A rare combination of good bird numbers and a ''scruffy forecast'' should mean duck shooters ''gain the upper hand on the game birds for a change'', Otago Fish and Game Council operations manager Ian Hadland says.
Duck shooting season opens tomorrow and Fish and Game rangers and police will be out ensuring hunters take part safely and abide by the rules.
Mr Hadland said weather had a huge impact on hunter success over the weekend with the preference being for breezy and cloudy conditions that kept birds low and within range of hunters.
''The forecast for Saturday is for fairly calm conditions deteriorating to rotten weather for the Sunday, with southerlies and snow. That is nearly a duck hunter's dream forecast and there are some pretty excited hunters around.''
Monitoring during the summer confirmed paradise shelduck numbers similar
to previous seasons. However,
mallards held the highest interest for hunters.
''There have been very large mobs of mallards seen this season, hundreds actually, especially in the grain-growing areas, and they seem to have bred very well elsewhere, too.''
The survival of fledglings under very dry summer conditions had been surprising.
''Even central Otago hunters are reporting great numbers of mallards and that is not that usual for that area.''
This year, many
rangers would be equipped with smartphones which provided locations of mai mais and highly detailed aerial imagery of the surrounding area.
''Many smartphones are equipped with GPS systems that can plot accurate positions on aerial photos, even without access to cellphone coverage,'' Mr Hadland said.
''The whole aim is to get in and out of a hunters' area as safely and efficiently as possible.''
Rangers would try to ensure hunters had their licences and were complying with bag limits and the lead-shot ban.
''This technology means we are not floundering around in their hunting area for longer than we need to and we can talk to many more hunters over the weekend.''
Last year, six duck shooters had shotguns seized and each was fined $600. Additional police staff were being rostered to work in the rural areas of Otago and Southland this weekend, and would be targeting drink-driving and breaches of the Arms Act.
Surveys by Fish and Game indicate duck shooters in North Otago are in for a bumper season, with duck numbers in some areas at a 25-year high.
Waterfowl surveys conducted last month showed game bird populations at Devils Bridge, Maori Lake, Wainono, Black Point and Settling Pond had all increased, and Central South Island Fish and Game officer Graeme Hughes said waterfowl numbers at the Fish and Game-owned All Day Lagoon wetland, south of Oamaru, were this year ''probably the largest and most diverse'' he had seen in 25 years.
Mr Hughes said about 2000 ducks, shelducks, swans and geese were estimated to reside at All Day Bay Lagoon this year.
He said dabbling duck numbers on Lake Wainono, the region's largest still water habitat, had also increased from 4700 last year to 4820.
There was also a ''large and diverse'' waterfowl population at both the lake and adjacent reserves, he said.
