Hunting in Australia

The University of Queensland estimates that Australia has around 300,000 active hunters investing a conservative $556,650,000 annually into the Australian economy.

Australia has a population of about twenty-three million, of which one million are involved in shooting and firearms. there is around 5.8 million legally owned firearms in Australia ranging from bolt action, pump action, lever action and semi-automatic firearms.

A survey of recreational hunters reveals that the preferred method of hunting as: Rifle 92.3%, Bow 16.4%, Black Powder 3.4%, Shotgun 56.0%, Dogs only 8.6%, Other 3.3%

Many species of animals in Australia have been introduced by European settlers since the 18th century. Among these are rabbits, hares, cats, foxes, goats, pigs, dogs, deer, donkeys, horses and feral cattle (including banteng), camels and water buffalo.

The most commonly hunted animals by recreational hunters are rabbits, foxes, pigs, feral cats and feral goats.

Hunting of rabbits is encouraged across all of Australia as they are considered a highly invasive pest. The most common form of hunting is ground shooting.

The recreational hunting of foxes is also commonly done by shooting. However, this usually requires other techniques to lure and shoot the animal such as spotlighting, or use of the fox whistle, which makes a sound like a distressed rabbit.

The commercial hunting of kangaroos was recorded as 1,560,586 in 2012.

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