Fish and Game has slashed the number of ducks hunters can shoot in the Eastern Region when the season opens this Saturday morning.
Senior officer Matthew McDougall said plummeting duck populations meant hunters can only bag six per person as opposed to 10.
It was going to be pretty tough out there because of lower numbers and hunters were being encouraged to go after the males, he said.
"We are just trying to save a few hens to go through into the breeding season. So one of the messages we are pushing is for hunters to get what we call the green heads (males)."
Its monitoring programme estimated there were about 200,000 ducks in the Eastern Region, which included the Western Bay of Plenty. At their height populations reached 700,000 and numbers were the lowest recorded in nine years.