Australia has a narrow window to prevent a feral deer explosion that could cause the pest to invade most of the country and move in on capital cities.
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The first national plan to manage the threat was released on Monday and details what's on the line for society, the environment and farmers if the war isn't won.
Australia is home to up to two million feral deer, costing communities and primary producers $91 million a year.
They are present across a quarter of NSW and Tasmania, half of Victoria and half of South Australia's farm lands.
But modelling suggests without more action, most of the country could be inhabited by at least one of Australia's six feral deer species and it could happen within decades.
That will inevitably mean mounting costs for agriculture as deer compete with livestock for pasture, destroy infrastructure and spread weeds and disease.
More deer will also further degrade the environment as they ring bark young trees, cause soil erosion, kill threatened species and damage critical habitat.
Increasingly they're also a safety threat to humans as they venture onto roads.
The national plan sets out 22 actions designed to stop the westward spread of the deer from the east coast where numbers are most concentrated.
They are centred on three objectives: to stop the spread of large populations, to eradicate small, isolated populations so they can't develop and to protect priority assets of environmental, agricultural and cultural significance.
The plan provides brutal commentary about past efforts to control the pest with aerial culling, ground culling, trapping and exclusion fences and says new tools must be developed.
Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt says feral deer management is a responsibility shared by governments, land owners, industry and the community.
He says his department has spent $4 million on deer control projects and the government recently allocated almost $1 million to extend the national feral deer management coordinator program for two years.
The Invasive Species Council says it's a relief to finally have a national plan but more money must be put on the table.
"Feral deer are wreaking havoc on our environment and agriculture. They are now directly threatening our iconic World Heritage areas," says council spokeswoman and ecologist Tiana Pirtle.
"The message from this plan is simple; if we do nothing to control feral deer then everybody loses, but if governments and landholders step up, we can stop the spread, reduce the negative impacts and protect our precious places."
Deer were brought to Australia for hunting and farming in the 1800s. When profits in the venison industry plunged in the 1990s, farmed deer escaped, were released, or relocated for recreational hunting.
They quickly established new populations and in the past 20 years feral deer have almost doubled their range, with impacts now being felt in some towns and cities, including Brisbane, Sydney, Wollongong and Melbourne.
Last year, Wollongong man John Apolloni's prized car was smashed up after he struck a wild deer on the M1 and stories of near misses are not uncommon.
Deer are also threatening some of Australia's most precious natural places, including the Blue Mountains, NSW's Gondwana rainforests, and Queensland's Wet Tropics.
Australia had an estimated 50,000 deer in 1980, a fraction of the current estimate of one to two million.
Left uncontrolled in good conditions, populations can increase by 34 to 50 per cent every year.
Australian Associated Press
