Game bird day license great for novices

Day licences for game bird hunting are a great opportunity for anyone thinking of "giving it a go," says Fish and Game Policy and Planning Manager Robert Sowman.

The new game bird season opened on Saturday, May 2, and game bird day licences went on sale two weekends later, on May 11, for $20 per day.

Robert says the day (24-hour) licences are aimed at various groups, such as people who've never been game bird hunting before who want to try it without spending $91 on a whole season licence, and also the "part-time hunter" who may only hunt for a few days of the season.

For only $40 someone can go out for a weekend's hunting to see what they think of it.

Fish and Game Policy and Planning Manager Robert Sowman.

The game bird day licence is ideal for the seasoned hunter to 'take a mate hunting' as Fish and Game encourages hunters to do, to introduce them to the sport, he says.

"The mate can buy a day licence for a very modest spend while deciding whether it's a pursuit to take up more seriously. You can go hunting for several days with multiple day licences before it obviously becomes a better bet to buy a whole season one."

The day licence is especially good value for under-18's to try out game bird hunting, as the junior licence costs a mere six dollars, he adds. Day licences are also popular in the "one-off" situation where a corporate group goes out to hunt on an upland game preserve for the day.

Robert says that when Fish and Game first introduced the day licences they were especially suited to "special hunts" such as a Canada goose hunt run at Molesworth Station.

Since then, Fish and Game has seen a growing and wider demand for the one-day game bird licences; initially sold at a rate of about 200 a year, now more than 1200 are sold annually.

Fish and Game is constantly reviewing its licence categories so that people have choices over how they hunt or fish, Mr Sowman says.

" We interview thousands of hunters and anglers annually so that we can keep up to date with changing habits or preferences.

"Currently we are preparing to introduce some new fishing licence categories in response to this review process."