Eastern > Hunting News May

Fish & Game New Zealand Game are encouraging game bird hunters to target black swan and canada geese when the new waterfowl season gets underway on 5 May. Senior Fish & Game Officer Matthew McDougall reported that aerial trend counts carried out earlier this year by Fish and Game showed that the populations in good shape throughout the region.

“With the long term trends indicating that these populations are in good health there is clearly additional opportunity available to hunters. The main populations of swan are around Lake Taupo, the Rotorua Lakes and Tauranga Harbour while geese are also prolific at these locations and near Ruatoria and Porongahau/Long Range on the East Coast and Hawke’s Bay.”

Fish & Game report that in some areas hunters were not taking full advantage of the opportunity provided by these species. “Hunters tend to focus on mallard duck whereas if they considered some of the other species more actively they are likely to be more successful.”

He added that as these species also tended to do better in dry years as they were not as dependant on traditional wetlands as other waterfowl species. “Paradise shelduck and Canada geese are primarily grazing birds and have benefited from changes in land use. Other waterfowl, however, have been affected by loss of wetlands and were reliant on a wet spring to provide good conditions for breeding”.

“As paradise shelduck, swan and geese enjoy eating grass at times they do attract the ire of farmers. While we help landowners disperse birds the game season offers an excellent opportunity to deal with localised issues. We encourage landowners to allow hunters access to their land or to contact us and we will organise groups of hunters to help out”.

Mr McDougall reported that one of the main issues for hunters was that swan and geese spent most of their time on or near the larger lakes, only flying out to feed, and that the proximity to housing or roads tended to deter hunters. “Hunters often would like the chance to hunt swan and geese don’t want to use a firearm in a location which may be seen or heard by members of the public.”

He reminded east Coast hunters hunters that black swan were not able to be shot in Wairoa or Gisborne during the 2007 season. “Despite healthy numbers in other regions the Wairoa black swan population has declined in recent years necessitating this conservation measure. “

Fish & Game indicated that it was a difficult issue as there tended to be criticism for there being too many birds in particular locations and then when hunters tried to help out they attract further criticism from a different sector of the community. “With population levels increasing or stable we would like to encourage hunters to target these species but it also requires support from landowners and tolerance from the general public”.

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