Lucy, Blair and George Slavin. Photo: RNZ / Alexa Cook
Duck hunting season begins on Saturday morning with tens of thousands of hunters all over the country preparing to head out into their maimais.
For many rural families it is an annual tradition, and near Waipawa in Central Hawke's Bay the Slavin family have been counting down the days until the season opens.
Ten-year-old George Slavin and his 13-year-old sister Lucy have been game bird hunting with their dad Blair since they were four years old.
"I like it a lot. Getting out of house and seeing what's out and about in the wild ... it's a bonus if you get a duck or two," George told RNZ.
Lucy's favourite part is the snacks and, although she does not like getting up early for a hunt, she loves joining the rest of the family later in the day.
"I like going out in afternoon and then coming home, hopefully with ducks, to have a nice hot dinner. This will be my first season shooting the ducks, but I've been going out for quite a while," she said.
Their dad Blair has been duck hunting for over 20 years and said taking the kids out with him is a real highlight.
"I just absolutely love it. It's a great family thing to do and good to do with your mates as well.
"It's a good sport to get people into - you're getting outdoors, getting food for your family and it's good physical exercise," said Slavin.
He said safety always comes first and the kids are taught about the duck hunting rules and regulations from an early age.
"Safety is paramount. Make sure you have landowners permission, and make sure your shooting zones are safe as well.
"Safety can't be talked about enough," he said.
George Slavin. Photo: RNZ / supplied
The whole family enjoys eating duck, usually making salamis, roasts and pan-fried duck dishes.
George said when the season sadly ends in June, they are already looking forward to the next one.
"When duck shooting finishes we go straight back on and put it on the calendar, if we have one, for next year," he said.
Game birds are managed under the Wildlife Act, and Fish and Game chief executive Corina Jordan told RNZ it tweaked the hunting regulations every season depending on bird populations.
"It's to ensure the population is sustainbly managed and we don't take too many, or that there are not birds out there causing a nuisance to farmers for example on crops.
"Bag limits for mallards, for example, vary across the country, it can be couple of birds or five birds, but in South Island bag limits can be a whole lot larger such as 15 birds depending on where you are," she said.
With over 30,000 registered hunters this season, Corina said Fish and Game had seen a surge of interest from the younger generations.
"We've got a lot of excitement across the country as people gear up for Saturday morning.
"(The numbers) are fairly stable and if anything we are seeing a lot of younger hunters get back into game bird hunting. We're seeing that growth in our junior hunters coming back into game bird hunting," she said.
Fish and Game is encouraging all hunters to head to its website and brush up on the rules and regulations.
- The sport follows specific regulations set by Fish and Game New Zealand, and for most of the country the season runs from the first Saturday of May until the end of June
- Over 30,000 hunters are registered this season, but the real number of hunters is much higher as landowners don't have to buy a licence to shoot on their own farm
- Anyone can go duck hunting, but you must buy a game bird hunting licence
- If you don't have a gun license then you have to supervised by a licensed firearms holder
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
