Both Barrels May 2026 - Auckland Waikato

Sunny but productive hunting on opening weekend

Despite clear blue skies on opening weekend, many hunters are reporting positive bird numbers around. During compliance checks, rangers were happy to observe a good number of complaint hunters getting close to their bag limits by mid-morning Saturday. Sunday was, by most accounts, much slower – but rangers still came across many hunting parties soaking up the sun, preparing their harvested birds and generally making the most of the weekend.

Mobility-impaired accessible maimai put to use!

Ollie kindly provided a report on opening weekend at the newly built mobility-impaired accessible maimai:

"Yesterday I had the pleasure of using the Murray Young Maimai for the first time — and what an experience. My first time duck shooting! This kind of activity normally isn't available to me as a wheelchair user, but the easily navigable path and well-situated shelter meant I could get out there amongst it. A huge thank you to the team at Fish and Game for making this available and for all their hard work planting the area. We didn't get any ducks, but honestly it didn't matter — spending the morning with good mates, having fun in the chilly May air, that's what life's all about."  

Bands returned so far

Just from the first week of the season in the Auckland/Waikato region we have had 236 banded ducks shot and returned to use. The first report came through 7:44 am on opening morning!

Remember to return any bands you recover this year to be in with a chance to win! One entry per duck band, with 5 prizes to be won.

How to return your duck band details:

• Ring the free phone number 0800 BIRD BAND (0800-247322) or
• Fill out this form online : banding together

Some of the 2025 winners with their prizes.

Opening weekend compliance summary

F&G rangers were out over opening weekend carrying out compliance checks around the region. This year, staff teams were accompanied by FSA staff. The FSA officers were focusing on education around firearm safety and reminding hunters of the rules of alcohol while hunting, and supervising unlicenced hunters. It was encouraging to observe a high level of compliance with firearms regulations for most hunters encountered!

Ranging was carried out on a mixture of private and public land with a total of 159 hunters checked in the Auckland/Waikato region. While most hunters were doing the right thing, there was still a high level of non-compliance with 17 offence notices issued and 14 firearms seized. The offences ranged from a single offence up to 4 offences for a single person, including shooting over a fed pond, unplugged guns, shooting over limit, lead shot, hunting without a gamebird licence and hunting with more than one shotgun.