Since 1996, the number of licensed deer hunters in Victoria has increased by a staggering 542%, yet the amount of public land available for hunting has remained relatively unchanged. That imbalance must change.
SSAA Victoria is actively lobbying to expand hunting access across public land, with a particular focus on the Snowy River, Errinundra, Coopracambra, and Mount Buffalo National Parks. Our position is simple and consistent: public land should be open to public use, including hunting, unless there is a demonstrably good reason it shouldn’t be.
In the case of Snowy River National Park, there is no such reason. In fact, the case for allowing recreational deer hunting is stronger now than ever.
A long history of advocacy
SSAA Victoria and its sub-clubs, especially the Deerstalkers Club, were heavily involved, along with others in the hunting community, in public land debates throughout the late 1970s to early 1990s. This period saw the creation of many of Victoria’s National Parks.
Where deer hunters could demonstrate a history of use, such as in the Wonnangatta Valley or Baw Baw, ongoing access was maintained (for deer stalking). But in East Gippsland, where deer numbers were sparse at the time, that history didn’t exist. As a result, areas like Snowy River National Park were locked up, despite being remote, rugged and entirely suitable for deer stalking.
That reasoning has long since passed its use-by date. Today, wild deer are well-established across eastern Victoria, including in the Snowy. The idea that hunters should be excluded based on historical absence is outdated and indefensible.
Public land for public use
For tens of thousands of Victorians, deer hunting is the great outdoor adventure. It’s about challenge, solitude, time in nature, and bringing home meat to share with family and friends. It is real recreation with a real purpose.
While recreational deer hunting isn’t primarily about animal control, the numbers speak for themselves. Licensed hunters remove far more deer than all government-funded control programs combined, and they do it at no cost to taxpayers. Most of the deer taken are females, making a meaningful contribution to long-term population management.
By contrast, government control programs, particularly aerial shooting, come with significant costs, no public reporting, and no demonstrated long-term effectiveness. Nearly a decade into Victoria’s experiment with large-scale aerial deer culling, the public has yet to see a clear environmental rationale or transparent outcomes.
That’s not to say these programs can’t have value, but they don’t justify excluding recreational hunters who would have the same effect for free, while boosting regional economies and using the animal instead of leaving it to rot.
Triple-bottom-line benefits
Opening Snowy River National Park to deer hunting would deliver clear environmental, social, and economic benefits:
- Social: Recognising hunters as legitimate land users builds social inclusion, supports mental wellbeing, and connects people to country. Hunting is part of our heritage and culture.
- Economic: Hunting brings real money into regional towns. Even modest visitation to Snowy River NP could inject $500,000 to $1 million per year into Orbost and surrounding communities, supporting accommodation providers, fuel outlets, cafés, and guides.
- Environmental: Recreational hunting reduces deer numbers, particularly breeding-age females, without helicopters, toxins, or waste. It’s targeted, ethical, and effective.
Towns like Mansfield, Dargo, Bright and Licola already benefit from hunting tourism. It’s time Orbost had the same chance, particularly as it grapples with the end of the timber industry and a need for new, sustainable sources of income.
Why opposition persists – It’s Ideological
The most vocal opposition to recreational hunting in National Parks comes from the Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA), a group with a long history of ideological hostility toward hunters.
The VNPA operate from deep within the “Quinoa Curtain” of inner-Melbourne, where distaste for hunting has less to do with evidence and more to do with identity politics. It’s not that they think hunting doesn’t work; they simply don’t like who we are.
Rather than engage with the measurable benefits of regulated hunting: environmental, social, and economic, the VNPA clings to a narrow, exclusionary view of who Parks are “for.” In their world, trail walkers are welcome; hunters are not. That view is neither inclusive nor practical.
Public land belongs to all Victorians, not just the ones who hold policy briefings in Fitzroy.
No one is calling for completely unrestricted access. Hunting in National Parks is well-regulated, just as it is in other public land areas. What we’re calling for is fairness, logic, and consistency.
The deer are there. The hunters are ready. The community will benefit.