Baiting demand on the rise

Alan has been in the business of throwing 1080 baits out of planes for the last 18 years, but the demand for his services has been on the increase in recent months rather than decreasing.

As the main provider of the service for Queensland's twice-yearly aerial baiting campaign, Alan and his company South West Aerial Services gets to talk to many people around the state and see lots of wild dog operations in action, and he says there are too many gaps in the baiting program for it to be fully effective.

"I know ground baiting fills in some areas but there are definite holes in places," he said.

He is working for every shire west of the Great Dividing Range, from the NSW border to the southern Gulf region, and says he is considering fitting out a second aircraft to help with succession planning.

"The biggest thing for me at the moment is, everyone wants to do more, in a shorter time frame, so the pressure is on."

Alan believed the co-ordinated baiting calendar instigated by AgForce was working well, with some juggling taking place in practice.

Being strategic with aerial baiting is something he would like to see more of so that his time is utilised most effectively, targeting rough country and creek lines that aren't easy for landholders to get into from the ground.

The aerial baiting gives Alan up to six months of work each year - two to three months at a time - and he has been asked to go to Barkly Downs in the Northern Territory shortly for a private campaign.

Since 1995 he has made a number of investments to carry out the work, including modifications to his aircraft, bins, a port in the plane's floor, and a forward facing seat for dispatch.

His biggest cost, $35,000, has been on GPS mapping which not only shows previous flight paths but also property boundaries, for pinpoint work.

The plane carries a payload of 270kg of meat and usually makes a 40-minute flight, so that 100m spacings cover 200km.

"I fly between 100 and 500 feet, depending on the terrain," he said.

"That way there's less likelihood of the bait getting spread too far around.

"Alan said he believed in what he was doing, otherwise he wouldn't be doing it.

"It's a low level operation, it's usually hot and rough, and the meat is very smelly."

The most provoking part of his job is seeing wild dogs while he is flying.

"They often pull up and look at me - it's very frustrating," he said.