The First Weekend In May Is A Celebration Of Coming Together For The Duck Shooting Season But It Has Now Become A Significant Part Of Our Kiwi Culture And Heritage

The first weekend in May is a celebration of coming together for the duck shooting season … but it has now become a significant part of our Kiwi culture and heritage. Fish & Game New Zealand is expecting well over 65,000 hunters to turn out for what is widely anticipated to be one of the best seasons in years. Fish & Game NZ chief executive Corina Jordan says with some of the wettest spring and summer seasons on record in many regions the waterfowl population is thriving with plenty of wet and ponded areas providing ample food. She says Opening morning is one of the most long standing recreational traditions in Aotearoa with her rangers often meeting three generations hunting from the same maimai used by their great-great grandparents. And this year during a cost-of-living crisis the collective harvest of wild, free-range game birds for friends and family cannot be overlooked.