Dusk-shooters Stefan Crawley, Werner Hamman and Paul Crawley found the first morning of duck-shooting season was a matter of hit and miss - mostly miss.
The Dunedin shooters spent the morning targeting ducks from their mai mai near Outram on the Taieri plain.
Stefan Crawley said the group had shot only eight on the first morning.
The group's collective lack of accuracy was partly responsible for the slim pickings.
"Four parries [paradise ducks] came out of here before. I got one and they missed three,'' Mr Crawley said with a laugh while pointing at his companions.
"Duck numbers are definitely dwindling. We used to get 50 or 60 ducks on the first day.
"But in saying that, we should have had 20.''
Mr Crawley and his brother Paul have been shooting on the Taieri for the past 25 years.
For the past three years they have been joined by Mr Hamman, whose previous hunting experience was limited and the prey vastly different.
"While I was very little I used to shoot meerkats and hares,'' Mr Hamman said of his experiences growing up in South Africa.
The men always set aside opening weekend and had their children join them on the Sunday.
Despite their less than satisfactory haul, the men were still buoyed by the day's weather and the promise of bacon and egg pie for lunch.
