Media release – Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, 24 September 2024
Aerial survey of deer and kangaroo set to take off
The Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania (NRE Tas) will be conducting an aerial survey of fallow deer and Forester kangaroo.
In 2019, as a response to the Legislative Council Inquiry into Wild Fallow Deer, the Government undertook an initial baseline aerial survey to determine abundance and distribution. The 2019 survey estimated the fallow deer population to be 53,660 and the Forester kangaroo population to be 30,327.
The Tasmanian Wild Fallow Deer Management Plan 2022-2027 (the Plan) committed to a follow-up aerial survey, recognising that effective deer management requires an understanding of how a population changes over time.
The 2024 survey will follow identical methodologies as the 2019 survey. It will produce an estimate of the total population and will produce distribution and abundance data – this information can then be compared to the 2019 findings.
Changes in distribution and abundance can then be considered in relation to deer policy such as licensing and permits to measure the effectiveness of deer management.
It is anticipated that the results of the survey will be publicly available in the second quarter of 2025.
The survey is scheduled to occur in the first half of October 2024. However, these dates may be subject to change due to weather.
For more information on the aerial survey visit: https://nre.tas.gov.au/deer-survey.
Lorry Smolej
September 24, 2024 at 15:21
Tasmania’s population of deer might have doubled by the time this government formulates a plan for culling!
Farmers are losing millions of dollars because of these deer. They are an absolute pest and should be dealt with as such. Maybe a modern day Avoca shoot would help somewhat.
Road safety issues are on the rise, especially up the east coast.
Ted Mead
September 24, 2024 at 22:17
I don’t see how an aerial survey could be accurate as there is so much ground to cover, and there is an abundance of crown foliage covering areas the deer likely inhabit.
On my extensive ground survey for Cider gums I was forever startling them in bushland. I suspect there are far more deer out there than is estimated.