DUCKS PLENTIFUL

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 105, 4 May 1926, Page 8

DUCKS PLENTIFUL

BUT WAIRARAPA HIGH \ _

MAJORITY OF BAGS POOR.

Parties of sportsmen, who have re* turned from the "Wairarapa Lake report that ducks and swans are' plentiful, some of the parties being astonished at the number of ducks on the lake, but the bags have not been large in the majority of cases. There was quite a ruuh on licenses before the opening of the season, and the number of sportsmen who visited the lake was by all accounts in excess of that of previous years; but the lake is very high, at least six feet above normal opening level, and as a consequence the natural cover on its fringes is either submerged or showing only its tips well out from the shore, so that stalking has proved difficult. '"Pea soup" weather is the best for duck shooting, as the birds fly low and within range, but the ducks are flying high in the fine weather, and comparatively few have been brought down. On the opening day, as usual, the lake shores were fringed with sportsmen eager to bag the first duck, and eager shots had the birds well on the wing before it was light enough to see properly. But there are plenty of ducks. It lias been an exceptionally favourable breeding season, as many as three hatches having been noted in some cases, and there are even now "flappers" too young to leave the water. Swans are numerous also, so that if the weather thickens up a little, good bags may yet be secured. The largest bag, recorded so far, from a big motoring party, is 54. A Karori party of three spent the better part of four days. One got none, and six ducks and a swan fell to the other two. Half-a-dozen ducks and an occasional swan seems to be the average bag of parties of two or three. The lower end of the lake seems to attract fewer ducks than the rest of the water. Walking along the unknown submerged ground is very uneven, and sportsmen frequently received duckings through dropping into holes while wading in a few inches of muddy water. With a high wind, and dense, misty weather, good bags may be looked for, though by the time these ideal conditions arrive it is safe to predict that the game will be wild.