The control of red deer using helicopters and thermal cameras can be more than twice cheaper than ground hunting with dogs in mountainous terrain and with low animal density, according to a study conducted in New Zealand.
In the studied area, in Fiordland’s mountainous forests, the researchers from the Department of Conservation (DoC) calculated an average cost of NZD 595 per deer culled through aerial control, against NZD 1,428 in the case of ground hunting.
In addition to the cost difference, the study recorded a 76% reduction in red deer density in the intervention area. According to the researchers, the decline brought the animals to levels sufficiently low for the plants of the native forest to have better conditions to recover, should the results be maintained over time.
The introduced deer pose a threat to New Zealand’s native forests, and the study concludes that aerial control using thermal cameras can be an effective tool in remote locations where it is particularly difficult or expensive to resort to terrestrial methods.
George Ledgard, the study’s lead author and senior technical advisor to the Department of Conservation, stresses, however, that this is not an approach applicable to all territories. It is, according to the researcher, a specialized technique for areas where it is necessary to keep deer populations at very low levels to protect vulnerable ecosystems and where other methods are difficult or costly.
The study thus points to the use of aerial control as a complementary tool in deer population management, especially in rugged and hard-to-reach terrain.
