Duck shooting season starts tomorrow morning and shooters are urged to be safe and vigilant.
The season kicks off at 6.15am. The season happens each year around the same time - don't be alarmed if you hear noises around the time of the year.
Shooters are reminded to stay safe during the duck shooting season and for residents to not be alarmed. Photo: Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Journalism.
Fish and Game New Zealand have predicted a good shooting season due to the recent heavy rainfall.
They believe there is more opportunity for hunters this time round due to healthier duck populations and increase in bag limits.
But safety comes first during the shooting season. Eastern Region Senior Fish & Game officer Matthew McDougall urges hunters to be cautious.
'We're asking people to treat ever gun as loaded and that they take extra precautions.
Hunters should load the gun when they are ready to shoot.”
Last year 15-year-old student, James Johnston died after the gun he was using accidently fired at him in Thornton.
This year, hunters are able to bag up to eight mallards or grey ducks a day. In 2015, the rules state only six were allowed to be bagged.
Matthew recommends hunters to remind themselves of the Firearms Safety Code:
'The big one is making sure shotguns are ready to go when they're you're ready to shoot something,” says Matthew.
The mallard and grey season finishes June 19, which is two weeks longer than previous years. Pheasants, swans and quail season runs until August 29.
3 comments
Ducks
Posted on 06-05-2016 15:02 | By Kenworthlogger
Hopefully everyone uses common sense and only shoots ducks this season. Remember treat all firearms as loaded.
@kenworthlogger....
Posted on 06-05-2016 20:30 | By Jimmy Ehu
and Pukeko, Canada geese, black swan,!!!!! stoats, weasels, wild cats( do they have to be wild?), possum, yep that will go someway to cleaning our waterways and bush areas of rodents.
Not safe for hunters, or birds
Posted on 09-05-2016 12:18 | By jenmodica
Duck and quail hunting is now banned in several Australian states and it's easy to see why. Up to 75,000 birds are maimed and injured and one million killed in the autumn hunting season of May to July. Despite what hunters claim, ducks and other birds are generally shot for entertainment, rather than food. For every bird shot and killed, it is estimated that 2-3 more are wounded. As there are hundreds of pellets in a single shotgun cartridge, birds flying in flocks will often be hit by pellet spray and may be seriously injured but not killed. Often such birds are never retrieved by the hunters, resulting in a slow, painful death for the wounded birds. With wounding rates that high, anyone with an once of compassion would find it difficult to see this as a worthwhile past time.
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