Waiting for dogs to flush pheasants or quail, climbing a ridge before dawn to shoot Canada geese – New Zealand hunters target 14 species of game bird, both native and introduced.
In New Zealand, 14 bird species may be seasonally hunted, and are known as game birds. They can be divided into upland game and waterfowl.
Upland game, which live on dry land, are all members of the pheasant family. They include:
Waterfowl, which live in wetland areas, include:
The Wildlife Act 1953 defines these species as game, and they are managed by regional fish and game councils. Hunters who purchase a game-bird licence, and follow regulations, can legally hunt these birds at certain times of the year (usually autumn and winter) – called ‘the season’.
The grey duck, Australasian shoveler, paradise shelduck, black swan and pūkeko are all native to New Zealand; the other nine species are introduced.
Game-bird hunting dates back to the earliest years of European arrival. British navigator James Cook and his crew shot many birds in 1769. For centuries, before Europeans arrived, Māori snared and speared birds. Various native species of duck, quail, wood pigeon and even godwit were hunted by Europeans.
European settlers introduced birds to add to the native fauna, and out of nostalgia for creatures of the ‘old country’. They also wanted to provide sport and food, and promote tourism.
Author Brad Parkes wrote about the
tough stringy flesh of the pūkeko (also dubbed the ‘West Coast
pheasant’): ‘Perhaps I’ve been prejudiced by the time worn cooking
recipe for pukeko: Put in 4 gallon kero tin, weigh down with clean river
boulder, boil for four days, throw away pukeko and eat
boulder.’
The founder of the Canterbury settlement, John Robert Godley, ensured that pheasants were on the first four ships that established Christchurch. Colonial governor and later New Zealand premier George Grey was a keen importer of wildlife, and provided the first Californian quail to the Nelson Acclimatisation Society in the mid-1860s.
In 1905 Thomas Donne, secretary to the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts, imported the first Canada geese, which were distributed widely among acclimatisation societies. European mallard ducks were introduced from the late 1860s, but mallards did not become naturalised until Cecil Whitney of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society brought in the more suitable North American species in 1937. Whitney reared many birds and made around 3,500 eggs available to farmers between 1941 and 1943.
Acclimatisation societies also tried to introduce many other game-bird species. Birds that failed to become naturalised included snipe, grouse (introduced to the central North Island along with heather, which still remains), ptarmigan, and some species of quail and pigeon.
Upland game are usually most abundant in the middle of a bright, sunny winter’s day. Hunting these birds complements traditional waterfowl-hunting, which is done in the early morning or evening. Upland game hunters have to be keen and hard-working, as there are few places where pheasants and quail are common. Partridges were introduced to New Zealand, but their numbers remain very low.
To be shot legally, birds must be flying and within range (30–50 metres) of the hunter, who uses a shotgun. A well-trained and competently-handled gun dog is essential, as these birds rarely take to the wing unless flushed by a dog. Dogs should not move further than a hunter can fire at a flushed bird. The hunter needs to shoot within seconds of the bird flying up from ground cover in a whirr of wings.
Different hunters prefer different breeds of dog – often pointers, setters or retrievers. Many hunters belong to gun-dog clubs and gun clubs and maintain their interest in dog training year-round, although the hunting season is only a few months in winter.
Hunter and fly-fisher Keith Draper
tied flies using feathers from game birds he shot, and also gave the
plumage to Māori weavers. He wrote, ‘The old kuias [elderly women],
involved in the traditional art of weaving feather cloaks, treasure the
feathers of the cock pheasant. The bronze and green plumage is an
acceptable substitute for that of the kaka [parrot], which was used in
olden times.’
Hunting quail involves considerable work for the dog, but little action for the hunter except watching for the sudden flushing of a bird. Once a covey is found in a gully, the hunter must wait to see if they will be flushed by the dog or sit tight, which they may do for hours.
Pheasant hunting, by contrast, may involve travelling long distances before the dogs find their strong-smelling quarry. To keep pheasant numbers up, only the cocks are hunted – so hunters need split-second judgement to target the right birds when they are in flight.
Generally quail and pheasants are hunted by a group, in which each hunter has a similar chance of firing a shot. If they are successful, the dog must retrieve the downed bird.
Most game-bird hunters eat what they shoot or give birds to friends and relatives. Birds bound for the table must be cleaned and plucked or skinned. Since the 1990s wild foods have become more popular, and recipes are readily available. Most towns have restaurants that will cook game provided by hunters – a welcome change for chefs, particularly those trained in Europe, as New Zealand traditionally offered few opportunities to cook game.
Hunting Canada geese in the South Island’s high country is a sport for the fit and hardy. Dedicated hunters can be very successful when their hunts are co-ordinated.
Geese can be a pest to farmers because they eat feed intended for stock. Keeping the birds’ numbers down is a challenge for Fish and Game New Zealand (which has a statutory mandate to manage game-bird hunting), which must co-ordinate hunting efforts and respond to farmers’ complaints. Hunters have first priority. However, if they are unsuccessful in keeping bird numbers down, geese may be culled from helicopters, or on the ground when they moult (the birds are briefly flightless as they replace flight feathers). Geese are often culled where they gather in large numbers, such as on the shores of Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere).
Since the late 1980s, Fish and Game New Zealand has organised wild goose hunts on Molesworth Station in southern Marlborough three times a year. These involve up to 260 hunters, usually in small groups, spread around the Marlborough high country for four-day stints. Almost all the station is at altitudes of 1,000 metres or higher. Most groups are self-sufficient, and sometimes camp in inhospitable heat or cold. Successful goose-hunters use a variety of techniques, including goose calls, decoys, camouflage and teamwork.
When shooting at flying birds
hunters must swing their shotgun in an arc that follows the flight path
and then overtakes it, to shoot at where the birds are going to be, not
where they are. One hunter wrote, ‘I know of some shooters who have
taken years to realise that, especially with the longer shots, you have
to lead them by the length of a farm gate. Over the years I have missed
plenty of birds behind but I can’t recall having ever missed one by
shooting too far in front.’
Goose hunters’ days start before dawn, when they climb to positions that the birds may fly past at first light. After an early shoot, the hunters return to camp for breakfast, then may walk more than 20 kilometres, sometimes at 1,800-metre altitudes, in gullies where small mobs of geese may be found. They then stalk the birds through thickets of spiky matagouri or briar rose, trying to get close enough to shoot them in flight, or cause them to fly within range over the hunting party.
Back at camp, hunters snatch a quick meal, then set up decoys to entice flying birds to land in rivers or tarns at dusk. Then it is time for supper and bed, before starting it all again the next day.
Overall the hunts are highly rewarding, with each hunter usually bagging four to eight geese per trip.
The administration of game birds is the responsibility of fish and game councils. The Wildlife Act 1953 protects all wildlife, unless specifically excluded. Game birds are covered by the First Schedule of the Wildlife Act – meaning that all species are fully protected except during the hunting season, when they can be hunted subject to regulations.
The species listed as game are reviewed occasionally, and sometimes their legal status changes. Some protected birds, such as kererū, have been game in the past, and some formerly protected birds, such as paradise shelducks, are now game.
Within its region each fish and game council can open seasons for hunting particular species, set daily bag limits, and restrict the types of shot, guns or hunting methods.
Hunters can only use shotguns and must shoot birds in flight. They must buy game-bird hunting licences – the revenue is used by Fish and Game New Zealand to administer hunting. No funds come from the government (unlike in other countries).
Licence holders elect regional councils to set the policies and budgets for managing species. Fish and game councils monitor game bird numbers, harvest levels and hunter satisfaction. They try to ensure that the harvest is sustainable.
Bird numbers increase and decrease seasonally because of food availability and the weather. For example, most ducks lay 12 or 14 eggs, but often only four or five hatch and survive to fledging. Food is plentiful in summer, but by autumn is harder to find. In winter many birds starve, or are killed by the cold or by predators. By spring, probably only two of the brood will have survived to maintain the population and restart the breeding cycle. Well-managed hunting harvests some of the birds that would die anyway over winter, and this is called a compensatory harvest.
Wildlife managers increase the numbers of game birds in two ways.
Game farms increase populations artificially, by predator control or using supplementary food. Most populations of game birds are truly wild, but up to the 1990s some fish and game councils maintained farms to supplement wild stocks. The last of these, which supplied pheasants to the Heretaunga Plains in Hawke’s Bay, closed around 2000. Private game farms rear pheasants as poultry for the restaurant trade. Some private preserves with farm-reared game stocks have been established in several parts of the country in the 1990s and 2000s, with tight controls by Fish and Game New Zealand.
Providing a habitat, or preserving existing habitats, allows populations to increase naturally.
Since the 1950s, Fish and Game New Zealand has focused mainly on protecting wetlands. These environments have often been seen as wastelands, and 87% have been lost since Europeans settled in New Zealand.
Until the 1980s, few other people or groups were interested in preserving wetlands. Hunters such as Horrie Sinclair in the lower Taieri plains in Otago, and groups such as the former Auckland Acclimatisation Society in the lower Waikato and Hauraki, bought and protected wetlands long before the government and other groups saw their value. Wetland protection has benefited native species (such as freshwater fish) and provided opportunities for other recreational activities.
http://www.fishandgame.org.nz/Site/HuntingNZ/default.aspx
Fish and Game New Zealand’s information on game-bird hunting.
http://www.fishandgame.org.nz/Site/Regions/NelsonMarlborough/huntinggooseshoots.aspx
Information from Fish and Game New Zealand on the Canada goose hunts on Molesworth Station, held three times a year.
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/Documents/Files/wildlife%20protection%20discussion%20doc.pdf
This is a public discussion document, published by the Department of Conservation in 2006. It looks at reviewing the legal status of birds such as the Canada goose. PDF, 376 KB.