Great weather for ducks

Press, 10 April 1980, Page 17

Great weather for ducks

When the 1980 game season opens at 6 a.m. on Saturday, April 19, conditions for duck shooting should be near-perfect. A combination of several factors determines how shboters are likely to fare and all of them seem to have combined to make the coming season one of the best on record. According to Mr Brian Webb, the executive officer of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, there are as many ducks about now as there were at the same time last year, when the season was opened a fortnight earlier than usual to cope with the increased numbers. The explosion of the duck population in the South Island comes as the result of several good breeding seasons where ducks have hatched more than one brood of ducklings. The increase in cropping by farmers has also helped the increase. With so much extra feed about ducks have spread away from the ponds which formed their original habitat. Another theory advanced to explain the increase is that intensive fishing of the eel population has reduced the risk to ducklings from their major predator. Where only two of three might have survived from a brood, now 9 or 10 are reared successfully. Without these natural selection processes, some fears are held that the quality of the duck population might deteriorate, ‘ leading to a low resistance to disease, deformity and infertility. The hunting season remedies this problem to some extent, culling the weakest from the flocks and ensuring a hardy breeding stock for the next season. While the wet summer has frustrated holidaymakers, it has proved most satisfactory for duckshooters. With more water around, ponds which are normally dry at this time of year are full, spreading out the duck population and encouraging movement.

The wet weather has also delayed the harvesting of grain crops and ducks are still feasting in the fields and flying to and from the feeding grounds. Ducks and geese are not random fliers — their routes are clearly defined and strictly followed. A shooting stand under a well-known flight path, whether from grain-field to pond, or across a pond system, is keenly sought by hunters. The recent weather and feed conditions are expected to keep the birds in the air for a considerable proportion of the season. Large game bags may be desirable, but it is the quality of the meat itself which is of most interest to most hunters. This year’s season is well timed to take advantage of the ducks in prime condition. Young birds are fattening nicely and the older ducks have regained the weight lost during the breeding season. The widespread availability of grain has been responsible for much of the ducks’ good health — grain-fed duck, like grain-fed pork, is likely to be tender and succulent. It must be of little joy to the farmer to know that he has helped to raise a fine flock of game birds on his grain paddocks, but those who will enjoy the results of his labours will doubtless be appreciative. It has been said that the addition of grain as a staple in the ducks’ diet has lessened the gamey flavour of the meat. To those who have refused wild duck as a dinner table treat the milder flavour may encourage a change of heart. The culinary delights which can be achieved with wild duck should not be missed. Whatever the weather holds in store for the province over the winter, a considerable proportion of residents will be hoping fervently for low, overcast skies, driving rain and bitter cold. It may not be weather for doing much else, btu to duck shooters it is sheer bliss.