Te Puna Hunting and Fishing Club members are taking a new approach to pest control with a competition to collect the tails of dead vermin.

Members are currently gathering the tails of dead mice, rats, stoats, polecats, ferrets and weasels for the Prime Explosives 500 Competition, running throughout May.

Alex ​Finlayson, left, with some of his catches.

Five points is awarded for every rat and mouse tail, with 20 points awarded to every stoat, polecat, ferret and weasel tail.

The member with the most points at the end of the month wins $500.

Alex ​Finlayson, 10, is in the lead as of last Friday entering in four stoat tails and two ​rat tails. He is overconfident he will bet the adults to win the $500 cash.

Club secretary Sarah Adamson says members are taking the competition seriously, with a lot of excitement, and tail and trap talk.

More important than the prize money is the effort to help eradicate pests from the Bay of Plenty region.

'The aim is to rid of pests, which are a threat to our wildlife,” says Sarah. 'Stoats are now considered ‘public enemy number one' for New Zealand birds, so catching those is a real bonus.

'One female mouse can have five to 10 litters per year, and between three-14 babies per birth.”

Vermin can be caught by any means, including trap or poison, and members bring in their tails to the club each Friday.

The tails will be kept in sealed bags in a freezer. Sarah says they will be used for a future national competition.

Members dispose of the remainder of the pests appropriately. The club runs different species-related competitions monthly, with the chance to win $500 each time. Members wish to thank Clarrie from Prime Explosives for sponsoring the competition every month.

Te Puna Hunting and Fishing Club is also hosting the Polaris 2014 Big Four Competition next month.

At least 100 teams will compete in the annual event, hunting for stags, boars, pheasants and trout.

Hunting starts 6am on Tuesday, June 24 and runs to Friday, June 27.

Visit www.facebook.com/tepunahuntfishclub or www.tepunahuntingfishingclub.co.nz for details on either competition.