SHOOTING SEASON

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23968, 19 May 1941, Page 9

SHOOTING SEASON

MEDIOCRE RESULTS I WEATHER NOT FAVOURABLE I FEW GOOD BAGS REPORTED I ' The shooting season, which opened on | .May closed yesterday, with reports that generally speaking it had not been j as good as in other years. Two reasons | given by sportsmen wen? the lack of water in the swamps and the absence : of high winds to keep the birds down. I Conditions yesterday were good, but few birds were seen. Sportsmen who shot along the rivers | and at Waikato Heads appear to have done well, but the same could not be said of the majority who shot in the Whanganiarino swamp area and the Kopiiku swamp, near Mangatawhiri. principally because of comparatively dry conditions. There were good hags of black swan in most parts of the Waikato, but since most shooters depend upon swampy country for their sport, and there was a low rainfall, results were for the most part disappointing. In the To Awamutu district there were some good tallies of pheasants, one man and his son accounting for 36 birds in four days, two of which were spent in thick shooting on the Wailii Lake, in the north, toward Ilelensville, pheasant shooting was disappointing. One experienced sportsman, tor instance, got only five birds in four days. Among those who made the lower reaches of the Waikato their hunting ground, one of the most successful was Mr. A. (i. I' otter, president of the Franklin Acclimatisation Club, to whose gun well over 100 birds fell in two weeks. On occasions lie had six companions. who also did well. loward the estuary ducks were in good condition. hut one sportsman yesterday said that at Lake Whangapo the birds were lighter in condition. Both pheasants and ducks shot in the Whangarei district were reported to be in fine condition, but few limit_ bags were secured. Except on the W airua River." few clucks were seen, and the general water level on swamps and lagoons was low.