As the ballot for hunting wild deer on public lands opens, recreational shooters want to see bag limits raised and more public lands opened up for hunting, in a bid to help reduce wild deer populations.
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The 2022 public land deer hunting ballot opened on Wednesday, where hunters have until January 15 to secure a hunting spot for stags on public land, with anterless deer hunting on public land to be allocated via an online booking system from February.
Shooters Union Tasmania president Alistair Shepard said the ballot gave everyday hunters the chance to hunt on prime land to fill their bag limits.
Mr Shepard said it would be good if these bag limit restrictions could be lifted.
"They are an introduced species, not a native population, and it is fair to say their numbers are getting out of control, and we are seeing deer in locations where we previously have not," Mr Sheperd said.
"We have a very large community of firearm users that would like to sustainably hunt deer and feed their families with nice meat. Why would we limit them when we have not got a population issue?"
While some reserves will be closed to hunting for certain periods to minimise habitat disturbance during breeding season for some species, there are several public lands areas included in the ballot season including the Great Western Tiers Conservation Area, Top Marshes Conservation Area, Tooms Lake Conservation Area, and Castle Cary Regional Reserve.
Mr Sheperd said another way of reducing feral deer populations would be to expand the list of public lands open for hunting.
"Seeing as we do have such a big population of deer, maybe more public land can be offered up for this use as another arrow in the quiver to control our pest populations even further.
"An expansion could be explored to utilise the recreational shooters of the state to help control the populations."
The idea to open up national parks and World Heritage Areas for hunting to control feral deer was recommended by a 2021 Senate Committee looking at the impact of feral animals in Australia.
Several of its key recommendations were welcomed by farmers and recreational shooters.
These include the recommendations to "maximise the ability of landholders to control feral deer on their land", eliminate feral deer populations in national parks and World Heritage Areas, and implement laws that support the commercial harvesting of wild deer.
Hunters wishing to enter the ballot must complete applications online, and each group must nominate a hunting party leader.
Those who are successful must follower permit conditions, which includes wearing hi-visibility clothing to be more identifiable to hunting parties.
