Feral Donkeys ln Australia

Hi all, I have to agree with Aussie Steve, Donkey is good eating if you get the young mares, as with all "game" meats, the young females are the best to eat(except bloody emu, stringy crap at the best).
I often go shooting on a few properties to cull Roos, Brumby's, pigs, camels and the odd goat, l always take a freezer and fill it.
I also love eating crocks, but it is protected in the wild, so have to buy it.
A Burro is a cross between a horse and a donkey as far as I am led to believe.
Happy hunting.
 
A mule is a cross between a horse and donkey, and they are sterile. Burro is Spanish for donkey. We had a bunch in the Grand Canyon, and they did destroy the habitat. I was amazed at the vegetation that came back after they eradicated them. There are still a bunch of donkeys on the San Juan branch of Lake Powell. I never considered hunting them. That might be fun. When I was a kid, Albuquerque public schools found out they were serving horse meat to us kids. It was quite a scandal, but the meat was good.
 
They are a major problem in Arizona. Game and Fish has done assessments and would like to reduce their population to about 1/3 but their hands are tied as they are federally protected. They live a long time, no real predators, they are destructive eaters, and they've been shown to prevent wild game like deer from coming into a watering hole by chasing them off. Some areas we hunt they are all over the place. We'll see multiple herds of 20+ per day, they come into camp braying all night and keeping us awake. My hunting buddies and I fantasize about dropping a few dozen and doing some good conservation work, but that's as far as it goes.
 
I seem to recall the man who invented the Horus vision reticle used it for long range donkey culling in Australia. He once told me he got 2nd and third shot kills at a mile with his rifle and scope combo. Can't remember the rifle he was using. He also created a ballistics app for mini computers that he gave me to try out on a floppy disk. That'll tell you how long ago it was.
 
Try again.
When I lived in Western Australia, was introduced to farmed croc meat as a steak. Wow - it was very rich. Roo needs, like venison, to be cooked rare. Have eaten horse meat elsewhere - equally as good as steak IMO. Tried emu once - too dry and stringy. A bit like overcooked turkey drumsticks with the tendons left in, but extremely gamey flavour. Not an experience I wanted to try again 😖
 
Jerry M said:
A question for you guys living there, who is a good guide?
Click to expand...
For most of us, we go on properties where we either know the owner, or go with mates that do. Often it's a winter holiday to get away from the southern winter and enjoy the sunny warmer northern weather, where we camp out, and perhaps spend a night or two at the station homestead. We visit with the people there and perhaps give a hand to do a bit of work, help here n there with stock work and do mill runs. Some of the meat we take back to the station for dog tucker according to their needs. Overall is a relaxing time in the bush, enjoying time around the campfire, and cooking up various dishes with good mates and family.
It's an ideal time to try various bullets where we get to shoot lots of animals in a short space of time.
As far as guides go... donkeys would normally be a bit of side show where they live on properties where a booked safari concentrating on pigs or buffalo is undertaken.
 
Dentite said:
They are a major problem in Arizona. Game and Fish has done assessments and would like to reduce their population to about 1/3 but their hands are tied as they are federally protected. They live a long time, no real predators, they are destructive eaters, and they've been shown to prevent wild game like deer from coming into a watering hole by chasing them off. Some areas we hunt they are all over the place. We'll see multiple herds of 20+ per day, they come into camp braying all night and keeping us awake. My hunting buddies and I fantasize about dropping a few dozen and doing some good conservation work, but that's as far as it goes.
Click to expand...
Why fantasize when you wake up and there's blood every where ,just say you were sleep walking thur a nightmare and being stampeded...
 
The only guides I know run their outfits in Arnemland in the NT.
I used to hunt out of Jabiru and help out with the Aboriginal elders there. It was a good gig, just had to supply some food and drink of my choice and as long as we did what was needed around camp and the station everything else was supplied.
No alcohol though, which suits me as with diabetes you really can't drink alcohol other than straight spirits.
I still have the contacts to go, but I am not in shape for that climate anymore. Taxes me in just one day hunting on foot up there.
Insulin makes you gain weight like I have never seen. Almost 20lbs in 3 months! Plus lockdowns and I can't work my normal businesses to my liking.

Cheers.
 
MagnumManiac said:
The only guides I know run their outfits in Arnemland in the NT.
I used to hunt out of Jabiru and help out with the Aboriginal elders there. It was a good gig, just had to supply some food and drink of my choice and as long as we did what was needed around camp and the station everything else was supplied.
No alcohol though, which suits me as with diabetes you really can't drink alcohol other than straight spirits.
I still have the contacts to go, but I am not in shape for that climate anymore. Taxes me in just one day hunting on foot up there.
Insulin makes you gain weight like I have never seen. Almost 20lbs in 3 months! Plus lockdowns and I can't work my normal businesses to my liking.

Cheers.
Click to expand...
Being type 2 I empathise with you and a crook back just makes it worse for weight control.
I had a contact in Kakadoo N.P. and spent a bit of time with Ratsak chasing buffalo. He was employed by Ranger to cull the buffs. I learned a lot from him on how not to get stomped. We followed a big one, at a diagonal, into scrub and at about 15 yd I got a 220 Sierra RN from a 30-06 into his face just under his eye and he folded. He no sooner hit the ground than there is an almighty boom from beside me. Ratsak put a 577 nitro between his sholder's "for insurance".
Had a bull catcher mate working out of Katherine and the property owner wanted "all the bloody donkeys dead". I was using an AR10 at the time and he gave us a case of 308's from the Pasture protection board. We made quite a dent in the donkey and pig population. Mostly we just walked right up to 20 yds from the donkeys and let loose. Definately not "sporting" but needed to be done. The pigs on the other hand were much more fun with mobs over 50, free amo and an AR10. What more could you want.
Not a lot of camels in the area in those days so they were left alone.
 

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