Hunting in : New Zealand : Auckland : Fish & Game New Zealand

Fish & Game New Zealand

Address:

New Zealand

Auckland

P.O. Box 133-075 Eastridge Auckland 1146 - New Zealand

Coordinates:

Latitude: -36.915551

Longitude: 174.926838

Administrator

Contact:

+64 21 637 952

Communication language

Englich

E-mail

vince@bdmarevolution.co.nz

Web-site

Go to Web site >>

There’s a pretty simple reason experienced waterfowl hunters love streams and rivers – ducks love these areas too. From the birds’ perspective, such waterways provide year-round habitat for breeding, feeding and finding secure shelter beyond ponds or larger lakes. And for the hunter, that equates to fantastic shooting opportunities in areas of habitat that have – generally – good public access or adjacent landowners who are willing to let you across private land to have a go. 

In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more versatile habitat for hunting waterfowl, making rivers and streams, perhaps, one of the key resources for hunters and the pursuit.

Consider, too, that many hunters don’t have access to a pond for Opening Weekend. Rivers and streams are a superb alternative. Indeed, for the last two Openings, Dianne and I have shot on the Mataura River and enjoyed reasonable success without putting too much effort into the event – no hassle building a maimai or feeding a pond. This is one of the really appealing aspect to hunting rivers or streams; it seems more ‘natural’ and the focus is on your hunting skills rather just shooting a pile of birds. 

Finding a likely hunting spot does, however, require a bit of prior scouting to locate birds and suitable spots to shoot from. Features to look for are sections of a the river that have trees providing cover on one bank, open areas on the other for safe flying, and a good open section of water to land on. Bonus features that attract ducks are small backwaters for feeding in, or gravel bars on which they can snooze in the sun. If you identify a flightpath within calling distance of a likely location, all the better.

Once possible areas have been found, check on Google Earth or other satellite imagery to see if there are any ponds in the vicinity. If they are too close – say, within 300 metres – the noise from lots of guns blasting away will scare off any birds interested in where you’ve picked. 

If the lay of the land (or water) looks good, the next step is to sort out access.