Thread: 17HMR and wallabies

Interesting conversation.
223 being legal on Crown land should make the decision easy.
I don't own a 223, but do have 222-remington and 22 Hornet. I don't think either are "allowed" on Crown land but have achieved one shot kills on goat and fallow deer (222 Rem not Hornet) I would have no hesitation on suggesting either would be adequate for north island wallaby and possibly the bigger south island species.
What's the forums thoughts on 222 Remington or 22 Hornet for wallaby? The noise would certainly be less than 223, possibly allowed a second shot?

Originally Posted by Hugh Shields

Interesting conversation.
223 being legal on Crown land should make the decision easy.
I don't own a 223, but do have 222-remington and 22 Hornet. I don't think either are "allowed" on Crown land but have achieved one shot kills on goat and fallow deer (222 Rem not Hornet) I would have no hesitation on suggesting either would be adequate for north island wallaby and possibly the bigger south island species.
What's the forums thoughts on 222 Remington or 22 Hornet for wallaby? The noise would certainly be less than 223, possibly allowed a second shot?

The 222 and Hornet are both more than adequate for NI wallaby and used within there limits I think they would work well on SI wallaby. I have shot thousands of the NI wallaby during my many years on the pest board and have used lots of different calibres but most were shot with 22 Mag, and 22LR in both sub and super with good results. We did numerous studies over the years and lots of statistics were taken including weights, many of the big bucks going around the 9-10 kg mark. Even though the SI wallaby can grow double the size , you can still take them at sensible ranges and good bullet placement , they aren’t bulletproof and a good shot in the chest should work fine.
We also had a lot of success cruising forestry roads(private) using the 12 gauge and 4 shot lead, we had a couple of spotlighters in the truck and two shooters on the back. We never stopped just moved at about 20 kms and shot them as they crossed the road or on the numerous skid sites.