Hawke's Bay Fish & Game's senior fish and game officer Nathan Burkepile says the best duck shooters are also savvy environmentalists. He chats with Mark Story.
How is the season shaping up in terms of duck numbers and condition this year?
Reports from the field indicate that we had a good waterfowl breeding season and hope that this will translate into a successful opening weekend. With recent rains, there are a lot of ponds and wetlands filled and the ducks are more dispersed than usual at this time of year, but with some scouting a duck hunter should be able to locate several good duck hunting locations throughout the Hawke's Bay region.
What's one of the more exciting wetland developments/enhancement projects you've been involved with recently?
Every one of the wetland development and enhancement projects are exciting. We did seven projects this year. I guess the one that has potential is the farm pond enhancement work done in the Raukawa Valley were we did work on a farm pond to create waterfowl habitat. The reason this is exciting is that we are looking at focusing efforts on farm ponds and trialling plantings and enhancement techniques to improve farm ponds which will be less costly that restoring wetlands. We also built a wetland in Central Hawke's Bay that not only will provide waterfowl habitat but is placed to strip nutrients coming off the land.
In your experience are duck shooters generally in tune with their game's habitat and environmental concerns?
Not all duck shooters have a strong knowledge of the habitat needs of ducks. The duck hunters that hunt just opening weekend generally are less knowledgeable than the dedicated duck hunter who hunts the whole season and spends time during the off-season upgrading their skills and planting habitat.
As a Fish & Game officer what's the best excuse you've ever been given by someone who exceeded their bag limit or was caught without a licence?
We tend to get some duck hunters who claim landowner (can hunt on their property without a licence) rights. Many of them don't understand (despite being the law since the 1950's) that the landowner has to live on the property and the rights only extend to the landowner, the partner, and one sibling.
What are your top three pieces of advice for those heading out for opening weekend next Saturday?
1) Waterfowl are mobile and a successful hunter is also mobile
2) Leave the drinking for the end of the day
3) Gun safety is the most important thing to remember.
