The NSW Government will be dropping 200,000 baits in its aerial program this year in what will be the largest of its kind in the "southern hemisphere".
The large-scale operation, conducted by Local Lands Services (LLS), will see the baits both meat and manufactured dropped in three weeks via helicopter in national parks, state forests and on private land across the Northern Tablelands.
Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall said there were baiting programs both on the ground and in the air but this was the largest to date due to a number of factors including bushfire recovery and restocking after dry conditions.
"The conditions are turning around and people are starting to restock," Mr Marshall said.
"After the bushfires went through we were starting to see wild dogs come back into our area quicker than before as they were on the hunt as bushfires killed much of the things they prey on.
"They are coming further west out of the eastern fall country looking for livestock and not just sheep but calves as well. This baiting program has been designed to knock down as many as we can to push back into the eastern fall country and keep them there."
Mr Marshall said there were still a number of dog fences and exclusion fences that were yet to be replaced after the bushfires so there would be two large baiting programs this year, another in October, to combat the problem.
Due to COVID-19 he said manufactured baits that were already used in the Northern Tablelands, were also being used in conjunction to meats baits injected with 1080, as they involved less handling.
The 60g manufactured baits have tracer beads so that if non-target species take them, LLS officers can analyse the stomach contents to see whether they take the baits or not.
Mr Marshall said the manufactured baits were a trial to determine their effectiveness for future baiting programs.
The meats baits will be dropped in national parks only while the manufactured baits will be distributed to state forests and private land.
"I've been impressed by the amount of planning that goes into designing the baiting program and the accuracy of dropping these baits. More than 99 per cent of baits are dropped within 10m of their GPS coordinates of where they are supposed to go," Mr Marshall said.
It comes after the LLS have been offering 'drive-thru' bait collection services to make sure landholders still had access to baits, while complying with COVID-19 social distancing measures.
Landholders simply organise a time, drive up to their local LLS office, and their baits will be ready to collect on arrival.