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Duck Hunters Penalised For Early Shooting

Two men have been convicted and fined $800 each for starting to shoot before the designated time on the opening morning of the 2006 Duck Season.

By Department of Sustainability & Environment - 28th August 2006 - Back to News

The court heard that cousins Elias El-Sheikh of Airport West, and Gihad El-Sheikh of Reservoir started shooting early at the Heart Morass State Game Reserve near Sale on Saturday March 18 2006.

Wildlife Officer from the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) Anthony Ball said that as a result of persistent early shooting in previous years, DSE sent out an undercover team of DSE Wildlife Officers and Police to try to catch the culprits.

"This year the offenders were standing as close as six metres from the undercover officers when they started shooting at 7:03am," Mr Ball said.

"Despite also having uniformed officers present at the Heart Morass State Game Reserve to try to curb the early shooting, DSE has continued to receive complaints from angry hunters about the selfish behaviour of a greedy few who start shooting early every year."

"Not only do the early shooters run the risk of shooting protected species, but they spoil it for the legitimate hunters who wait until the right time, only to find that most of the ducks have left the swamp, or are high in the sky and well out of range," he said.

"These men made a mistake by not taking a watch with them out into the swamp and then thought that they were right to shoot just because they had heard a few shots off in the distance."

"Early shooters can have their guns, decoys and all their hunting gear seized and forfeited, their game licences cancelled and ordered to immediately pack up camp and leave a State Game Reserve."

With the success of the covert teams used to detect early shooters, more undercover officers will be deployed around Sale in the future.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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