Why these pals are ducking for cover

MAN CAVE: Sitting in the maimai's lounge from left, Charlie Morrison, John Hooper, David Nixon and Ben Hone. PHOTO/STUART MUNRO

Charlie Morrison and friends old and young are getting ready for the best weekend of their year.

The duck shooting season begins tomorrow and it is a big deal in his Waverley area. After the day's shoot hunters will go back to Mr Morrison's "luxury" maimai in Village Settlement Rd.

It's hardly a primitive place ... You could call it a "man cave", says John Hooper, adding that it has "seen many a good night".

Yesterday three of the younger set were there to make sure the Sky TV connection was working again and have a few beers.

The maimai began as a small shed beside a pond 25 years ago. It's been extended four times and now has a bunkroom, shower, barbecue, bar, televisions, girlie pictures, easy chairs and a gas heater.

It was "given a fairly good nudge" by Mr Morrison and his school friends through the 1990s and up until 2010.

"We have had some big nights with our wives down here for the barbecues. Sometimes it's so full you could hardly stand," he said.

His friends got older and the place started to get a bit shabby. In the past few years a new group of younger men have taken it on. It had to be fixed after being flooded knee-deep in June last year.

Ducks are no longer shot on the pond there. Instead a few hunters will stay at the maimai tonight, and meet up with others shooting a big pond at the end of the road or another one in the Ngutuwera valley.

After the shooting everyone will go back to the maimai.

On Sunday the group will probably shoot the Moumahaki Stream, and for the next six weeks of the duck shooting season there are likely to be people there several times a week, after day or night hunting sessions.

Mr Morrison said ducks were sometimes cooked on the barbecue, but the place was mainly about good times and camaraderie.

"We're not known for the biggest duck tallies in Waverley, because of where we shoot. But we do have a lot of fun. It's good to be with your mates that you've known all your life."