Camels are they as bad as we are hearing.

four wheelers or choppers I guess, but that is pretty expensive.

Even the Howard government were talking about how to try a rid them from those areas as they were wreaking havoc in WA and NT.

Even the Howard government ...... ???

Didn't they breed when Labor were in office?

If this is the case then what a better way to eliminate them, than use licenced and trained shooters, by putting a bounty on the camels.

This would take the strain off the farmers as well in the times of Drought.

Farmers could also get a benefit from it by charging a fee for shooters.

Put some money back in the pockets of the needy.

96

I'm also a member of SSAA and have dealings with the Executive. I can't recall any discussion that talks about the doom and gloom you describe.

If camels over populate a property, the station owner does a bit of culling. Simple at that.

If the damn things are creating a problem on Crown Land, then it's up to the Government to control it.

Regards

Kim

even the howard gov.....

early friday funny

AND I CANNOT STAND THE LITTLE BONSAI.


ah that's better...thanks.

Shaker.....? :)

"reports have it" - let's see them.

More likely that the *population* in those parts is 300,000

That is a hell of a lot of country, and even 1m of those beasts, leaves them rather spread out in the country, and you have got to have eyes like hawkes to see them at a distance in undulating country. Even with a squadron of choppers you'd not make much of a dent on them IMO.

Someone recently was calling for the Army to be sent out there to do it - from what I know of the Army they have a few other things to fire at in remote places, so they probably have no people or weapons to go do it anyway.

My guess is that there are people trying to cull them for meat - they might do 10,000 a year.

There are landowners and park rangers who shoot on sight - they might kill 1 a week each - say another 5,000 a year. That would be my guess.

Cheers
Andrew

Shaker you miss under stood, I said the Howard government were talking about it, not one party against the other, they were trying to work out a way of ridding the camels.

Camels travel a long way... like 50+ km in a day when they are looking for food.

I can just imagine Federal Government discussing getting rid of camels. That would be one funny conversation. Nup - I can't see it. Maybe some departmental hack somewhere has got some pastoralists group bashing him, or environmental group, but in practice, it is not going to get discussed at a governmental level unless someone has made a firm proposal and is asking for money.

Yes Vivid,
that was what was brought up.
"Someone recently was calling for the Army to be sent out there to do it - from what I know of the Army they have a few other things to fire at in remote places, so they probably have no people or weapons to go do it anyway."

I think the cost to do this out weighed the source because of copters etc.

I could see it being great for members of the SSAA etc if they had a bounty on there heads, so this would cover costs for shooters ammo and fuel costs, plus pay a part in helping the farmers.

I just did a quick search on Google and this is back in December 2006

"All Things Considered, December 8, 2006 · Hundreds of thousands of feral camels roam Australia's outback. There are 700,000 at the latest count, doubling every 10 years.

They are shiftless descendants of the hard-working dromedaries brought over in the 19th century, before roads and railroads.

When their services were no longer required, they were let go into the desert, where they have thrived.

Now, these animals are raced for fun, slaughtered for their meat and thinned by hunters to rid the country of their vast numbers".

http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive/publications/camel/pubs/camel.pdf

Do you have any thoughts as to how you would do this... I have chased camels cross country and did 25 km up hill and down dale to get to a couple that were only 2km away to start with.

Sure, sometimes a solitary one will track along the track in front of you and could be readily shot, but mostly a group of them won't.

Even in easy country with dunes and spinifex, you are not going to find it easy chasing them down to put them in range... they will stay on the track sometimes for ages, but if they think you're chasing them, they will go off track in no time.

I'd guess pot shots would be unsafe, so you're going to have to get pretty close.

There would have to be a lot of time effort and costs put into it.

A round up of some type similar to cattle and brumbys.

A genuine shooter would not take a pot shot.

You only shoot when safe to do so, nothing in between you and nothing behind the beast.

You always look first and shoot later when safe.

If your not sure, don't shoot.
simple rules to follow and always know where your fellow shooter are.

96 GXL.............. Why should we have to pay a farmer to rid his property of vermin. This is where you are all going wrong. The SSAA don't pay farmers or the government to rid national parks of vermin, WHY shoukld we PAY.
Cheers Peter

Gday Kim, (or his evil brother)
You said"If camels over populate a property, the station owner does a bit of culling. Simple at that."
Not quite true...a lot of land (or should I say sheet loads) is aboriginal owned. Nothing is done with this land and people cannot just go in a blow them away.It becomes a breeding ground for ferrals with absolutely no land management.

96 GXL,
"Farmers could also get a benefit from it by charging a fee for shooters."
As like any group, It only takes a few bad eggs to spoil it for everyone else.
A mate went down to Curtain a while ago to get some camel fillets, he was told he might have to go out a fair way as hes had some shooters up from south recently. He reackons the amount of earless, tailless, maimed and injured camels draging their bullet riden bodies around the paddock was disgusting. Everyone can have a bad shot, but you track it down and kill it not just have a shot at another one!
For this reason there goes another station not welcoming shooters.

Cheers

Hairy

Good point.

Hang on, why am I agreeing with you?

Gotta change the colour of the pills I'm taking!

Regards

Kim

Pete and Lez,
who said anything about the SSAA paying anything.
You have to take things out of context.

I said they should have a bounty on the camels.

The Gov would have to put up a bounty not the SSAA.

The SSAA member would or could pay for accommodation / food if needed and anything else that would help the farmer or maybe donate part of the bounty to him.

No doubt you would use fuel and this could be purchased off the farmer.
In other words you spend money to make money.

Mate, Go back and read Yourfollow up, 3of 16.
"Farmers could also get a benefit from it by charging a fee for shooters" WHY should we HUNTERS not SHOOTERS pay the farmer a fee to destroy vermin on his property? We are already saving them money as they are not using up their valuable time getting rid of vermin. I'm not using his power, water or any other services. My other point was, the SSAA DON'T pay a fee to SHOOT on these properties to eliminate vermin, so why should I?
They are seen as doing the farmer a Favour.
Cheers Peter

Pete and Lez,
this is what was said
"If this is the case then what a better way to eliminate them, than use licenced and trained shooters, by putting a bounty on the camels."

In that where did I say the SSAA should pay???

It is the government that usually put bounties on feral animals to eradicate them right?

What we shooters could do is what I have mentioned in the above links.

You get your game {Feral} and profit and share expenses with our farmers and save them money in the long run right?

96 GXL..........
Ihave never said that the SSAA should pay, I am NOT a member of SSAA. You are suggesting that the farmers could benefit by charging hunters a FEE to shoot vermin. My point is that the SSAA don't pay the farmers afee for the privelidge of shooting vermin, So why should us non SSAA hunters pay a FEE to hunt vermin. Which as I said before we are already saving the farmer a lot of money, time and effort by hunting vermin in the first place. A bit of you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.Hope that is a bit clearer for you.
Cheers What ever your name is.

Pete and Lez,
your thicker than two bricks stuck together with super glue.
What have I said all along

your quote: "A bit of you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours"

What would buying fuel / food etc be doing?.

Surely you couldn't cart enough fuel and keep food for a month or six weeks plus take enough in case of a break down or broken down vehicle parts with you? plus you wouldn't know in the first place what was going to break would you?
if you did you would be a nutter for going away, and knowing that you are going to put others at risk.
Where would you need a place to store food ? Parts ? and the list goes on and on.

Who would you depend on.?

The "FARMER"

We have SSAA members up here that drive 2 to 400klms out to different properties to shoot feral pigs / goats etc, and are only to willing to pay the farmers something towards the use of the facilities like shearers quarters, use of showers and something towards the use of power for keeping food / drinks in a fridge.

They stay anything from a week to a month, and it is cheaper than driving backwards and forwards each day.

The shooter enjoys his hobby and it helps the farmer to cull his feral animals.

But I suppose as you have pointed out it takes all types, the lousy and the genuine shooter.

96.......what ever the F your name is, if you are going to get personal, and don't want to see my point. Then all I have to say is....F..K O.. D..KHEAD.
BY the way, shooter, like you is much different to Hunter like myself.

Ladies!..LADIES!!... settle petals!
Before you both do your self an injury, go back and read your posts....its just repetative driblle arguing about something neither one of you actuall have a say in....
Bbwaahhhahahaha!!!

Hunters...shooters.....who cares....

LOL!!!

Equinox

Theres nothing more stupid than an Emu!.......come to think of it, I may have done a few things in my younger days that mirrors the mental capacity of an emu.

LOL

Regards

Kim

G'day Kim,]

you rate a sheep more intelligent than an emu?

If in a work vehicle i try and overtake them if its my own (Ie i care if i hit them) I pull up for a bit and wait for them to get out of sight generally by the time i go again they have got off the track

What about Victorians?


LOL

Kim M

That's why they put long legs on em's so when you are cooking them, you can push em right to the back of the pizza oven and still cook pizzas in the front.

a fresh camel steak is pretty hard to beat i reckon, its just all the fussy buggers say im not eating that and not game to try it.
we could have a good domestic market for it if people would have a go. cheers

I agree Handy, juicy, tender and tastes bluddy good.

re: Got info from and off target.

have a look at the start of the thread, I asked "Camels are they as bad as we are hearing"

If you read back it says about 700.000 and doubling every 10yrs..

This is why the post to see if it is as bad as what is being told and what you will find as we have if you search the internet.

I never mentioned anything about pigs.

DougT,
put the comics down next time you sneeze as the powder is getting in your eyes as well.

One of the positives of camels is that they are not hooved. Whatever other damage they do, the massive damage to soil caused by cattle hooves isn't one of them.
A legend, widely believed as true around Alice (and the story may well be true) is re a fatal road accident caused when a bull camel attempted to mate with a yellow VW.

Had the same bloke come to the 4WD Club a couple of months ago and it was very interesting to hear what he had to say. There is a certification process that the shooters AND the pilots have to comply with. It requires the shooter to kill the beast with 1 shot and then they have to physically check that it is dead. Vets are also included on the hunt to check for diseases etc. I saw one photo where a 20 shot magazine resulted in 19 dead animals over approx 1km.
It is done very humanely.
I think their numbers are in excess of 1 mill now. Untold damage is being done to water supply points around the ab lands and to fencing. The animals were dying as a result of the drought and were making their way to the watering points and getting stuck in the mud and were too weak to get out of the dams thereby poluting the water that the locals had to drink.
Feral Deer are becoming as big a problem in some areas of the state as camels and pigs are in others.

Dare I say it

"Halloween"

LOL

Kev

Before Pete and Lez jump on the band wagon,
that is 8 for each farmer.

So as not to let you down, The pro roo shooter and the farmer win, they scratch each others back and they both win with NO MONEY changing hands. Both doing each other a favour.
Cheers my a... peter
Sorry to ALL other users for being rude to this site user, thats life.