Otago Hunters Reassured about Duck Season Length

Media release from Otago Fish & Game
Otago Hunters Reassured about Duck Season Length

Otago Fish and Game Council has moved to reassure hunters about the length of the 2013 duck hunting season which starts on Saturday 4th May. The 12 week mallard duck season is the same length as last year, ending 28th July and paradise shelduck have a 16 week season ending in late August.

The Council and sports shops have been swamped with enquiries about the season length following a national radio report about season length reductions in the North Island.

Operations Manager Ian Hadland said that some regions in the North Island were down to a 4 week season and 10 mallard per day limits in order to help restore their populations.

“Some of their mallard populations have suffered heavily due to climatic conditions including droughts and also landuse changes. Shortening season lengths and lowering bag limits are prudent management measures under the circumstances and should help to sustain gamebird populations in the long term” Mr Hadland said

Mr Hadland said that monitoring of gamebird populations over the summer had showed a minor decrease in numbers but not enough for the Otago Fish and Game Council consider changes to bag limits or season lengths.

"Mallard populations in particular have held up very well under quite dry conditions"

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