Results 1 to 15 of 15

Thread: NZ new wild west for ducks

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Wateree, South Carolina
    Posts
    48,812

    Default NZ new wild west for ducks

    Why New Zealand is the New Wild West of Waterfowl Hunting
    Hunting kiwi ducks is a bucket-list adventure for hunters

    By Natalie Krebs
    August 5, 2019



    Hunter Ryan Bassham retrieves an adult black swan before rushing back to the blind.Matt McCormick

    I swung just past the bird's head, pulled the trigger, and immediately thought, Oh crap.

    Not because I had missed, but because the swan I’d just knocked out of the sky was now sailing toward our blind. A mallard dropping onto your head is a hazard. Falling geese have cold-cocked grown men. But an adult black swan plummeting into your lap would be like getting walloped by a runty Labrador. I shielded my head to hollers from the other hunters—half warnings, half whoops—as the 20-pound bird thumped into the muck beside our A-frame.

    I checked for more birds before setting down my Benelli and stepping out of the blind. The swan was monochrome except for the red of its beak, eyes, and a little blood: black plumage, white flight feathers, webbed gray feet. I hoisted the bird from just below the head, and its long neck unraveled like a garden hose. Strange as the bird was, it seemed stranger that I could legally shoot four more that day if I wanted.

    If you’ve ever wondered what waterfowling was like in the days before strict regulations, you don’t need a time machine. You just have to get to New Zealand. That’s no short order either, because reaching the island nation takes a minimum 15-hour flight at a hefty ticket price. But those who make the trek will find public land, relatively little hunting competition, and 50-duck limits.

    Though mallards and Canada geese abound, the species that lure heat-struck hunters south for the summer are the birds they’ve never seen before: grey ducks (a subspecies of the Pacific black duck), Australasian shovelers, and most striking of all, the paradise shelduck. Baiting is legal but wholly unnecessary. Our party of 10 stuck to small spreads and spinners, and most days we hunted from a portable blind that stood out like a VW bus—and the ducks still bombed in.

    The hunt was otherworldly, both in scenery and species. Most bizarre of all wasn’t the bucket-list birds, but spending a rainy day half-submerged and mostly frozen in a muddy farm pond, shouldering my shotgun and dropping a spoonie with a splash, right in the middle of July.

    https://www.fieldandstream.com/why-n...rfowl-hunting/

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Posts
    1,895

    Default

    He is with the getducks people right? Haven’t heard many good things about them. Cool trip though.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    SC
    Posts
    4,304

    Default

    I love killing ducks, never had a penchant for "bucket list birds" tho, just to kill ducks. I was raised to kill ducks so I'll never be a trophy duck hunter. I would have no problem killing them in July tho!
    Listen to your elders. Not because they are always right but because they have more experiences of being wrong.

    "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give" Sir Winston Churchill

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Boone, NC
    Posts
    6,230

    Default

    If I travelled all the way to NZ, I'd have to hunt more than just ducks. Too far away for just bird hunting, would probably mix in a stag or some other big game.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Wateree, South Carolina
    Posts
    48,812

    Default

    They have so many turkeys, they shoot them out of trees with rifles...

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    4,759

    Default

    Savages.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    1,182

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Moonlight Hunter View Post
    Savages.
    Yes, some probably use those to shoot the turkeys out of the trees.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    SC
    Posts
    7,444

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by swampknob View Post
    He is with the getducks people right? Haven’t heard many good things about them. Cool trip though.
    He hunt with him but he works for Sitka
    .
    80-20 Genaration

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    SC
    Posts
    7,444

    Default

    Did a little band swap with a guy over there and got an invite so the plan is next June

    All their bands are stainless

    CC2D6972-638E-4784-B974-A8C467ECFBA5.jpg
    .
    80-20 Genaration

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    united states of america
    Posts
    21,587

    Default

    Did you trade your pokemon cards too?

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Chapin
    Posts
    6,787

    Default

    I’m heading to New Zealand in November. Queensland for a week then flying to Auckland for a few days.
    Quote Originally Posted by Rebel Yell View Post
    now Hogan can fuck off on here all day and call it work, thanks!

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    SC
    Posts
    7,444

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Sportin' Woodies View Post
    Did you trade your pokemon cards too?
    Negative, saving those to trade for a vintage pair of daisy dukes signed by Big E
    .
    80-20 Genaration

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    FROG LEVEL
    Posts
    23,785

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Duckman#1 View Post
    Negative, saving those to trade for a vintage pair of daisy dukes signed by Big E
    Damn Right.
    Gettin old is for pussies! AND MY NEW TRUE people say like Capt. Tom >>>>>>>>>/
    "Wow, often imitated but never duplicated. No one can do it like the master. My hat is off to you DRDUCK!"

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Posts
    1,468

    Default

    NZ is on my short term bucket list. Mountain hunting and some ducks would be pretty fun. It looks absolutely stunning from the pictures.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Columbia, SC
    Posts
    47,894

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by JABIII View Post
    They have so many turkeys, they shoot them out of trees with rifles...
    so? I mean, that's legal, right? Ccleroy told me it was OK....
    Ugh. Stupid people piss me off.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •