While some duck shooters went home empty-handed after opening day's fine skies, an old Ohauiti bird got her limit and then taught her young neighbour the ‘tricks of the trade'.

Seventy-one-year-old Jeanette Nee is sorry to hear about the Katikati women's duo going home empty-handed on opening day – since she managed to shoot her limit at the family farm pond on Saturday.

Ohauiti resident Jeanette Nee, age 71, got her limit on Saturday's opening morning of the game bird season.

Callum Fullick, 15, accompanied his 71-year-old next-door neighbour Jeanette Nee to learn how to hunt and bag ducks. Photo: Jeanette Nee.

'I guess I must live in a different region – Ohauiti,” says Jeannette, who managed to shoot ducks and great hunting photographs on Saturday.

'Our pond was brimming with ducks.

'And the surprise of surprises is this old bird – I'm age 71 – managed to nail two birds with one shot at the crack of dawn. And not only that, I repeated the same feat at the end of the day.”

With her successful morning swiftly heard by next-door neighbour 15-year-old Callum Fullick – he accompanied her for a hunt late-Saturday.

'I took him out in the evening after he heard of my success and wanted to come and learn about shooting and safety [measures] with the shotgun,” says Jeannette.

'I've got a good pond and I take the time to feed them, so they all come in,” says Jeanette, who says her success is pinned on 'the three P's – patience, practice and perseverance”.

Jeannette, who has been shooting since she was 12, also does her homework before duck shooting season begins, studying the behaviour of various duck species 'and finding out they like to be fed yummie maize”.

'I also study their flight patterns, where they're flying over the farm; usually that starts three-four months beforehand, and also what time they're flying.

'I have a little diary to make notes; and I also work out which ones they are, so you don't make a mistake and shot a protected one.”

Plus, practice, practice and more practice with her trusty Beretta 20 gauge shotgun – and as well with her camera – sees her have a blast.

Asked why she puts in the added effort, Jeanette says: 'I like to not waste any shells”.

Jeanette will enjoy the rest of the four-week game bird season, teaching her keen, young accomplice.

'You don't go annihilate everything – you get the limit and get a feed for neighbours around here who all like eating game.

'I'll also mentor this young lad, who is so keen – and he carries all my gear and opens the gates too.”

A grey duck flies towards Ohauiti resident Jeanette Nee's farm pond. Photo: Jeanette Nee.

Papamoa's Jesse O'Hara, eight, from Golden Sands School was the all-important duck shooting assistant for the first time with his grandfather Wal and father Mike on the Hauraki Plains.

Meanwhile Fish and Game is reporting poor compliance by those checked on opening weekend.

Eastern Fish and Game officers found a 'disappointing” level of compliance with game bird hunting rules and regulations, as the season opened on Saturday.

More than a dozen offences from the eastern region which incorporates Tauranga, Rotorua and Whakatane are being followed up on.

But Fish and Game Officer Anthony van Dorp says 'we'd still emphasise that most hunters of the many hunters checked were law-abiding and enjoying the day.”

The worst offending was encountered by combined Fish and Game ranger and police teams in the Wairoa area.

Teams found nine offenders in total, with offences ranging from the prohibited use of lead shot, excess bag limits, and failing to have game bird or firearm licences.

'A total of seven shotguns were seized from hunters along with about 1000 rounds of lead shot ammunition.”

Anthony says a number of people will be summoned to appear in court to face a variety of charges. They include two men were in possession of 71 paradise shelduck when the limit is 10 per person.

In addition to other matters, all the offenders in our region that are being followed up on were found to be hunting with lead shot, he adds.

'Its high time hunters realised this ban is not negotiable – it's been in force for a decade and there's a zero tolerance approach to these breaches.”

Anthony says some other hunters elsewhere in the eastern region were also given warnings.

Senior Fish and Game officer Matthew McDougall says their checks of hunters' bags indicated a 'pretty tough” opening around the eastern region, on a par with earlier predictions.

Some hunters reached their bag limit but that was only to be expected, with such a low limit of six birds in force.

In the Thornton area in the eastern Bay of Plenty for example, hunters reached their limit or at least 'harvested a few ducks.”

Things were fairly lean in the Rotorua lakes area, and also across in the Kaituna wetlands.