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A New Season |
Hunt Information New Zealand bird hunting is a regular fixture for many overseas hunters so how is this year shaping up. First some background. The New Zealand Fish and Game Council and 12 regional Councils, collectively known as Fish and Game New Zealand, administer New Zealand gamebird hunting. The purchase of a NZ$80 hunting licence from them allows a hunter to target licensed birds in any of the regions over a one-year period. Hunters must use steel shot over water, and may only use lead when further than 200 metres from water. |
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| Gamebirds |
Licensed gamebirds hunted in New Zealand are (1) Waterfowl: canada geese, black swan, mallard duck, paradise shelduck, grey duck, shoveller duck, pukeko and (2) Upland gamebirds: quail and pheasant (preserves). Turkey do not require a license, and run free-range in good numbers. Most are Merriam. See Gamebird Descriptions Most visiting gamebird hunters target the South Island because these regions have the highest bag limits, and also offer a summer season targeting crop damaging birds. In this latter situation the clients are sitting on a food source that the birds are visiting in large numbers. |
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| Great Hunting |
The shooting can be fast and furious. A lower people population on this island also means that there is a lot of wetland, and upland habitat left for bird flocks. An increase in dairy farming has also resulted in a boom in duck, geese and shelduck numbers, and allowed hunters to target birds flocking into grass paddocks. Hunters may find they sit over grass more than water during a safari.The New Zealand public land pheasant population is too small to sustain heavy hunting but there are quality pheasant hunting preserves in both Islands. |
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| James Gray |
The most popular hunting destinations in New Zealand are North Canterbury, Central South Island, and Otago. All are on the drier East Coast of the Island and within close proximity of Christchurch International Airport, a starting and finishing point for most hunts. In North Canterbury there is a summer season (30 January-28 March) for paradise shelduck (20 a day) and canada geese (no limit), and a main waterfowl hunting season from May 2 to July 26 (25 birds a day). Upland hunting in this region is fair only and the season runs from May 2 to August 30. Our guide who can be recommended here is James Gray.He charges hunter a flat, all inclusive rate of US$450 a day. All hunts must be booked in for at least three days. |
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| B. Matthews |
Central South Island is the home of the mallard duck, though there are also big numbers of paradise shelduck and Canada geese. There is a summer season for geese from February 6 to April 11 (no limit), a main waterfowl season from May 2 to July 26 (50 duck a day), and a quail season from May 2 to August 30 (10 a day). Our recommended guide is Brendan Matthews. He offers a 5-day all-inclusive hunting package for US$3,250 per hunter. It is shaping up as a great hunting season, though the summer early hunts did suffer from a late harvesting of the grain crops that attract the geese. Birds that normally would have been shot will now be available for hunters in the main upcoming season, which is good news for main season hunters. |
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| S. Dougherty |
Otago is quail country, and also offers some great late season duck hunting. The main waterfowl season is May 2 to July 26 (25 birds a day), and the upland gamebird season is May 30 to August 30 (10 quail a day). The quail breeding season went very well, so hopes are high that there will be large numbers of coveys available. The birds are Californian quail and do very well in the Otago terrain. Our recommended guide is James Gray. He charges clients for an all inclusive, guided 5-day package that includes duck, quail, and turkey hunting. |
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Season Dates |
The bird season in New Zealand essentially runs from the first weekend in May to the end of July with the principal target species being mallard duck. Opening weekend is invariably booked a year in advance, but hunts in late May and June are also very successful. Hunts for turkey and quail are also available for later in the season. Preserve pheasant hunting can be arranged but will cost an additional amount. The North Canterbury summer season should be booked in on every calendar as it involves large numbers of geese and parries. |
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