SHOOTING SEASON

Taranaki Daily News, 2 May 1935, Page 7

SHOOTING SEASON

AUSPICIOUS TARANAKI OPENING. PARTIES REPORT GOOD SPORT. The 1935 shooting season opened auspiciously yesterday in excellent weather for the sport, and the first parties in the field came home with excellent bags. Pheasants and quail are reported to be plentiful, and excellent work has been done by the) Taranaki Acclimatisation Society, which since the beginning of the year has liberated 130 pheasants and will supply 100 more. Tataraimaka, Tikorangi and Inglewood are cited as being the best pheasant grounds, and quail are plentiful in all parts of the province. The number of licenses issued in the past few days has beeri heavy. May I—the day to which every sportsman looks forward as. opening to him for three months a little paradise on earth—was true to form. Sharp, heavy downpours alternated with a penetrating drizzle drifting relentlessly before a northerly wind that found its way between the chinks in the armour of the most efficient waterproofs. The conditions took the gilt off even the most enthusiastic of gunmen’s gingerbread. In remote corners of the Stratford'district sportsmen who have had their favourite spots marked down for the gieat day sought the cock pheasants, Californian and Australian quail, black swan and grey duck.. The pheasants and qr.ail were elusive enough, but could be encountered anywhere in' the district; the swan and duck formed a more difficult proposition. They have become wily of recent years and have acquired a cunning that requires, skill, patience and a large amount of luck to overcome. Taumarunui reports that quail are plentiful and that the duck areas should provide good sport. The centre of duck shooting vzill be the Mercer swamps, the Hauraki Plains- and- the lakes of lower Waikato.