Thread: F'in Pukekos

I have a problem with Pukekos on my land. There must be over 30 of the bastards. Every morning like clockwork they come up and eat the chicken eggs from the hutch and if there are chicks around they try and eat them too. My question is can I shoot the bastards? Or do I need to get a permit? I was going to take out a few this morning then I though I had better check just in case.

Originally Posted by HairyLemon

I have a problem with Pukekos on my land. There must be over 30 of the bastards. Every morning like clockwork they come up and eat the chicken eggs from the hutch and if there are chicks around they try and eat them too. My question is can I shoot the bastards? Or do I need to get a permit? I was going to take out a few this morning then I though I had better check just in case.

I'd shoot them and say nothing.

Cheers
Pete

PS
Make sure there's no witnesses...........




Or forensic evidence.

Yip, just a quiet population reduction should do the trick.....

Fill ya boots HL. Call it Pest Control. Oh and welcome to the forum.

No, by law you cannot shoot them. They are a game bird.

If you do as I did and complain to Fish and Game about it you can get a special permit to do something about them. For me it was a free permit , and allowed shooting with 22 or shotgun for named persons only within the gamebird season. Then if you shoot any you have to keep them in the freezer and tell fish and game so they can come collect them for their feathers for the local tribe.

or you can just do as most people do and just quietly blow them away.

Bloody things are Australians anyway.

Originally Posted by Rushy

Fill ya boots HL. Call it Pest Control. Oh and welcome to the forum.

Thanks

Thanks all for the quick reply, There is shortly going to be a drop in the population around my area

I blow em up all-day everyday. never met someone who gave two shites about it.

Crock pot the breasts........great tucker.....

Raised the laying boxes higher,ones closest to ground got eaten out every day, 2 roosters did help.was 1 particular pukeko teaching or leading the others. And they do attack and eat out chickens and ducklings brains- ended up trying to breed in closed hutch only letting out while there. Only stopped when a couple pukekos had an accident.

Shouldn't be- are a protected species administered through DOC--just like rabbits and possums are going to be at Christmas time

So long as you are not after pukekos, say after stoats, (create a single written page) fresh poisoned eggs in a small clutch on ground in some dried grass from daybreak to about lunchtime could work= chemist will sell you syringes and large needle if you want to gently poke hole in end of egg to insert. Handle very little as they are quite bright when it comes to food. Label with a pencil not felt pen.
Not allowed to shoot them with quiet .22 or air-rifle. A lot get run over though.

If you are really stuck- later on- phone your local DOC warden, and say neighbours tame pukekos are here all the time, what can I do about it?

They originally only came over for the chook food- once situation is under control-maybe create their own automatic feeder away from your poultry if you really like them. And they seemed to do their damage before 6 am for us.

Pukes in large numbers are always bad for all other species. I had a mob of them come up and kill two batched of chicks so the following season I waged war on them. I went walking every two or three days stalling them in the flax etc on the wetlands best my house and got rid of roughly two dozen. Since then more ducks and even bittern now inhabit the wetland and it seems to have a much better balance of species. There are still a dozen or more pukes there

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