THE 'BEST' OF NEW ZEALAND HUNTING 

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USA Bird Hunting Report: June 2011

Canterbury: South Island: The Heart Of New Zealand Bird Hunting

New Zealand is a gamebird rich nation but for the bird hunting international client all roads lead to Canterbury in the South Island. Why is that? An easy answer really. In addition to having an international airport at Christchurch the region has large mallard duck, paradise shelduck, and Canada geese populations that mean it can sustain heavy hunting pressure over a period of time.

It also has extra bird species such as shoveller duck and black swan for the gamebird collector, and has quality New Zealand bird hunting guiding operations based there. The booming dairy industry in the region also ensures there is plenty of water and grass resources for the waterfowl, and grass is what attracts large numbers of paradise duck in particular. The indigenous parry has become the bird of interest to most visiting hunters and a daily bag limit of 20 per hunter is a great incentive to hunt Canterbury. Guides James Gray and Brendan Matthews are two top bird hunting outfitters who operate in Canterbury.

What makes Gray and Matthews unique in New Zealand is that they have actively acquired hunting rights on several desirable properties, legitimately feed the resident flocks pre-client visit, and have invested plenty of money on callers, decoys, hides, and dogs. James Gray has a wide network of farmer contacts and hunting locations in his zone, and Brendan Matthews hunts several top ponds and properties as well. Gray has a summer advantage over Matthews in that his hunting district offers a special Paradise Shelduck hunting season from 4 February to 25 March each year.

This is very popular and with the 20 birds per hunter per day bag limit makes for a lot of bang over 5 days hunting. This region has a lot of paradise shelduck, a big bird, with a beautiful plumage and a suicidal tendency to decoy easily. The male is glossy black and the female chestnut with a white head. Overseas hunters love hunting them and they are rapidly becoming the number one hunting species for visitors and often end up at the taxidermist. Canada geese are another bird often shot in the same areas. During the main waterfowl season 7 May to 31 July, Matthews evens up the ledger by having a 50 duck a day bag limit versus a 25 duck bag for Gray.

The duck in question is the mallard though occasional other duck species are also shot. Harder to acquire birds that can be targeted if a visiting hunter is a collector are black swan, pukeko, grey and shoveller duck. Gray has even had one or two clients shoot grey barren geese. Canterbury also has quail and pheasant hunting. Over water clients have to use steel shot, but over land lead is still permitted. The 2011 season begun well and paradise duck and mallard duck numbers have provided excellent shooting.

Contact Greg: fairchase@paradise.net.nz