Farmer May Seek Police Aid

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30957, 13 January 1966, Page 7

Farmer May Seek Police Aid

A North Canterbury station-owner, Mr C. A. Nurse, of Lake Taylor station, is considering asking for detectives to be sent from Christchurch in an attempt to catch some of the “slap-happy” shooters who trespass on his property and shoot stock.

“We have had this r oblem for years.” he said. “On Labour Day two head of cattle were shot from the roadside.”

He also suspected, he said, that he had lost more stock during the Christmas-New Year period because of indiscriminate shooting. “Most of the trouble comes from spot-lighters. They don’t know what they are shooting at. They don’t know what is behind what they are shooting at,” he said. “Mostly they just see something and start shooting.”

Over the years indiscriminate shooting had become worse. He could not say whether he was also losing sheep, but he suspected he was. Sheep were easier to take than cattle.

Mr Nurse said that supplies such as tea and sugar could not be left in shepherds’ huts. “If you do leave it, it’s gone when you come back.” Other station owners in the

area were having the same trouble with shooters, Mr Nurse said. It was extremely difficult to do anything about the shooters. “First you have to catch them, and then you have to make out a case,” he said. The problem was compounded if a road ran through the station property, as one does at Lake Taylor. “You can patrol it all day and still not catch the culprits.” Many shooters were not aware of the law, Mr Nurse said. There were only two types of property: Crown land and private land. Anybody who moved on to or crossed either type of property without permission was trespassing. Though there had been little vandalism on Lake Taylor Station recently, only a few years ago shooters cut and walked through a boundary fence, leaving the large hole for stock to escape through, he said.