Fish & Game urges hunters to be prepared for duck season

Rodney Herrick and gundog Ash hunt for ducks on their farm pond near Papakaio on opening weekend last year. Photo / Supplied / Rhys Adams

The annual duck-shooting season is fast approaching and Fish & Game says early preparation is key to getting things right on opening weekend.

Central South Island Fish & Game officer Rhys Adams said opening day, which was always the first Saturday in May, was a much-anticipated event around New Zealand, "famed for reconnecting friends and family and providing a few free-range duck dinners".

Hunters should have their location for opening weekend sorted and mai mais scrubbed up in advance so they were poised and ready when the season opened at 6.45 am on May 7, Adams said.

"It is critical to organise ammunition and hearing protection, inspect and oil shotguns — and have delegated the role of supplying the bacon and egg pie and thermos full of coffee and hot chocolate."

Fish & Game's pre-season population monitoring indicated that North Otago hunters should expect to encounter moderate numbers of mallard ducks, while paradise shelduck numbers would be high in localised areas, he said.

Fish & Game rangers would be active over opening weekend and hoped to encounter better compliance than the opening of the 2021 season when several hunters were found hunting without a licence and using lead shot over open water in the Mackenzie Basin and upper Waitaki Valley, Adams said.

Hunters were also reminded to buy their game bird hunting licence and review the rules and bag limits for their area.

All game bird hunting offences were criminal offences and could result in seizure of equipment, conviction in the district court, fines and other legal costs.

The Central South Island Fish & Game duck season ran until July 31 for the hunters' favourite species, mallard duck and paradise shelduck, with a 50-bird daily limit for mallard and 25 for paradise shelduck.

There was a variety of waterfowl to hunt, including Pūkeko, black swan and New Zealand shoveler duck.

Upland game species of Californian quail and chukar could also be hunted in the North Otago area.