IT'S never too late to teach an old dog new tricks and graziers of all ages have been flocking to wild dog trapping workshops offered by AgForce in South West Queensland during the past month to outsmart the predator threatening their livelihood.
Offered by AgForce and funded by AWI, the days have been using the skills of long-time Western Australian trapper and now Charleville-based wild dog officer Jim Miller, an advocate for helping people at the coalface help themselves.
"People tell me they won't trap because they're worried they'll stuff it up, but lots of dogs have been caught for science and retrapped after that, so lack of experience is not a barrier," he said. "Everyone started somewhere."
Trapping is seen as an inclusive method of wild dog control, and the workshops have been aimed at giving landholders the tools to manage dogs, and then reinforce and maintain that.
"Landholders are always there - they are the ones who can make the difference," Jim said.
"At the end of the day, if every wild dog out there encounters a management tool often enough, they are going to make that fatal mistake.
"It's our job to keep going at it hammer and tongs I encourage people to get intimate
Graziers in the South West have been doing that, turning out in good numbers at Wyandra, and in the Bulloo, Quilpie, Murweh and Blackall-Tambo shires.
At the most recent workshop, at Scrubby Creek midway between Blackall and Adavale last Friday, 15 people spent the day watching techniques used to make traps as functional as possible, from grinding sections down to give them a smoother action, to using candle wax for a slicker release.
Even the most experienced trappers in the audience said they learnt something to help them.
Gary Washbrook is from Wadeholm, 100km north-west of Charleville, and said he became infatuated with trapping after working with Don Salway five years ago.
"I started seeing scratch marks and realising their significance, and things like that," he said.
"It's not hard; it's just a matter of knowing what to look for, and going to a school like this to learn what to do."
Gary once ran 3000 sheep at Wadeholm but now runs cattle exclusively, trapping 34 wild dogs in the past year alone.
Another cattle producer at the workshop was Allan Lanfranchi of Warilda, Charleville, who said his aim was to be proactive about dog control, without educating them in the wrong way.
"I've noticed a lot more dogs in the past 10 years, and the danger is that this increase will continue and flow on to our calves," he said.
"I learnt a lot today about best practice in setting traps."
Fellow cattleman James Stanyer, from Coolatah at Charleville, uses baiting and trapping as his main control methods, and said he was keen to improve his knowledge of setting a successful trap in anticipation of an increase in dog numbers.
"I know they will start biting my calves and cause more problems if I let them, so I'm trying to keep them down now, while I can," he said.
Jim said he had taken things out of the day himself, especially the arguments put forward regarding scent contamination.
"They take a lot of care, which is a good thing with hard dogs," he said.
Running for a full day, every aspect of trapping was given a thorough briefing, from the proper use of strychnine to the best locations to set traps in and the types of lures to use.
Some of the more unusual ideas included burnt rubber, toothpaste, bones and even horse hoof trimmings.
"I'm never a fan of food-based things," Jim said.
"They attract goannas and ants and we don't want them around."
The most common mistakes people make in the trapping game are poorly tuned traps and drop- ping their guard once they've eliminated a problem dog, according to Jim.
"Communication is a big thing with your neighbours there could be another wave coming.
"People need to talk to each other and get those control methods out there in preparation."
