These days, his whole season is usually crammed into one morning's shooting, rather than many days, as when he started as a 10-year-old, so Mr Garland (91) is particularly determined to make it on Saturday.
He still pays for a licence - $86 this year - mostly because he is also probably New Zealand's oldest fish and game ranger.
"It would be bloody embarrassing if I got caught without one," he said.
Mr Garland, something of a special figure among the local duck-shooting fraternity, is determined to keep going out as long as he can.
Introduced to duck shooting by his father, Mr Garland used to shoot on the Waitaki River next to the family property, Clarkesfield Station. But access there is too tough and the walking is difficult.
Now he is driven, just before dawn, to a pond in the Hakataramea Valley, one of three shot by his family. He stays there most of the morning.
He shuns modern camouflage clothing and equipment, opting instead for a trusty fleece jacket, an old shooting hat and game bag.
He has had his Browning semi-automatic shotgun since 1942 and handles it as though it is a third arm, although sighting in for any length of time has become difficult.
On opening day, he will have with him his trusty 12-year-old gun dog Sally. Though not as frisky as she was, Sally displayed a burst of energy when Mr Garland produced his gun, hat and game bag for a photograph session with the Otago Daily Times.
Shooting these days was tougher, he said. When he started, they mostly shot grey ducks, and were allowed to shoot them on the water, which is now illegal.
There are not the same numbers now, either.
Mr Garland remembers one year in the 1930s when, over a seven-day period starting on opening day, 10 shooters shot 750 ducks, most getting limit bags each day.
This year, he will be more than happy with a single limit bag.
