Both Barrels April 2025 - Hawke's Bay

Well, Opening weekend is not many sleeps away now!  

Hopefully, your maimais are all sorted and decoys ready, you’ve had some pre-season practice, you have bought a current game bird licence, and you have non-toxic shot for all guns. 

We will all be hoping for some good rain before the 3 May and ideally some wet, windy weather for “The Day”. Hopefully we won’t have a repeat of last year with clear blue skies and calm weather across all our region, making for challenging hunting and the need for sunblock rather than wet weather gear. 

Many hunters we speak to remind us that the success of opening weekend isn’t just about getting lots of ducks. To quote some, opening day is like Christmas for kids; we wait for it all year. It’s about catching up with our mates, many of whom we only see at opening weekend. It’s my annual excuse to escape the city,  chores at home, and be young at heart again.  

One of the keys to good duck hunting is keeping ducks moving. Those that go stalking other farm dams or the river in quiet parts of the day, whilst the rest of the team stay at the hide, often generate success for themselves and their mates back in the hide.       

Our ranging teams will be accompanied by rural police officers again this year; we are hoping to see all shooters encountered being pleasant and cooperative with no compliance issues being picked up. 

With many hunters chasing geese and enjoying hunting rabbits and hares with friends and family pre-season, it is easy to get caught out. As waterfowl hunters, we need to check that we haven’t inadvertently left some lead ammo in our bag or belt, and that we have replaced the pin in our guns. 

With many farmers planting maize, there are many areas still being harvested, and the ducks, particularly paradise ducks and mallards, will continue flocking into these fields. Waterfowl hunters with layout blinds and a good spread of decoys shooting these areas should enjoy good hunting again this season as many did last year. 

Hawke's Bay rivers will continue to provide  good hunting throughout the season, with many access points being repaired following cyclone damage. Still, you’ll need to do some scouting beforehand as some areas have changed.  

Despite feeding in harvested maize fields, ducks will still congregate in backwater pools along the river. 

Those waterfowl hunters who spend time identifying these sites or stalking the rivers should have good hunting. 

River hunting provides some great opportunities, and there is always a good chance of encountering Pheasant or Quail, a wonderful addition to any hunter’s menu. This year there should be greater chance of finding Pheasants in and around the bays river beds as we released a good number banded cock pheasants kindly donated by one of the preserves, after the season finished last year.   

For the hunter who likes an alternative challenge, there is an abundance of Pūkeko throughout the region, with many landowners happy to have them hunted. Walk-up Pukeko hunting is a great way to get young hunters involved, as novices often find them a bit easier to hit than Pheasant or Quail that explode from cover as they make a B- Line for the next bit of cover or tree to fly behind. In some other regions groups of hunters have had good success working as a team systematically driving pukeko from cover to provide opportunities for themselves and other team members. 

Hunters are reminded to seek permission, accept you may not always be granted access and who knows what opportunities may unfold, while remembering that we are all ambassadors for our recreation.  

Licence changes for the 2025 Game Bird Season and a couple of reminders. 

There are two changes for this season. 

1. The daily bag limit for black swan has been increased from 3 to 5 per day.
2. The close of shooting time has been extended from 6.00 pm to 6.15 pm, as a result of lots of feedback from shooters who were frustrated that, early in the season, they had to stop shooting, often before many birds had started to fly. The extra 15 minutes should provide some extra opportunity, especially early season, but with this comes the reminder that we all have a responsibility to positively identify our target, and in so doing help maintain our social licence; if there is any doubt, don’t shoot!

We have generous bag limits for most species. The start and end dates are easy to remember: the start is the first Saturday in May, waterfowl season ends the last Sunday in June, and upland season ends the last Sunday in August. However, please check your game season conditions before you go out and remember to carry your license with you.   

We would like to thank all our shooters who; individually or as a group made submissions on the 2025 license change proposals.  

Non-Toxic shot a must for all shotguns now. The 2024 season saw an extension of the ban on lead shot for waterfowl hunting within 200 meters of open water with any gun, including .410. This led to frustration for some trying to find non -toxic .410-gauge alternatives, we are assured that there will be a plentiful supply of non-toxic .410 ammo for this season, from steel to bismuth at a range of prices; so remember if you hunt waterfowl near water you must use a non -toxic alternative to lead shot. 

Junior Events. 

We three exiting junior events planned for the coming season,  

Junior Duck Hunting Experience in Central Hawkes Bay 

The first is a junior duck hunter. Hopefully, you got your entries in before the cutoff date of Friday, April 11th, to get into the draw for one of eight available spaces for an unforgettable weekend experience at one of two wetlands in Central Hawkes Bay. We are pleased to say that we had a large number of very good entries received, and 8 lucky juniors will be contacted very soon to invite them to a once-in-a-lifetime event. 

The weekend kicks off with an ex–New Zealand clay bird shooting champion taking the lucky recipients through gun safety and a simulated game bird clay shoot, followed by a delicious duck dinner and a relaxed evening. On Sunday, there is an early morning hunt, followed by a delicious lunch. Accommodation and all meals will be provided, ensuring a comfortable and enjoyable experience. This is an opportunity for eight young adults from throughout the country to have an experience they would not usually be able to have. 

Hawkes Bay Juniors Simulated Field Clay Target Shoot 

This second event is an exciting and challenging, simulated field, clay target shoot that we plan to run towards the end of the waterfowl season, in conjunction with Tunanui Station. The team at Tunanui Station have converted some of their famous pheasant drives into an equally challenging commercial clay target shoot. The arrival of cutting-edge clay target throwers that can throw a clay over 200 meters has made this possible. The shoots will offer a range of high, fast incoming and crossing targets, very much the same as the shooting one would encounter on a driven pheasant shoot or when shooting waterfowl on big water.  The shoot will offer some exciting “fast and furious shooting” where flurries lasting up to 3 minutes will launch multiple targets over a line of shooters just like in a driven pheasant shoot. Shooters will ideally bring their own double-barrelled gun to the shoot, which will be at Tunanui Station, approximately 20 minutes’ drive, up the Napier / Taihape road. 

How do I enter this event? - It is open to all junior hunters purchasing a Hawkes Bay 2025 Junior full season game bird; they will be eligible for this lucky draw. Keep an eye on the Hawkes Bay Fish and Game Facebook page for more information 

Hawkes Bay Junior Driven Pheasant shoot.  

This shoot will be hosted by a world-class upland game preserve after their main season has finished. Hawkes Bay has been lucky to have similar shoots previously, where opportunities were plentiful, smiles on juniors’ and parents’ faces were universal; although I’m sure many of the parents were trying hard to hide their envy at the juniors getting the sort of shoot that many adult shooters dream about for free.  

How do I enter this event? – all junior shooters purchasing a 2025 Hawkes Bay Junior full season game bird licence will be eligible for this draw.  Keep an eye on the Hawkes Bay Fish and Game Facebook page for more information. These shoots promise to deliver lifelong memories for those lucky enough to win the draw.