Wellington Preseason Hunting Report

The Countdown to Opening is ON!

With only a week to go before opening weekend, it’s time to make sure you have all the essentials sorted out – get your licence, decoys and gear out to check before next week, and if you haven’t already check the patterning of your gun this weekend.

Stars Align for Exciting Hunting Season

At long last it seems the stars have aligned for a vastly improved waterfowl season this year and, fingers crossed, good hunting weather prospects forecast for Opening Weekend.

While previous years have seen patchy hunting for some parts of the region over Opening, with low numbers and settled sunny skies, this year the conditions look conducive to pushing the ducks around and there are more mallards about too.

Our recently completed aerial duck counts show significantly larger numbers of birds across almost all survey sites.

This supports anecdotal accounts of more ducks being around this year following the very wet spring and summer – the conditions have enabled hens to raise multiple broods and fledge more chicks because of the increase in available food from flooded pasture and surface water.

So, don’t miss out on what could be the best season in years! Get your licence here, get your gear sorted and get into the game.

Sign Up For Weekly Hunting Reports

Make the most of your investment in a hunting licence and get out as often as you can this season.

As those of us who have laboured through the last couple of tough Openings can attest, often the best hunting weather can come later in the season when the weather cuts up rough and strong southerly or nor-west storms sweep across the region.

Sign up for our Weekly Hunting Reports and we’ll keep you abreast of all the best and timely hunting weather conditions, tips and reports from throughout the Wellington Fish & Game region… delivered to your inbox every Thursday so you can plan your weekend hunt.

If you would like to receive this free service from Wellington Fish & Game then email us with the text ‘Weekly Hunting Report - Sign Me Up’ in the subject line.

Play It Safe This Season

Fish & Game has been working with the Mountain Safety Council (MSC) on hunting safety over recent months.

Check out this awesome safety video produced by the Hunters’ Club for MSC and featuring some amazing bird hunting footage.

As always, we want game birds hunters to concentrate on safety above all else this.

Every season at least one hunter is injured from a firearms incident that should never have happened if those involved followed the seven basic safety rules – make sure you and you hunting party don’t become statistics this season.

Some parting words of advice:
“No bird is better than no mate”
“Don't hesitate to call your mates out if they're not handling their firearm safely – Safety is everyone's responsibility.”

Semi-Auto Magazine Restrictions

Make sure when you travel around the North Island that you know what magazine restrictions are for number of shells. For Wellington, the restriction only applies to magazine extensions (that are not factory standard and already fitted) – so for most, the five shot semi auto is OK to use in the Wellington region.

However, further north in Auckland/Waikato, Hawke’s Bay and Eastern there is a three shot restriction (maximum of 2 in magazine and 1 in the chamber).

Don’t be caught out in the rush - remember to put in your filler/plug in your magazine before you travel north.

Whet Your Appetite

Fish & Game magazine is online!

Check out the best waterfowl photography available and great duck and upland game hunting articles, along with back issues in full ‘flip-book’ format.

It’s all available on the Fish & Game Online website here.