The opening weekend of the game bird season in Otago Fish & Game Region has been declared a success for duck hunters, with most across the region reporting varied but generally satisfactory results.

Most hunting groups visited by rangers bagged average harvests, though there were some notably good exceptions.

"Overall, we saw reasonable hunting success across the Otago region this opening weekend,” Fish & Game officer Bruce Quirey said.

“In a standout case, two duck hunters in the lower Clutha Valley declared it was their best opening day ever, after bagging 40 mallards before midday,” Bruce said.

Bruce said rangers noticed several productive ponds, including local ones, sitting idle.

On the north side of the Clutha River/Mata-Au only 20 percent of ponds visited by rangers were being hunted, despite good numbers of ducks on some of them, he said.

Spots like these had “untapped opportunity”, he added.

Otago rangers checked about 140 hunters on opening day, reporting a good compliance rate above 98 percent.

"The vast majority of hunters are doing the right thing, which speaks to the strong sense of responsibility within our hunting community,” Bruce said.

A few junior hunters using sub-gauge ammunition were issued warnings for hunting with lead.

“It’s a timely reminder to adults responsible for junior hunters that lead is banned from all shotgun gauges for game bird hunting over water.”

Bruce said the mixed harvest results observed on opening weekend lined up with pre-season expectations.

“Duck hunting on opening weekend is as much about the camaraderie and getting out amongst nature as it is about hunting success,” he said.

“We’re encouraging more hunters to make full use of their licences to get outdoors and harvest wild kai over the winter months.”

PHOTO: Otago Fish & Game