Eastern> Hunting News May2009

Of the nearly 300 hunters that Fish & Game NZ rangers spoke to on opening weekend in the Bay of Plenty, most reported that the hunting was better than expected and they were pretty happy with the number of ducks taken. Rangers covered areas around the Bay of Plenty, Reporoa and Galatea, and Gisborne.

Hunters in the Gisborne and Wairoa area had the ideal weather for hunting on Saturday and Rangers and hunters reported that some good hunting was experienced on ponds and rivers around Gisborne, while the Wairoa hunters that ventured into the flooded paddocks were able to take advantage of feeding birds.

The mallard and grey duck populations over the whole region are at about a 10-year low so there is only a one month season this year so these populations can more quickly recover to provide larger populations with more birds to harvest in future years. Ranging on the Sunday in the Bay of Plenty and Kaingaroa forests showed that while the summer had been unkind to ducks it had obviously been more favourable to upland game. In the Gisborne and Wairoa region, paradise ducks and Canada geese and the upland game birds like pheasants on the East Coast area have generally done well. 

Since opening weekend, the heavy rain over the Bay of Plenty region has resulted in very good evening Mallard shooting in paddocks. Across the region there are very good numbers of pheasant and quail. Even over opening weekend, hunters told Fish & Game officers that they had seen a lot of pheasants in Rotoehu Forest and experienced some exciting hunting. 

 The upland game season extends until the end of August and if you haven’t tried hunting the high quality fare that is pheasant and quail, then this is the season to start.

Rob Pitkethley, Regional Manager, Fish & Game NZ  (Eastern)

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