The 85-year-old retired sheep and beef farmer from Waihola entered a mai mai for his 70th consecutive opening morning on Saturday.
He stepped into his first mai mai as a 15-year-old on a farm in Lake Tuakitoto, near Kaitangata, in 1947 and never looked back.
''I've enjoyed them all - even the season in 1956 when I shot myself.''
He was duck-shooting at a lake in Berwick, now part of the Sinclair Wetlands, when his gun accidentally discharged and tendons were torn from his forearm.
A police officer ''across the pond'' administered first aid and walked him out ''a couple of miles'' to access a vehicle to get to Dunedin Hospital.
When the wound failed to heal, he went to Balclutha Hospital and met operating theatre sister Dorothy Anderson.
The couple married in 1959.
Most of the mates he had gone duck-shooting with over the years had died.
His last remaining duck-shooting mate, Arty Bloxham (69), hunted with him on the Clark's family farm at Lovells Flat on Saturday..
The two men bagged 25 mallard ducks.
The opening-morning bag was smaller than usual because of the calm conditions, he said.
Mrs Clark said her husband never failed to bring ducks home from opening day.
She was ''not fussed'' on the taste of wild duck but recommended stuffing the duck and roasting it, covered in tinfoil to stop it drying out.
Mr Clark said he had been injured by shotgun pellets more than once.
''One of the hazards of eating shot duck - you're liable to lose a tooth.''
