Thread: No more drift shooting in waikato river

Just noticed in latest fish and game regulations that drift shooting for ducks is now banned from Cambridge to taupiri,due to housing buildup and walking/cycle tracks in close proximity to the rivergoing to be quite a few displaced shooters come opening day,I called fish and game to see if hunting from moored gunboat is allowed and got the all clear..going to be a lot of undisturbed ducks on the river this year just hanging in the willows I reakon.

so you get mate to whizz around in jet ski.....for once a use for the plurry things.
we have no shooting from unmoored boat on opening weekend...must actually try the drifting thing at some point...the urban sprawl will see this more and more as the years go by.

I used to do a lot of drift shooting in the past but over the last few years it was obvious this was going to happen, so many houses and people walking close to the river.
Cambridge to Hamilton used to be fantastic shooting.

Shame for duck hunters, but I can see the argument on the other side, just doesn't work with increased population density. Only slightly off topic, my Mrs went for a bike ride in the far north one year (I was duck hunting!) and the river bank was lined with hunters. This was a stone's throw from a small town. Walkers and cyclists were going right past the maimais. I wouldn't enjoy that.

Might make it work for the moored gunboat though,scout the river one day with uncamoflaged boat then shoot from gunboat following days once ducky areas are found..in quiet part of the river with no houses to close by and safe firing zones.

We used to drift shoot in the Waikato every year(smaller rivers), take the Monday off and get there at the beginning of the drift in the dark to get the first crack of the season, also worth it mid season on the right day sunny and cold gets the birds up in the willows sitting in the sunny parts, we haven't done it for few years now as the power shooting got out of control, from big boats flying past you shooting out of the anchor locker down to gun boats with high sides and no oars out idling down stream quietly, rangers didn't give a shit, was a free for all

Originally Posted by nickbop

We used to drift shoot in the Waikato every year(smaller rivers), take the Monday off and get there at the beginning of the drift in the dark to get the first crack of the season, also worth it mid season on the right day sunny and cold gets the birds up in the willows sitting in the sunny parts, we haven't done it for few years now as the power shooting got out of control, from big boats flying past you shooting out of the anchor locker down to gun boats with high sides and no oars out idling down stream quietly, rangers didn't give a shit, was a free for all

Sounds like what was a regular occurrence on the Waipa river,we would drift down quietly then hear a big outboard,here comes idiots in anchor hatch ruining the rest of the drift for us which was another 3 hrs till we got to ngaruawahia..we gave up the third time it happened,even on weekdays,

you wait till your trout fishing with kids and fcukwits in jet boats decide to do a zoomy right around outer edges of lake running over ducklings on edge of willows etc.... and dont even get me started on jetskis.......if the yare within shotgun range of shore and leaving a wake..they should be on gamebird licence,man have I seen some absolute fuckwitery involving them around busy shorelines.

now on opeing weekend out on big lake..I spend a lot of time zipping around in dingy to keep birds off open water and pick up any woundies,I cant shoot from unmoored camoed rowboat....Im in a painted dingy..if a bird dives 3 times rather than fly away I will water swat it and retrieve it.dont like seeing woundies suffer any longer than needed.

there is a photo of that...it often pops up on here..sheilah named Karen

The public lake I shoot on here in the waikato has a walking track around it, despite the warning signs walkers want to excercise their rights to walk around the lake during duck shooting, this includes people bringing kids to have picnics at the picnic tables.
I can see that shooting here will not continue much longer,

Should close the track for the 5 weeks of the season,rest of the year go for ya life..

I hunt the raglan harbour quite a bit now,no one to bother in most of the areas I can get to in the gunboat,very tide dependant though.

Originally Posted by Hunter595

The public lake I shoot on here in the waikato has a walking track around it, despite the warning signs walkers want to excercise their rights to walk around the lake during duck shooting, this includes people bringing kids to have picnics at the picnic tables.
I can see that shooting here will not continue much longer,

Ngaroto by chance ?

No, I am talking about Lake Kainui, formerly known as Lake D,

I shot a Ngaroto opening, could see walkers on the track from our Mai Mai most of the day including one couple clearly visible on the track behind a stand while a bit of action was going on…..not sure why the track is not temporarily closed for the season, or warning signs erected