Dear o sung wu,

Unfortunately it will probably just happen naturally. There are around 500 game reserves across Victoria but not enough for the shooting fraternity. They have aggressively moved into State forests which have traditionally been enjoyed people for camping and experiencing nature. More areas are being ceded to them with another 6 provisionally opened up this year in SW Victoria alone.

Our National Parks are being impacted too. I have a relation who works in Parks Victoria and it seems one of the huge issues they have is people releasing pigs into the National Parks and then hunting them with GPS dogs and knives. There are almost weekly threats made on Park officers for trying to enforce the law. I know people who admit to doing it and aggressively assert they should be allowed to do so legally. pig populations within the Parks are increasing and now shooters are pushing to be allowed in to 'help solve the problem'.

Dear Is Mise,

So no comment on the signs being shot up, just a few remarks about hole sizes? Dive for the minutia to avoid facing the real issue.

And what a pathetic comment about people taking dogs into State Forests. My hound is incredibly well trained otherwise I wouldn't take her in there.

In 2012 shooters managed to get the laws around hunting dogs reworked. These laws had restricted deer hunting dogs to three apparently appropriate breeds; blood hound, beagle and harrier.

“In response to hunters' requests to use companion dogs, some other dog breeds have been approved for hunting all game deer species,”

Keep an eye out for someone's Fox Terrier or Jack Russel sprinting past you on your next nature walk in a state forest.

So mate, I'm not sure how much more we need to reinforce just how much of a hypocrite you are but let's try it on for size.

Do you stand by your comment that “Only selfish people would go camping with dogs in a State Forrest, have they no regard for native wildlife?”

Are these shooters selfish or not?

Hi (again) STEELEREDUX...

Something I have noticed from my days in licensing; there seems to be a steady deterioration in the psychological fitness or otherwise, of some applicants, especially those few seeking to obtain a review of their F/A licences whenever they've been issued with a 'show cause' notice objecting to a renewal?

Every applicant has a right in law to challenge decisions made by licensing police by appealing to a Magistrate, whenever they're unhappy with any conditions made thereon, or any variations of their licence.

I've had quite a few incidences when I've been acting I/C, when applicants have come into our section, and made all these demands to see me! They've become so enraged with our decisions, they've almost lent across the counter and grabbed someone, by the collar? Of course this does little to help them sort out the mess, that's now become the remnants of their licence application!

Best to keep the cops on-side and they'll always go to bat for you, if it's simply a strict definition or similar, thats easily remedied by the Magistrate with the stroke of a pen. To launch into some tirade simply demonstrates to the police and/or the Court, there's something a little 'cockeyed' with the applicant, thus his psychological fitness to possess a valid F/A's Licence is brought right into question?

Steele,

I already answered you about people who shoot signs and, yes, I do consider that people who take their dogs camping with them are selfish.
I also object to hunting with dogs except on private property when using them to point and retrieve.
Out west in pig country it's a bit different as the pigs have just about eradicated the smaller native animals.

I mentioned the sizes of the bullet holes and drew your attention to the relevant Vic restrictions on calibres so that you might possibly learn that bullet holes in signs do not represent 'low calibre' guns but in the case that you cited, they probably represent the legal minimum of quite high powered rifles; rifles with a killing range of at least 3.5 to 4.5 kms.

Dear o sung wu,

I have been happy to generally refrain from politics in our discussions but I can't resist.

If you had some fat yob applying for a gun licence and you happened to be alerted to let's say a facebook page where he was waving a weapon around talking about doing a 'Dirty Harry' on a certain section of the population, would that impact your assessment of his suitability to responsibly hold a firearm licence, particularly for a pistol?

Of course feel free to reserve your opinion as I am content to leave it as a rhetorical question.

Dear Is Mise,

I'm probably more interested in the 'low calibre' of shooters rather than their weapon. A .22 can take a life even from a distance. I grew up owning guns and are pretty comfortable still around them. I will say though starting that walk after seeing the sign and hearing some distant shots had me pretty uneasy. It is all Mountain ash forest with well over head high ferns covering much of it. You really can't see much past 10 yards up or down the track. I would probably have baulked taking kids on the walk. If I hadn't seen the sign full of holes then I probably would have been fine but it was hard evidence that irresponsible shooters had been in the area and for all I knew were the source of the firing I could hear. People shouldn't have to be making these kinds of decisions on a camping holiday in this country.

I'm wondering how long it will be before shooters try and claim exclusivity of areas during the hunting season so as to 'protect others like bushwalkers' from harm? They will state that because the season goes for half the year they are excluded of the other half anyway therefore they should have exclusivity for 'their' six months.

//Only selfish people would go camping with dogs in a State Forrest, have they no regard for native wildlife?//

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RybNI0KB1bg

Still, I think it's touching that Is Mise is so concerned about the threat posed to wildlife by irresponsible dog owners. It gives hope that he might one day show some concern about the threat posed to humans by irresponsible gun owners.

"A website in Australia to "out" recipients of Yank NRA funds would be useful"

It would be of no use what-so-ever as there are no such funds, despite desperate Greens claims to the contrary; the Greens have never been able to back up their allegations as they have no substance at all (both the claims and the Greens).