ON FLINDERS ISLAND IN AUSTRALIA Member Charles Reid
WALLABY HUNTING
ver a number of years I have enjoyed hunting varmints in Canada and the United States. Recently I had the opportunity to hunt rabbits in New Zealand and wallabies in Austra- lia. In this article I will talk about my Australia hunts.
O Wallabies are perfect for varmint
The author Charles Reid, at right, has plenty to smile about during his wallaby hunt with guide Chris Rhodes, at left. This is a Bennett's wallaby.
This wallaby is the smaller Rufus variety. Hunting is done at night with spotlights while the animals are feeding.
hunting because they are extremely plentiful and do considerable crop dam- age. Although there are many varieties of wallabies in Australia, I hunted only the Rufus and Bennett’s. Rufus wallabies can weigh up to 26 pounds and stand 45 inches tall, while Bennett’s can weigh up to 45 pounds and stand almost 5 feet tall. Although the Rufus are smaller in size than the Bennett’s, they typically are more difficult to kill. Like prairie dogs in America, wallabies compete with live- stock for food and are prolific breeders. Local farmers sometimes use a very potent poison known as 1080 to kill the animals. Unfortunately, 1080 is a nonspecific poison and kills many beneficial animals along with wallabies. Shooting provides an environmen- tally friendly method for reducing the population. Although not considered a source of game meat, some wallabies are actually sold by local restaurants in the form of wallaby burgers. While I have not personally sampled this local fare, I have heard that they are quite tasty and also make good sausage.
One of the best places to hunt wal-
Wallaby guards on vehicles are very common where the author hunted wallabies on Flinders Island a bit more than 200 miles southeast of Melbourne in the Tasman Sea.
Page 144 Winter 2013
labies is on Flinders Island. This island is in the Australian state of Tasmania and is the largest island in the Furneaux group. The island is located just northeast of Tasmania. It is approximately 38 miles long and 23 miles wide. Getting there is easy from either the cities of Melbourne or Launceston. Sharp Airlines has sev- eral flights a day to and from the island. You also can take a nine-hour ferry ride from the mainland but the unpredictable seas in the Bass Strait can make this trip rather more exciting than most people really want.
When my flight landed on Flinders
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