Wellington region hunter survey

What is the reason for only 3 shots ? smaller harvest or less wounded birds? Makes no difference with a pathetic 6 bird limit which only honest license holders adhere too.

Stop spending money on private habitat and spend it on public that every license holder can use.

Game preserves are already trapping hawks because there birds are considered stock animals. Which is strange as no other farm animal could be driven and slaughtered in such a way. Ban driven bird shoots and only allow walked up preserve killing it is a terrible look for the sport of hunting.

Thanks for the opportunity
Matt

These are my comments to F&G about there survey. What did yall think about the survey

i'm a fan of double shotguns,although i do shoot semi-auto's.so three shots does not really concern me.not that it happens often, but the sight of a semi with an extended mag discharging 5-7 shots at a departing bird is cringe inducing.man if you can't hit 'em with two then the bird surely can live for another day. if you have the habitat you will have birds. public or private, the birds do not discern. game preserves are going to become more popular, because wild birds and access to them is becoming more limited and difficult - people population pressures. harrier hawks are murderous on nesting birds. but long may we shoot our favorite gamebirds in partnership with our dogs.

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Originally Posted by lophortyx

long may we shoot our favorite gamebirds in partnership with our dogs.

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+1

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Originally Posted by prattpoint

Ban driven bird shoots and only allow walked up preserve killing it is a terrible look for the sport of hunting

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Then you could kiss goodbye the shooting we currently enjoy in the BOP then. I can drive down my road in the mornings to work and on a good day see 5-10 cock birds on the way, most I know by name. Ask anyone whos been shooting upland for a long time (50 years plus), there has never been so many around in the BOP. Coincidence? No. They are the direct result of private enterprise releasing them for sport. While it's not something I am interested in personally, its flow on effects cant be denied. I would wager that the perserves releasing birds have been far more successful in bolstering pheasant numbers than any government scheme has.

I kayak the Rangitikei river from vinegar hill (directly opposite to a game preserve) to bulls every season and the preserve birds have only made it directly across the river and are a huge pest to the organic chicken farmer directly opposite eating out of his feed troughs in droves he lets anyone shoot them who is interested, Even on a pest license, They are so obviously not a wild pheasant and I don't shoot them. The rest of the river still holds the same moderate numbers of wild birds that were always there (I have checked every piece of riverbed available) If these birds can survive in the wild then why do they have to trap and kill hawks in such epic numbers? F&G is trying to promote getting birds in close to be killed cleanly and humanely and preserves openly advertise high flying shooting and I understand it takes 7-8 shots per bird on a drive , Why don't people put a 1000 deer in a small paddock and drive them with dogs towards awaiting guns that might be popular too

@prattpoint wrote...
high flying shooting and I understand it takes 7-8 shots per bird on a drive

When a beater on one of the local preserves, never did I see 7 to 8 shots on every bird...I think someone is taking the mickey!!

As Pointer states, the escapees from this preserve have also bolstered numbers in the locale...

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Originally Posted by prattpoint

I kayak the Rangitikei river from vinegar hill (directly opposite to a game preserve) to bulls every season and the preserve birds have only made it directly across the river and are a huge pest to the organic chicken farmer directly opposite eating out of his feed troughs in droves he lets anyone shoot them who is interested, Even on a pest license, They are so obviously not a wild pheasant and I don't shoot them.

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Interesting as its quite the opposite here. By the end of the season the estate birds have been driven many times, and dogged back in multiple times also. They are so wild that they won't lie for a pointing dog. Also, I remember a F&G write-up a while back reported wing tagged birds released at Equine being shot at Matata in the same year. That's quite a hike

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The rest of the river still holds the same moderate numbers of wild birds that were always there (I have checked every piece of riverbed available)

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And that's the difference I suspect. The Rangatikei prior to Rathmoy never was lousy with them, as opposed to the country up here which can happily support more birds. It interesting that so many people blame low bird numbers on over shooting, pests etc. when I firmly believe that many of these spots are actually at carrying capacity. I think Rangatikei is one of those spots. Good on you for inspecting the whole riverbed though! Never can be sure

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F&G is trying to promote getting birds in close to be killed cleanly and humanely and preserves openly advertise high flying shooting and I understand it takes 7-8 shots per bird on a drive , Why don't people put a 1000 deer in a small paddock and drive them with dogs towards awaiting guns that might be popular too

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Driven deer is great fun, don't knock it until you try it ;)

Who are we to judge another mans sport? Shall we attack the inhumane elements of pig hunting and fishing too? While driven shooting its not my cup of tea I would never speak out against it. As hunters and shooters, solidarity is important, the antis would have us if we all started fighting amongst ourselves. I don't like the AR15 craze going on at the moment and I'll never own one, but I would never try and stop someone owning one if they chose to. There are too many other factions out there who would happily take it all away, it would be terrible if we were our own undoing!

you make some good points there pointer I always wonder why matt Watson cant stick a pig on tv to kill it but can weave a hook through a live fish and throw it back in the sea to catch a larger fish. Or why the driven swan culls attract such negative publicity when its the same as a pheasant drive with a different bird. The pheasants on the Rangitikei that hold for point more often are the ones on the untouched slabs of riverbed that can only really be accessed by kayak the areas with easy vehicle access are totally different some will flush 100m in front of me just from the sound of a dog working the cover even without a bell and minimal whistle use.

You only have to stand on the top of the bluffs at Rathmoy on a Saturday or Sunday during the season and see the number of people thrashing the river margins upstream and downstream of the SH54 bridge to understand the supposed 'scarcity' of birds around. The place gets hammered and the birds get educated very quickly, but they are there!

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Originally Posted by prattpoint

I kayak the Rangitikei river from vinegar hill (directly opposite to a game preserve) to bulls every season and the preserve birds have only made it directly across the river and are a huge pest to the organic chicken farmer directly opposite eating out of his feed troughs in droves he lets anyone shoot them who is interested, Even on a pest license, They are so obviously not a wild pheasant and I don't shoot them.



The rest of the river still holds the same moderate numbers of wild birds that were always there (I have checked every piece of riverbed available) If these birds can survive in the wild then why do they have to trap and kill hawks in such epic numbers? F&G is trying to promote getting birds in close to be killed cleanly and humanely and preserves openly advertise high flying shooting and I understand it takes 7-8 shots per bird on a drive , Why don't people put a 1000 deer in a small paddock and drive them with dogs towards awaiting guns that might be popular too

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'this the same organic chicken farmer who has been in and out of court trying to shut his next door neighbour down ?
i think ya being a little too picky mate, he don't like them cause they impact on his organic status and i'm not sure he allows them to be dogged in.
yes the river bed holds bird impacted by a cock only harvest rule thanks to fish and game and re seeded each year by rathmoy and another one further up the river, you could even be shooting 4th generation birds from that ex captive stock.
preserves have done wonders for the wild bird population, you may not accept the concept of driven shooting, it does nothing for me but my dogs have benefitted greatly from it.'

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Originally Posted by prattpoint

I kayak the Rangitikei river from vinegar hill (directly opposite to a game preserve) to bulls every season and the preserve birds have only made it directly across the river and are a huge pest to the organic chicken farmer directly opposite eating out of his feed troughs in droves he lets anyone shoot them who is interested, Even on a pest license, They are so obviously not a wild pheasant and I don't shoot them. The rest of the river still holds the same moderate numbers of wild birds that were always there (I have checked every piece of riverbed available) If these birds can survive in the wild then why do they have to trap and kill hawks in such epic numbers? F&G is trying to promote getting birds in close to be killed cleanly and humanely and preserves openly advertise high flying shooting and I understand it takes 7-8 shots per bird on a drive , Why don't people put a 1000 deer in a small paddock and drive them with dogs towards awaiting guns that might be popular too

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I've politely asked the chicken farmer a couple times for access to the river (not even to shoot on his place), he must like you cause he don't' give access to anyone who is interested as you say.

Rathmoy is a great asset to the region, although I have no interest in shooting there the benefit in bird numbers is massive, should be more preserves I say

Well get in a kayak and start paddling, try not to fall out though its a bloody cold river as I found out. I seen over 50 birds in under 30 minutes on the last day of the season in 2012 on the riverbed directly behind the chicken farm had a look into his paddocks and there was pheasants eating out of his chicken feed troughs. took me 8 hours to get to onepuhi road and I seen no pheasant hunters just one fisherman. try it and see for yourself. Some awesome spots in-between.

Occasionally, on the Friday afternoon prior to a Saturday P&S Trial at Rathmoy, I've run my dog through those same river margins To get a few strikes on well-educated birds as prep for the Trial the next day. On one particular occasion I returned to my ute to find one of my fellow competitors arriving to do the exact same thing......sheepish grins were exchanged and we went our separate ways.....neither of us said anything that night as we enjoyed a few ales that night at the Lodge ;-)