POLICE have seized five guns from deer hunters and will apply to have them destroyed amid concerns over the number of shooters breaking the law in the North East.
Officers again joined Parks Victoria and the Game Management Authority for Operation Elmer May at the weekend.
They spoke to 47 people, checked 29 vehicles and caught 16 offenders over two days after targeting the Buckland Valley, Germantown, Freeburgh and Mount Beauty.
A roadblock was also set up on Buffalo River Road.
Senior Sergeant Doug Incoll said while there were no animal cruelty cases detected, at least one person in each of the 10 hunting groups police spoke to, had committed an offence.
“There were 16 people processed for offences,” he said. “Out of the 47 people we spoke to, that’s extraordinarily high.”
Police seized cannabis and five people were caught breaching firearm and ammunition storage laws, with further parks and wildlife offences.
“The firearms offences were for carrying a loaded firearm along a road and people were also charged with failing to secure firearms and ammunition separately,” Senior Sergeant Incoll said.
“People were storing unattended loaded firearms at their camps and while transporting them in vehicles.
“Parks Victoria is also following up people carrying spotlights in vehicles in deer habitat.
“These laws are in place for the shooters’ safety and for the safety of everyone else. People have to abide by those laws.”
Police will apply to a magistrate to have the five guns and ammunition destroyed.
“One of the main things that police were concerned about, apart from the high incidence of offending, is the complacent attitude of people storing firearms at their camps and having them loaded while transporting them in vehicles,” Senior Sergeant Incoll said.
“We will continue to conduct these operations at random times during the year.”