There are 36,000 licenced deer hunters in Victoria, with only five Game Management Authority enforcement officers across the state.

'By the time we ring police, they do the best they can, but they're just too far away.' Monitoring illegal hunters 'Upper Rose River is a hotspot because it's so far away from the next police station, Mr Moritz said. 'Every time we see spot lighters on the road, we have to turn the lights on in the house just to make sure they go away or they don't shoot at us.'ĭespite the regular activity, Mr Moritz said he lived too remotely for the hunters for be caught. 'Nobody's been hurt yet, but it won't be long most probably. 'We're regularly getting deer hunters going through our back paddocks, cutting fences, gates, and you find dead deer with their heads chopped off and everything,' he said. Rose River resident, Thomas Moritz, said there were many more who ventured out into the area and were causing havoc. In June, Wangaratta and Whitfield police, along with the Game Management Authority, caught five men from the western Melbourne area allegedly hunting illegally in the area. Rose River, about a 30 minute drive into isolated bushland from Whitfield, has become a hotspot for illegal hunting.

Ms Northey said her husband had also once unexpectedly come across five male hunters on his property. 'One of our kids was up in the paddock one night.' 'We've had quite a bit of trouble at our place, and we have deer shooters along the road all the time, spotlighting our house, spotlighting into the paddocks. 'It's making people scared to be living out here,' she said. Myrrhee resident, Connie Northey, said residents had to deal with hunters who operated illegally near their properties at night, when deer were most active. Safety worries as hunters continue to come It is an offence to hunt deer at night, hunt deer with artificial lights, carry a loaded firearm in vehicles, and possess or discharge a loaded firearm on or across a public thoroughfare. King Valley residents have told authorities that illegal hunters - many who travel to the region from across the state - were flouting hunting laws nightly, and were putting livestock and human lives at risk, while leaving behind a trail of bloody, headless carcasses near roads and homes. Residents in a rural north-east Victorian community say a tragedy will happen if illegal deer hunting continues in the area.Ībout 100 residents from the King Valley area attended a public forum at Whitfield on Monday night, as concerns rise over the number of illegal hunters in their community.

Deer hunter forum