Both Barrels July 2020

The drought is well and truly over! Earlier on the dry conditions made a lot of traditional hunting spots unshootable and the distribution and numbers of ducks varied.

Later in the season produced the goods and we have had some reports of good bags been taken.

Important dates:

The mallard, grey and shoveler season closed on 28 June.

The paradise shelduck and swan season closes 2 August.

The pukeko, quail and pheasant season closes 23 August.

Upcoming events:

Northlands special paradise shelduck open season has been extended to nine days from 20 - 28 Feb 2021, shooting hours from 0630 to 2000hrs

Pukeko and black swan can also be hunted during this time

Limits are 20 for shelduck and swan, 12 for pukeko.

Harvest results and game returns

If you have hunted on any Fish & Game owned wetlands or forestry blocks please remember to fill out a game bird return and send it to the office.

We will also be conducting a couple more hunter surveys to capture data from the end of the season.

We collate the results to calculate how many birds were taken over the game season and in conjunction with the trend counts use this to determine bag limits and season lengths for next year.

Annual Shoveler Survey

We are going to be out early August to conduct the annual shoveler survey.

If you know of any areas where shoveler are present especially in the Far North please let us know as we are looking to increase our surveying of this species.

Ballots

We will have some stands come up for ballot at the Bisset, Greenheart, Flaxmill and Kawakawa properties later in the year.

Submit your interest by contacting the Northland office by email northland@fishandgame.org.nz

Graham Gallaghan, Northland Fish & Game Officer.