Ten roo strikes in 3 months!!!

Submitted: Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 15:45

ThreadID: 29376 Views:3284 Replies:12 FollowUps:7

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brd

I've just returned from my monthly trip to the Central Queensland mines in my new Defender (bought September). I've just had my 10th roo strike in it! The first trip 2 went under and one hit the LH guard, before the ordered bull bar arrived. Can't help bad luck. The next 2 trips all went under, or hit the bar. This time one under and one into the passenger door, leaving a small dent. I don't like hitting them...they're a lovely animal, and I try to avoid it, but I do travel in high risk time, dawn & dusk on quiet dirt roads.

You can read the body language of cattle and predict what they are going to do, but not roos. There really are a lot more roos around in Cent Qld at the moment, from what I'm seeing. I'm wondering what other people are finding, or do you think my Defender just has bad feng shui? (A Defender can have good feng shei too, can't it???)

Also, has anyone in high risk areas, been convinced that the "Shoo Roos" or other devices work reliably? If they did, i guess you'd notice the roos scatter as you approach them? Is there supposed to be a minimum speed to make them effective in generating the noise?

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Reply By: Puddin & Gumnut (Sydney) - Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 15:58

Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 15:58

We have the cheap plastic stick on ones & whenever we come across a mob of roos they always scatter . Never had a hit (knock on wood)

puddin

AnswerID: 146591

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 16:55

Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 16:55

G'day Bob,
Haven't seen you on here for yonks!!!!!!! How's it all going mate?? All well in your part of the world i hope?
Cheers mate
Roachie.

BRD>>>>.... I have an electronic ShuRoo (as opposed to the little plastic whistlers than some people have glued to their bullbars etc). I no longer do much regular dusk/dawn driving in roo-prone areas. However, when I lived in Cooma NSW, where i bought the ShuRoo, I used to drive a fair bit around there and would encounter heaps of roos; especially on the back road to Braidwood and the Snowy Mountains Hwy across to Tumut etc. The ShuRoo blurb says that it emits a high pitch sound that alerts (not alarms!!! as John Howard would say!!!!) the roos. They would just sort of get out of the way, without appearing to be spooked or scared. As they emit a sound even when you are stationary, it is still preferable to slow down a bit so they can hear you coming. If you're doing 140k/h, their reaction time will be severely limited. Likewise, the ShuRoo is only good for line-of-sight, so as you approach the crest of a hill etc, be aware that any roos over the other side will not hear the ShuRoo.
I would imagine strong winds or rain etc would also have an effect on the roo's ability to hear the device.
I'm satisfied they work. I have hit one roo in the 5+ years that I've had the device, but he was coming at me from side on and would not have been within the roos "field of hearing" of it.
Just my experiences....others will scoff at the device.
Cheers
Roachie

FollowupID: 400077

Follow Up By: Puddin & Gumnut (Sydney) - Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 17:13

Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 17:13

Hi Bill, Very hectic here. After the blow up ages ago the family feel was gone so I left the forum , then the business took off & it was 24/7, settled down now so I have time to drop in ones in a while & am glad to see it is back to normal . I wish we had time to travel as we did before the biz got to big for me to leave it as often as i'd like.

FollowupID: 400080

Reply By: gramps - Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 16:05

Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 16:05

Brd,

That's a pretty poor effort. Stop swerving so much, no wonder you're missing :))))

Do a search on Shu Roo or something like that. There was plenty of discussion on this topic a few months ago.

Regards

AnswerID: 146594

Reply By: myfourby - Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 16:12

Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 16:12

You are the perfect case to prove whether or not roo-shus really work! Buy a set of cheap stick on ones and see what happens & let us know!!

I fitted some to my Hilux and haven't hit any after travelling OZ for 10 months - but while working on a station in NT - I hit 2 with the station Toyota! (the station vehilce didn't have any fitted)

-myfourby

AnswerID: 146597

Reply By: John L G - Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 16:50

Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 16:50

BRD

After many years of roo free bush travel I picked up a set of the el-cheapo shoo roos on the way out of the check out at Marlows as it was then known.

Next trip to Darwin collected 10

Shoo roos in the bin and haven't come close since.

John G

AnswerID: 146600

Follow Up By: Boc1971 - Friday, Jan 06, 2006 at 12:11

Friday, Jan 06, 2006 at 12:11

aaah , i see your problem - you put them on backwards!!

it was calling them rather than telling them to nick off :)

Frank

FollowupID: 400256

Reply By: govo - Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 16:53

Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 16:53

Maybe you should send a copy of this post to that crazy lady in pommie land where she claims roo's in aussie land are just about exctint..this is the only way she can get poeple to stop buying roo meat over there.

AnswerID: 146603

Follow Up By: Lone Wolf - Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 19:43

Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 19:43

... and a copy to our dear friend..... Harold.

FollowupID: 400105

Reply By: Member - Davoe (Widgiemooltha) - Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 16:56

Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 16:56

try driving at night after it gets dark they are far more likely to sit rather than hop. lso never lay on the horn unless you like collecting roos. It must be dry up there? after rain they disperse from the roads but as it drys back out they gather alongside the roads because the superior runoff creates a ribbon of feed/drink

AnswerID: 146604

Reply By: GOB & denny vic member - Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 17:26

Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 17:26

goodday brd
i run a total of 8 of the little cheap ones when travelling with the van and the rack on the roof
i have 5 on the "roo"bar and 3 on the air deflector on the rack before i put them on i had collected a couplr of roos but since i watch them move away as well as dingos emus and other stock the only thing that hasnt moved was a bloody great bull on the side of the Stuart all we could see was a great big bulls bum went around cause he wasnt moving
came down the oodnadatta early from marla and everything moved away only 1 small roo came across running after mum who was across before we approached

we are completely happy with them but its everybodies personal choise

steve

AnswerID: 146614

Reply By: Footloose - Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 17:57

Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 17:57

This is always an interesting discussion. Junk or wonderful, depends on your experiences. I've never used any and only had a few strikes, but I don't like hitting anything so I kinda crawl if I know they're around. Recently had to stop north of Augathella for the biggest mob of roos I've ever seen in the daytime. That area is crawling with them, day and night. Rekkon I'll have to try something next trip.

AnswerID: 146624

Reply By: DesC - Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 19:15

Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 19:15

After travelling hundreds of thousands of km's in Western NSW & Central & Western Qld at night and day the only way to ensure you are going to get to where you are going is to fit a Mt Isa CVT Bullbar. I would only be guessing but I would have accidently struck 300+ Roos and of all different sizes and 1 cow with my current GU wagon at highway PLUS speeds with never a problem. I have seen those Shoo Roos demolished on the fronts of vehicles along with the second rate, Big Name manufacturer, Steel & Alloy so called bullbars that they were attached to. (I believe that these bullbars are only really designed to hold a set of driving lights and an ariel).

PS. I don't mean to knock major 4wd accessory suppliers because most of their other products are quite good, Just their bars and siderails are useless and need some major developing so they can be used for what they are intended for without folding up like a newspaper. Because Forums are places for opinion there you have mine.

AnswerID: 146642

Follow Up By: bombsquad - Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 23:55

Thursday, Jan 05, 2006 at 23:55

I have seen evidence to confirm what you are saying, but I feel obliged to defend the ARB bar on my GU. I hit about 2 or 3 roos a month, most are small but there has been a few biggies amongst them. The bar has slotted bolt holes, I'm guessing for some movement so the air bags don't go off unessesarily, and so far not a thing has been moved or damaged apart from a light guage deflector plate underneath which has a dint. some are good

Cheers Andrew

FollowupID: 400180

Reply By: DesC - Friday, Jan 06, 2006 at 10:39

Friday, Jan 06, 2006 at 10:39

If they had decent mounts with mounting bolts that were grouped in a wider spacing (ie down the chassis rails) so that there was no rotation on the chassis and if they had four sided sections in the outside wings they would have half a chance of doing something for strikes at the speed limit. Airbags generally work off deceleration and gforce and in theory shouldn't go off with a 3500kg vehicle hitting a 100 kg roo at 100kmh. Having mounting bolts that are on a shear point and putting them in slotted holes is just ludicrous. All the money they spend on the development of these mass produced bullbars they should make a reasonable decelleration factor in the bar as well, not just the mounts.

AnswerID: 146764

Follow Up By: bombsquad - Saturday, Jan 07, 2006 at 23:21

Saturday, Jan 07, 2006 at 23:21

I'm not sure if your having a go at the arb bar I have, or at the way it is mounted etc, or just at general 'production'bars. I feel that if any 'give'is built into the bar it would need to be replaced after every major shock, whaeas bars with the (hopefullu propely engineered) slots should only need to be inspected and put back to the origional position and re-torqued. My old MQ had a homemade bar out of industrial c section and steam pipe, great bar and well proven on roos and even cows, but I'm not sure how it would go on a more modern vehecle
Cheers andrew

FollowupID: 400506

Reply By: brd - Friday, Jan 06, 2006 at 11:23

Friday, Jan 06, 2006 at 11:23

Yes a good point. I used to fabricate my own bull bars prior to air bags & increased liability issues with ADRs. They were usually an over kill, but were stronger, and real cheap compared to what you pay today. AAAh! The good old days, eh?

Thanks to all who commented on my roo strike problem. I'll put a few Shu Roos on the front and give it a go. I'll make a point of posting how I fare in a couple of months time.

AnswerID: 146772

Follow Up By: MartyB - Friday, Jan 06, 2006 at 18:28

Friday, Jan 06, 2006 at 18:28

Make sure you check before heading off. Bugs get stuck in them and stop them whistling.
from Marty.

FollowupID: 400309

Reply By: DesC - Sunday, Jan 08, 2006 at 00:36

Sunday, Jan 08, 2006 at 00:36

Andrew,
The Decelleration i am talking about is for dead stops (major headon, large tree etc) and beasts 600kg plus at 10 - 20 percent over the speed limit. Talk to Ivan @ CVT Mt Isa, as people who actually use their bullbars wait 8 months + to purchase his. Because they have already tried all the other s#!t. He is a very cluey man and always up for a chat and you may even learn something.

AnswerID: 147090