SHOOTING SEASON

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 112, 11 May 1912, Page 9

SHOOTING SEASON

REPORTS PROM AUCKLAND. ' [by telegbaph— special to the post.) AUCKLAND, This Day. Shooting parties which went out to participate in the 'opening of the season are gradually wending their way back to town with records of varying fortune. Generally speaking, game is reported to be fairly plentiful. Duck shooters* state that the birds are about in large num-. hers, but they are difficult to get, owing to the unfavourable season. This, they claim, is a sound argument against' the necessity for a closed season every three years. The seasons protect the birds, puid a prominent sportsman. He explained that in a wet season, which came at intervals, the swamps and creeks became swollen, with the result that the flocks broke up, and the birds scattered off ' in various directions. That was what had occurred this season. Some of the gun men who 1 went up North said the young pheasants were scarce. 'the result being that the contents of their bags consisted mostly of older birds. In" other instances, however, the experiences were somewhat ' different. One of the beet bag 6 just reported was' that of Messrs. Clinch, Stevenson, Hedley, and W. .Menzies, at Taharoa, in the King Country. They secured 86 ducks, 28 pheasants, 50 quail, and two black swans. Mi. J. Gilbert took a, party in hia launch to Piako, and returned with 47 brace of ducks, 12 swans, and eight brace of pheasantd. A Taranaki party, consisting of four guns, has just returned from a trip to the "Whangarei district' with 50 .odd brace of- pheasants. Mr." R. B. Grayson came back with 33 pheasants. Another party shooting at Whangamarino reported having shot 35 duoke with two guns before 8 a.m. on the opening day of the season.