Back from wallaby hunting.

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  • Last Post 11 February 2014
JeffinNZ posted this 09 February 2014

Hi team. I'm back from my hunt and thoroughly glad I went. My mission was to get my friend Mike onto his first wallaby ('roo) and we did this and some. The property was new to us and the game holding area quite small but really nice. A river bed along a step, scrubby face. On arrival at the farm we availed ourselves of the clay throwing trap and used up the bucket of clays I had loaded. My 12 gauge handloads (with home dropped shot) went well as did my faithful old side by side. Mike is a bit of a natural on clays and after about 80-90 rounds we prepared to chase furry things. As Mike has only a pair of .22RFs I set him up with my suppressed .32-20 Martini shooting ACWW Lyman 31133 HP's with poly wad over a full charge of H4227 producing 1850fps. I carried my Husqvarna .30-30 bolt rifle pushing a CBE 309 162 in 40-1 alloy over 22gr of Benchmark for 1700fps. The farmer's son dropped us off down the road so we could walk back and initially we saw only 3 bunnies but elected to leave them and look for bigger game. On a bit we had seen no 'roos but got onto a pair of hares that were sitting in the river bed below us about 80-90m away. I encouraged Mike to have a shot and from prone he leveled his hare and I quickly lined up on the other and took that. This was Mike's first ever hunting kill; here he is: 

And me with the Husky and hare:

On we went and came to a grass laneway between the hill and scrub in the river. Mike immediately spotted a face and ears looking at us and called 'roo! I couldn't positively identify over the iron sights and the animal moved out of sight before he could line up. We moved forward slightly to find it again in the open scrub. Buck fever got Mike and he missed at 20m but as the 'roo turned to depart I hit it with the .30-30 on the run. I solid female:

Further on Mike lead the way and walked past a shot on the hill he thought was a hare. I lined and and dropped a small 'roo then went to recover it only to spring it's friend who was sitting nearby. The second animal launched to my left and I dropped it inside 10m again on the trot:

Approaching the homestead in failing light we entered a large, flat area I didn't think would hold game. That was until a very large male 'roo went sailing by. It stopped and at about 50m Mike got his first wallaby:

The farm boys had rigged up the truck with a bench seat on the back for some spotlighting. I am not a huge fan of night shooting but away we went and what a hoot. Mike and I on the back, he with the .32-20 and me carrying my 12 gauge with some BB loads I had put together. Another 10 'roos fell before midnight. Tally for the weekend, 14 wallabies, 3 hares, 4 bunnies. AND we saw a nice fallow deer in the spotlight that I will look for next time. Great weekend and a joy to help someone else into the sport. Now he has to come round and reload all the brass he created!

Cheers from New Zealand

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Vassal posted this 09 February 2014

Where were the purple shorts?  or were they leggings,,?

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onondaga posted this 09 February 2014

Jeff,

You have some giant Hares there! I live in Western New York State and we have Cottontail rabbits less than half the size of your Hares and they are big Cottontail rabbits. A few hundred miles East of me in the Adirondack Mountains  there are Varying Hares that turn white in the winter, called Snowshoe Rabbits. The Snowshoes don't get as big as your Hares either but are about twice the size as our Cottontails in New York State.

Your larger caliber is a very reasonable selection for those larger beasts.

Gary

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mckg posted this 09 February 2014

Vassal wrote: Where were the purple shorts?  or were they leggings,,?I remember them things as being fuchsia... anyway, those pictures were not for the faint of heart...:P

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tturner53 posted this 10 February 2014

Thanks for the story and pics! Well done, as usual.

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delmarskid1 posted this 11 February 2014

How does one prepare wallaby? Am I correct in that hares were introduced? Where I live we are cautioned not to eat rabbits in warm weather as we can get something called tularemia. I think it is carried by the fleas on rabbits. Have you heard of anything like that over there? Congratulations on making a convert. I love that kind of hunting.

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JeffinNZ posted this 11 February 2014

The best recipe for wallaby is:

Bone out the animal, place the meat in a large pot with a rock. Boil until the rock is good and tender. Throw away the wallaby meat and eat the rock.

Cheers from New Zealand

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corerf posted this 11 February 2014

tularemia is spread by ticks, etc, just like west nile and other parasite spread goodies.

I suppose the warnings are due to higher incidence of fleas on rodents in summer. More likely you will get bit. I always leave a rabbit, best I can, somewhere cool and not in my car so the extra folks can hop off when blood pressure is gone. A couple hours later, everyone has evacuated, so I have found. And Im in CA where Tularemia was named for.

Theres a a bacteria that they coexist with. It kills them, if a wound appears, etc. If stressed, its what causes pneumonia in them. Its the kill all, cause all for them. Cant remember the name. Its just as bad. It is in their uncooked flesh active. When processing the carcass, some rabbits how signs of white pulp btw skin and meat. Jelly and its not fat. Thats a sign from what I understand, of the bacteria being very active.

Aren't roos good dog food? I knew a few Aussies who would harvest and keep the dogs fed very well. Dunno if it was fed raw or cooked. If I had an avail source for fresh meat, Id be all over this stuff to supplement dog food,

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tturner53 posted this 11 February 2014

I'm jealous of the 'roo population you have. I'm a gentle soul but am real hard on certain varmints. Ground squirrels and jackrabbits are just moving targets in my book. If it was up to me we'd import wallabies, camels, wolves, and baboons for breeding stock and let 'em loose in NorCal and Nevada. Open season, no limit.

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JeffinNZ posted this 11 February 2014

I'll swap you Tim.

You get a breeding pair of 'roos, I get a breeding pair of squirrels.

Cheers from New Zealand

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corerf posted this 11 February 2014

Tim, your awesome!

But we already have the wolves and baboons: They live around Downtown SAC (or at least work there) and they do breed, both random inbred (most common) and selective inbred.

Some of them don't have bald asses, just bald heads.

No hijack meant. I wait with baited breath for Jeffs posts when he hunts. His wife carries a gun and kills rabbits, it seems he ventures out into the “yard” and shoots varmints. I go in my back yard, I can only shoot the breeze.

I dont covet other women, my wife is all I want or need. But your a lucky man; gun toting mama and she carries the carnage for pictures!! Maybe one day my wife will indulge me. :(

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JeffinNZ posted this 11 February 2014

Thanks corerf! I hope to be doing a lot more this year.

Cheers from New Zealand

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