SPORT IN CANTERBURY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 24 (Supplement)

SPORT IN CANTERBURY.

B\- E. J. Rightov

Excellent duck shooting- can le obtained throughout the provincial district of Cantoihury. The principal place, however, for this class of sport is Lake Ellesmeie. Ihis lake l* 17 milce long and 6 miles wide, and. by reason of the immense stretch of water and the splendid feeding ground .surrounding it, grey ducks ha^sc made it a -spocial place to congregate.

Lake Ellesmere is reached froni manydirections. Visitors from Christchurch usu-illy take rail to Sprinpston or Kaituna, which are both about five miles from splendid shooting parts. Grey ducks. s|X)onbills, and paradise ducks are to be found on the lake. The latter. howe\er, ha\e boon protected by act of Parliament during tho past few years. The principal methods used by spoit--men on Lake Ellesniore is a cylinder constructed of galvanised iron, without end2ft. 6in. wide and 2ft. 6in. deep. The cvlindor is placed in shallow water <ur louuding tho lake proper, and. after beui"forced some -i\ inches mto the inud<l\

giound. the water is bai jd out, and. with a \ iew of gi\ing gieater facility for movement, the earth inside tho cylinder is also dug out, the shooter seating himself upon a bucket or box ready for opeiations. Decoys, cut out of tin and painted black are placed upon the water some 10 or 12 yards from the cylinder. A party of sportsmen is usually arranged. They place their cylinders at close quarters, whilst others are located about 100 yards apart, tho distance apart being usually arranged so as to avoid the risk of accident. Duck-calls are also u«ed. Another means employed to screen the shooter is to place scrub stuck in a circle in shallow water ; a hole is then dug to still further screen the sportsman from the \ iew of the ducks. Shooters who stand in the water use high waders. The cylinders are taken out in boats to the locality where it is intended to place thorn. Another method of dealing with the c\lindcrs is to use ono with a bottom. Three polos are then driven, to which the cylinder is fastened by means of chain-*. This enables shooting to bo car riod out from the deeper water* of the lake.

When south-westerly weather prevail- ithe best time for shooting on Lake Elles more. Some sportsmen hide on the outskirts of the lake and await the ducks flying over well-known route*. Tho -hot principally used for the duck* is No-. 4 and 5. and for swans 1 and 2

In addition to tho shooting at the lake, fair -]>ort can be obtained on the streams and rivers in Canterbury. principally at tho mouths of rivers where lagoon « are formed. At Lake Heron, which is situated in tho back country, there is good shooting of both ducks and nwan«. Hero the «hooting is done from tho edge- of the lake. A number of lagoon* in Canterbui\ ha\e boon proclaimed -anotuarieincluding Milford Lagoon at Temuka.

Oredi Lagoon (20 miles from Christchurch in the direction of Lake Ellesmere). and Yarr"s Lagoon, which is situated between the last mentioned and Lake Ellesmere. Lake For-y th. near Little River, is also a sanctuaiy. A small sheet of water near Christchurch named Horseshoe Lake, where good shooting could once be obtained, is now a. sanctuary. In North Canterbury the Wood end Lagoon and the Waikari Lagoon are also sanctuaries.

T'p the Rakaia Gorge there are lagoons between tho Mathias and Wilberforoe streams where good shooting can be obtained. The swamps and lasroons of Temuka and Opihi also provide good duck shooting. At tho mouths of the Ashley, Waipara. and Hurunui Rivers lagoons are formed which are frequented by ducks, while on tho Waiau and Clarence Rivers fair sport is procurable. Paradise ducks are to be found near the latter river.

Referring again to Lake Ellcsmere, it should be mentioned that, as nearly all land surrounding the lake is private property, owners in some cases sell the shooting outright, while others allow sportsmen to use their land for shooting purposes on payment of a fee. On the lake 130 ducks have fallen to a single gun in one day. The swamp-hen or pukaki is generally shot by means of organised drives. A number of sportsmen make their waythrough the swamps at the edges of the lake, keeping an arranged line. Swamphens are protected every third year. The present year, 1907, was a protected one.