Kangaroo Butchering

[Thedragon]

Not too sure on that one, but here is a link on how to prepare skins for tanning.

http://www.csiro.au/files/files/peyr.pdf

These are links on tanning hides with natural products.

http://naturalcreation.wordpress.com...-of-many-ways/

http://www.braintan.com/intro/intro.html

Tannin is found in some native Australian trees, most notably, the bark of the wattle tree.

If my memory serves me, these trees were grown in plantations, perhaps here, but in south Africa in the late 1800's and early 1900's for the leather industry.

[LD 50/50]

Dang wish I could get 10-20 roo hides.

They would make one heck of an outfit

[jdm]

Thanks for the info.

I've been looking at brain tanning. I've got one of those tanning kits but haven't used it, the brain tanning methods I've seen look good to me.

Hopefully I'll get a deer in April that will give me something to work with. If not then I'll be trying a few rabbit skins.

[theMISSIONARY]

We can shoot Wallaby all year round and as many as you can with one Permit down here
Shoot it in the head or Heart(legal here) and cut the throat to drain

Skinning and gutting Hang it by the feet skin down the legs cut round the umm "ring" and pull and cut the skin back to the middle of it
open the gut from top down to the sternum

now if its small i just cut to the spine then twist the top off leaving th guts in the top part and chuck it

if its larger(the Bennets wallaby are upto 5" odd) they i cut all the way down to open the chest and drop the lot at my feet the skin gets taken right off

cut the feet and head off leave it with the guts

Possum......they stink man......but i have been told they taste ok....one for when i'm really hungry

now pick the sh*t out of me if you want

[evil]

It all tastes good, if cooked right..

[stonyhorey]

to skin a roo
shoot him first at night, quietly try not to stress the roo as it can cause high ph levels in the blood, muscle ECT.
make a hole behind hind leg tendon, and hang or use a tight knot below it paw
slit the throat from the between the shoulders opening it towards its jaw and remove its head and tail.( axe will do if u wan a get into it)

pull stomach skinn towards u knowing u are not cutting open its guts slowly release its innards.
into that)
once guttered, skin while warm will be all lot easier, as the seem will pull away better.

first the whole belly should be open from anus to neck.

cut below the hind tendons just the skin,as pulling the skin hard away from the meat and cutting around each leg till its knee caps revealed.
place new hook threw its connective tissue above the knee cap. and hang again
now u have a strong hold of the caracas.
from the groin open from the legs down to the second ribs.
front arms open from the top half of the shoulder proceeding to both sides o the neck now half open now pull hard on the skin on the hind legs,
using body wait and possibly your knife if it gets tuff and should remove perfectly.
other wise give me a call haha

[stonyhorey]

how much you willing to pay?

[Enigma_1]

skinning roos is the same as any other animal such goats and deer. hang them from the back legs, and open them up, and drop the guts etc.

Tan with 1kg flocculent + 1 kg salt, for a week (aluminium sulphate).

Buy flocculent from the pool section at bunnings for $10 per 2kg bag.

Nice and cheap way to tan, and you get nice white leather.

[dillin]

Originally Posted by donkey

just last weekend i went out and shot a four and a half ft male, it was all pretty easy except i had to rush a bit as night was coming in very quickly. In short my fridge is full of meat and im happy.

Thats the first mistake you made, shooting a 4' 6" male roo to eat. Males are tough and stink and are not good eating. In therory the comercail shoots should be shooting 85% males(thats what the parks and wildlife decree but it isnt enforced) so most of the roo sold in super markets and served up in restrunats are older males, the equivelent of eating old bulls or rams.

[dillin]

Shoot yourself the smallest roo in the mob, joeys that are still pulling on the tit are particularly tasty. Females often have a supriseing amout of fat on them which is what you want. As soon as I shoot one, I drop the guts out of it and leave the skin on. Leaveing the skin on has a couple of advantages, it keeps the meat clean, keeps the flys of it but most imortantly stops the meat from drying out. Roo meet exposed to the air for any lenght of time will dry right out to the consistancy of leather, which is ok if you want to make jerky(roo makes excelent jerky) but not good for cuts you want to bake or fry. When its time to butcher the roo you simply skin it and I just bone out all the hind quarter hanging up. I usally pull the tail between the hind legs and tie it to the front legs so when you come to skin it you can pull the tail back and it will point straight in the air and the back is straighter makeing it easyer to bone out. Theroretically should make the meat tender as well as the muscels are streched durring rigour mortice. The rest of the roo I chop up all the bones with a axe and feed to the dogs. the dogs chew up most of the bones and do really well on the marroand when they are finnished whats left can be hosed out of the pens, no big bones to dispose of.

[Smokeyr67]

I don't think anybody's mentioned the most important thing - make sure the buggers dead before trying to cut em up!

(And to whoever asked about using the skin - they make great luggage)

[dillin]

kangeroo learther has the about the highest tensile strengh for its weight of any leather that is commonly used and is naturally springy and rubery. Many of the best running shoes and foot ball boots use roo leather. If I want a roo skin, I take my time to skin it, take at least 1/2 hr(I can usally skin a roo in a couple of min). slowly peel it off and leave the flesh and the mebrain on the roo rather than on the skin. far easyer and quicker to do this while skining the roo than trying to flesh the skin latter.

[agentalfie]

head or heart shot is best, if male cut nuts off straight away, basically you want to butcher rear legs, back strap and tail.
gently cut the skin and use your hands to pull the skin back, cut along muscle groups and try not to pierce the gut otherwise you will ruin the meat. remember roo meat is not fatty so doesnt require alot of cooking if your doing steaks, harvest what you will eat, and perhaps make jerky out of the back straps as its delish