Mai mai, time for change of make-up

Balclutha hunter Bronwyn Finch is ready for the duck-shooting opening day tomorrow. Photo by...
Balclutha hunter Bronwyn Finch is ready for the duck-shooting opening day tomorrow. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.

A South Otago woman will tomorrow add another layer of make-up - camouflage face paint - to get among the best duck-shooting opening day conditions in the province.

Bronwyn Finch shot her first duck on opening day three years ago.

A friend encouraged her to get her black Labrador Nugget out from his warm bed and into a cold pond to retrieve dead waterfowl.

Mrs Finch, of Balclutha, borrowed a friend's .410-gauge single-barrel shotgun and accepted an invitation to a mai mai on a pond near the back road to Kaitangata.

It didn't take her long to kill her first duck but

envy over her mates' semi-automatic shotguns was on the rise.

"They were like ‘bang, bang, bang' and I was like ‘bang', and I thought, ‘This sucks'.''

Before her second day shooting she bought a 20-gauge pump-action shotgun.

The firearms licence holder would have bought a more powerful 12-gauge shotgun, but she needed her shoulders to work for her job packing meat at Silver Fern Farms' Finegand works.

On opening day tomorrow, she will be shooting with her husband, Allan Finch, and son Ashley (10).

Otago Fish & Game officer Morgan Trotter said the water table was "very low'' in Central Otago and North Otago.

"By far the best hunting opportunities are in South Otago, where there has been more regular rainfall.''

Otago Fish & Game staff had surveyed the mallard duck population using a helicopter and the data revealed numbers similar to last season.

More birds were on the bigger rivers and large dams, probably because the smaller ponds had dried up.

Otago Fish & Game officer Helen Trotter said there would be seven teams of rangers working across Otago on opening day, checking hunters were compliant with regulations.

"We will be everywhere and nowhere; we like to keep an element of surprise.''

The season in the Southland and Otago Fish & Game region, opens at 7am tomorrow and closes on July 31.

The season in the Central South Island region, which includes Oamaru, opens at 6.45am tomorrow.

Clutha-Taieri area response manager Senior Sergeant Al Dickie said police would be targeting duck-shooters on opening day afternoon, rather than the morning, which had been its traditional focus.

The focus would include breath-testing the drivers of vehicles leaving "hunting grounds'' and checking vehicles parked at pubs to see whether unsecured firearms were visible.

"The biggest risk time is in the afternoon and evening after duck-shooting when people have had a few to drink, which for a lot of people seems to be the culture - to take a bottle of whisky out to the mai mai and have a bit of fun,'' Snr Sgt Dickie said.

● A story in Tuesday's ODT about duck-shooting incorrectly referred to the use of a rifle, when it should have referred to a shotgun. Rifles are not allowed to be used for duck-shooting.

shawn.mcavinue@odt.co.nz

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