On the way to my friend's ranch we go by a place with a small enclosure full of kangaroos.
We wondered if kangaroos could live in the Texas Hill Country.
In researching the question we learned kangaroos supposedly need special hay and trees not found in Texas but some can and do survive as escapees from high fence situations.We also learned there are some exotic hunts available for kangaroos in Texas as they are hunted in Australia for meat and hides.

Question: Have you ever hunted kangaroos? Would you hunt for a kangaroo?

Thanks.

A buddy of mine found it fun in Australia.

Well, they can live in Oklahoma. NSFW (language), FYI

There is a ranch in Vanderpool thet has them. They are not in a small enclosure either.

Hunt them? I wouldn’t shoot one here in Texas but if I was in Australia and I had a legal opportunity….sure, why not?

If free yes, if I had to pay no.

I was able to go on a 10 day hunt in the outback about 10 years ago. Kangaroos were the number one animal we took, but we also shot water buffalo, hogs, foxes, rabbits, feral cats. Basically all of these animals (except the kangaroos) are invasive. Since there are no predators to keep these animals in check they just overrun everything. When it came to kangaroos I enjoyed the first few days, but after that it became more of a case of just killing instead of truly hunting. There were just so many of them.
I will say that overall the trip was great! They treat Americans VERY WELL. I could talk for hours about that trip.

Would I go again,no. I think it would diminish the memory of my first trip.

I didn't think kangaroo hunting was legal for non-citizens. In fact on another forum, an Australian guy said about the same.

when I was in Viet Nam, I was able to take an R&R to Australia. I had no interest in Sydney and flew to a small town about 200 miles away. I had a "sponsor" who set everything up for me. I stayed at his house, his parents' farm and another friend's house. They all fed me, drove me around, tried to buy me beer and entertained me. They wouldn't let me pay for anything. We hunted kangaroo, hogs, parrots and doves. I never was sure what was legal, but it didn't seem to matter to them. One night we hunted kangaroo from a pickup, chasing them through fields with the headlights. There was a driver and a shooter in the front and three or four shooters in the back of the truck, chasing, bouncing, turning. I was sure someone would get shot or run over, but there were no injuries. I expressed my concern over just shooting and leaving the ones we shot. They told me the kangaroos were considered destructive vermin, tearing up crops, much like we view hogs in Texas and farmers wanted them gone. We probably did more damage with that truck than the kangaroos did that night. Just a bunch of good ol' boys having fun. It was a great memory I will never forget. They really loved Americans then; I hope it's still that same way.

While working in Singapore, I tried kangaroo meat and it was great. One of my supervisors was Australian and his son is a professional hunter there that does a lot of roo hunting, and sells the meat and hides. I hooked my boss up with a bunch of fishing lures he uses for barramundi that are stupid expensive there, if you can even get them. In return, he was setting me up with his son for some roo hunting in the Outback. It was almost time to go when covid hit and shut everything down, so I never went.

No idea??? I went while doing business with an Australian rifle stock company. They picked up the tab for the whole trip. None of them even mentioned a hunting license and I never even thought about asking.

papa45 was right! It sounds as if we met the same guys!

Thanks for responding. Kangaroos are not one of the animals you normally think of and especially as a subject on a hunting forum. The question came up during the 5+ hour drive to the lease. We don't solve any world issues but we sure have some interesting discussions on a plethora of subjects.

ralph,
You have mentioned the hardest part of deer season! By the time it is over, I am completely worn out! The getting up before the sun rises isn't too bad, but staying up for hours each night solving the world's problems just wears you down!
I just guess that is the price you pay to have good hunting partners.

Roos are some good eating critters.

Sometimes I think this whole "exotic game" thing has just gone too far.

I’m not a fan of animals being here that aren’t supposed to be here. That’s why our lakes are full of carp.

I shot one on a lease in Eastland back in 2009 or 2010. Supposedly he had been out of his high fence for 2 years.

I agree, I shoot every axis I see.

Wish I could. I have still never killed an axis. Plenty other exotics, just not an axis yet.

Hunted them numerous times, no dice.

Next year my knuckle draggers & I will kill some axis does somewhere, if I have to shoot them off the side of the road so be it.

One on my high fence friends used to have a couple of kangaroos he just fed them the same hay he fed the deer. Been to a couple of cattle auctions where they have sold a kangaroo or wallabies. Coming into Eddy there is a small high fence with prob 20 wallabies they draw a lot of attraction from people driving by.

Those east of Eddy are the ones that started the conversation in the first place. So, those are wallabies? I thought they were kangaroos. I'll have to tell my buddy-but I might wait until the next trip-so we'll have something new to talk about.

I have hunted roos many times.

I lived in the Australian outback for 6 years. A buddy of mine was married to an aboriginal woman. We would go out on their land spot lighting roos at night, and then bring them back to the communities. We would roll up at 2 or 3 in the morning, dogs would start barking and people would come pouring out of houses. They cooked the roos whole, with the skin on, and only make a small cut to remove the large intestine and bowel.

If I got a chance to go back to Australia I'd hunt them again in a heartbeat. But spot lighting them is pretty much like spot lighting deer or rabbits. Not really challenging.

You might be right I asked my buddy who told him they were Wallabies he said they looked to small to be kangaroos. Gonna ask the owner and find out exactley what they are.

There used to be a herd of them on a place near Strawn or Desdemona. Not sure if they're still there.