Chances of a duck dinner looking good as ‘best game bird season in years’ looms
The cold, wet, miserable summer much of the country endured has encouraged a bumper duck breeding effort, prompting Fish & Game to predict 2017 will be the best game bird hunting season in years.
The new season opens nationwide this weekend (Saturday 6 May) and thousands of hunters will be out on rivers, lakes and wetlands – hoping to bag enough birds to lay on a duck dinner for their families.
Two generations of Taranaki duck hunters.
Fish & Game carefully monitors duck populations before deciding how many can be harvested. This year, annual aerial surveys confirmed good duck populations in all South Island regions, and there are similar reports from the North Island.
Otago describes hunters’ 2017 prospects as “great”, and the renowned duck hunting region of Southland is also reported to have better duck populations than last year.
Further north, it’s also a “good news story” in the Auckland/Waikato Region, while in Taranaki, the wet summer is being labelled by Fish & Game officers there as “an eternal spring” with good survival of young ducks and a resulting sharp increase in the population.
It’s a similar trend on the other side of the North Island, with Fish & Game officers in the Bay of Plenty and Gisborne regions predicting “a better season than we’ve had for the last seven or so years.”
Despite increased duck numbers, hunters are being warned not to take a duck dinner for granted.
“Hunters will have to work hard to take home dinner for their families, with the weekend’s weather forecast looking like it will favour the ducks,” says Fish & Game’s communications manager Don Rood.
“Hunters pray for wind and rain on Opening Day in the hope that ducks will fly lower, but the Met Service is dashing these hopes with its weekend forecast.
“At this stage, it looks like many regions will be sunny with even frosts likely in some parts of both islands.”
Fish & Game is expecting tens of thousands of hunters to be out on wetlands, rivers and lakes around the country this weekend.
“Game bird hunting has a long tradition in New Zealand, and is a real opportunity for families and mates to get together and harvest birds for the family dinner table,” Don Rood says.
“Nearly 40 thousand game bird hunting licences are sold each year, but the number of hunters is higher as landowners don’t need a licence to hunt on their own property.
“We urge these landowners to make sure they are familiar with the local regulations and stick to the rules.
“This includes how many birds you can harvest and how many shots you load into your gun. A number of regions have now introduced magazine size restrictions, so make sure you check the rules on www.fishandgame.org.nz for the region you are hunting,” he says.
Fish & Game rangers and police will be joining forces over Opening Weekend to inspect hunters to make sure they have their licences and are following the rules.
The game bird hunting season runs from this Saturday 6 May through to the last weekend in August and closes on Sunday 27 August.
Categories
Archive
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- December 2013
- March 2013
- September 2012
- July 2012