He has called on the state government to ban hunting south of Mount Isa to allow the kangaroo population to increase.

Mount Isa-based professional harvester John Lynton has hunted feral pigs and kangaroos in the region for 24 years.

He said he had never seen so few kangaroos in the region than in the past six months.

"The numbers just aren't there to be shooting full time – a lot of areas around Mount Isa and further south need to be closed off," he said.

"There needs to be a truthful assessment of how many 'roos are in the area- not just an estimate."

Mr Lynton said he feared some harvesters would resort to shooting female kangaroos to earn their income.

There are currently 38 harvesters and two dealers in the Mount Isa region.

Mount Isa chiller box operator Ken Breen said the number of kangaroos being shot south of Mount Isa was down slightly from last year.

He said the claims of experienced harvesters such as Mr Lynton definitely had weight and he called on the government to take his claims seriously.

"I think the department of national parks should come out and hold some information sessions with professional shooters like John to ask them for feedback about what they think is going on in the area," Mr Breen said.

The Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) has conducted annual aerial surveys of kangaroo populations by helicopter since 1991.

The 2009 aerial survey program is currently under way.

Kangaroo numbers specifically in the Mount Isa region were not available from the department at time of print.

However, DERM Western Queensland regional manager Dr Chris Hill said there was no evidence of a consistent decline in the number of the three commercially harvested species - the Red Kangaroo, the Eastern Grey Kangaroo and the Common Wallaroo (or Euro) - across Queensland as a whole.

"Kangaroos are highly mobile and move large distances in response to rainfall and associated grazing opportunities," Dr Hill said.

"It is possible that any decreases in numbers in a particular area may be due to the movement of populations rather than harvesting pressure."