Being a big meat-eater, I've always had moral and ethical issues with how the meat I consume is produced, both with the humane treatment of animals (especially chickens) and cardon footprint (takes 6 barrels of oil to bring one cow to market).

The obvious solution is to reduce the amount of meat I consume. Just like energy saving techniques, reduction in consumtion in meat should be the first step, and so far I've acheived this.

However I'm a firm believer that there are many nutrients and essential proteins (especially the quantity of protien) that just can't be replaced by a vegetarian diet. And to be honest, I like meat. I don't want to give it up even though I know how destructive to the environment it can be.

The next solution would be to grow my own meat...bit hard on a 700m2 urban block though.

The alternative to this then is to become more primative like our ancestors and hunt my own meat. There are lots of "vermin" animals inhabiting this country that are extremely destructive to native flora and forna, such as pigs, goats and deer, and they don't take a single molecule of CO2 to produce.

So I've gone and done the right thing and applied for my Class R - Restricted NSW Game Hunting Licence. The only problem with this is the distance required to travel to most hunting locations.

There are lots of Deer and Goats destroying the Wollongong escarpment habitat, so they would be an obvious solution for providing local sustainable meat, but I need to find somewhere; i.e. someone's property to hunt these animals.

If anyone has a property or knows of someone who has Deer or Goat problems in the local region, I'd be very greatfull for the opportunity to hunt for my own meat. There are also humane and legal solutions to hunt animals without firearms if people have issues with guns on their property.

Whilst I understand that this might not be everyone's "cup of tea", I believe it is worse to buy vaccum wrapped meat at the supermarket without acknowledging the true cost of how that meat was grown.

If you are able to help, please reply to this post or email me at starfield7 at gmail.com

Other options for raising your own meat in suburbia are rabbits (require very little space to be kept humanely, and breed/grow fast) and birds (doves/pigeons - can be kept in a dovecote and allowed to roam free). Chickens could work, but since you can't have a rooster in suburbia you're going to have to keep buying fertilised eggs, which can get pricey.

Perhaps you could advertise your services as a feral pest controller? There must be people around with deer, goats, rabbits, pigeons, etc making a nuisance of themselves on their properties. A deal that costs them nothing and gets the carcasses removed should be a winner.

In the meantime don't forget kangaroo meat. They're shot in the wild, so there's no fossil fuel used to breed, feed or maintain them and they're much lighter on the environment than hooved animals. Plus obviously they're native, so they're supposed to be there :-). The only environmental cost is the energy used to shoot, butcher and ship them. I've bought kangaroo at Woollies in Kiama, and it's pretty reasonably priced.

Also, fishing or spear-fishing are options.

Let us know how you go!

Will do Darren. I don't like to shoot Roos because they are native and are meant to be there, plus you need a permit to cull them when their numbers get too high. But this is really only so that they don't compete with farming, so you could argue Roos are another casualty of our intensive aggrecultural system.

Regarding Rabbits and Chooks etc...you just can't input enough feed into them from a typical suburban household to get a sensible amount of meat. 1/2 a deer or a single goat can keep you in meat for a month without having to use any of your own land or anoy the neighbours.

Plus rabbits get loose and are an extremely destructive pest in any environment.

I've been looking into this for the last few years, and goats, pigs and deer are by far the best solution, and by doing this I'll remove destructive pests from our native bushland as well.

So far I haven't had anyone show interest but I'll keep trying. The closest state forest is Yerriyong south of Nowra near the Jervis Bay turnoff, so I could always go down there and try my luck. I hear stories though of dear bouncing over fences in West Dapto...what a waste.

All good points, roadwarrior. I totally understand where you're coming from.

I've been pigging out west (Wilcannia), but that's a long way to drive for a feed :-). Is it possible to find out from National Parks what they're doing to control goats, deer, etc around this area? You might not be allowed to shoot them yourself, but you might be able to assist the National Parks personnel in return for keeping some carcasses. Dunno.

There are a lot of feral goats up along the Shoalhaven river. As you say, the hard part is getting the permissions required to go in and collect a few.

Thanks Darren. I didn't know about the goats up the shoalhaven. I'll be up that way in October camping so might try to chase up some landowners while I'm there.

roady

I just came across an ad in the newspaper for the Game Council of NSW, which controls access for "Voluntary Conservation Hunting" of introduced/feral species in state forests.

http://www.gamecouncil.nsw.gov.au/

Perhaps you could explore that avenue? There's a forest down near Sussex Inlet that's listed.

Darren, already done that...see first post again at the top of the page. You can't hunt deer legally even on private property without either a Class G or R Game Council Licence.

Closest forest is Yerriyong south of Nowra, which I'll be hunting in October.

But one of my mates just two weeks ago photographed 20 deer on the EASTERN side of West Dapto Road. Such a shame that there are all these vermin around here but I can't touch them.

roady

Ah, didn't realise that was the same thing!

I agree, though, there should be some way to deal with these feral pests. And you can be sure that if some government department does decide to do something, they're just going to shoot/poison them and dump the bodies. They certainly aren't going to go looking for people who might want them!

Exactly! All that meat gone to waste. it's terrible. But you may find that the beef and lamb lobby groups make sure vermin meat can't be given away otherwise it would drastically "eat" into their profits.

So much of this is political, and it's frustrating when you see a clear environmental solution but you can't get past the red tape.

roady

Big article in the Mercury today, page 6-7, about the deer problem in Wollongong. I hate to say I told ya so, but I did!

I think it's quite obvious the deer are breeding faster than current culling programs can deal with them.

Looks like the Shooters Party has the same idea as you. They announced a falling out with the NSW Labour Party today, over their proposed legislation to allow the hunting of ferals in state forests. Labour is now left without a majority of votes, and many bills they were hoping to get passed are now looking likely to be blocked.

Keep your fingers crossed, RW! Labour needs the 2 Shooters Party votes, and might strike a deal with them.

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