Wild Dog Worries

Many stations suffer the problem of wild dogs. It's common place to have control programs in order to keep their numbers down. What wild dogs can do to calves and weak cattle is sad and sickening. To this day I still don't think I've ever come across a beast, calf or not, that has been pulled down by wild dogs for the sole purpose of gaining a meal. Their actions seem more like a sport. I've hand raised a poddy calf that after being attacked by wild dogs, had his tail drop off from the rot they had caused. When he was found he had no ears and was in a bad way. They'd pulled him down just to leave him for dead.
Over this Wet season though I've noticed a great increase in wild dog numbers. Whilst checking a bore Damian and I came across 3 of them at the trough. We wished we had a gun with us since it was not the first time Damian had seen them there.
Wild dog tracks were left behind in the dirt up and down the driveway for months. It's been proven that they have a thing for roads, fencelines and cattle pads. Things that they can easily follow.
One day not long ago when I was returning from town I came across four wild dogs laying under the shade of a tree on the driveway through Dilinya. They scattered as I approached them but every single one of them kept an eye on me as I passed through their camp spot. I've even had one very healthy male run out across the driveway on the way to the neighbours right in front of me and look at me as though he sees me every day.
Lately I've been doing a bit of work for the neighbour doing some fencing and for the first four days I was working completely on my own. I'd head out to the same fence I was rebuilding every morning. Nothing unusual. Except for the one day that I saw wild dog tracks around my previous days boot prints in the dust. No more than 10 minutes later I heard the chilling howl of the owner of those foot prints. It called out in its haunting way for a good few minutes till it moved on. Further up the fence I could smell fresh dog faeces. It well and truly knew of me and my presence and after it left behind goosebumps on my arms and a stench in my nostrils I most certainly knew of its presence.
But it doesn't end there. These creatures get brave. On my first week on Providence there was the carcase of a shot wild dog at the bottom of the house paddock. Only a week later another skulked around the same area before a bullet scared it off. Though this isn't the closest they've come. As Damian and I sat chatting on the front verandah the other evening one came right up to the back yard fence. Lacey trotted over to the edge of the decking with her heckles up while Damian demanded I go get his gun. By the time I got back from fetching it, the wild dog had sprinted off towards the cooler paddock and was no doubt watching us from the camouflage of the buffell grass. The following morning, while it was still dark, I made breakfast to the sound of the wild dog and his companions. They would have been no more than 100 metres from the house. Skulking in the bullwaddy perhaps.
It seems that so many people in our area have noticed an increase in wild dog numbers. It scares me to think that if I've seen so many of them out there over the last few months then how many are there really out there? It's obvious to me that red tape restrictions are allowing the population to grow despite many stations individual efforts. I wonder how bad it has to get before control methods are improved and increased. I certainly hope it doesn't get to the point of people giving up cattle solely because of calf mortality rates like alot of people did with sheep in South-West Queensland, I know that for sure.