A western Queensland wool grower has turned to a rare technique in his fight to rid his property of troublesome wild dogs.
Wool grower David Counsell has been "howling up" the dingoes harassing his stock on Dunblane Station, just west of Barcaldine.
Howling works best during the dingo mating season between April and May, when dogs can be hoodwinked into thinking there is a rival in their territory.
If a howl is convincing enough, the wild dogs will run towards the source of the sound, presenting an easier target for hunters.
"Howling takes advantage of the dingoes thinking there's an intruder dog in their territory, right in the middle of mating season," Mr Counsell said.
"They are very territorial at that time of year, and we take advantage of that characteristic of their behaviour."
Howling would also work at other times of the year, although the April to May window was the most successful, Mr Counsell said.
"It works at all times of the year for different dogs.
"You can make a sound like a puppy when the females are whelping.
"But the mating season in April to May is the hot time of the year where, if the dingoes perceive someone is on their territory, and you're howling hidden away in the trees, they come racing in at you."
From there it is mostly an exercise in your holding your nerve and making the shot.
Good camouflage is essential if the dingoes are going to be fooled, Mr Counsell said.
"You've really got to protect your face. It's the big white face that gives us humans away."
It was also important to find a good place to hide, with sunrise or sunset the best times to try your luck, Mr Counsell said.
"All I do is three long howls and I try to get under a tree that breaks up just where that noise is coming from," Mr Counsell said.
"I try to make sure that I never howl if I know they're close and looking directly at me, because that will help them spot me.
"I let out three howls, wait five minutes and repeat. And I might do that for half an hour in one particular spot.
"You only really get to hunt one spot each time you go out in the evening or early morning."
The best way to tell if a howl had been convincing was to wait and listen for the dingo's response.
"Sometimes they'll yodel or howl back at you and then you know they're coming towards you," Mr Counsell said.
"Then it's just a waiting game for them to get closer.
"Once they've worked out you're there you don't howl much anymore, you just get ready and lock and load."
Mr Counsell said he was convinced howling worked after using it to tackle a wild dog problem a few years back.
"When I shot the first two dingoes I got, quite a few years ago, they were really giving me grief," he said.
"I was baiting and baiting but, before howling, I had no luck."
Delivering the goods
Mr Counsell had tried just about everything to get wild dogs off his Dunblane property before coming across an old video of howling in action.
"I read about it, and then I came across a couple of old hunting videos," he said.
"The videos turned up at home, and they were just these mad guys that would get a mate with them and get a camera out."
Dunblane is a 15,000 hectare wool growing property just west of Barcaldine, which is capable of running 15,000 Merino sheep depending on the season.
After some early success with howling, Mr Counsell decided to stick with the technique.
"I've done quite a few other hunting and dog eradication techniques, such as broad-scale baiting, and it's the howling that's delivering the answers at the moment."
Dingo howling is not a common skill and successful hunters can find themselves in-demand with other property owners battling wild dog problems.
So far Mr Counsell has managed to howl up and shoot three of a suspected pack of five.
"We had five dogs on the property at the start of the school holidays and now we've got two unaccounted for.
"As I'm telling all the trappers in town, it's howlers three, trappers nil," Mr Counsell laughed.
This story first appeared on Queensland Country Life.
