Poachers' dogs 'will be dead and hanging on my gate'

Peter Proctor said he and neighbours had seen farm deer and cattle shot by illegal hunters. File photo / Mark Mitchell

Te Pohue farm manager Peter Procter said years of losing thousands of dollars of stock and having to repair smashed gates and fences had pushed farmers to the point where they will fight back.

"I've had a gutsful - and so has everybody else who lives on Waitara Rd. It's come to the crunch ... if a dog sets foot on my place it will be dead and hanging on my gate for the owner to come and collect."

Mr Proctor said he had seen too many shot and savaged livestock over the past few years on the property, off SH5, as illegal hunters target private farms and blocks for their shooting expeditions.

"I've had poachers leave dogs on the farm overnight which have attacked sheep within a short period of time. I've had up to 20 ewes at once killed, and if you've ever seen a sheep still alive with half its face peeled off you wouldn't think twice about shooting these kinds of dogs."

He said he had lost time, money and his patience.

"Shooting dogs seems to be the only way to get through to these people. While it seems harsh to punish something that doesn't know any better, it seems to be the only way to get the message through."

Mr Proctor was responding to a story in Hawke's Bay Today last Thursday about illegal hunters and poachers hitting properties off the Taihape and Puketitiri Roads.

"We are in the same situation - we are getting poached on a regular basis."

Over the past five years he and neighbours had seen farm deer and cattle shot - most of it taking place during the winter.

"I've had fences cut and stripped back to allow farm deer into the wild. I've had gates smashed open and padlocks cut and shot to gain access through my farm. Padlocks at $100 a pop and fencing at $20 per metre. Cattle around $600-700 dollars each and hinds around $500 each ... it doesn't take long to add up to a costly amount of damage. Then there's the time it takes to repair as well as patrolling at night till 3am to find these mongrels. It just seems to go on and on."

Mr Procter said the most recent incident was just three weeks ago when he found evidence someone had shot a deer, lifted it over a protective fence and dragged it to the road where it was loaded on a vehicle.

Last year he and some of his neighbours had some success when they came across a group of armed men hunting pigs on his farm.

The group ran off when confronted but the farmers called police, and staked out the poachers' vehicle.

"It was just as well the police were there as everyone on both sides was armed. We prosecuted them and they were found guilty. It just seems a lot could go wrong, and turn deadly, just because someone wants to catch a pig."

Police were out stopping and checking hunters and their vehicles on Waitara Rd last Saturday.

"They are being pro-active," Mr Procter said.