SHOOTING SEASON

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 May 1943, Page 2

SHOOTING SEASON

GOOD SPORT ON OPENING DAY. MANY LIMIT BAGS RECORDED. Good sport was recorded in the Wairarapa Lake district for the opening day of the shooting season on Saturday. Quite a number of shooters obtained limit bags of ducks and swans in a remarkably short period. The conditions were favourable for shooting, with a southerly wind but no rain. Although there was not the number of shooters as in previous years, there was a good muster of sportsmen, who report generally that they had pretty good shooting. On the eastern side of the Lake, from Tauherenikau to Pirinoa, many shooters secured their limits in a very short time and no one in that area, as far as can be gathered, got less than 12 birds. Both ducks and swans were reported to be numerous. The bags on the second morning were not so good. One shooter states that the ducks are not in such good condition this year as was the case last year. There is also much evidence of hybridism between the native grey and the introduced mallard ducks. A party of two sportsmen who bagged 30 ducks found that 22 of them showed indications of the mallard strain.

Owing to the limited number of cartridges available this year, sportsme-i sc far have . almost invariably left pukekos alone, conserving what ammunition they have for ducks or swans. One Masterton sportsman, referring to the abundance of ducks this year, following on the close season of last year, expresses the view that it would be an excellent idea to revert to the practice of having a close season every third year, as was formerly the case.