Game bird hunters hoping for wet start to season
Game bird hunters will be among a minority around the country this weekend: they will be hoping for foul weather to coincide with the opening of the game bird season.
Fish & Game New Zealand chief executive Corina Jordan said a good breeding season had bolstered chances of a successful opening weekend.
“There are plenty of birds around throughout the country after several good breeding seasons, but they have been concentrated where there’s water over summer.
“With a bit more rain they will spread out to other wetlands and farm dams, providing more hunting opportunities.
“We just need some really bad weather for opening weekend – that’s what makes for great hunting, and that’s what hunters throughout the country will be hoping for.”
For the North Island, Metservice has forecast partly cloudy weather with isolated showers in the east and north, and mainly fine weather elsewhere for the weekend.
Partly cloudy skies with the odd shower was forecast for the South Island.
Jordan said about 60,000 hunters were expected to be out trying their luck this weekend.
In Waikato, good numbers of birds on many rivers, lakes and ponds, both mallards and parries, have been reported in pre-season monitoring.
Hamish Carnachan of Wellington and Taranaki Fish & Game said the mallard population was healthy in the lower North Island, and a 12-bird limit for mallard/grey duck would apply for the season.
“Lake Ōnoke is currently blocked to the sea and the barrage gates are closed, meaning water will back up in Lake Wairarapa and hopefully flow into the surrounding wetlands.”
In Nelson and Marlborough, a dry spring and summer had benefited upland game bird populations but not mallard duck numbers, which had decreased particularly in eastern areas.
“Paradise duck numbers are steady across the region, with an increase seen in Golden Bay, which also held steady mallard numbers,” Fish & Game officer Jacob Lucas said.
In Canterbury, duck numbers were on a par with last year.
“The water level at Te Waihora/lake Ellesmere has been low all summer and continues to be low, which will make opening weekend difficult for hunting,” Fish & Game officer Matthew Garrick said.
Good game bird numbers were reported on the West Coast.
In the central South Island region from Ashburton south to Shag Point in Otago and inland to the mountain ranges, hunters could expect moderate game bird numbers.
“The exception to this is the high number of black swans at Wainono Lagoon,” Fish & Game officer Rhys Adams said.
“With drought conditions throughout much of the region and some ponds dry, we expect bird numbers to be concentrated around permanent water bodies.”
In Southland, pre-season mallard monitoring indicated a slight decrease compared with the bumper counts of the past few years.
“Hunters can still expect ample opportunity to harvest Southland mallards during the opening weekend and throughout the two-and-a-half-month season,” Fish & Game officer Cohen Stewart said.