Farmers, shooters and the public are being asked to put forward their views on how the state government should deal with wild deer populations in Tasmania in a new feasibility survey.
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A consultancy-led survey will assess whether the commercial harvest of wild shot deer for human consumption should be trialled across the state.
The survey was commissioned by the Department of Primary Industries, Water, Parks and Environment to "determine whether it is feasible to conduct a limited fixed term trial to evaluate the potential for deer farmers and landholders to supply value added wild deer products for the regulated food and restaurant trade".
In the survey farmers are being asked how wild deer impact on their operations and how they manage the problem, either through recreational hunters, professional cullers, and with property deer management plans.
They are also being asked whether they care about wild deer being protected as a sustainable recreational hunting resource, whether the hunting season should be extended, and how effective recreational hunters are at achieving deer kill targets.
For example, one question asks whether farmers would like to see "no deer", "fewer deer" or a "balanced number so as to manage impacts on the property but also providing a sustainable hunting resource".
Farmers are also questioned on how commercial harvest of wild deer should operate, and "how appealing" a number of options are on a scale of "very appealing" to "no appeal" .
For instance, whether the option of commercially shot deer carcuses being stored in an on-farm chiller and picked up by a processor is more appealing than commercial shooters transporting to the processor, or whether a "total supply chain solution where a food safety approved processor used commercially accredited shooters, transported carcases and processed the meat" is preferred.
Finally they are asked about the effectiveness of commercial harvest "control measures".
So, whether a commercial harvest quota on their property would be "very effective" to "totally ineffective" to manage herd numbers, or whether deer population surveys or limited stag tag numbers would be "more effective".
In this section farmers are also asked for their thoughts on the full traceability of animals, as well as the need for chemical residue sampling on all wild animals used for commercial food purposes.
Separate surveys for shooters and the general public exist.
All have been prepared by CLIP consultant Owen Tilbury and are open until August 21.