When dinner bites back: The Aboriginal hunters who spend their days tracking down crocodiles to eat

Daily Mail (Australia/UK) ^ | 11th December 2014 | John Carney

[naturalman1975]

Deep in a forest crowded by Australian paperback trees, Aboriginal hunters Roy and Marcus Gaykamangu, a father and son team, are doing one of the most dangerous jobs in the world – they're out tracking crocodiles.

It’s eerily silent, save for the screeching of tropical birds, when Marcus shouts: ‘Look, crocodiles!’

Nothing can be seen beyond mud and what little water is left in the small billabong. But they take off running past a herd of water buffalo and before you know it Roy has his shotgun pointed at the surface.

Roy treads carefully as the water rises to his knees, seeming for a moment to lose sight of his prey. Then in one swift action he steps back, takes aim and shatters the outback calm, and a crocodile, with a single booming shotgun blast.

It’s just all part of Roy’s daily life along with the other Aboriginal Australians in the northern-most tip of the Northern Territory, Australia's rugged ‘Top End’.

This Arnhem Land reserve – closer to Bali than Sydney – covers an area of around 97,000 sq km, has a population of around 16,000 people.

Australia's Aborigines are the custodians of the longest unbroken cultural tradition on Earth, having migrated Down Under from Africa via Asia between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago, and connection to the land is practically written into their DNA.

[naturalman1975]

Traditional culture meets modern firepower.

[skinkinthegrass]

Don't some "Salties/Crocs" grow to more 8m long?
..in northern parts from feeding off illegal Migrants
i think, we need some on the Rio Grande River.

[Leroy S. Mort]

“Choot him, Roy. Choot him.”

[Defiant]

i think, we need some on the Rio Grande River.

Won't help, Obama is flying them in now.