For those that aren’t aware, WA has an annual coordinated communityfox shoot, called “Red card for red fox“, which I was able to be apart of this year.
Although sponsorship was down this year, some impressive numbers were achieved in the South West of the state. Prizes were awarded for “winning team with most foxes shot”, “heaviest & lightest fox“, and others.
This event is held over 3 weekends, February,March and April. To be involved, shooters need to contact a property owner and gain permission, then register a team on the “Red card” website. As you can see by the 1st pic, 435 volunteers were involved in the South West region this year, pretty good! Aside from foxes, feral cats and rabbits are also included in the total.
Boyup Brook shire, which I had the pleasure of being involved with, had by far the biggest numbers this year in the region. On the 1st weekend in February, 466 foxes were shot, with the winning team shooting 46! I wasn’t at this particular one, but hats off to everyone involved,impressive stuff!
The 2nd weekend in April, which I attended, didn’t net the same numbers, which shows the impact the last one had! That said, 73 foxes were still taken that weekend, and mine (pictured) just missed out by 0.2kg for the heaviest one shot.
Events such as this, go a long way to assist with the reduction of feral pests, a fact the majority of Australians don’t get to see unfortunately. There are a lot of sheep farms in this region, including part of the 7000 acre property I was on, and foxes are a big problem obviously. Anyone who has seen what a fox does to a newborn lamb, will attest to this, as it’s not pretty!
So all in all, another successful fox cull for South West WA for 2016. Final numbers (see picture) were: 1557 foxes, 61 cats and 760 rabbits. Boyup Brook alone had a total of 540 foxes, a massive effort.
I would like to thank the Robertson family for their awesome country hospitality on the weekend I was there, as well as everyone involved in organizing this great event.
It was also announced that SSAA will be providing sponsorship as of next year, with $10 per fox being donated to the RFDS, as well as prizes for the winning shooters. Well done SSAA! I can’t wait till next year.
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