Calm and clear skies made for low counts on the opening weekend of duck-shooting season this year.
Despite the sub-optimal weather, three-generations of the Manson family found their Southland mai mai was still the best place to spend their Saturday.
They managed to bag a few ducks early on Saturday morning, with the mai mai’s junior resident, Angus Manson (14) making the strike of the hour.
"I had one this morning, and everyone was in shock.
"They said, ‘Oh, you’re not gonna hit that’."
The family have owned their Myross Bush mai mai since 2011.
Derek Manson said they had put a lot of effort into securing it and did not take the privilege for granted.
"We take it really seriously to make sure that this is something that we can keep doing for generations, so we’ve put a lot of work into this place."
"You find once you’re in a mai mai for two days straight, it’s past small talk.
"The conversations in here wouldn’t happen elsewhere because you’ve always got the opportunity to remove yourself.
"It’s a fantastic time, there’s a lot of s ... talk, a lot of humour that only happens in a mai mai — it doesn’t happen in a living room."
Angus said the best part of the day was landing the first shots, while the weeks leading up to opening weekend were fairly exciting as well.
"It’s pretty fun, just being out here is cool ... and you don’t really have too far to go to get here," he said.
Derek’s parents Trevor and Jan were also in the mai mai, and Jan pulled double duties by cooking breakfast in-between shooting.
Trevor had been duck-shooting for about 50 years and said the sport was "in the blood".
"Duck-shooting in Southland — there’s fights with lawyers involved over land sales with duck ponds on it, there’s weddings cancelled, there’s funerals just about cancelled — you’re not even allowed to die on a duck-shooting day.
"It’s just about religious.
"I could come out here and not have a shot and still enjoy it."
Jan said to get the three generations on the duck pond was the best feeling ever.
"For Angus to shoot that nice wee mallard duck this morning — and it was a brilliant shot — it’s just so exciting."
"With no wind and bright sunlight, the decoys don’t move and the game can see what they are.
"When it’s this calm, it’s possible a lot of ducks are out at sea.
"But if a south-easterly picks up the swell, they may come back in, and there’s always tomorrow and the rest of the season."
Otago Fish and Game officer Bruce Quirey said bags were generally low because of the weather, but there were some impressive results, particularly in South Otago, where shooters bagged their limits.
Mr Quirey said it was "disappointing" to find a few gun offences that could easily have been avoided, such as possession of banned lead shot cartridges, unlicensed hunting, and over bag limits.
Five shotguns were seized for use or possession of lead shot within 200m of water, and two were seized for hunting without a game bird licence.
The three-month mallard season runs until July 30.
— Ben Tomsett and Nick Brook
