Have your say on Victoria’s hunting regulations.

While this process does not allow for an end to hunting altogether, this is a vital opportunity to challenge some of the cruellest practices permitted under Victoria’s proposed hunting regulations. Please show decision-makers that most Victorians want to see animals protected from cruelty.

The proposed Wildlife (Game) Regulations 2024 are now available for you to comment on. These regulations are only reviewed every ten years, making it all the more critical that animals who are shot ‘for fun’ are represented during this process.

How to have your say

There are two ways you can offer feedback on the regulations:

1. Make a written submission. Please ensure that submissions are written IN YOUR OWN WORDS, as submissions that include copied and pasted text may not be counted as unique. We’ve included points you may like to use as a guide below.
2. Complete the Survey.

When you are ready, head to the Victorian Government website to take action here.

Please express your views in your own words.

Submissions do not need to be long or complex. We suggest selecting a couple of points below that resonate with you most, and explaining why they are important to you personally:

• I strongly disagree with the premise of the regulations that hunting can be “safe, sustainable and responsible”.
  • The safest, most sustainable, most responsible decision would be prohibiting the unnecessary stress and pain inflicted on ducks, stubble quail, and deer killed for ‘recreation’.
• If the Victorian Government continues to permit hunting, the use of dogs at any stage of the hunt, for any target animal, should be prohibited.
  • The suffering of animals chased and ‘retrieved’ by dogs is amplified by the prolonged stress of fighting for their lives and the potential for enduring serious wounding before being killed.
  • Hunting using dogs also puts the dogs themselves in great danger as targeted animals panic and fight to survive.
• Bow hunting (including the use of longbows, recurve bows, compound bows, and crossbows) should be prohibited.
  • Bow hunting is cruel and involves a high likelihood of the animals who are shot suffering from being wounded.
  • The number of animals wounded (but not killed) by bow hunting can be very high. For example, with deer hunting, surveys of bow hunters indicate that between 12% and 48% of deer may escape whilst injured. Wounded animals that are not retrieved and killed can suffer from the disabling effects of the injury, pain and wound infection. (reference: Gregory NG (2005). Bowhunting deer. Animal Welfare 14:111-116)
• Game licenses should not be issued to children as young as 12 years old.
  • Children should not be exposed to the danger of being around guns or handling guns, nor should they be exposed to gun violence and animal cruelty.
  • Children are not currently required to undergo any testing, so allowing them to shoot has a high risk of inflicting further suffering on animals and endangering “non-target” animals.
  • Victorians require a test to drive a car supervised at 16, and another test to drive unsupervised at 18. 12 is not an appropriate age to handle a gun, particularly without any formal testing.
• Exemptions from licensing and other requirements should be removed entirely.
  • Hunting and shooting are extremely dangerous for animals and people; therefore, all license applicants and holders must adhere to all relevant testing, training, and controls, without any exceptions.
• The killing of species of conservation concern should be permanently prohibited.
  • In addition, any areas where these at-risk species are found should not be designated as permitted hunting areas.
  • Species that should be immediately and permanently removed from the ‘game’ list include, but are not limited to, the blue winged shoveler, hard head duck, and pink-eared duck.
• Lead ammunition must be banned immediately – a phase-out period is not necessary.
  • Lead is a dangerous environmental contaminant that risks the lives of wildlife. After causing an excruciating death for animals who are shot and escape, lead remains in the environment for years. It threatens protected animals like wedge-tailed eagles and scavenging wildlife.
  • The high levels of lead found in ducks at Victorian waterways in recent years indicate a potential risk to human health.
• There should be no default shooting season length in place.
  • For as long as hunting is permitted, the season length should be determined by environmental and ecological factors.
  • Climate change, habitat loss, and the dangerous decline of species must be factored in without exception.

Please remember, the strength of your submission lies in your personal perspective. Share how these regulations impact your values and vision for wildlife in Victoria.

One of the government survey questions is whether you support allowing the use of decoys to hunt deer. Decoys are used to trick animals – thinking the decoy is a fellow species member, they approach, only to be injured or killed with an arrow or gunshot.

The government survey can be found here.

Reducing environmental impacts – non-toxic ammunition

• Do you support the banning of lead and other toxic ammunition (shot and projectiles) for Stubble Quail, non-indigenous game birds and deer hunting, in line with bans already in place for game duck hunting?
  • YES
  • Please explain why:
    • Lead ammunition poses a severe risk to wildlife and ecosystems. It can contaminate water sources and soil and remains in the environment for years.
    • Lead causes excruciating deaths for animals who are shot but do not die instantly. It also poses a threat to protected animals like wedge-tailed eagles and scavenging wildlife.
    • The high levels of lead found in ducks at Victorian waterways in recent years indicate a potential risk to the health of humans and other animals.
• Do you think that there should be any exemptions for the use of lead shot for specific gauges, calibres or types of shotguns (e.g., Damascus barrels, muzzle loaders)?
  • NO
• Will the proposed commencement dates of the banning of lead shot and projectiles (31 December 2027 for deer hunting and from September 2024 for Stubble Quail hunting ahead of the 2025 Stubble Quail hunting season) allow sufficient time for this proposal to be implemented? If not, what is an appropriate timeframe?
  • The banning of lead shot and projectiles should come into effect immediately.
  • Lead is a dangerous environmental containment that causes excruciating deaths and risks “non-target” animals, and as such a phase out period cannot be justified.

Specified hunting areas and specified times

• Do you support a later start time of 8.00am on the first five days of duck season for hunters and 11:00 am for non-hunters?
  • NO
  • Please explain why:
    • Non-hunters conducting wildlife rescue should not be restricted as to when they can ‘start’ to rescue injured animals. The proposed exclusion of non-hunters from wetlands until 11am during season opening should be removed.
    • Volunteer rescuers are the only ones on the wetlands searching for injured animals and taking those wounded but not killed to veterinary care; without these non-hunters on the wetlands, wildlife suffer slow and painful deaths.
    • A later start time should be in place for shooters across the entirety of the hunting season, not just the first five days, as shooting should never be allowed before sunrise (or after sunset) as lower visibility puts ‘target’ and ‘non-target’ birds at even higher risk.

Improving the management of illegal deer spotlighting

• Do you support increasing the number of recognised deer habitats to include West Wimmera Shire and Moyne Shire in order to better address illegal spotlighting?
  • NO
  • Please explain why:
    • Expanding recognised deer habitats is not a viable solution to address illegal hunting.
    • Increasing these areas will simply expose more habitats and wildlife to legal and illegal hunting practices.
    • To better safeguard wildlife populations, areas exposed to hunting should be reduced, not expanded.

Your submissions and survey responses are pivotal in helping mitigate the animal suffering endorsed by outdated Victorian regulations. Every contribution you make adds a distinct voice to our collective call for animals to be seen as the thinking, feeling individuals they are – and not ‘things’ to be used, or hunted ‘for fun’.

Thank you for never giving up on them.