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Gun barrels were loaded and hipflasks were full as thousands of keen shooters headed out on Saturday for the start of duck shooting season.
Outdoors guru Geoff Thomas says it looks like there are quite a few ducks around this season and suggests Southland is the place to be because they are allowed to shoot 50 ducks compared to just 10 in the north.
But some shooters found animal rights activists had got to their mai mais before they did as anti-hunting groups pushed the message of retrieving wounded birds.
Activists are offering $5000 for any hunter who blows the whistle on fellow shooters who don't retrieve wounded birds but it's doubtful the posters will deter the estimated 30,000 duck shooters from their sport.
"Every year during duck shooting season hundreds of thousands of animals are being crippled...shot by the shooters and they're not being retrieved and that means they'll be being left to die," says Hans Kriek from Save Animals from Exploitation [SAFE].
Safe believes over 400,000 ducks and geese will suffer a slow agonising death over the three month season.
But Fish and Game says the vast majority of hunters go about their sport ethically and Safe would be better spending its money on preserving wetlands which is a bigger threat to bird populations than hunting.
Auckland Animal Action also staged a protest, at Te Kauwhata in Waikato. Organiser Jasmine Gray says a dozen of them made the journey and were met with hostility when they tried discussing the ethics of hunting with the shooters. She says the protesters got there at about 5.30am and managed to hold off the start of the season for about two hours.
Gray says heavy fog also delayed the start and now the season has started they will be looking to stage other protests around the country.
Meanwhile, Fish and Game is reminding hunters about the importance of gun safety after a 40-year-old deer stalker was accidentally killed by his hunting companion on Tuesday.
Director Bryce Johnson says while the frequency of hunter deaths is lower when shooting water fowl than deer, the same rules apply. He says the golden rule of shooting is always identify your target.
Johnson says all indications are pointing to a good season this year.
