Give ducks a fighting chance this season

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Hunters are being urged to give ducks a fighting chance of surviving the annual season which starts in four weeks. As a prelude to limiting semi-automatic and pump-action shotgun fire to a maximum of three shots from 2017, shooters are being asked to do it voluntarily in this year's duckshooting season which opens in May and ends on June 28.

Hawke's Bay Fish & Game regional manager Peter McIntosh said the Bay is joining other councils such as Auckland/Waikato and Wellington in introducing the conservation measure, which should make hunters value their shots.

"This will become a legal requirement for the 2017 season, applying to all game birds." Mr McIntosh says Hawke's Bay hunters need to take careful note of changes in the regulations this season, the first for a number of years.

"Most important - shotgun extensions will be banned this season.

"Our F & G council is also asking hunters to voluntarily limit their use of semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns to three shots for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

"Voluntarily altering shotguns from this season is a way hunters can play their part in helping conserve local mallard populations, he said. "It's all about keeping our tradition and sport sustainable."

"If you don't have the original filler-plug your shotgun came with, they're easy enough to make using a piece of doweling. Or ask a licence agent or gunsmith if they can do the job for you."The requirement means the magazine must not hold more than two rounds, plus one more in the breech. "Three in total," he said.

Mr McIntosh said a shotgun's performance would not be affected and hunters could still use the full magazine capacity for hunting other game, such as rabbits, hares, and possums.Meanwhile, Fish and Game has high hopes for at least a "reasonable" start to the game bird season in May, with daily bag-limits of 10 mallard/grey ducks or their hybrids (greylards) and 10 paradise shelducks.

Mr McIntosh said the mallard population appears to have been stable over recent years.

"The good rainfall we had in spring assisted breeding birds by providing plenty of invertebrates, which are high in protein and energy for young ducklings to eat and grow."

The dry summer which benefited upland game birds including pheasant and quail, in terms of breeding and juvenile survival.

"Predation always has a significant effect on the number of all game birds' chicks which successfully fledge.

"That's why we ask hunters to trap their ponds and breeding habitat to get rid of feral cats, stoats, ferrets and hedgehogs which eat the eggs and young chicks of ground-nesting birds.

"Avian predators including hawks and pukeko also have a significant impact on gamebird populations. Pukeko may have been given a cute image but they can be aggressive predators when it comes to other waterfowl species."

The release of 280 banded cock pheasants along Hawke's Bay Rivers prior to the breeding season will also add to improved prospects.

These male birds breed with the wild hens to increase productivity, and then they are also available for licensed hunters to harvest during the season.