Hunting season start ‘a mixed bag’
Drought means fewer ducks around but most hunters are happy
Many hunters were worried there would be no duck shooting season at all this year — so, despite an unproductive opening day, they were happy to finally get out.
The season got under way on Saturday, delayed by the Covid-19 lockdown, with Eastern Fish and Game expecting fewer duck numbers for opening weekend as hunters faced testing conditions.
Fish and Game Eastern Region manager Andy Garrick said overall results were a “mixed bag”. Though he had heard from Bay of Plenty duck hunters who had a successful weekend, Garrick expects game hunter surveys to reveal a slow start.
“There’s probably a couple of reasons for that. A dry spring followed by a dry autumn is just not conducive to productivity and I think the bird population was depressed as a result of that. You’ve got to have a good breeding season to have a good hunting season,” Garrick said.
“With those dry conditions is a lot of wetlands and farm ponds just don’t have water in them. That makes it hard and on top of that, parts of Bay of Plenty, particularly south of Rotorua and inland, had a lot of fog on Saturday morning.”
Garrick said most hunters in the Eastern region were well behaved and followed all the safety and firearms rules.
“We had some incidents where we seized guns. We had a couple of people who didn’t have a hunting licence and a couple of issues with semi-automatic shotguns in which the magazines weren’t restricted.
“We also had an incident with hunting from a boat under power on the Waikato River. We find that really disappointing. It’s obviously a temptation for some but it’s a dangerous pastime as well as not sporting.”
But most were responsible, happy to be out hunting, he said.
“It was very clear to us that a lot of hunters were concerned there would be no season at all so they were just over the moon to get out there. While it wasn’t as productive as we all might’ve liked, we didn’t encounter a hunter who had issues with it, which is always encouraging.
“The tradition and the experience is a big part of it. A lot of people only get together once a year just for that very purpose — the hunting is one element of it, getting birds to eat is another, but certainly, a major element is the camaraderie.”
Among those out were Te Puke’s Marc Bedford and his “super-keen” 5-year-old son, Beau.
Bedford learned to hunt from his dad and is passing on the tradition to his own children.
“It was good, I think most of us are thankful we did get a season, there was a strong possibility there that we weren’t going to. I take my hat off to Fish and Game and the likes for lobbying for us and getting it done,” Bedford said.
“The dads got out on the Saturday; the Sunday we usually donate to getting the kids out cause they’re super-eager as well.”
Bedford said duck hunting helped educate children. “They learn about safety around guns and where your food can come from if you’re willing to get out there and gather it yourself.”