The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1915-04-08
Kangaroo Hunting
From an Automobile S
Back Latest Sport

A new form of sport has been dis
covered In Notwithstanding kan
garoos by motor car. The mere chase
alone is said to be productive Of
many thrills, calling for fast car
guided by an adept hand. To pilot
a motor car through the open coun
try, over fields dotted with rabbit
warrens and bunch grass bunkers at
a speed of forty or forty.five miles
an hour calls for steady nerves,
cool head and consummate skill.
AS the shooting is done over the
side of the car the man at the wheel
Is forced to maneuvre his craft much
after the fashion of a man O. war in
order to give the rifles chance. The
hunters shoot from humping, sway
ing seat at target which moves as
fast as If not faster than the car.
The range varies from so to 100 yards
The fact that prolonged drought
had made the kangaroos pest in the
vicinity of watering places caused an
automobile distributor to offer his
services and his cars toward Kidding
the country Of numbers Of the trou-
blesome animals. Heretofore II had
been found exceedingly difficult to
bag the creatures without persistent
and expert stalking. Kangaroos will
run forty Ave miles an hour with in
juries that would stop human being
In his tracks. A wounded roo can
easily outdistance the fieetest horse.
An early morning start was made
from Adelaide, the objective point
being the plains, some fifty miles dis
tant, where the kangaroos had made
themselves especially obnoxious to
the big ranchers. Each of the cars
had full complement of passengers
all of whom were armed with heavy
government army rifles.
Twenty five miles beyond Burra-
Burra, the jumping off place of civ
ilization was sighted a small mob Of
kangaroos whose heads plainly show
ed over the salt bush to the left of
the road The animals took to flight
but stopped at distance of 300
yards long enough to allow hunter
to wound one of them with ball
from his carbine.
While the others again started
their swift fight the wounded roo
| took an opposite direction from its
fellows and hoped away at arterrif
ic speed. The speedster, turning into
a course parallelling that of the kan
CARGO, followed for three miles in a
straight line, humping over the rough
country at speed never less than
fortyfive miles an hour by the speed
ometer without making a perceptible
gain. Then the kangaroo with a
single bound took high wire fence
marking the extreme boundary o
one of the enormous Australian
ranches, leaving its pursuers In 6
| predicament that looked hopeless al
far as the chase was concerned.
But q nearby gate was broken dowI
and the pursuit continued. Numerous
bushes handicapped the ear, but b,
putting the speedometer up to forty
five again, on comparatively leve
ground, the car began to gain slight
ly on the firing kangaroo. Gradual
ly the driver turned from the paral
lei course and cut over toward tn,
animal, which, seeing the change O
direction, suddenly shifted its cours
to an angle which would take 1t di
rectly acros the path Of the speeding
car. The hunters discovered tina
this was inevitably the method TAX
en- by the feet animals, instead o
turning in an opposite direction iron
that of the car. This gave the hur
tiers the chance they wanted to max
their kill, which was accomplishe
without difficulty.
In the course of the morning thirty
four kangaroos and an Australia
emu were bagged by the two cars =
New York Sun