Hunters around the country have their fingers and toes crossed for some foul weather this weekend with the game bird season getting underway.
Fish & Game New Zealand chief CEO Corina Jordan said a good breeding season means opening weekend looks promising for hunters.
Jordan will be joining scores of other hunters this season, gathering wild, free-range game birds at the start of NZ’s long hunting season.
“New Zealand has plenty of options for game bird hunters; it’s more than just opening weekend. Kiwi hunters can hunt game birds throughout the winter.
“The dry summer had game bird hunters worried, but a good rain would bring smiles to the faces of the approximately 60,000 people who get out in the wild on opening weekend,” she said.
There are plenty of birds around throughout the country after several good breeding seasons, but they have been concentrated where there’s water over summer. With some rain they will spread out to other wetlands and farm dams, providing more hunting opportunities.
“We just need some really bad weather for opening weekend – that’s what makes for great hunting, and that’s what hunters throughout the country will be hoping for.”
Jordan said regardless of the weather conditions, hunters will enjoy the occasion, getting out with their dogs and spending time with friends and family.
Regional Wrap:
• Northland
After a dry summer birds are concentrated in permanent water areas such as harbours, rivers and deeper ponds.
Total duck harvest has remained very steady over the past decade, and this season is expected to be no different. Paradise shelduck remain near the historical highs of recent counts and are expected to be a high proportion of the harvest bag. Quail have had a good breeding season and pheasants have also thrived in the drier conditions, with plenty of poults seen recently.
• Auckland Waikato
Climate, in particular spring rainfall, is a critical component to overall duck production, and the last two breeding seasons have been great.
This last summer also had a low incidence of large-scale botulism outbreaks, and those that did occur were generally contained through clean-up operations. As a result, there are good numbers of birds on many rivers, lakes and ponds, both mallards and parries.
• Eastern
A similar number of mallard ducks to last year. Hunters, however, may need to be a little sharper on their calling and decoy spread will need to be on point as more of the population will be adults. Duck banding indicated the number of juveniles weren’t as good as last year but there were reasonable numbers of adults compared with the last few years. Adult mallards are a little more savvy and harder to hunt than juveniles.
• Hawke’s Bay
While recent dry weather is seeing many areas drying up, birds are still present in good numbers across the region.
Hunters focusing on traditional areas may not be as successful this year as those who are more mobile and have the ability to shoot areas like open paddocks. Hawke’s Bay rivers will provide some good shooting on opening weekend with many access points repaired since last year’s cyclone damage, but you’ll need to do check before hand as some areas have changed.
• Wellington and Taranaki
Dry late summer and autumn conditions have encouraged mallard ducks and other waterfowl to congregate on lakes and ponds that have retained permanent water.
Good duck camps have also been spotted on river bends, pools and estuary areas with exposed beaches for loafing. The larger lakes are holding lots of mallards too.
• Nelson Marlborough
The dry spring/summer period has benefited upland game bird populations but not so much mallard duck numbers. Recent mallard monitoring results show an overall decline in bird numbers which is more pronounced in eastern areas.
Paradise duck numbers are steady across the region, with an increase seen in Golden Bay, which also held steady mallard numbers.
• West Coast
Game bird numbers are looking healthy after all trend counts indicating that populations are in good shape. Despite the grey/mallard count being slightly down on last year’s count, many hunters are reporting good numbers as they prepare their maimais.
Paradise Shelduck numbers have remained very high, being up 1483 birds on last year’s already exceptional count.
• North Canterbury
Late summer dabbling duck monitoring flights across the Canterbury Plains indicate that the duck numbers are right on the historical average and on par with last year. What isn’t at all average this year is the extreme drought. This means ducks will be more concentrated going into opening weekend with comparably limited habitat available.
• Central South Island
Game bird population monitoring reveals that hunters can expect moderate game bird numbers region-wide this season.
The exception to this is the high number of black swans at Wainono Lagoon. These large birds offer a great opportunity to harvest many free-range game meat meals for the family this season.
• Otago
Overall, mallard numbers look positive despite this year’s trend count being below average, a nine-year survey shows.
Otago Fish & Game conducts an aerial survey of mallards each year before opening weekend and counted 5130 mallards last week ‒ surprisingly close to last year’s count of 5100. This year, the counts were affected by low water in many ponds as well as high and dirty water on the Clutha River/Mata-au due to heavy rain in the headwaters.
• Southland
This year’s monitoring results indicate a slight decrease compared to the bumper counts observed over the past few years. However, the recent count remains consistent with the long-term average, so hunters can still expect ample opportunity to harvest Southland mallards during the opening weekend and throughout the two-and-a-half-month season.
