Otago Regional Hunting Report - 8 May 2025

Opening Weekend in Otago

In this issue:

• Opening Weekend
• Photo competition
• Recipe competition
• Around the region – Opening shots
  - Lower Clutha
  - Maniototo
  - Ida Valley
  - Taieri
• Blowing in the wind
• Hunting tips – Where did all the ducks go?
• Compliance
• Hunter surveys
• Weather outlook 

 

Season off to a good start

Opening Weekend of the duck season in Otago was generally a success, with most hunters across the region reporting varied but satisfactory results.

Most hunting groups our rangers spoke to got average bags, and there were some notably good exceptions.

For example, two duck hunters we spoke to in the lower Clutha Valley declared it was their best Opening Day ever, bagging 40 mallards before midday. A few other seasoned hunting groups shot their bag limits.

Many locations provided steady but not remarkable hunting.

The season’s just started, so make the most of your season licence and get out there. Why not take a mate, too! Day licences are available from Monday, May 12.

Every second Thursday during the 2025 game bird season, we will email you the latest hunting reports, tips, weather outlook, and competitions.

If you like this report, please tell your hunting mates and family members to subscribe. You can always unsubscribe at the link at the end of this report. 

 

Shot of the Season: Otago Game Bird Photo Competition

Hamiora Smith (aged 9) with a blonde mallard on Opening Weekend. Credit: Eli Smith.

 

Recipe Competition: put your wild kai to the test!

C’mon duck hunters. Enter your recipes to win!

Got a special way in the kitchen with mallards? A tantalising technique for parries? Show off your culinary skills in our Game Bird Recipe Competition!

Every two weeks during hunting season, we'll award a copy of The Fish + Game Cookbook by Angelo Georgalli to the hunter with the most impressive game bird recipe. Whether it's a family recipe passed down for generations or your own creative invention, we want to see how you transform your wild kai from field to table.

• Simply submit under the subject line Recipe Competition:
  - your name,
  - your recipe,
  - a photo of your prepared dish,
  - a brief story about your hunt.
• Email to: [email protected]
• Subject line: Recipe competition
• Entries must be received by midnight every second Sunday.
• New winners announced fortnightly!

Good hunting and better cooking!

Around the region  – Opening shots

It was great seeing so many farmers sharing their ponds and hospitality with other hunters on Opening Day.

The support of farmers, such as Hamish MacKenzie at Kyeburn Station in the top photo, ensures the tradition of game bird hunting continues.

The following wrap-up is mostly based on chats between rangers and hunters on Opening Weekend. More detailed data will become available from our Opening Weekend Hunter Harvest Survey soon.

Lower Clutha

Three generations duck hunting at Rongahere on Opening Day were (from left) David Blair, Hudson Blair (10), Fletcher (9) and dad Michael Blair, all from Cromwell. Credit: Jayde Couper.

• In the lower Clutha, there were mixed results where hunting conditions were breezy and overcast with patchy rain.
• Around Clydevale, it was a tale of two riversides.
• On the north side of the Clutha River/Mata-Au, bags were mostly low among the hunters we spoke to. Many of the ponds we saw there were not hunted.
• In contrast, near Rongahere, south of the Clutha River/Mata-Au, several hunting groups harvested about 15 mallards and a couple of paradise shelduck.

 

Maniototo

Duck hunting near Ranfurly on Opening Day were (from left) Graeme Clarke with Beau the Labrador, Andy Price, Kim Turfus-MacKenzie, Quade Turfus-MacKenzie, Shane Turfus and Sally Taylor and Gus the Spaniel. Credit: Bruce Quirey.

• In the Maniototo, the shooting was quieter around Kyeburn but hunters who persisted to the end of the day got the best results.
• Near Kyeburn and Ranfurly, most hunting parties spoken to had harvested up to five mallards and a couple of paradise shelduck.
• Farmer Hamish McKenzie said his hunting party ended up with about 20 ducks and had a great day out.
• A large hunting party at Ranfurly bagged 104 birds, almost all paradise shelduck, over two days. Gus McSkimming said most seasons his group shot more parries than mallards at their maimai, but this year parry numbers were exceptional. They found the mallards cagey.
• Another party of four hunters near Ranfurly had bagged about 30 mallards.

 

Ida Valley

Snipe the Labrador had a busy Opening Day retrieving a mixed bag of paradise shelduck, mallards and Canada geese in the Ida Valley. Credit: Mason Court.

• In Central Otago, the weather for duck hunters was mostly fine and calm with high cloud and light breezes.
• In the Ida and Manuherekia valleys, most hunting groups had mixed bags of up to four mallards, four paradise shelduck and the odd shoveler.
• Two hunting parties we spoke to got large bags of paradise shelduck.

 

Taieri

• On coastal parts of the Taieri and Dunedin area, rain and strong wind came through in the afternoon.
• A group of three hunters on Lake Waipori took 47 mallard and 15 paradise shelduck.
• Otago Fish & Game councillor and honorary ranger Colin Weatherall said his hunting team on Lake Waipori bagged 17 birds on Saturday and nine on Sunday - twice last year’s numbers.
• A group of six hunters at an estuary near Dunedin bagged about 100 birds.
• Dan Kunac said a strong south-wester helped move ducks around Outram. His party of four hunters bagged their limit of mallards as well as a few paradise shelduck on Saturday. They then got another 40 mallards on Sunday.

 

Blowing in the wind

Duck hunters like windy conditions but how much wind is too much? And we’re not talking about baked beans in the maimai!

While many parts of Otago had gentle to moderate breezes on Opening Day, coastal areas in South Otago had rough conditions.

Jack Pow was hunting between the mouths of the Koau and Matau branches of the Clutha River and saw 500-600 ducks in the air. However, rough weather meant many ducks didn’t want to decoy in. With gusts up to 50km/h, some ducks turned in the wind and didn’t come back.

Jack’s hunting party still had a successful weekend, bagging 70 mallards, a couple of paradise shelduck, a shoveler drake and two black swans. Mallards can fly in winds up to 50-65km/h, although strong winds will affect their flight patterns. In extreme weather, they may stay grounded or seek sheltered flight paths.

 

Chopper

A few duck hunters have told us they saw a helicopter flying in the Maniototo area on Opening Day and wondered if it was Fish & Game. It wasn’t us.

Normally in April, Fish & Game conducts aerial trend-counts of mallard populations in the lower Taieri, lower Clutha and West Otago. However, this year we suspended our pre-season flight as we review our game bird monitoring methods at a national level.

 

Hunter surveys

Thanks to all the hunters who have participated in our annual Hunter Survey this week.

Like previous seasons, Fish & Game is surveying hunters to find out satisfaction levels from their overall hunting experience and how many birds were harvested individually. For waterfowl, this includes mallard, shoveler, grey duck, paradise shelduck, black swan, Canada goose, and pukeko.

We’ll want to know:

• what days you hunted,
• how many hours and minutes you hunted,
• the area and region,
• birds shot and retrieved,
• and birds shot and not retrieved.

It’s that easy. If you haven’t had a call from us yet, don’t be surprised if you do over the rest of the season. Thanks in advance for helping!

An Opening Weekend harvest report will be released soon.

Hunting tips: where did all the ducks go?

How often does it happen that ahead of the duck season the pond or around your maimai is teeming with ducks, but after the initial first flurry of shooting on Opening Morning the birds have gone, seemingly disappeared into the ether, writes Hamish Carnachan? And then, as soon as the season ends, mallards start appearing again in numbers.

• Research from the US indicates that, contrary to much of the rhetoric and populist theories, mallards are getting increasingly hunt-smart, indicating that hunters need to hunt smarter to increase their success.
• US research shows once duck season starts, mallards quickly adapt to survive, spending their nights feeding on flooded agricultural land and flying back to refuges before shooting light in the morning.
• In a New Zealand context, it could be that plenty of birds remain locally, just hidden out of sight of hunters. Read Hamish’s full article in the latest Fish & Game magazine, Special Issue 60, online here: Where Did All the Ducks Go?

   

Compliance

Geoff Bates, from Wānaka, chats with honorary ranger Mike Teasdale near Rongahere on Opening Day. Credit: Jayde Couper.

By far, most duck hunters do the right thing, which speaks to the strong sense of responsibility within our hunting community.

Otago Fish & Game rangers were chuffed with most hunters’ conduct on Opening Weekend.

• Otago rangers checked about 140 hunters on Opening Day.
• Compliance was above 98 per cent.
• Unfortunately, two duck hunters who chose to go duck hunting without licences were issued offence notices and their firearms were seized.

 

Only in Middlemarch!
We had an awesome time visiting Strath Taieri School to talk duck hunting with some very keen young hunters. With a maimai right in the classroom as part of their project, these students were already clued up on game bird season, wetland habitats, and how to be ethical hunters.

Big thanks to the school and the rural whānau for keeping hunting traditions alive in such a fun, responsible way!

 

Weather Outlook

Wind forecast: Saturday May 10, 2025. Credit: www.windy.com.

Breezy conditions forecast this weekend should help push ducks around in coastal and southern parts of the region.

Dunedin: The Saturday forecast is for northerlies, turning westerly. Fine with a few showers. Partly cloudy and light winds on Sunday.

Clutha Rural: Westerlies on Saturday, becoming fresh. Partly cloudy with afternoon rain. Sunday looks partly cloudy, north-westerlies developing.

Central Otago: Light winds this weekend. Partly cloudy with a chance of afternoon shower on Saturday. Partly cloudy on Sunday.

Make sure you check the latest and updated forecasts to plan your hunt.

Click here for the latest weather updates from MetService, or visit Windy or Yr.No to track conditions coming your way. 

Local regulations

Planning to hunt in another region? Be sure you know the local regulations.

• Each region has its own set of regulations working in conjunction with the national regulations.
• These include bag limits and season lengths.
• Download regulation booklets for each individual region from the Fish & Game website by selecting here.

Grab your hunting licence online and let the adventures begin.

 

Got any Otago Game Bird Hunting News?

Send your hunting news and photos (with hunters’ names) to [email protected] for consideration in the Regional Hunting Report.