Both Barrels May 2021

The season in North Canterbury is only getting underway!

With one of the longest game bird seasons in the country, hunters in the North Canterbury region have lots of opportunities to get out there and harvest game birds.

Keep an eye on the weather and be prepared to sneak in a hunt when the weather turns favourable for hunting.

Remember that if your hunting spot is Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere then you need a free DOC gamebird hunting permit to hunt there.

This permit can be obtained from the Sockburn visitor centre by emailing:christchurchvc@doc.govt.nz, they'll need some info from you and send you back a permit with a map and rules for Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere.

Above Right: Canterbury Hunter Stu Henderson at Coopers Lagoon.

Over the Opening Weekend over 100 licence checks were done by North Canterbury Fish & Game Staff and Honorary Rangers, these were largely on private ponds and no issues were discovered which is an excellent result.

Rangers will be out and about during the season so don't be surprised if one of them pops in to check your licence when hunting.

Pheasant weekends coming up

This year for the first time there will be three weekends when you can hunt cock pheasants.

They are all in June and are the 12th &13th, 19th & 20th, and the 27th & 28th (three weekends only).

The Limit is one cock pheasant per day.

Sports Fish & Game Management Plan review

The Conservation Act 1987 requires each Fish & Game Council to have a Sports Fish and Game Management Plan and to review the plan every 10 years.

The Canterbury region is going to review the Sport Fish and Game Management plan this year.

The plan will set the strategic direction, objectives and policies for sports fish and gamebird management over the next ten years.

The Council will be consulting with various interest groups, clubs, and licence holders to ensure a wide range of issues are considered.

A lot of changes can occur in ten years when it comes to habitats.

Canterbury has seen significant changes in regards to land use, water abstraction and climate.

The challenge that Fish & Game has to meet is how to provide the maximum opportunities for anglers and hunters while sustainably managing the resource when the habitat is changing so rapidly.

The plan will be publicly notified later in the year, however, licence holders are reminded that they can contact us anytime if they have ideas that can contribute to the management of the Fish & Game resource

Steve Terry, North Canterbury Fish & Game Officer.