Do try to grow up a bit Wolly B. Only a fool or an idiot would believe anyone would use a perfectly good car to cull kangaroos. It would be as stupid as green policy to do a couple of thousand dollars worth of damage to a car, when a $2 bullet will do the same job.

If we could just get councils to ignore the greeny ratbags, & go back to clearing the scrub & saplings from the side of roads more roos would survive. These provide hiding places for the damn roos right on the road edge, to hop out into a car's path, unavoidably.

We get a few people each year injured, & occasionally killed, when they try to dodge a roo, & get those greenies saplings now grown into trees instead. We don't use one road to a local town at night, as there are just too many suicidal roos on it.

Hi there PAUL1405...

I tend to agree with you when you assert the ethics of some of our professional 'Roo shooters. I happened upon a couple of these blokes years ago when relieving in the bush. Both hunted 'Roos full time, and only used Scoped .22 'rimfires' to take each animal. Generally speaking their accuracy out to about 100 yards (at dusk over a tank as the animal drank) was impressive.

The odd one or two they failed to dispatch, if it managed to escape, were just left? Those injured near the environs of the tank, were uncontrollably withering and flailing about, a very dangerous plight for anybody approaching a 'roo, even one the size of an adult 'grey'. Were finished off with a pick handle, a poor and inordinately painful ending for the 'roo, and quite perilous for the hunter, had either of those massive rear legs impaled him?

Taking a Statement later, I asked why the .22's? They responded; it was far cheaper than using a centrefire, after all most of the 'cockies' only used .22's when taking a 'roo for their dogs?

Paul, being new to the bush, and the ways of the bush, therefore being wholly ignorant, I realised I had much to learn. And needed to listen, to observe and to think, before I ever 'blundered through' any of the 'conventions of the bush' with city styled policing!

Though a pick handle to kill 'any' animal...well, I'm buggered if I know?

http://www.kangaroo-industry.asn.au/morinfo/BACKGR1.HTM

<Kangaroo Industry Background

John Kelly, B. Ru Sci. (Hons), Kangaroo Industries Association of Australia. July 2008
...
7.3 The ‘evidence’ of cruelty

Radical animal liberationists typically attack the kangaroo industry as ‘cruel and inhumane’, but rarely do they provide any evidence, rather the statement is simply a value judgment made by people who have rarely, if ever, seen a kangaroo outside of a wildlife park. Where ‘evidence’ is presented it invariably misrepresents the studies referred to above. For example it is regularly claimed that, "an RSPCA report demonstrated 15% of kangaroos are not killed cleanly and crawl away to die of their wounds." This is a misrepresentation of the 1984 RSPCA study referred to above. The only place in it where the figure 15% is mentioned in the RSPCA report is stating that at the time,15% were not head shot. The study found that most of these were heart shot and that, whilst less desirable than a head shot, "any placement of a bullet in the chest cavity causes instantaneous death" (RSPCA 1985). As mentioned previously things have improved dramatically since this study and the more recent audit demonstrates head shot rates now above 98%.>

tbc

contd.
<<Other evidence of cruelty often cited is a video of a kangaroo shoot obtained in 1986. This video was taken by a radical animal liberation group who encouraged a unlicensed shooter, who did not have permission to shoot on the property in question to commit gross acts of cruelty to kangaroos whilst they quietly stood by and filmed. The man has since been prosecuted, as probably also would have the animal liberation film crew if they hadn’t left the country. This video is portrayed as representative of the commercial industry, however the shooter was not involved in it in any way involved in the commercial industry. In the court case in which he was prosecuted it was revealed that he was actively encouraged to commit his illegal actions by the film crew. They told him they were from an American game shooting magazine. The final hearing of the case in which penalties were handed down was in Dubbo District Court 31 July 1997 NSW NP&WS v Eichner.>

G'day ONTHEBEACH...

I suppose this is an instance if the cap fits wear it perhaps? I accept that we 'city slickers' have much to learn about the ways of the bush and how hard it is for rural producers to earn a quid, given the persistent hardships they continually need to confront?

Niceties that we of the city tend to observe are not part of rural life including the management of vermin, feral infestation, by rabbits, pigs, foxes,'roo's and to a lesser extent; camels, brumbies and up in the gulf country, cape buffalo etc. All competing for precious feed and water, as well as causing massive destruction of fences and crops.

It's no wonder the cockies have so little patience for these greenies, and other habitual nuisance groups, all hiding under the mantle of serious conservationists. Furthermore legitimate functionaries like the RSPCA, even they've tried the patience of many Rural Producers with their rigid insistence of strict adherence to the law, in terms of animal management and cruelty.

The coppers can and do inhibit farmers with their lack of flexibility and a fundamental working knowledge of the land. Sure in NSW we have the Stock Squad but generally speaking they only deal with contemporary rustling (larceny) of livestock. Rather than giving their attention to other more immediate problems like vandalism; of rural fences, stock itself, property and structures. These offences alone, causes considerable cost and grief, for today's farmers.

If we could strike a balance that suits all stake holders. One that most certainly accommodates the man on the land.

One thing is for sure, without our Rural Producers, this great Nation of ours is stuffed, therefore we must protect, shield and tolerate, the needs, and the requirements of our primary producers. Failure to do so, may prove catastrophic, in the long term.

o sung wu,

Your mention of the stock squad brings back some memories.
I used to hunt with a couple of blokes from the squad, now sadly passed on.
They had some tales to tell about the bush and some of the characters that they came across.
I also used to hunt on a property in the upper reaches of the Burragorang Valley and I asked them if they knew the owner.
They knew him well and rated him as the smartest bushman in NSW.
I said "Smarter than you blokes?"
The answer was profanely positive and they told me that on one occasion they knew that he'd stolen a mob of sheep and planned to sell them at Oberon.
They had two men on every known track into his part of the valley and were sure that they finally had him.
The operation was called off when they heard that he'd sold the mob in Oberon.
This was 60 odd years ago and things are much more hi-tech these days so I doubt that the feat could be repeated.
Back then, as well, there were stock squad members who were well under the height requirements for the police, which helped to let them move around without suspicion.