He expects the numbers will increase further during the season, which differs from area to area but in Hawke\u2019s Bay runs eight weeks, from May 2 to June 28, with a limit of eight ducks per shooter per day.<\/p>\n
Whether the ducks know what\u2019s coming is an issue that has triggered debate in the maimai for years, but experts say an apparent influx into safer water come late April and May each year is most likely a mix of autumnal migration and a sense of danger.<\/p>\n
Lumsden says numbers on the pond start increasing \u201ctwo to three weeks out\u201d, when hunters are out preparing their maimais and stands ahead of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were probably a hundred more here this morning than a few weeks ago,\u201d and more so once the season starts and shots are being fired, and ducks are probably stirred by increased activity in their environment.<\/p>\n
Pointing to the larger and older birds on the water, he says: \u201cThey\u2019ve seen a few seasons. It\u2019s a good time to go somewhere safer.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says recent rain and maize harvesting mean it should be a good season for the hunters, but there is a big emphasis on keeping it safe \u2013 and legal \u2013 for the hunters, with warnings about positively identifying targets to prevent people being shot, as has happened in the past, and to avoid shooting at endangered species.<\/p>\n
It is illegal to shoot in closed game areas and urban areas. <\/p>\n
Fish and Game Hawke’s Bay’s new hunting simulator gets a workout from education manager Kerry Meehan ahead of the duck shooting season starting on Saturday. Photo \/ Doug Laing<\/p>\n
Duckshooters must be licensed and there could be more than 60,000, most driven by tradition dating back at least to the first managed duck-hunting seasons in the 1860s.<\/p>\n
Fish and Game is a collective of 12 regional fish and game councils and the New Zealand Fish and Game Council, which succeeded regional acclimatisation societies in 1990, and estimates about 500,000 mallards are shot each season.<\/p>\n