The problem with poaching in the Murchison area has reached new heights with three deer allegedly taken off a property in the Tutaki Valley.
At around 8.30am on Saturday, September 1, the resident farmer heard a series of shots close to his house and returned from his sheds to investigate.
“What makes this so very dangerous is that these deer were being fed apples each morning by my 5-year-old son. They had become quite tame and they were his friends. When we had to tell him, they were dead, he cried for nearly an hour. The animals were shot behind my house and what would have happened if my son was out feeding them? On my land, by my house?”
The farmer’s wife is also getting very concerned about the amount of illegal shooting so close to her family with, some nights, the lights and gunshots occurring at all hours.
In this instance the farmer observed a 2008-09 Silver Toyota Hilux with a canopy and inside the ute was another individual and a vizsla hunting dog. The number plate started with EKQ.
The farmer contacted the police who reacted fast enough to pull over a shooter with a number of deer in the back of his 4WD. The farmer had earlier spotted the ute parked next to his boundary fence and he believes it was entirely possible they had camped the night.
Unfortunately, the police were unable to prove exactly where the deer came. The local farmer said he was 100% sure they were the mob of three animals that had become quite tame and would hang around his homestead. The three deer who were regular visitors have now not been seen since Saturday.
Other regular hunters in the area are also outraged at the brazen attack with several asking for these guys to back-off and stop ruining the resource for their own gain.
A local businessman who deals with the farming community in the area, Ian Robinson, says that in most instances a respectful knock on any farmer’s door will go a long way to get you access, and give the landowner a chance to identify you and point out stock locations and probably the best place to get an animal. As Ian says, there is just no need to poach and certainly no need for any accomplished hunter to shoot basically pet deer in a farmer’s back yard.
“I have very real fears now for the farmer’s ongoing safety especially with a rogue wayward gunshot. A 308 has a lethal distance of nearly two miles. It’s time for it to stop, and these individuals to take the hint and back off.”