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Just wondering what you guys think about this...they are doing a survey to ascertain what we think about the hours of shooting...citing concerns that the current shooting hours begin and end when it is too dark to properly identify your target. They feel that these hours should be shortened to reduce the likelihood of hunters misidentifying their target. hmmmmmmm...
addend...online survey...
I'm also interested on peoples thoughts on this..
Its almost situational to the property, I know guys who shoot on the Kaipara who get plenty of light due the geography of being a west coast harbour
Where I shoot (Also Northland) the starting time is spot on, however I feel the end of shooting hours is getting a bit too dark to 100% identify your target and then be able to retrieve your game.
Its a fish and game property with a lot of Maimais on it, but unfortunately not all hunters there have dogs, so you've got guys jumping in the row boat in the dark going after wounded or dead birds which isn't ideal
Specific hours do not work as the sun does not rise and fall at a set time. The final call is there is no specific hours because , first , foremost and without any wiggle room, you MUST identify you target. If you cannot do so completely, then you MUST NOT shoot.....
And how would they prove what time a shot was if the did make specific hours or worse how would you prove that you shot your animal BEFORE the allotted time and that you spent ages trying to find afterwards in the dark. Can of worms anyone?????
sounds like political bullshit to me. If I can safely identify an animal I will shoot it without looking at my watch.
again it boils down to commonsense guys. hells bell youre payin megabucks for gear ,having to contend with anti/greenies scaring waterfowl away and numerous wee regulatory groups who all think they know best.so why bother adding to the stress by tryin to bowl a bird in the dark.
unfortunately that time seems to be when I see most of my ducks(gspf will agree)but its hopeless trying to get a bead ,a lead and thump em.waste of ammo and yes very b...y dangerous in some situations.
yes Ive been guilty and actually I can only think of two ducks I dropped(over a decade of shooting).I also remember the first bird I took on lake ellesmere -a big fat feral goose -a single 12g steel pellet clean through the ticker knocked out his motion lotion( blood )pump and well he was good eating!!
The rule in Canada is 30 min before official sun rise, and 30 min after sun set, seams to be about right in my experience, with bird shooting, although there has been the odd time, when great flocks of mallards & pin-tail ducks, have come in before legal light.
Location and weather has a lot to do with visibility. I can remember as a kid watching my seniors shooting ducks in the dark that it took years to learn to be able to see. A fast black shadow passing in front of a wisp of cloud in an otherwise starry sky.
In those day the were plenty of birds coming into wet patches in paddocks or swamps and we did not have concerns about species or gender ID.
Lots of rules and interference from f-wits these days. Waterfowl are being annihilated by hypocritical Regional Council rules which while prosecuting farmers, and simultaneously allow power companies like MRP / Mercury to systematically destroy hundreds of hectares of riverine wetlands for enabling profiteering, and idiotic DoC Ministers to remove birds like Canada Geese from managed game bird lists.
Surveys by authorities these days are most usually a sop that is prelude to yet more draconian bullshit to come.
Leave out the rule changes and breed more ducks I reckon.