BEST FOR YEARS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 132, 5 June 1937, Page 10

BEST FOR YEARS

THE SHOOTING SEASON

MORE PHEASANTS SHOT

FUTURE PROBLEMS

Sportsmen are unanimous that the present native game shooting season, which is about halfway through, is the best for many years. Everybody has had some sport, and even old. hands who do not possess cars have been able to secure game. Imported game, the season for. which runs into July, have also increased. Seven hundred and fifty pheasants were liberated for this shooting season, and certainly more pheasants have been shot than for many previous years. They seem to have been evenly distributed.

Ducks have been plentiful in the two districts where they are chiefly found, the Wairarapa and the Manawatu. On the lake in the Wairarapa, and on and around the many lagoonsand ponds in the Manawatu shooters have had good sport. Quail are not so numerous as in some former years, but this is attributed partly to the wet hatching season, which also interfered with a more numerous release of the artificially raised pheasants. Swan have been plentiful. While shooters are pleased at the improvement, they realise that there is room for more systematic tackling of many questions, one of which is the destruction of vermin, such as stoats, weasels, and hawks. A question which is still undecided is the offering of a bonus for the destruction of specified vermin. L The removal of the protection on stoats was, after all, merely an official gesture. Few sportsmen were in the habit of passing up a chance to destroy them when it offered, and the same may be said of poultry farmers and country people generally, as farmers had come to realise that feathers were more attractive to these slinking little murderers than the fur they were imported to kill. It is indeed doubtful if, in. the quieter parts of the country, the removal of protection has made much difference, though it has made it possible for anyone publicly to destroy stoats in more settled districts without- looking over the shoulder. A COMBINED MOVE? The question of offering a bonus per head for stoats and hawks is one to which all societies are now devoting considerable attention. The objection in the past to the practice,- which has had remarkable results in the Auckland district, is that each society was unable to be certain that the bonus was being paid for vermin ~ from ■ its own district, and once, when'different parts of the animal or bird were accepted as proof of extinction by various societies, it was possible for the same stoat' or hawk to be sold twice. The position is even worse for a society spending hundreds of pounds on the destruction of vermin with a neighbouring society not doing so. By paying so much per head it is merely improving the shooting for the other, society at its own expense. Once the decision has been made by all societies to offer bonuses, the question of cost will arise. Uniformity in the amount of the bonus paid would be essential, or all the beaks, feet, scalps, and what not would go to the highest bidder. It is the extent to which societies are prepared to go in the matter of expense which is all that is holding up an inevitable united attack on vermin. Sportsmen are beginning to realise that with the draining of the country and closer settlement each year, there is less and less cover for game, and more reason to keep up the supplies by increased liberations of imported, game, better ranging all round, and a close watch on all such despicable practices as the regular feeding of ducks on ponds for a month or two before the season opens. It is here that the question of cost in producing and protecting , game in the close season becomes allied with the price of licences. HIGHER FEES PROBABLE. The Minister of Internal Affairs (the Hon. W. E. Parry) has told shooters that if they want better shooting they must be prepared to pay for it. While licences remain as comparatively cheap as they still are, shooters are not likely to appreciate their privileges as they would if those privileges" were more costly. If sportsmen paid £2 for a shooting licence, each shooter would be an unofficial honorary . ranger, where now he is inclined to wink the other eye at breaches. The extra money would allow of more paid rangers being put on, and it is certain that there is a large number of licence holders who would welcome this position if the action taken in ranging and elimination of vermin were general and effective. Part of the increased cost of the fishing licences is being devoted to freshwater fish research. This research was first initiated by the Wellington society .at a cost of £1200, and the idea found favour with the Government, while most societies contributed to the effort Wellington had initiated. Now the Government has taken over freshwater fish research, the idea of which is to determine by observation over considerable periods the questions of supply of fish foods, deterioration or otherwise of trout and other imported fish, and methods for improving the river and lake fishing in New Zealand. GOVERNMENT INTEREST. The evident interest of the Government in improving the sport with rod and gun in the country may be taken to indicate that if an increase in shooting fees were asked for by the societies, it would be approved. It is not likely that all societies would welcome an increase forthwith to £2. Many indeed would balk at £1. 10s, but less than the latter figure would leave little for the real improvement of shooting, as only a percentage of the licence fee could be taken for that purpose in view of administration and other charges. The problem is one, however, that cannot well be solved piecemeal. The sooner concerted action is taken, the sooner will the balance .between game and vermin be adjusted to the benefit of the game. Amalgamation of some societies has already helped towards unity of action, and if every holder of a shooting licence were assured that the best was being done for the sport all over New Zealand, there would be less opposition to an increased shooting licence fee. The opposition comes now chiefly from some districts in the South Island, where there is little imported game, and the native game is still fairly plentiful. If the licence fee were increased to £1 10s, and a fifth of the whole of that revenue could be devoted to the improvement of the sport, it is probable that the improvement would be so noticeable in a few years that sportsmen would welcome the value for their money. Shooting is still a cheaper sport than golf, and many other field games, and if the shooting offered were good enough, there would be few to cavil at the extra charge. 1