Aerial shooting of feral animals from a helicopter is an effective and efficient technique that can be used across a variety of habitats. Aerial shooting is also ideal in heavily vegetated, inaccessible areas during the day when deer are seeking cover.

To maximise effectiveness and efficiency of aerial operations, the thermal assisted aerial culling technique is now being used where appropriate.

Aerial shooting can remove feral deer missed by other control programs (e.g. ground shooting or trapping), helping to achieve landscape scale eradication in a short timeframe.

Aerial shooting schedule for FY 2023-34

The following dates are scheduled for aerial shooting for the 2023-24 financial year. Please note these dates are subject to change.

• Session 1 - 1 - 15 August 2023 (Central Limestone Coast)
• Session 2 - 11 - 15 September 2023 (Northern Limestone Coast)
• Session 3 - 19 - 30 October 2023 (Northern Limestone Coast)
• Session 4 - 8 -12 April 2024 (Central Limestone Coast)
• Session 5 - 28 April - 6 May 2024 (Northern Limestone Coast)
• Session 6 - 7 - 12 May 2024 (Northern Limestone Coast)
• Session 7 - 13 - 24 May 2024 (Northern Limestone Coast)

The Limestone Coast Landscape Board is calling upon landholders to sign up their property to participate in the Feral Deer Eradication Program, and we will be in contact when an operation is being conducted in your area.

Eradicating feral deer is best achieved by land managers collaborating and implementing the most effective techniques at the largest possible scale and intensity. When planning aerial and ground shooting operations, the LC Landscape Board considers local terrain and individual landholder circumstances.

Integrating aerial and ground shooting operations will help to achieve landscape-scale eradication by using feral deer behaviour to the Programs advantage.

The LC Landscape Board undertakes its shooting operations in partnership with PIRSA and the Department for Environment and Water (DEW).

The Feral Deer Eradication Program is funded by the Australian Government, the Government of South Australia and landscape levies.

Ground shooting operations of feral deer with professional contractors combined with aerial shooting, helps to achieve landscape scale eradication in a short timeframe.

Ground shooting of feral deer by professional contractors utilising self-reloading firearms matched with suppressors and thermal assisted scopes can reduce noise and impact to livestock and target feral deer at night time when they are moving from native vegetation into open feeding areas.

Ground shooting schedule for FY 2023-24

Ground shooting is conducted predominantly in autumn however, professional contractors and dates are yet to be confirmed for 2023-24 financial year. The LC Landscape Board will provide additional correspondence later this year to landholders who select ground shooting services.

The Limestone Coast Landscape Board is calling upon landholders to sign up their property to participate in the Feral Deer Eradication Program, and we will be in contact when an operation is being conducted in your area.

Eradicating feral deer is best achieved by land managers collaborating and implementing the most effective techniques at the largest possible scale and intensity. When planning aerial and ground shooting operations, the LC Landscape Board considers local terrain and individual landholder circumstances.

Integrating aerial and ground shooting operations will help to achieve landscape-scale eradication by using feral deer behaviour to the Programs advantage.

The LC Landscape Board undertakes its shooting operations in partnership with PIRSA and the Department for Environment and Water (DEW).

The Feral Deer Eradication Program is funded by the Australian Government, the Government of South Australia and landscape levies.

The LC Landscape Board is committed to supporting landholders to eradicate feral deer on their properties and monitoring to determine the distribution and abundance of feral deer across the region is a key component of the Program.

Information collected from the monitoring inform the LC Landscape Board’s Feral Deer Eradication Program. Sightings on private land are reported to the landholders concerned who are then encouraged to participate in the LC Landscape Boards aerial and ground shooting operations.

Monitoring operations use visual and thermal-assisted technology and assists the Limestone Coast Landscape Board achieving eradication of feral deer in the region. Supported through funding from the South Australian Government Landscape Priorities Fund, the aerial monitoring targets areas of native vegetation where feral deer are suspected to shelter.

Ground monitoring is being used to support aerial monitoring and uses a combination of thermal assisted and visual spotting of feral deer along driven transects in priority areas. The ground monitoring has been conducted with Burrandies Aboriginal Corporation through funding support from the South Australian Government Landscape Priorities Fund.

The deer farm compliance operations of the Limestone Coast Landscape Board (LC Landscape Board) supports the Feral Deer Eradication Program through actions to prevent farmed deer escaping and boosting the feral deer population in the Limestone Coast.

Under the Landscape South Australia Act 2019 (the Act), deer are declared either for destruction or control depending on whether they are classified as feral or domestic (farmed) deer.

As part of the compliance operations, Landscape Officers with the LC Landscape Board work directly with deer farmers to ensure all farmed deer are ear tagged and confined to clearly differentiate them from feral deer.

Deer farm inspections have followed an awareness campaign to registered deer farmers reminding them of the obligations when farming deer.

Results of the Limestone Coast Landscape Board (LC Landscape Board) aerial monitoring and shooting operations, and the findings from the Feral Deer Economic Impact Assessment report have been the catalyst for significant investment over the next three years to contribute to the feral deer eradication effort.

The LC Landscape Board Feral Deer Eradication Program funding partners include:

• Commonwealth funds
• Landscape levy
• Our Coorong | Our Coast supported by the Limestone Coast Landscape Board through funding from the Australian Government's National Landcare Program
• South Australian Government Landscape Priority Fund - ‘Stopping the Spread of Feral Deer’
• The Australian Government’s ‘Supporting Communities Manage Pest Animals and Weeds Program’
• Department of Primary Industries and Regions, South Australia
• The Australian Government’s Environment Restoration Fund, Threatened Species Strategy Action Plan, Priority Species Grants, Malleefowl

The LC Landscape Board also work closely with groups such as National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia, Burrandies Aboriginal Corporation and the Conservation & Wildlife Management (CWM) SA.

The Conservation & Wildlife Management (CWM) a member group of the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA) South Australia, have been in partnership with the Department for Environment and Water (DEW) since 1992 also completing activities for SA Water, Forestry SA, Nature Foundation and many other organisations.

The upcoming activities for 2023 as supplied by the CWMSA are as follows.

• 6-12 August 2023 - Messent, Martin Washpool
• 13-19 August 2023 - Desert Camp, Gum Lagoon
• 20-26 August 2023 - Mt Scott, Hanson Scrub
• 27 Aug - 2 September 2023 - Fairview, Talapar, Big Heath.

For further information on CWMSA activities or to join the organisation please visit Conservation and Wildlife Management (SA) Inc (cwmsa.com.au).

The Limestone Coast Landscape Board applaud the efforts of the CWMSA program as we all work to eradicate feral deer from the Limestone Coast.