By Jed Lanyon
The Northern Yarra Landcare Network hosted a deer information session on Saturday 22 June for local residents that are concerned about the wild deer population and their damage to the environment.
President of the Northern Yarra Landcare Network, Evelyn Feller and committee member Michael Feller said that the meeting was productive and used to highlight some of the different methods that other Landcare Networks had implemented to mitigate the damage that deer cause to the environment.
The meeting allowed a member of the police to discuss the legalities of hunting deer on private property and the Landcare groups discussed whether hiring amateur shooters or professional hunters would be the best option going forward.
The Feller’s purchased their Chum Creek property in 1999, and were able to put in many plants and trees that stand tall to this day.
Today, the Fellers have spent thousands of dollars on fencing and other protective measures to limit the damage caused by deer grazing their land.
“When we first started, I didn’t spend a cent on any protection against animals,” Mr Feller said.
“Now everything I plant has to be protected, nothing survives the deer at the moment.”
The Fellers built two metre high fencing around sections of their property. Initially the fencing was 1.8 metres, but kangaroos would often try to jump over and would damage the fence allowing deer to get inside.
The fencing on the property is electric and is reinforced along the ground to ensure that wombats are unable to dig their way under, another method that eventually allows the deer onto the land.
“I initially planted here and didn’t put any special protection in place other than a little fence, but nothing was growing and everything was getting eaten back and chewed,” Mr Feller said.
“Then I put the larger fencing in and now it’s growing beautifully.
“We have to do this in order to get anything to grow, otherwise the deer will chomp the wattles, eucalypts and everything that’s there.”
“Culling is currently the only thing we’ve got to try and reduce deer numbers, but it will never solve it completely,” Ms Feller said.
Ms Feller said that education on issues such as the deer population or fruit fly infestation is a main priority for the Landcare Network.
The Northern Yarra Landcare Network is located in the fire-affected region of the Yarra Ranges and includes Steels Creek, Dixons Creek, Chum Creek as well as parts of Healesville, Yarra Glen, Yering, Toolangi and Tarrawarra.
