Thread: gamebird season

been a fair bit of talk about pushing the start of duck shooting out to the start of June, if this was to happen what are your thoughts on upland still starting at the beginning of May. I would still prefer a May start for upland as weather wise its the best of the 4 months we currently have for shooting upland gamebirds

I would prefer a May start to upland gamebird hunting BUT this may have the effect of people who normally hunt ducks giving the pheasants and quail a hiding first ie more upland hunters than usually would be about.
the selfish part of me thinks Pheasant and quail are scarce enough in the Nelson / Tasman region without the extra pressure, at least when the season starts for everything on the same day you have to make a choice where best to spend your efforts and most seem to chase the waterfowl over upland.

I don’t start on pheasants seriously til after the ducks, best hunting is when the days are short and cold, birds are fully mature and dogs run better.
Closing the fish and game blocks at the end of the ducks is the only reason why I chase them in may.

Purely selfish on my part, I only hunt upland. Where I hunt I can only do weekends and I dont do every weekend, I would like it to start in May and run through to the end of what is is now. Last two years have been short anyway with that bug.
The area I hunt is not open to a lot of people so it doesnt get hammered.

I would love to see the current 2 weekends in Febuary changed to drakes only sometime in next 2 months...
as for moving ducks up to june....who was rocket scientist who dreamt that one up????
back to 1st weekend in April I could understand....would clash with roar,but more young birds still be around as hadnt died of natural stuff yet.....by July our birds are paired up and starting to nest...this year I saw ducklings the day after season ended.....so July
by having a couple of weekends some time soon hunters could target drake rapist mobs......and give the hens a break from constant harrassment. decoy lay out could be as simple as single hen decoy and the bad boys clubs would flock in.....
upland could easily have a seperate season completely...but be aware of devide n conquer.....

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

I would love to see the current 2 weekends in Febuary changed to drakes only sometime in next 2 months...
as for moving ducks up to june....who was rocket scientist who dreamt that one up????
back to 1st weekend in April I could understand....would clash with roar,but more young birds still be around as hadnt died of natural stuff yet.....by July our birds are paired up and starting to nest...this year I saw ducklings the day after season ended.....so July
by having a couple of weekends some time soon hunters could target drake rapist mobs......and give the hens a break from constant harrassment. decoy lay out could be as simple as single hen decoy and the bad boys clubs would flock in.....
upland could easily have a seperate season completely...but be aware of devide n conquer.....

the discussion about moving ducks out to June has come about from having long droughts and come May alot of empty ponds so moving it to start of April wouldnt work in drought affected areas.

By 1st of June u can normally just about walk across our pond ducks would need good ice skates

agree Padox....and camping out in tent overnight would be VERY chilly on the willy......

If anyone needs a springer spaniel pup in training on the SI and another gun, let me know.

I think delaying duck season in CNI till June would great, but keep the season short. When we had a delayed season 2020 the ducks were much fatter and in good nick.
Upland game from Ist Sat in May is fine by me for this area.

could work up north but down here you.d get us screamin about shortening out 3 month duck season.
tho the nimbers who shoot ducks thru to july would make for interesting reading.
agreee micky d drakes only and open it to any habitat.
id not mind if it was still west of state highway one with ten bird limits or even 5 drake limits
its ludicrous that parries cant be shot at the same time anywhere that side with 20 bird limits but not summer mallards
if its trying to protect crops why not thin them out before they get there coming from ponds rivers or where ever.
i think the farce of crop protection can be dropped [saved grass my sisters black cats arse] and we just proudly persue another great bird shooting oppurtunity without fear or guilt and f&g can get some credit for a great idea and us old guys shootin some tucker when its not colder than a well diggers arse