It follows what the Local Land Services says was the success of its autumn campaign.

Northern Tablelands Local Land Services’ Mark Tarrant said: “The program has grown since 2016 with an additional 44,629 baits being distributed this year. A total of 146,637 baits were dropped along pre-determined bait lines across the Northern Tablelands over the 17 day program - an increase of 19,906 baits from 2017”.

Deepwater landholder, Ian Lockwood, is a big supporter of baiting as a way of keeping the number of wild dogs down. ““We wouldn’t be here without the program’, he said. “Since the aerial baiting, combined with ground control measures, no attacks have occurred in the past month. We are fortunate to have such an effective program in our region”.

“While a lot of the coverage is aerial, large numbers of ground baits are delivered concurrently to ensure continuous mass coverage across the landscape. In this way a travelling dog is likely to encounter a control measure, whether it be from aerial or ground baiting. Large numbers of foxes are also impacted by the program - a flow-on-effect which may go unrecognised”.

Local Land Services fine tunes the programme. Wild Dog Facilitator, David Worsley, is out on the ground monitoring the movements of predatory dogs.