Only a week to go before the sun rises on the 2023-24 Game Bird Season! Opening Weekend is on Saturday, May 6.
Excitement is building for Opening Weekend of the 2023-24 Game Bird Season in Otago.
- We’re predicting a standard sort of duck harvest this season ─ good news given the summer drought.
- Recent rainfall has improved many ponds which were drying out.
- Mallards had a good main breeding season in spring before summer’s prolonged dry period.
- Now we just need good hunting conditions for Opening Weekend – low cloud and wind.
- Then it’s all up to you!
Annual mallard trend count
- Almost 5,000 mallards were counted during our flight over selected Otago ponds, river reaches and overland sections in the annual trend count this month.
- The trend count was lower than the 5,780 average of previous years.
- Dry ponds and swollen rivers on the day we counted the ducks will likely have affected the count.
- Long-term data shows Otago’s mallard population is in good shape despite recent drought.
- Fish & Game has been monitoring the mallard population trend since 2015.
- Mallards are counted at selected locations, not the entire region.
- Counts can be affected on the survey day by conditions such as water levels and weather.
- That’s why we analyse long-term data.
Left it to the last minute? Don’t just sit there…
- Knock on some farmhouse doors this weekend.
- Search Crown land next to rivers and lakes using the outdoor access map on the Herenga ā Nuku/Outdoor Access Commission website.
- If hunting next to private land, be sure to notify the landowner beforehand.
- Your spot must be no closer than 90 metres from another pegged maimai or stake.
Otago Fish & Game produced a video last year on how to set decoys to help you harvest more birds.
- Fish & Game rangers often see hunters making easily fixable mistakes with decoy spreads.
- Want more birds for the table?
- Then click here to watch the video on YouTube.
- If rivers are swollen, mallards often move to wet paddocks.
- Consider hunting in flooded paddocks from a layout blind.
- Use full body decoys or set floating decoys in the puddles.
- Dig the decoy keels into the mud or use wire to stand them up.
Know your local regulations
Game bird regulations often change from year to year.
- Check the 2023-24 regulations here.
- Last year’s national shoveler trend count showed a decline of this taonga native species.
- Otago Fish & Game Council has reduced the limit to one shoveler DRAKE per day.
Grab your licence the easy way
- The fastest, easiest way to get your game bird hunting licence is to jump online.
- All you need is your credit card and in just a few minutes you’ll be set to go.
- No need to worry about your licence turning up in time for Opening Weekend ─ the receipt we email you will suffice until it turns up in your letterbox.
- Head to www.fishandgame.org.nz and click the Licence tab at the top of the page.
Central Otago is renowned for its quail hunting.
- For many hunters, chasing upland game birds is the season highlight.
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The Otago upland game bird season opens on 3 June.
- Most upland hunting is on private land.
- Public land opportunities are limited.
- No easy way to say this: you need to put in the hard yards and introduce yourself in a friendly and respectful way to landowners.
