareness of the impacts of deer and facilitate control of deer in South Gippsland through an action learning approach. She reported that on-ground control activity for winter 2022 will initially be focused at two clusters on the Prom Coast between Venus Bay and Mt Best, near Corner Inlet (Southern Victoria). Learnings from this will hopefully be adopted in other parts of South Gippsland.
Jenny gave an interview on the project to ABC Country Hour on 19 April; it can be heard by clicking on the button below and starting at 34.15 minutes.
For more information contact Nick Stephens (SGLN East facilitator):
0499 271 251
