Wellington> Hunting

FISH & GAME NZ WILD GAME BIRD FOOD FESTIVAL 2008

YOUR PASSPORT TO SOME OF THE BEST GAME BIRD HUNTING ANYWHERE.

There is an abundance of game bird hunting opportunities available on public land in the Wellington Fish & Game Region and all the information you need on where to hunt and how to get there is contained in a little booklet that you can get by phoning the Fish & Game office in Palmerston North, or calling in to your licence agent. Some of the very best game hunting is available within two hours drive of the major urban centres. What’s more Fish & Game has already taken care of the job of negotiating access; all that you need to unlock the hunting opportunities that are available is a little white booklet aptly titled the ‘Game Bird Hunting Access Permit’.

The booklet does just what the title suggests; permits entry onto particular areas of land with a dog and a firearm for the purpose of hunting game birds. Occupiers of the land available to you via the ‘Game Bird Hunting Access Permit’ include local bodies, government departments and commercial forestry companies operating on public land under Crown Forestry Licences. Entry with a firearm onto any land requires the prior permission of the land occupier. The “little white book” is proof that this permission has been obtained and for this reason you are required to carry it when out hunting in the areas that it covers.

But beyond protecting you from the possibility of being charged with trespass, the ‘Game Bird Hunting Access Permit’ also provides advice on how you can reach the various areas to which Fish & Game NZ has negotiated access on your behalf. Conditions of access and your obligations to the land occupier are also spelled out.

All told, the “little white book” offers access to waterfowl hunting on 9 wetland areas in the Horowhenua and Manawatu as well as upland game hunting in extensive tracts of commercial pine plantation, reserve land and riverbed. While the diversity of hunting opportunities is greatest west of the main divide, the Wairarapa lays claim to the “jewel in the crown” for waterfowl hunters: Lake Wairarapa and the adjacent areas of wetland. Here’s a look at what’s on offer:

The Lake Wairarapa wetlands:

There are 97 permanent hunting stands available on Lake Wairarapa and the wetland areas along the lake's eastern shore. These stands are fully allocated for the opening weekend each game season. During the remainder of the season from 7.30am onwards any unoccupied stand is available to any hunter who has obtained the ‘Game Bird Hunting Access Permit’.

Although the waterfowl hunting at the lake is legendary, particularly during rough weather, surprisingly few hunters bother to accept the unique challenge that is on offer. Fewer than 10 percent of Wellington game licence holders hunt at Lake Wairarapa, and of these, over half have access to a hunting stand there during the opening weekend of the game season.

This relatively low level of hunter interest outside the opening weekend is surprising given that some of the very best hunting the lake has to offer can be experienced late in the season when the southerly and westerly fronts pick up steam from late May into June. At this time, it is not uncommon to find many stands unoccupied during heavy southerly or northwesterly winds when hunting conditions are ideal. This means that there is often an almost unrestricted choice of stands, and hunters are able to position themselves where they can take best advantage of the prevailing weather.

Hunting from stands on the open lake can be particularly rewarding during bad weather when strong winds and low cloud keep the birds flying low. One of the key ingredients to success when hunting a large expanse of water like lake Wairarapa is to get out plenty of decoys, in general the more decoys you have, the more ducks you are likely to bring within range. The best time to set up is an hour or two before the arrival of frontal system bringing a sudden increase in the wind. Hunters need to be aware that in the space of just a few hours strong wind can lift the water level on the eastern shore of the lake by over a metre. Those using these stands need to vigilant, and prepared to move quickly to avoid being stranded. During strong gales, many hunters at Lake Wairarapa do well by setting up temporary hides along the eastern lakeshore.

Fortunately when conditions on the open lake are marginal, there is the choice of abundant sheltered water on the lagoons that are scattered across adjacent areas like the J.K. Donald block and the Matthews Lagoon and Boggy Pond Reserves. These wetland areas adjacent to the main lake are good prospects for a morning or evening hunt that doesn’t require the same effort needed to get a big spread of decoys out on the open lake.

The Horowhenua – Manawatu - Wanganui wetlands:

Although they don’t offer the sort of “big water” hunting that is available at Lake Wairarapa, the string of dune lakes and other wetland remnants covered by the ‘Game Bird Hunting Access Permit’ offer plenty of choice if you’re looking for somewhere to hunt waterfowl.

There is a variety of terrain available to investigate. Heavily vegetated swampland in the Makerua and Waimahora Conservation Areas offer the prospect of “jump” shooting duck or pukeko, while a total of 41 permanent hunting stands offer plenty of opportunity to hunt ducks and black swan. Stands are located at Lakes Wiritoa, Kohata and Koitiata, Pukepuke lagoon, and Chrystall’s lagoon and Rangiru estuary (both on the Otaki River).

Upland game in commercial plantation forests:

The ‘Game Bird Hunting Access Permit’ offers the opportunity to hunt pheasant and quail over 14,190 hectares of commercial plantation forest, most of it established on sand dune country along the coast between Levin and Wanganui. These coastal forests have a flat to rolling topography with most of the forest cover consisting of Radiata pine.

Blocks of mature pine that are almost ready to harvest are not the best places to find upland game as the dense canopy overhead suppresses the growth of the low scrubby cover that both pheasants and quail like. However in areas that have recently been replanted, there is abundant growth of low cover like lupin and ink weed with occasional gorse or blackberry, and these are the sort of places that are well worth investigating.

Inland from Wanganui there is excellent pheasant hunting in the 3708 hectare Lismore Forest, planted on country that will give both you and your dog the chance for a decent work out.

Access to all these areas is limited to weekends and public holidays and no vehicles are allowed in the forests.

Other areas available for upland game hunting:

Outside the pine forests opportunities to hunt upland game are also available at the Nukumaru Recreation Reserve on the coast near Waitotara, at the Tawhirihoe Scientific Reserve near the mouth of the Rangitikei River and along the beds of the Rangitikei and Otaki Rivers.

Although these areas don’t offer as much country to hunt as the large tracts of commercial plantation forest do, they have the distinct advantage of being available to hunters every day of the game season.

Although they are often overlooked in preference to the forest areas the riverbed and coastal reserve areas available to holders of the ‘Game Bird Hunting Access Permit’ produce more than their fair share of pheasants and quail every year and are well worth investigating.

A lot of hunting for $ 5.00:

The 2007 version of the ‘Game Bird Hunting Access Permit’ can be obtained by writing to the Wellington Regional office of Fish & Game NZ at P.O. Box 1325 Palmerston North or by calling in to any of our licence agents.

Fish & Game NZ charges $5.00 (inc. GST) for each copy of the ‘Game Bird Hunting Access Permit’ to cover the costs of printing and distributing the booklet.

Hunting publicly owned wetlands on opening weekend.

There is intense demand for the opportunity to hunt waterfowl on publicly owned wetland areas on the opening weekend of each game season. To ensure that the quality of the hunting at this time is not compromised by having too many hunters in the field at once, the number of hunting stand sites on these wetland areas is limited. Occupancy of these stands on opening weekend is limited to particular hunters who are registered with Fish & Game NZ as ‘stand-holders’. To retain the use of the stand they must occupy it each season and most stand-holders do so for several seasons running. If a stand-holder chooses not to continue hunting at a particular site they must notify Fish & Game NZ so that the site can be allocated to another hunter via a public ballot.

Permanent hunting stands are maintained at Lake Kohata, Lake Wiritoa, Lake Koitiata, Pukepuke Lagoon, along the eastern shore of Lake Wairarapa and throughout the adjacent wetlands (J.K. Donald block, Matthews Lagoon, Boggy Pond). If you would like to hunt one of these areas on opening weekend, keep an eye on the ‘Public Notices’ section of the paper in mid-February to check out where stands have become available. These notices will appear in the Manawatu Evening Standard, Wairarapa Times Age and Dominion Post newspapers on the second or third Saturday in February. Hunters that are interested in becoming a ‘stand-holder’ will be asked to register for the public ballot for sites. The ballot is drawn during the first week of March.

Finding your way around.

The maps published in the ‘Game Bird Hunting Access Permit’ are sufficiently detailed to allow you to navigate your way off the nearest State Highway to the forest or wetland area where you plan to hunt. To view these maps, check out the links below.When it comes to finding your way around your chosen hunting area, a 1:50,000-scale topographical map is a very good investment. Therelevant NZMS 260 series topographical maps for the areas covered by the ‘Game Bird Hunting Access Permit’ are listed alongside the link for each area map: