Game bird hunting season under way in Whanganui region

Sean Cummins (left) and his dog Flo, and Jacob Benefield and his dog George took part in the 2020 game bird hunting season opening day on Saturday. Photo / Supplied

Saturday marked the first day of the game bird hunting season for 2020, and Whanganui hunter Jacob Benefield said "it was great to be back out there again".

The season usually starts the first Saturday in May but was delayed due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

"I was up north of Whanganui on a patch of private water," Benefield said.

"There were a few of us there, including a couple from the Wairarapa and Waikato, so it was also a chance to catch up with some mates who I hadn't seen for a while.

"There are a couple of houses up here for us to camp out in."

Benefield said New Zealand Fishing and Game's bag limit for the two main species of duck (mallard and grey duck) in the Whanganui area was 10, and he and his fellow hunters had reached that limit "pretty quickly".

"The dogs absolutely loved it, and I've got one very tired pup kicking around today.

"From now we just work to get all the birds processed, and they usually turn into sausages and salami and things like that, which are really tasty when they're all done.

"I'm big on making sure that I use everything I shoot and that nothing goes to waste, as I'm sure most hunters round the place are."

The season runs for two months, Benefield said, and a licence needed to be purchased before any hunting took place.

"There's a lot of good things that come from the licensing aspect of things, and lot of that licensing money goes towards building wetlands and things like that.

"That's a big part of what Fish and Game are doing, turning areas that are swampy into decent wetlands, and there have been some cool projects in the last few years."

Benefield said he would try to go shooting at least once a week during the season.

"Usually the guys shoot on private properties with a bit of water on them.

"There'll be people all over New Zealand shooting on farms and some of the bigger public wetlands like Lake Wairarapa."

The 2020 game bird hunting season runs from May 23 to July 12.