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Licensed · insured · ground-based

Deer off your ground.

Feral deer are eating your feed, opening your fences and killing your young trees. We assess the property, work it at night with thermal, and send you a written report.

Request a property assessment How it works

Six species now wild in Australia

  • Fallow
  • Red
  • Sambar
  • Chital
  • Rusa
  • Hog deer

01 · Antlers

Bucks rub their antlers on saplings, stripping bark and ringbarking young trees.

02 · Size

A mature fallow buck can weigh up to about 100 kg, and it eats like it.

03 · Legs

Built to clear a farm fence, or push straight through the wires.

Feral deer and pigs cost landholders in lost pasture, broken fences, ringbarked trees and lambs, and the bill grows every season the herds do.

See the numbers

04 · Senses

Most active at dawn and dusk, with sharp hearing and a quick bolt.

05 · Appetite

Grazes the same pasture and crops you grow for your stock.

The real Cost of
every mob.

Fig. 01 — Fallow deer, Dama dama

Invasive animals and weeds are estimated to cost Australia around $24.5 billion a year. Feral deer and pigs are part of that bill.

Declared pest. Real damage. Control that is licensed, insured, documented and accountable.

Fallow, red, sambar and chital deer are all established on Australian farmland, and a single mob can undo a season's work in a few nights.

Did you know?A standard farm fence is little obstacle to a feral deer. Most clear it, or push through the wires, on the same crossing night after night.

Off the farm tooSambar deer wallow in creeks, wetlands and alpine bogs, churning up ground that can take years to recover.

By the numbers

What it's costing

  • 0 properties Serviced to date
  • 0 hectares Under control programs
  • 0 removed Animals taken
  • 0 years Operating
  • Invasive species: est. $24.5B a year nationally
  • Feral pigs: up to 24 million, depending on the season
  • Feral deer: possibly as many as 2 million
  • Six deer species established in the wild
  • A feral sow can raise two litters a year
  • Pigs carry leptospirosis and brucellosis

Deer and pigs

Damage

A mob of deer moving through at night takes feed meant for stock, crosses the same fence line until the wires give, and rubs the bark off anything young. Feral pigs work the same paddocks, rooting up pasture, fouling dams and taking newborn lambs. Most landholders see the damage long before they see the animals.

Feral deer

6species now wild in Australia, all of them grazing the same country as your stock

  • 01

    Pasture and crop loss

    Grazing pressure competing directly with stock, concentrated on your best feed and your newest sowings.

  • 02

    Fence damage

    Wires stretched and posts loosened on the crossing points, letting stock through behind them.

  • 03

    Trees and revegetation

    Ringbarking and antler rub that kills young trees outright, including new plantings and shelter belts.

  • 04

    Collisions and biosecurity

    Animals on the road at dusk, and constant movement between properties carrying weed seed and disease.

Feral pigs

$150M+a year, a commonly cited estimate of what feral pigs cost Australian agriculture

  • 01

    Crops and pasture

    Rooting turns a paddock over like a plough, wrecking pasture and damaging grain, cane and fruit crops.

  • 02

    Lambs and stock

    Pigs prey on newborn lambs and compete with stock for feed and water in dry times.

  • 03

    Disease risk

    They carry leptospirosis and brucellosis, and could help spread foot-and-mouth disease or African swine fever if either reached Australia.

  • 04

    Fast breeding

    Sows can breed year-round and raise two litters a year, so numbers bounce back quickly after a good season.

How it works

01 / 04

  1. 01

    Assessment

    We walk the property with you, look at the damage and the maps, and agree on what is realistic. No obligation, and no charge for the first visit.

  2. 02

    Plan

    A written plan covering dates, access, safe directions of fire, neighbour notification and how carcasses are handled. You sign the landholder permission before anything proceeds.

  3. 03

    Operation

    Night work carried out to the plan, using thermal and spotlighting when the deer are actually moving. You are told when we arrive and when we leave, and gates are left as we found them.

  4. 04

    Report

    A written report within a week: hours worked, ground covered, numbers taken, and a marked map. Plus a recommendation on whether a return visit is warranted.

Moving them on.

A program, not a one-off visit

Whose job is it? The law, in short

  • New South Wales

    Under the Biosecurity Act 2015, everyone has a general biosecurity duty: if you know about a pest risk on your land, or reasonably should, you are expected to prevent, eliminate or minimise it.

  • Queensland

    The Biosecurity Act 2014 sets a general biosecurity obligation to take reasonable and practical steps to minimise risk. Feral pigs are listed as restricted invasive animals.

  • Victoria

    The Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994 requires landowners to take all reasonable steps to prevent the spread of established pest animals, such as feral pigs, on their land.

  • Government

    State agencies and councils manage pests on public land, and national action plans for feral pigs and feral deer coordinate control across boundaries, because pests don't stop at the fence.

General information only, not legal advice. Declared species, landholder duties and hunting permits differ between states and change over time, so check with your state's primary industries or environment department.

What we actually do

Services

Four parts to one job: find out what is really on the property, work it properly at night, keep the numbers down across the season, and put all of it in writing.

Most properties start with a free assessment

Drag or use the arrows

01 / 04

  • Turned up when they said they would and left the gates the way they found them.

    Grazier, placeholder region

  • Honest that it would take a program, not one visit.

    Orchardist, placeholder region

  • Sent the licence and insurance through before I had to ask.

    Mixed farming, placeholder region

  • The report meant council could see exactly what was done on our boundary.

    Council land officer, placeholder region

  • Talked to the neighbours before the night rather than after it.

    Hobby farm, placeholder region

  • Three seasons of losing young trees. The pressure came off after two nights.

    Orchardist, placeholder region

Credentials

You are deciding whether to let someone onto your property with a rifle at night. These are the documents you should ask for, and we send copies before the first visit.

Firearms licence
Category A/B — No. 0000000
Public liability
$20,000,000 — Insurer name
Accreditation
Vertebrate pest control accreditation
Safety protocol
Written risk assessment and safe direction of fire plan per property, neighbour notification, and a check-in and check-out call on every night operation.
Permissions
Written landholder permission held for every property, with current tags and authorities where required.

Placeholder content — to be replaced with verified documents

Book an assessment

Tell us about it

Roughly where the property is and what you are seeing. The first visit costs nothing.

Telephone
0400 000 000
Email
office@groundcontrol.example
ABN
00 000 000 000

Demonstration form — not connected