ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

Otaki Mail, 11 July 1923, Page 3

ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

$ r DEER STALKING. 1 t r A FINE STAG LOST. , I According to the Acclimatisation Soi; ciety’s report, an Indian sportsman, the - Shrimant Sampatrao Gaikwad, a brother of the Maharajah of Buroda, India, u having a few days to Jill in »t AVellington, made a dash for the I’araparaumu S Forest Reserve some weeks ago, and * under the guidance of ranger Botild , secured a very acceptable 11-pointer o’u ' his first stalk. A very line stag earn--1 ing a heavy crown was carefully stalked on the second day, but night fell at a critical moment, and the stag was ■ lost. Th® stalker, a keen sportsman, declared that he thoroughly enjoyed his first taste of the New Zealand forest, which would not, he trusted, be his last. v GAME SHOOTING. si OTAKI DISTRICT POSES,SES GOOD , 111 SPORT. b The Acclimatisation Society reports: . ' Fishing: The season was uot a good j one generally. The Otaki river is get- j ting batter every year, and it is sug- j 1 gested to stock this iiue stretch of water j heavily next season. The AVaikanac as ■ ‘ , usual, has plenty of fish in it, but mostly 1 small ones. 1 Game-Shooting: The piist shooting , season was good in some respects. . i Ducks were very numerous ou the many - lakes in our district and some good bag's ' - ai were got. Hare are numerous every- - • |i, . where. Quail have nearly all disappear- ‘ , ed, a* only an odd pair are seen now and again. AY T e would urge the council to purchase us sonic of these line sporting birds as we have plenty of country ■ suited to them, and think that with 1 fresh blood we might help to increase ‘ i the few that are left. Pheasants are ' doing well where we liberated them. I Quite a number were shot in the past season, and the prospects for the coming . season are good, Deer Stalking: There are some good 1 heads at Paraparaumu this year, but \ most of them so far have evaded the * stalker. Two eleven pointers and two fc ten pointers were shot at Paraparaumu nI | during Easter. ’- 1 ' The'committee (his season have made fc i a great effort to destroy as much vermin bj ' as possible, and have paid out on 145 I pair hawks and over 100 pair shags. AA'e suggest that the bonus for hawks J * be increased to sixpence per pair of - feet. > SHAGS. i I ONE CONSUMES 3,255 FISH A ; YEAR. I ■ - v ..-I. ! ' “The 1922 report of the Otago So- 1' l ciety states that a shag will consume 1 i nine fish, of six to twelve inches in 1: length per day: working 365 days in 1, j most years, each bird would account T j for 5,255 fish, if it could take them. - This may sound like an exaggeration. I 1 but after allowing for large deductions, 1' e the fact remains that the greatest ena cmy of the trout is the shag. Eels ti 4 j and seagulls also take a heavy toll. A s 161 b. eel caught at Eketahuna had fi\e E a good-sized trout inside, three of which J Y were photographed: the other were V rather too ripe. It is hoped that all 1 license holders will destroy any of the j e above when the chance occurs.” — t- Extract from Acclimatisation Society's .* «n tins 1 report. A