Shooting Season To Open On Saturday

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31976, 1 May 1969, Page 19

Shooting Season To Open On Saturday

Most persons want good weather at the week-ends. This week-end duck shooters are an exception, for the duck-shooting season will open on Saturday morning. For them, drizzle and swirling high winds are preferable to a clear blue sky, for the birds will stay low and within range. The most popular place for duck shooters .will probably be Lake Ellesmere, because of the closeness to Christchurch. The miamias crowd together along the shore and are clearly visible from the road. The publicity officer of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society (Mr W. J. McKillop) said yesterday that sales of licences seemed to be as good as last year in spite of the rise in cost from $4 to $6. Last year 2847 licences were issued. This year’s total will not be known until the agents throughout Canterbury report their figures at the end of the month. The main season will last until June 2. The territory of the society extends from the Conway River to the Rakaia River and from the east coast to the Southern Alps. Mr H. B. Barker, the secretary of the society, said that there was generally a plentiful supply of birds. However,

there were some areas in which ponds had dried and the black swan population was comparatively low because of the poor breeding season this year. Shooters who took birds with bands should send the bands to the Wildlife Branch of the Department of Internal Affairs in Wellington, saying when and where the bird was shot and the species, he said. The bands helped in recording information in migratory habits and population.