Species available in NSW forests?

[Smiley]

Hi all, my daughter and myself have just got our R licence to hunt NSW declared forests. What I can't find is a list of game animals present in each forest.
So before I book a hunt to go shoot a deer, how do I find out if they are even there?
I'm in SE Qld so want to stay close to the border for our first go.
Cheers.

[Archie]

I don't know the places up north myself, but, if you go into the NSW DPI website, and login to online licence holder services, there is a section marked "Public Land Harvest Species Reports"; this is towards the bottom, it's not the "Public Land Harvest Return" section nearer the top.

That then gives you access to quarterly reports for each region by forest and species. Although fair warning, one, a lot of forests rarely see licenced hunters and two, people being people, not everyone is terribly honest when they fill the reports in - and that goes triple for when they find deer. There are definitely forests with deer that don't have harvest returns showing it. But hopefully anyway it gives you a clue. Just know that if a forest shows as being empty it may be:

1/ empty
2/ not empty but hasn't been visited by a licenced hunter who filled in a return for that quarter
3/ not empty but visited by people that drove all around the fire trails in a ute, didn't see anything because they'd scared it off, and then called it empty

So don't get too discouraged if your local forests show empty, you may just need to put in the legwork to prove it one way or the other.

[Smiley]

Thanks Archie, I will check it out. But a while back when I first considered the R licence, I thought I saw a list somewhere that had the species that may be encountered at each forest. Perhaps that has since disappeared.

[bigfellascott]

Personally I reckon you'd be better off just getting out and about in the SF and see what you can find, maps would be handy of the area to work out water sources, gully's etc - you soon see signs if there is anything worthwhile there I'm sure, then I would make a booking once I found out what was there and where they were hanging out most.

[albat]

Smiley sounds like ya all good to go , been doing those northern forests for some years now and its tough going for the most part, dont expect to jump out your car and start blazing away , i can go several trips and never fire a shot , it will test your patience for sure but you will get stuff when you learn how to go about hunting them, good luck and enjoy

[Smiley]

Thanks for the replies. I spose the worst that can happen is a weekend away exploring. Still beats staying home to mow the lawn.

[Sydor]

You can go to https://www.gamelicensing.nsw.gov.au/li ... GP&dbcgm=1 , login and click on "Public Land Species Harvest Reports".
Then choose your forest and see what has been hunted/spotted there.

[Smiley]

You can go to https://www.gamelicensing.nsw.gov.au/li ... GP&dbcgm=1 , login and click on "Public Land Species Harvest Reports".
Then choose your forest and see what has been hunted/spotted there.

Great thanks.