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There are a number of different species of kangaroo and a couple of smaller species.

Broadly there are kangaroos, the main species being the largest "Red" kangaroos, and then the "Greys" the Eastern and the Western Grey Kangaroos.
The Reds mainly live in the deserts and plains while the Greys live in the more settled areas and in the hills.

Smaller in size than a kangaroo are the Euros or Wallaroos.

Again smaller are Wallabies which can be very small to approaching a Euro in size.

The desert roos can sense rain falling many kilometres away and travel to where the new grasses are growing.

There are shotgun drives of Wallabies in Tasmania.

Shooting roos is done under permit and maybe 4 million to 6.5 million permits are issued each year depending on the populaton numbers estimated. The kill is probably only half the quota though. In addition to the legal quota, probably just as many are shot illegally. Combined the kill numbers are less than 10% of the population.

Permits are of two main types. Destruction permits where the farmer or his agent can shoot kangaroos but can not remove them from the property. If he lives on the property he may feeds his dogs with some. The second type is harvesting roos for pet food processors, skins and human food consumption. There are sporting permits in Queensland but no one seems to know anything about them so I guess they are not easy to get ???

Roo is a game meat and very red in colour, lean and low in fat and has a nice gamey taste.

Roos are in no way endangered and can live close to humans. I sometimes see them within a kilometre of my farm (vineyards). You won't see them in settled regions that much but they will be there. You will see lost of them dead as road kill on outback highways. It has been estimated that there are many more roos in Australia than before white man arrived due to the increased availability of water in the bush and desert supplied for domestic stock such as cattle and sheep. When hunting say goats or pigs you usually see more roos than cattle, sheep, feral goats AND pigs combined.

Some wallabies are endangered due to habitat competition eg feral goats amd predation from foxes, cats, dogs etc.

Roos are pretty easy to hunt if they are not molested however when we had the NitroExpress.com Big Bore Boar Hunt last year the roos were very flightly and would have only offered shots in excess of 350 metres in most cases if we weren't hunting pigs. Often well in excess of that. Usually they were away at distances much further. Spotlighting would be more successful where they usually stand in the light for a while.

The .22/250 is probably the best roo rifle and the .243 with light bullets also very good. A .22 Mag will drop then well too at lesser ranges. The difficulty is hitting them in the brain as a lung or heart shot may damage the skin.

I can't remember how fast a "Big Boomer" or large Red can hop but at least 50 to 60 kms a hour (ie we have driven beside them at this speed).

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John aka NitroX

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