What Licensing Means To You

New hunting legislation: how it affects private landholders

Game Council NSW – created under the Game and Feral Animal Control Act 2002 – has introduced a statewide licensing system for hunting in NSW which applies to some introduced species of animals.

Who is affected by the new legislation?
The new legislation took effect from September 2004 and affects hunters, private landholders and public land managers. Hunters on both private property and public land must now hold a NSW Game Hunting Licence to hunt the following introduced species:

Species / Land Tenure	NSW Game Hunting Licence - Class
Private land: wild deer, game birds & wild ducks as part of the NPWS Game Bird Management Program	General NSW Game Hunting Licence (G-Licence) - as a minimum - or Restricted NSW Game Hunting Licence (R-Licence)
Declared Public Land: pigs, goats, foxes, rabbits, hares, cats, wild dogs and wild deer	Restricted NSW Game Hunting Licence (R-Licence)

Exemptions: Farmers and their employees hunting on their own land, as well as employees working under the Rural Lands Protection or Wild Dog Destruction Acts, are exempt from the NSW Game Hunting Licence System. Other exemptions apply.

Why a licensing system?
The creation of Game Council NSW sets the framework for a co-ordinated and regulated approach to conservation hunting. Central to that has been the introduction of a Game Hunting Licence system which includes a mandatory Hunter Code of Practice, an accreditation process and additional penalties for offences such as trespass.
Through licensing, Game Council intends to harness the efforts of skilled, responsible hunters to play a greater role assisting both private and public land managers with feral animal control. This may be in the form of hunter-specific or integrated control programs.

Integrated feral animal control
Conservation hunting can be a cost effective feral animal control tool when approached in an organised manner. Since the establishment of Game Council, licensed conservation hunters are:
▪ Assisting community-based feral animal control programs across the State, free of charge;
▪ Forming Conservation Hunting Groups to assist private landholders in regional areas, free of charge;
▪ Assisting pest control agencies with research and surveys relating to feral animals;
▪ Assisting public land managers with feral animal control across NSW and providing valuable data on pest animal numbers.

Strengthening links between hunters & landholders

Through its licensing system, Game Council NSW is focusing on building stronger relationships between landholders and licensed, accountable conservation hunters. Game Council NSW aims to harness the efforts and skills of the hunting fraternity, as well as foster best-practice hunting in the battle against feral animals.

Those who hold the Restricted NSW Game Hunting Licence (R-Licence) have demonstrated their knowledge of hunting laws, safety, ethical behaviour, animal welfare and conservation through an accreditation process; they are also members of Game Council Approved Hunting Organisations (AHOs), which means even more accountability and support.

Over time, Game Council aims to strengthen the trust between licensed hunters and landholders, with the aim of improving overall feral animal management outcomes, reduce the incidence of illegal hunting, trespass and other associated rural crime and provide a cost-free service to the farming community.