Army of volunteers enlists in a fight to save the farm
Saffron Howden
March 3, 2012

THE hunter is conflicted, Edward Hoogenboom says. The adrenalin rush that comes with a kill is quickly followed by ''the hunter's lament''.

''Once you've killed something there's a thing known as hunter's lament,'' the retired telecommunications worker said. ''Every animal wants to live as much as we do.''

Mr Hoogenboom is one of 16,733 shooters on the books of Game Council NSW.

Hunting on public land has proved controversial and so the Game Council has quietly been increasing its presence on private farms across the state.

Jenny Day's small horse and cattle property on the outskirts of Orange was overrun with foxes, rabbits and kangaroos three years ago.

''The rabbits, they're everywhere,'' she said.

''They really are. They're destructive. You end up with holes all over the ground and the horses could get stuck, bust a leg - goodbye horse.

''I don't have a gun licence, and at the time we also had problems with a mob of 90 kangaroos. There were so many rabbits, it was ridiculous. We tried poison … but these guys have got the expertise and they've got the licence.''

Since Mrs Day, one of more than 300 rural landowners in NSW now registered with the Game Council for pest control, called in the hunters, the number of rabbits had dropped dramatically, she said.

In 2009 volunteer shooters killed 156 rabbits on her land. The following year it was 42 and, last year, they took just 15.

Mr Hoogenboom, who had been sitting quietly waiting and watching in the tall grass on Mrs Day's property since dawn when the Herald visited, said he grew up on the land and understood the farmers' needs.

''I've been shooting since I was eight years old,'' he said. ''The main reason [I became a Game Council volunteer] is because I've come off the land myself. I know the problems that the local farmers have with pests.

''The fox takes an awful lot of lambs and they kill every native animal they can get their hands on,'' said Mr Hoogenboom, one of just 25 registered voluntary game rangers in NSW. The Game Council, which was created through the Game and Feral Animal Control Act a decade ago, is also responsible for the more contentious culling of pests in state forests.

In the past 11 months alone, its hunters have killed 66,983 feral animals in 215 state forests, including foxes, rabbits, pigs and deer. The number is much higher on private land: about 778,700.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conser...l#ixzz1p0MPDfq0