Outback camel population
Submitted: Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 01:47
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pop2jocem
Consider this scenario. Current camel
population estimated at 1,500,000.
Shooters taking as much as can be used for pet meat currently and not reducing their numbers.
Proposed cull of an additional 100,000 head per year would not reduce this
population only stop it growing any worse.
These additional carcases to be left where they fell. Can you imaging the stench while they decay and the amount of meat now available for other
pests such as feral cats and wild dogs. Please don't ask where I heard this, and no I am not some sort of camel liberation greeny. I believe the feral herds have been allowed to multiply for too long now but just maybe we will be creating a favourable environment for other pest numbers to grow. What's the answer? Apparently current estimates put the feral cat numbers at (on average) one moggy for every 1.5 square kilometers of Australian mainland at the moment.
Cheers Pop
Reply By: Dion - Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 07:38
Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 07:38
You are right, the feral camel numbers do need to be reduced. Agree we shouldn't solve one problem and create another, no point in just leaving the carcases where they drop.
Either everyone shot gets taken to an abbotoir for either human or pet consumption, or the other alternative is to export the carcases or live export the animal.
Btw, I like cats, wanna swap
recipes?
Cheers,
Dion.
AnswerID:
399500
Reply By: Member No 1- Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 08:13
Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 08:13
even if you had volunteers such as ssaa hunting & conservation doing the shooting the cost of getting them to a chiller or a chiller to them, and then back for processing and possible export etc etc is going to be prohibitive.
When cut open (belly split almost full length) and left to the elements maggots consume most of the waste and in a very short time....fox'es cats get their fill but its only temporary supply of food/carrion.
a helping and possible answer?...get a gun and go hunting ferals (four legged kind), and even possibly join the SSAA Hunting and Conservation in your state. In SA you get the opportunity to shoot in National Parks participating in feral pest culls. Species predominately include goats, cats, foxes, dogs and can even include camels and donkeys.
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Follow Up By: Member - Russnic [NZ] - Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 19:54
Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 19:54
Given the opportunity I would be quite happy to ride sidesaddle on a chopper with the 223, but then again again with the mag extension I can get 8 rounds in my auto shot gun.
Hell of a lot easier shooting camels out there than deer in Fiordland eh.
You guys need to set up an export market for feral meat
Who would know which way the animal was facing when the throat is cut.
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Follow Up By: Member No 1- Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 20:39
Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 20:39
"I would be quite happy to ride sidesaddle on a chopper with the 223"
lazy kiwi shooter...we do it thye hard way over here...by foot!!!
and remember we (not to be mistaken with professional shooters who can still own outo's) are not allowed a lot of the firearms you can still have
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Follow Up By: Member - Russnic [NZ] - Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 21:40
Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 21:40
Hell mate.
Call that easy, flown with Hannibal, Deaker and Blackie adrenaline dropping out of the leg of the jeans at times, Bill, shouting, you not that belt done up yet!still trying to get in.
Oh yeh easy as.
My Ruger 223 only holds five rounds my theory was one good shot was better than a heap of loose ones
Bloody easy when they are not shooting back
The the plastic shotgun with a mag extension holds eight, notice the correlation
Sold a couple of perfectly good Winchester 101's because of the steel shot law here
I would imagine out there with camels you would start from the back not like deer in the high country where you select where to lead them.
Might catch up one day
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Follow Up By: Member - Russnic [NZ] - Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 21:46
Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 21:46
Hell mate.
Call that easy, flown with Hannibal, Deaker and Blackie adrenaline dropping out of the leg of the jeans at times, Bill, shouting, you not that belt done up yet!still trying to get in.
Oh yeh easy as.
My Ruger 223 only holds five rounds my theory was one good shot was better than a heap of loose ones
Bloody easy when they are not shooting back
The the plastic shotgun with a mag extension holds eight, notice the correlation
Sold a couple of perfectly good Winchester 101's because of the steel shot law here
I would imagine out there with camels you would start from the back not like deer in the high country where you select where to lead them.
Might catch up one day
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Russnic [NZ] - Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 21:53
Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 21:53
Don't what happed there did not to mean to send it twice
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Reply By: Member - Oldbaz. NSW. - Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 09:07
Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 09:07
G'day Pop, that is a lot of camels. As stated it is not economically viable to
harvest anywhere near the numbers needed to make any difference. I doubt
Govt will take any interest unless human activities are threatened, such as the
recent cull in Central Aust. Can you envisage a fleet of choppers
gunning them
down at the western fringes of Alice? The tv mob would love it. One imagines
a natural
population ceiling will occur when their food/water needs exceed what
is available, but what will the numbers be by then ? Or will they then migrate to the populated area where such things are plentiful. The greenies have made
wearing fox & rabbit fur sinful, Akubra dont make hats out of rabbit skins now,
& no one eats them much...so no money in either of them now. Poor farmers
are still obliged to control them either by law or to protect their livliehood. I guess
the camel can be added to the list of introduced animals that cost this country
a fortune, with camels perhaps the biggest cost is yet to come. cheers...oldbaz.
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Follow Up By: Mikee5 (Logan QLD) - Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 10:40
Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 10:40
Akubras were made from rabbit fur felt, compressed fur, not the skins. Although the fur obviously came off the skins -:)
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Reply By: nomadoz - Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 10:30
Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 10:30
Dion is very much on the right track, it is time the federal gov. Do something useful for this country before any further expansion of the nude desert, we have a resource that could be harvested and the excess could be exported, I know that at the moment it may not be a viable operation, but if it was TAX exempt, it would have to include fuel tax, I would be the first to invest in it.
It would not cost anything to the gov; in fact it would save the $ 19 M that they are about squander as rightly so someone pointed out only would benefit cat, dingos, and fox, without solving the problem.
The history tells us it is not going to happen
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Follow Up By: Member No 1- Saturday, Jan 16, 2010 at 10:49
Saturday, Jan 16, 2010 at 10:49
If done properly it would could not be considered to be an Investment that one could expect to sink money into...
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Reply By: Member - Joe F (WA) - Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 10:40
Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 10:40
G'day Pop
Well mate you have opened a veritable can of worms, or is that maggots.
The Feral animal populations, throughout Australia has climbed in numbers over the years, a great deal of the
population increase can be fairly put onto the shoulders of the various State Governments and the Federal Government for their in action, but blame can also be attributed to the "Bleeding Heart" brigade who wrongly believe the feral animals should be left alone.
Western Australia's wheat farmers are now facing a very real problem with the Long and Short billed Corellas, these little buggers~on their own are quite cute but in massive numbers they can destroy not only vegetation but also ~ soft
infrastructure, such as electrical wiring, shade cloth, car widscreen wiper blades etc.
These birds have migrated from the inland regions in huge flocks, the
Pilbara town of
Newman had major dramas with these little buggers, the local authorities had a program called "Bird Scare" put in place~all that did was shift the bird
population somewhere else.
We used to get Camel and horses wander into the town and gnaw away on the nice green lawns of the sports fields years ago, but the mining expansions have driven these animals deeper into the wilderness.
I know what the answer is ~ but the Government of the day took my firearm off me ~ because of the
Port Arthur shootings.
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Follow Up By: Krakka - Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 14:40
Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 14:40
So buy a lever or bolt action and stop crying.
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Follow Up By: get outmore - Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 15:03
Friday, Jan 15, 2010 at 15:03
i wouldnt leave the pastoralists blameless. Most stations are absalute havens for ferals with rampant amounts of goats, donkeys, horses etc added to that very much increased humbers of natives which have bred unsustainably with the etablishment of water and ranglands such as crows, glahs roos and emus (the corellas have actually followed the stations south same as galahs.
Most strictly prohibet any shooting and do nothing themselves to keep numbers down. And i dont believe much goat mustering (their biggest argument against shooting) goes on. Any trip through station country will reveal enormous goat numbers
I have driven through a station decimated by rampant goats whith the cocky and when i brought them up he was quite blase as he made enough money hiring out machinery for mining/exploration on his leases
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Reply By: Member - Bucky - Saturday, Jan 16, 2010 at 07:07
Saturday, Jan 16, 2010 at 07:07
Guy's
I too am a shooter, and on our recent trip, August 20009 , in which we seen thousands of camels I would have suggested that there is no problem !
Where are my rifles,
home locked up, rats, just to drop a couple would have been great.
Wrong..no W.A permit there.. so I was a good fella.
We went thru Docker River, and never seen one !
We get
home and seen them in plague proportion there..
My conclusion is that there must be a lot in the Outback, no doubt about it, just have to be in the right place at the right time..
Mind you, from a chopper with one of my rifles, sounds the go !
I would love to fulfill that dream ..
All other ferals are instant shots for me.. !
Cheers
Bucky
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Bucky - Saturday, Jan 16, 2010 at 07:07
Saturday, Jan 16, 2010 at 07:07
I too am a member of the SSAA
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Follow Up By: Member No 1- Saturday, Jan 16, 2010 at 10:46
Saturday, Jan 16, 2010 at 10:46
Bucky, while you were there (in that Millenium or whatever it was) and other than the same ferals we have now, did you see any new ones and did you see evidence of whether Global warming was a myth or fact....:)))))
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