Toad Hunting In Australia? 'Ava-toad'

BigBlue

PARK CITY, Utah — Toxic cane toads have taken the Sundance Film Festival by storm in an irreverent new 3D documentary exploring the warty amphibians' invasion of Australia. Toads were imported to Australia some 75 years ago in an attempt to control beetles ravaging sugar cane fields. They now number 1.5 billion! Lewis's film spotlights defenders and opponents of cane toads, including one woman who talks about sending toads on a "trip to Alaska" by killing them in a freezer -- said to be the only humane method of killing the animals.www.google.com/hostedn...-9XRY3D3BQ

tikkat3 · Super Member Joined: Jul 30, 2006 Posts: 800

I'm a bit far south for these vermin (at present)
But when I lived up Vinces way my nightly mission was to walk around the house picking them up and placing them in an old ice cream container.
I would then place the container in the freezer (they only kicked a little while cooling down). I left a few lights on outside to attract them.

The wife opened the wrong one a few times, a great laugh.

Pumpkinslinger

Sounds like these could be a lot of fun with a .22 rim fire...

BigBlue

Pumpkinslinger wrote:

Sounds like these could be a lot of fun with a .22 rim fire...

That's got to be real messy. Yuck

Don

Vince

Mongrel bloody things they are. They have two poison glands that look like shoulder pads on their shoulders. Anything that eats the whole toad is as good as dead. They have laid waste to a high number of native animals because of these poison glands. Snakes, lizards, birds...even dogs and cats, anything that will eat a frog is at risk. Some birds, magpies in particular have worked out that if they flip the dead toad on its bag, they can clean out the inside without coming into contact with the poison glands.

The toad also has a voracious appetite and has reduced the populations of native frogs and some insects to alarming levels.

Oh, and did I mention they are the ugliest thing you've ever laid eyes on...even look worse than me first thing in the morning...and that's saying something.

I have shot them with just about everything...air rifle (BB gun), .22 pistol, .22 rifle, .357 Mag revolver......I much prefer the .357 Mag...does a great job on them. Yuck

They say that the most humane method of is to freeze them...but I don't really fancy them in the same freezer as my food...no way. These days I either pour some Dettol on them...they hate that, kills them too for some reason...and I spear them with a 1.5 metre long steel spike. I've had up to half a dozen on the spike at any one time. Also, when it rains, you will see heaps of them on the road...they go *POP* when you run over them. Point

The funnest way to get rid of them has to be a 3 Iron golf club. Its amazing how well a cane toad can "fly". They don't make that satisfying "click" sound a golf ball does though...more a dull smack. Evil Devil

I don't think you will ever have a problem with the cane toad down your way Tiks...they appear to be a tropical critter...they are spreading quite quickly across the top of Australia now...even into Kakadu.

Cheers, Vince

Pumpkinslinger

Maybe you should approach this more like prairie dog hunting...

On that note, I wonder how long it will be before people in FL start hunting non-native snakes, like those big boas, like we hunt other varmints.

Vince

Got this big ugly brute in my backyard tonight. Just managed to get it before my daughter's 7 month old ShitZoo pup did.

Note the white globules on the shoulder of the last pic...that is the poison in the glands on the shoulder...nasty stuff. Sorry 'bout the slightly blurry pic...was taking the pic one handed.

Sorted him out nicely. Very Happy

Cheers, Vince

BigBlue

Your right, they are some ugly buggers. There has to be some use for them, some way of making a buck on them. Maybe sell them to the Chinese as an aphrodisiac?
Don

TRBLSHTR

BigBlue wrote:

Your right, they are some ugly buggers. There has to be some use for them, some way of making a buck on them. Maybe sell them to the Chinese as an aphrodisiac?
Don

NOW THAT'S [b]FUNNY!!! ROFL

Vince

BigBlue wrote:

Your right, they are some ugly buggers. There has to be some use for them, some way of making a buck on them. Maybe sell them to the Chinese as an aphrodisiac?
Don

Its funny you should say that Don...the Chinese are happy to buy them for medicinal purposes...and would you believe the meat!!! Mate, I swear them buggers would eat sh1te if it was cooked properly.

There is also a small cottage industry out here where they stuff and pose them and the Asian tourists buy them by the handful. They also have started tanning the skins...they say that they make pretty good leather.

Cheers, Vince

hunterjoe21

Vince wrote:

BigBlue wrote:

Your right, they are some ugly buggers. There has to be some use for them, some way of making a buck on them. Maybe sell them to the Chinese as an aphrodisiac?
Don

Mate, I swear them buggers would eat sh1te if it was cooked properly.

Cheers, Vince

I don't think ya even gotta cook it.

But they're sending the same quality products to the US...

Uncooked crap....

gelandangan

The proof of the pudding is in the eating..
the proof of appreciation of fine food is in the consumption.

THEIR (the chinese's) crap must have been better than other crap..
and reasoning from the amount of crap they exported being consumed in big nations.
The buying nations must have been a great appreciator of crap.

Generally you cannot send great amount of goods for sale if no one is buying..

tikkat3 · Super Member Joined: Jul 30, 2006 Posts: 800

Hey Vince the last toad photo would make a good mount

Vince

Yeah...sure would mate. Plenty more where this bugger came from...unfortunately.

Cheers, Vince

moose2

Those toads appear to be a real bad deal for sure. I would think they would be a prime candidate for some sort of contest to see who could round up the most or perhaps have a few good toad bashing weekends, similar to our bunnie bashing weekends of the 80's. Smile