Load recommendation for LARGE birds
- Thread starter Ric
- Start date
Will Beararms
New member
A well placed 30-30 150 grain bullet in the boiler room. An Emu will hurt you. I would not take a chance on making one mad.
I'm gonna stick with the shotgun to the head trick I would have some slugs in the back of the magazine in case they don't hurry up and die.
Here you go for recipes:
http://www.justgamerecipes.com/emu/index.shtml
mmm mmm good
Here you go for recipes:
http://www.justgamerecipes.com/emu/index.shtml
mmm mmm good
Mannlicher
New member
I would think #4 Buck would work just fine. with a modified choke
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
A buddy of mine was given about forty of the darned things. He fed them some sort of alfalfa pellets.
They gentle down pretty easily. The main thing when approaching is don't come at one from front or rear, since they can inflict serious damage when they kick. Approach from the side, out of the "line of foot".
Heck, make up one of those South American "bola" deals (You can play like you're a Gaucho on the Argentine pampas): Something like a two-ounce fishing sinker; three of them, each tied to two-foot cords and then all tied together at the center. You throw them so they spin, at the legs.
Or lasso the silly things.
Once you've caught one, just put a sock over its head. I'm serious! When they can't see, they become quiet. Well, maybe after things calm down a bit...
But with a shotgun, a load of any size shot at the head from ten or fifteen yards will kill. I killed a bobcat with a load of 7-1/2 at 25 yards from my old full-choke Model 12.
The meat's a little on the dry side, so bake and baste will do...
, Art
They gentle down pretty easily. The main thing when approaching is don't come at one from front or rear, since they can inflict serious damage when they kick. Approach from the side, out of the "line of foot".
Heck, make up one of those South American "bola" deals (You can play like you're a Gaucho on the Argentine pampas): Something like a two-ounce fishing sinker; three of them, each tied to two-foot cords and then all tied together at the center. You throw them so they spin, at the legs.
Or lasso the silly things.
Once you've caught one, just put a sock over its head. I'm serious! When they can't see, they become quiet. Well, maybe after things calm down a bit...
But with a shotgun, a load of any size shot at the head from ten or fifteen yards will kill. I killed a bobcat with a load of 7-1/2 at 25 yards from my old full-choke Model 12.
The meat's a little on the dry side, so bake and baste will do...
, Artone-shot-one
New member
ok i have not actually done this so it is just a sugestion, shotgun with #4 - #1 buck, aim at where the neck meets the body.
i have eaten emu mixed with allagator in a chille but i made it so hot really could not tell you what it tastes like (chicken?).
i have eaten emu mixed with allagator in a chille but i made it so hot really could not tell you what it tastes like (chicken?).
Art: good advise on approaching them from the side
Brief update.
Florida Agr Enforcement (FAE) has no feral emu policy, they are considered ag livestock. And this was a surprise - if they were not considered livestock they would have been subject to the Fed Migratory Bird Act. Even though their native range is Australia and they can't fly.
It was not easy to get a straight answer from FAE to my simple queston, but i persisted.
-------
me: (After describing my problem) - Can i shoot them ?
FAE: Well sir as a doctor of vet med i cannot advocate killing animals, but as a matter of policy this department takes no position on the matter of feral emu populations as we consider these livestock. If you desire to capture them live and retain them we might be able to provide some assistance in that arena but i'm not certain of the extent of assistance we could provide. Also we would urge extreme caution ...(this answer continued on for several minutes)
me: Uh, so i *can* shoot them ?
FAE: As i said, sir, this department would take no position on this matter....if you wish to...to...um..harvest the animals in the manner in which you have described.
me: So, i can shoot them ?
FAE: Well,... you see, ....er, uh......yes.
------
No "emu sign" for the past week. From my reading-up on them their ranges are large, ten+ square miles. They could be foraging, following the river bank or the coyotes might have gotten them by now.
There is a large state park a mile from where i last saw them so they may be there, especially now ie hunting season. Guess i should let the park biologist know about them.
Frani (my Franchi Aristocrat O/U), some No. 4 and I await their return. If i have to go it alone i'll also have some .45 ball ready for CQ.
Got the photos back, but they were slides so i'm having prints made to scan and post.
Brief update.
Florida Agr Enforcement (FAE) has no feral emu policy, they are considered ag livestock. And this was a surprise - if they were not considered livestock they would have been subject to the Fed Migratory Bird Act. Even though their native range is Australia and they can't fly.
It was not easy to get a straight answer from FAE to my simple queston, but i persisted.
-------
me: (After describing my problem) - Can i shoot them ?
FAE: Well sir as a doctor of vet med i cannot advocate killing animals, but as a matter of policy this department takes no position on the matter of feral emu populations as we consider these livestock. If you desire to capture them live and retain them we might be able to provide some assistance in that arena but i'm not certain of the extent of assistance we could provide. Also we would urge extreme caution ...(this answer continued on for several minutes)
me: Uh, so i *can* shoot them ?
FAE: As i said, sir, this department would take no position on this matter....if you wish to...to...um..harvest the animals in the manner in which you have described.
me: So, i can shoot them ?
FAE: Well,... you see, ....er, uh......yes.
------
No "emu sign" for the past week. From my reading-up on them their ranges are large, ten+ square miles. They could be foraging, following the river bank or the coyotes might have gotten them by now.
There is a large state park a mile from where i last saw them so they may be there, especially now ie hunting season. Guess i should let the park biologist know about them.
Frani (my Franchi Aristocrat O/U), some No. 4 and I await their return. If i have to go it alone i'll also have some .45 ball ready for CQ.
Got the photos back, but they were slides so i'm having prints made to scan and post.
lockandrock
New member
{ Once you've caught one, just put a sock over its head. I'm serious! When they can't see, they become quiet. Well, maybe after things calm down a bit...}
This is 100% true. Why they can't see they are very calm.
{Fed Migratory Bird Act. Even though their native range is Australia and they can't fly.}
LOL migratory bird.
This is 100% true. Why they can't see they are very calm.
{Fed Migratory Bird Act. Even though their native range is Australia and they can't fly.}
LOL migratory bird.
Well I've enjoyed this thread, no emu's here...umm 100# bird?
So it sounds as if non toxic shot is NOT required.
I'm Thinking 10 ga. 18 pellets of 00 or 24 pellets of 1 buck.
dunno , but these tend to pattern well out of a 10 ga.
12 ga, #1 buck, #4
Interesting, look forward to the 'roundup".
So it sounds as if non toxic shot is NOT required.
I'm Thinking 10 ga. 18 pellets of 00 or 24 pellets of 1 buck.
dunno , but these tend to pattern well out of a 10 ga.
12 ga, #1 buck, #4
Interesting, look forward to the 'roundup".
About 3 years ago, on a friend's rural private range...
I was going out to the range to meet my father. The range is really just a natural berm created by some erosion. I drove my pickup around the edge of the berm and saw my father reloading his Browning High-Power .40 near the target stands. He saw me, and smiled with a slight wave with his off hand, the Hi-Power still in his shooting hand.
About this time, Dad noticed the rather odd expression on the faces of me and my friend, also in the pickup. We were noticing a giant, um? What the heck is that thing?-- stalking up on my father from behind. The range is set in rural cow pasture, and there were no fences for a few hundred yards. The bird had simply come from over the horizon. It had its head down low, and was approaching my dad from the rear.
Just as it got within about 10 feet of my father, its motion managed to catch my father's peripheral vision. He spun around, .40 at the ready, and stopped. This will be one of those tableaus burned in my mind that I will take with me to my grave. Of course, it's blurred somewhat by the tears that were streaming from my eyes, I was laughing so hard. The emu took off, recognizing that it was outgunned. It did a stalk around us in a semi-circle about 150 yds in radius.
Dad got on the phone with the landowner, who expressed his astonishment that the bird had not yet been eaten by the local coyote population. He'd seen the bird for the first time about 2 wks prior, when it had just wondered on property, from an escaped flock of them of a raiser who had gone bust. Dad asked if he wanted to keep the bird, and he said "Good lord, why? You want it?"
At about this point, I popped it from about 150 yds with a 100g .257 Rbt Nosler Ballistic Tip, down-loaded to about 2600 fps. Shot hit the spine just behind the point where the neck reached the body. Bird went down, and a cloud of dust went up from the tall grass where it fell. We went up there and found a rather frightful scene of the serpentine head flailing around and the legs tearing up the dirt as the bird's body came to accept that it was dead. Think of what a chicken does when its neck is wrung, but apply it to an 80 lb 5 ft tall bird. We didn't get close for 3 or 4 minutes.
The meat turned out to be surprisingly good and red. We also found it to be pretty moist, actually. Closest thing I could compare it to would have to be beef. Go figure. Also surprising: NO breast meat. NONE. All the meat on the emu came from the legs and the "oysters" area, the counter-balanced rear side of the bird. We made lots and lots of good jerky, and smoked the drumsticks, which went roughly 5 lbs ea, and about 2 feet long.
The only dangerous part of the bird is the legs, which have amazing 4-toed (three in front, one in back) clawed feet. I can see why this bird had no trouble with coyotes; it could likely kill one. But I don't think that any heavy armament would be necessary. Heavy 7.5 shot bird loads aimed at the head or the joint of the neck and the body would work great. If you shoot one with a rifle, pop it in the high front of the body, where the lungs are. The lungs are surprisingly small when empty, but perhaps they're bigger when the bird breathes in. The diaphram is pretty high in the chest, too, though. As I say, there's no breast meat, so you don't have to worry about spoiling it with a body shot like you would a turkey. Just keep your shot forward of the the legs and above the thighs. I personally think that these would be great handgun game. I almost got to see what a magazine full of .40 FMJ's would do to one!
I was going out to the range to meet my father. The range is really just a natural berm created by some erosion. I drove my pickup around the edge of the berm and saw my father reloading his Browning High-Power .40 near the target stands. He saw me, and smiled with a slight wave with his off hand, the Hi-Power still in his shooting hand.
About this time, Dad noticed the rather odd expression on the faces of me and my friend, also in the pickup. We were noticing a giant, um? What the heck is that thing?-- stalking up on my father from behind. The range is set in rural cow pasture, and there were no fences for a few hundred yards. The bird had simply come from over the horizon. It had its head down low, and was approaching my dad from the rear.
Just as it got within about 10 feet of my father, its motion managed to catch my father's peripheral vision. He spun around, .40 at the ready, and stopped. This will be one of those tableaus burned in my mind that I will take with me to my grave. Of course, it's blurred somewhat by the tears that were streaming from my eyes, I was laughing so hard.
The emu took off, recognizing that it was outgunned. It did a stalk around us in a semi-circle about 150 yds in radius. Dad got on the phone with the landowner, who expressed his astonishment that the bird had not yet been eaten by the local coyote population. He'd seen the bird for the first time about 2 wks prior, when it had just wondered on property, from an escaped flock of them of a raiser who had gone bust. Dad asked if he wanted to keep the bird, and he said "Good lord, why? You want it?"
At about this point, I popped it from about 150 yds with a 100g .257 Rbt Nosler Ballistic Tip, down-loaded to about 2600 fps. Shot hit the spine just behind the point where the neck reached the body. Bird went down, and a cloud of dust went up from the tall grass where it fell. We went up there and found a rather frightful scene of the serpentine head flailing around and the legs tearing up the dirt as the bird's body came to accept that it was dead. Think of what a chicken does when its neck is wrung, but apply it to an 80 lb 5 ft tall bird. We didn't get close for 3 or 4 minutes.
The meat turned out to be surprisingly good and red. We also found it to be pretty moist, actually. Closest thing I could compare it to would have to be beef. Go figure. Also surprising: NO breast meat. NONE. All the meat on the emu came from the legs and the "oysters" area, the counter-balanced rear side of the bird. We made lots and lots of good jerky, and smoked the drumsticks, which went roughly 5 lbs ea, and about 2 feet long.
The only dangerous part of the bird is the legs, which have amazing 4-toed (three in front, one in back) clawed feet. I can see why this bird had no trouble with coyotes; it could likely kill one. But I don't think that any heavy armament would be necessary. Heavy 7.5 shot bird loads aimed at the head or the joint of the neck and the body would work great. If you shoot one with a rifle, pop it in the high front of the body, where the lungs are. The lungs are surprisingly small when empty, but perhaps they're bigger when the bird breathes in. The diaphram is pretty high in the chest, too, though. As I say, there's no breast meat, so you don't have to worry about spoiling it with a body shot like you would a turkey. Just keep your shot forward of the the legs and above the thighs. I personally think that these would be great handgun game. I almost got to see what a magazine full of .40 FMJ's would do to one!