Thread: Game bird diary for all

Opening weekend was a ripper for us, we are normally parrie heavy in Northland where I shoot but this year there was far more mallards around

Heavy rain in the weeks leading up meant there was surface water and flooding everywhere and we werent confident of how the weekend was going to play out as our pond is more like a lake than a pond

39x Mallards - 15x Parries

Probably the last opening weekend for my GWP Gus but my old mate Leo just keeps on going, 86 this year!

After opening weekend I got stuck into the local birds in the Northern Waikato and had some ripper hunts, all on public land, all walk in hunts

Took Miss 5 out for her first hunting experiences

In the swamp wearing the polar fleece my neighbours made me when I first started out (26yrs ago)



And then for an upland shoot



Instantly hooked and keeps pestering to go for another hunt which is so awesome for me

Up until this season in the 26yrs ive been game bird hunting ive only ever had 2x opportunities present themselves to shoot a Spoonie

Once in the Hauraki plains I experienced a flight of 15 odd working the pond, I told my mate not to shoot as they were teal while they worked around the maimai 4 to 5 times, on the final pass they turned into the sunlight and I realised what they were too late for a shot, bugger!

Then had the same scenario on opening weekend in Whangarei with a flight of 11x, Ive never seen a spoonie on that property so wasnt expecting such a big mob

Anyway, once home in the Waikato my luck changed with a nice pair, and another day a pair of drakes!





All are destined for the wall which will impress the wife im sure

Auckland Waikato closing weekend saw us take our annual trip to the King Country and our first private land shoots of the season, 4x of us hunted over 4x days and tallied the following

50x Mallards / Greys
12x Parries
4x Swan
2x Canada geese

Sad to have such a short season in A/W especially with such good numbers around but it can only be positive for future seasons to let the birds rest, will head back to Northland for the remainder of June to shoot on days off and see how we get on

Waterfowl Season finished in Eastern F&G district last Sunday. Son and I got limits on Saturday.



Some earlier pics during the season.

After a couple of dry seasons my tagged pond is finally holding some water with one week to go. With the recent rain and a good westerly blowing I knew there should be some bird activity so headed out for an evening shot with my boys. We ended up having a cracker little shoot with ducks pitching into the wind perfectly. Feet up, chest out, wings back peddling and no-where to go when the shotty came up. I was pretty stoked with my hit ratio, 8 ducks for 10 shots. First pair was bang dead, bang dead. The next group of three was bang dead, bang dead, bang miss, lead more Dylan, bang dead. Then the last group of three was the exact same again with my one miss coming at the same time trying to catch the last duck on escape but quickly caught up with it on the fourth shot again. Super satisfying. The boys had front row seats to the most satisfying shooting you can get imo, they loved it. This was probably my last shoot of the season so a great way to wrap it up.

Taking out a few pooks

Farmer came up the track today and said any luck. Yeah i got one pook. He said go for gold they smashing my oats.

Thanks to all those who offered up advice and info when I came here asking questions over the last few months!

Wrapped up and awesome first season duckshooting by jump shooting a couple ponds last weekend and managed to bag 2 Parries and Mallard.

I must say I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into with wing shooting / waterfowl, but I have loved it, have learned a lot, found some spots to build on next year and best of all was training up my young cocker spaniel to start coming out with me. Last bird of the season was her first retrieve off the water; an epic finish for us.

Season tally:
9 mallard
3 parries
2 swans
1 pukeko.

Not huge numbers but hugely rewarding. And they’ve all gone to the pot or the freezer.

Thanks again.










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I Always double tap the pooks, especially if your dog is young/training. Wounded pooks can be quite nasty and guess what? - they often go for the dogs eyes. You don't want your dog getting injured or losing an eye for a pook, can put them right off the whole thing.

Last of the parries up my way a few weeks ago now. We call it side x side Sunday.

Originally Posted by 00buck

I Always double tap the pooks, especially if your dog is young/training. Wounded pooks can be quite nasty and guess what? - they often go for the dogs eyes. You don't want your dog getting injured or losing an eye for a pook, can put them right off the whole thing.

Woah that’s savage from the little pooks , bloody good to know for the dog, thank you


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk