Found another old pic

[olbod]

Taken years ago when we were Pro roo shooters.
Those days are long gone.
We would shoot at night, wife driving. I would hang bunches of them in tree's as we went. In the morning there would be tree's full of roo's all over the place. I would go around gutting and loading them onto the truck and then take them to the portable freezer somewhere in the scrub. Here they would be weighed and I would recieve a cheque. We got paid threepence a pound, which was pretty good. We would earn around 75 pound a week, at that time the average wage for a bloke working on a station was about twelve pound.
I used to use a 22 magnum, cant remember what brand. They did not like big holes that would bruise the meat or ruin the skin. Mine were mostly head shots depending on what area I could see clearly thru the scrub.
A truck would collect them and take them to the railhead at Bourke.
There were about 10,000 carcases a week being shipped out.
In the pic I am about to start gutting a bunch, the thing around my waste is my skinning knife, I still have it. I dont remember the dog's name at the foot of the tree but she was a good'n.

I used to love living in the bush for long periods of time, didn't matter what we were doing as long as it put food on the table and a few quid in the kitty.
Nowadays I only kill for tucker.

Cheers.

Robert.

[Landy Smurf]

yes those days are long gone. that is quite good pay for a job that you can enjoy.10k roos every week that is heaps. i think they said there is about 50 million roos in OZ now, i know a few years ago they were sending heaps over to russia but then quality or something slipped and the russians didnt like it anymore.i know in sweden you can buy roo is some of the bigger supermarkets it is around $27kg which is probably not too bad

[PAT303]

When I was shooting them we used to get money for the meat and skins,for some reason they changed the regs so we could sell either the meat or the skins not both,it became a complete waste of a viable resource. Pat

[rick130]

There are still chillers all over the countryside for HC and petfood roo meat but it's much more strictly controlled now.

[olbod]

Whenever we were fencing or working on stations I used to shoot for skins,
as I did when I was driving the mail runs or carting wool.
I could skin a roo in about 2 minutes, peg them out wherever home was and when I had big bunch I would send them away from the railhead. it was a lucritive sideline.
I also thought it was waste of a resource so I would usually thro a few carcases onto the back of the semi and drop them off at stations along the mail route for the dogs. Cocky's usually appreciated it as well as having the roo's and pigs culled as I went around. Every now and then I would be given half a sheep or if we were low at home I would supplement with roo meat. Very rarely did we need to buy meat unless we wanted steak for a change and to make a supply of jerky.

I was appalled recently at the waste when the camels were culled and left to rot. More thought could probably have been put into it ?

Robert.

[rick130]

[snip]

I was appalled recently at the waste when the camels were culled and left to rot. More thought could probably have been put into it ?

Robert.

On the eastern side of the Great Divide here in NSW roos can legally only be shot and the carcasses tagged and left to rot (to attract pigs, dogs and foxes.... )

Don't you just love State Govt bureaucracies.

[PAT303]

Whenever we were fencing or working on stations I used to shoot for skins,
as I did when I was driving the mail runs or carting wool.
I could skin a roo in about 2 minutes, peg them out wherever home was and when I had big bunch I would send them away from the railhead. it was a lucritive sideline.
I also thought it was waste of a resource so I would usually thro a few carcases onto the back of the semi and drop them off at stations along the mail route for the dogs. Cocky's usually appreciated it as well as having the roo's and pigs culled as I went around. Every now and then I would be given half a sheep or if we were low at home I would supplement with roo meat. Very rarely did we need to buy meat unless we wanted steak for a change and to make a supply of jerky.

I was appalled recently at the waste when the camels were culled and left to rot. More thought could probably have been put into it ?

Robert.

The amount of camels in the centre now is unbelieveable,the great central and around Rawlinna on the Trans Oz line was lousy with them last xmas when I travelled them. Pat

[lebanon]

yes those days are long gone. that is quite good pay for a job that you can enjoy.10k roos every week that is heaps. i think they said there is about 50 million roos in OZ now, i know a few years ago they were sending heaps over to russia but then quality or something slipped and the russians didnt like it anymore.i know in sweden you can buy roo is some of the bigger supermarkets it is around $27kg which is probably not too bad

What does roo meat tastes like?

[Landy Smurf]

i have only every had a kanga banga sanga.it was ok i dont really know what to compare it too. i think i would need to have a steak to get a good taste. for the price i never buy it

[d3syd]

What does roo meat tastes like?

Very lean, only slightly gamey. Best eaten rare to medium rare. I prefer beef any day personally.