Nz Duck Hunting Trip

[benno573]

Hi all,

 

just a warning - this is a post about hunting/shooting so if that’s not your thing please don’t read on. To all others - enjoy!

 

i have a good mate who lives in Palmerston North, about 2 hours drive north of Wellington. He is a mad keen hunter of many of NZ’s delicious feral animals - deer, ducks, goats, turkeys etc as well as a keen fisho. Each year, I have been traveling over for the opening of duck hunting season which is the first Saturday in May.  Owing to flight specials, this year I was lucky enough to have a week and then a long weekend trip over chasing ducks.

 

after a bit of set up and organizing on the Friday, we were up and away at stupid am to be in position ready to go for the 6:30am start. We didn’t have the best of opening days mostly owing to the weather - fine, sunny and still - meaning the ducks once airborne were happy to cruise around at 5000ft and laugh at us. We bagged 9 birds for opening day.

 

sunday we tried a few different things and managed to grab 8 more but generally a bit quiet all round. A bit of exploring in the afternoon saw us at a lake, then a few ponds, down on a river, trying to find where birds may be hanging out.

 

on Monday after a mostly unsuccessful morning our luck changed. We were driving along and saw about 60 ducks sitting in a crop paddock - the farmer was close by so after a polite conversation we were granted access to all his land including crop paddocks, a few ponds and a 2 km stretch of river. We didn’t bother the birds right then but hatched a plan for the next day.

 

our plan was to shoot out of lay-out blinds - kind of like a swag that you cover in grass and lie inside and then pop out and surprise the ducks as they land in your decoy spread. A new thing for both my mate and I. Owing to a time constraint, we only had a 2 hr window to do this - man what a way to spend two hours. Ducks constantly came in, often landing within 10m of the end of the shottie. We knocked I think 11 ducks down in 2 hrs, definitely will revisit this game.

 

wednesday we were again quite time limited but managed to hit a few ponds and a river and drop about 6 birds.  Then had to jump back on a plane home on Thursday.

 

following Wednesday I was back on a plane with the plan to shoot out of layout blinds on Thursday morning. After about 3 hrs sleep we were off and again had a mad fun morning with 7 birds hitting the ground and many laughs had. Only problem after 3 hrs sleep and constantly lying down was staying awake in between flights of birds! Some interesting duck calling was heard from one blind in particular - the rarely seen snoring puddle duck. We jump shot a river on the way home and dropped 3 more birds making 10 for the day.

 

Friday was a very frustrating day, again clear and still with very few birds moving around. We tried about 5 different spots but only managed 3 birds for the day. With a similar forecast for Saturday, we hatched a different plan to head about 2hrs out of town to his mates farm with all of the guns (3 x shotties, a .243, a .308 and a 7mm rem mag) to target ducks, turkeys, goats, geese, deer, pigs... whatever we could find! We had a really fun day, bit of walking, some target practice with the long arms, stalked in on some ponds and dropped some ducks and chased a huge mob of turkeys around and eventually got the jump on them and had a mad bomb up close range with the shotties on those too. Finished the day very satisfied with 4 ducks and I think 8 turkeys - anyway, it was a lot of turkey breast meat at the end.

 

we got a call that night from a mate who had a mate who knew a guy who had a turkey problem on his property and would love for us to come and sort it out. Phone call made, plan hatched and away we went.  Farmer Duncan was happy for us to knock over any ducks we saw as well, even told us what ponds they usually sit on! We drove around the property looking for turkeys with none seen and just as we were heading towards the biggest pond to harass the ducks I saw a turkey head sticking out over the crest of a hill. Being the main reason we were granted access, ducks became a secondary concern and shotties were loaded with heavy shot and a .243 added to the arsenal if we couldn’t stalk in. Very tough stalk, no cover to speak of but we managed to knock 5 birds down, 4 with shotties and one at 260m with the long arm - my first crack with that gun too! Unfortunately when the first shot went off 32 mallards took off from the pond we were heading towards - and went “elsewhere”. 

we headed off around the farm again and saw some ducks loafing in a small stream as we drove past. Super easy stalk up and all 3 met their demise in short order. We then bumped into the farmer who put us into another mob of turkeys, huge stalk in including wading up a stream to stay hidden but the buggers spooked anyway. I unloaded from about 50m with the shottie and soon had 3 birds tumbling down the bank they were trying to flee up. Definitely the longest shots I’ve ever nailed with a shottie. Ninja dog's first wet retrieve of a turkey was funny to watch - only a bit heavier and harder to carry than a duck. 

 

and that was it... home, shower and back to Welly to get the flight home. Awesome coupla trips, look forward to next year, only 349 sleeps to go!

 

posting a link to a vid my mate made - he posts all sorts of hunting vids on his channel so if that’s your thing give it a look. Few photos to follow as well.

ninja dog doing his second favorite thing after fetching ducks - sucking up for belly rubs

tooled up to the max!

make shift maimai (hide) that netted us a coupla birds

 

awesome view of Moreton on the way in too.

 

cheers for reading

benno <‘><

 

 

[kmcrosby78]

Great report Benno, sounds like fun. Were you/are you able to freeze any and bring it over?

[benno573]

Unfortunately not (legally) mate. If it’s commercially prepared meat you’re able to declare it and bring it back but not wild game unfortunately. Definitely mad fun though.

[ellicat]

Too tired to read it all tonight but I will tomorrow. Pics and video are

[Drop Bear]

Awesome Benno. 

Thanks for a huge report. I would love to do some duck hunting. 

How do you cook them? 

Do you just take the breast or do you pluck them? 

I love to eat duck... hungry now... again... 

[benno573]

33 minutes ago, Drop Bear said:

Awesome Benno. 

Thanks for a huge report. I would love to do some duck hunting. 

How do you cook them? 

Do you just take the breast or do you pluck them? 

I love to eat duck... hungry now... again... 

Hey mate. 

As far as eating them, generally breast them out and that’s it. The leg and thigh meat has great flavor but the texture of a rubber band so is generally not worth the effort for what is generally a very small recovery. Same story with the turkeys unfortunately - not even Hagar the Horrible would be able to get through those drumsticks - tough as. You can also breast a bird in about 90 seconds vs a lot of plucking and gutting so the ROI doesn’t really add up.

i did manage to shoot a Muscovy duck which are also feral over there - basically your general white domestic duck - they are a much better option to roast if that spins your wheels. Other than that mallards and paradise shell ducks were the order of the day.

 

cooking - duck nuggets are awesome, just breast meat with a coating and fried, I did some breast slices wrapped in bacon which were really good as well. Turkeys -  the tenderloins are marinated/coated and cooked, the bulk of the breast is minced and turned into burgers, turkey mince bolagnaise, meatballs and stuff like that. 

[Drop Bear]

6 hours ago, benno573 said:

Hey mate. 

As far as eating them, generally breast them out and that’s it. The leg and thigh meat has great flavor but the texture of a rubber band so is generally not worth the effort for what is generally a very small recovery. Same story with the turkeys unfortunately - not even Hagar the Horrible would be able to get through those drumsticks - tough as. You can also breast a bird in about 90 seconds vs a lot of plucking and gutting so the ROI doesn’t really add up.

i did manage to shoot a Muscovy duck which are also feral over there - basically your general white domestic duck - they are a much better option to roast if that spins your wheels. Other than that mallards and paradise shell ducks were the order of the day.

 

cooking - duck nuggets are awesome, just breast meat with a coating and fried, I did some breast slices wrapped in bacon which were really good as well. Turkeys -  the tenderloins are marinated/coated and cooked, the bulk of the breast is minced and turned into burgers, turkey mince bolagnaise, meatballs and stuff like that. 

YUM!!! So keen.

We ate a few wood ducks when I was in my teens. They were rubber balls and put us off. 

[kmcrosby78]

23 hours ago, benno573 said:

Unfortunately not (legally) mate. If it’s commercially prepared meat you’re able to declare it and bring it back but not wild game unfortunately. Definitely mad fun though.

Very interesting as my kiwi uncle brought over some smoked marlin that he caught a few years ago (although I am not sure if he declared it or not .......... ).

[ellicat]

Mate, what a top trip. Such beautiful countryside, but oh those hills....

Popping out of those lay-out blinds gives me a giggle for some reason. Almost Pythonesque.

How'd the knee hold up ?

How good is Ninja.

[Drop Bear]

12 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Very interesting as my kiwi uncle brought over some smoked marlin that he caught a few years ago (although I am not sure if he declared it or not .......... ).

haha I bet he is not the first, or the last, Kiwi to bring undeclared smoked fish to Australia.

If it was cured I can't see why it would be a bio-security risk. How was it? 

[Drop Bear]

38 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Mate, what a top trip. Such beautiful countryside, but oh those hills....

Popping out of those lay-out blinds gives me a giggle for some reason. Almost Pythonesque.

How'd the knee hold up ?

How good is Ninja.

Yep I agree how good is Ninja. It would be worth doing the trip just to spend time with the doggo. 

[benno573]

@ellicat - you would not enjoy the hills at all.  i struggled a bit with a couple of them, knee held up fine, just took my time.

@kmcrosby78 - i doubt that it would have been declared... and you'd probably get away with it 95% of the time.  the thought did cross my mind as the venison salami that Nath gets made is mindblowingly good - but i didn't want to risk losing one if they took it off me - would be such a waste!

@Drop Bear @ellicat having a ninja dog opens up so many more shooting opportunities that would otherwise not exist - mostly around flowing rivers and that sort of stuff where downed birds do not sit and wait.  for the rest he is still good to have as it saves me jumping on the kayak (see video) or climbing out of the layout blind and doing the fetching!  Also he is very quick to grab a crippled bird so it can be sorted out immediately.

he is also trained as a game indicating dog - he will scent deer/goats in the bush and locate a downed animal easily as well.  he is strong and fit enough that he can carry about 10kg in his saddlebags as well - handy if you drop a big red deer or a mob of goats and it's a long carry out.  also means he carries his own food and water in.  makes the whole hunting experience over there a lot easier - did take about 12 months solid of training as well as constant ongoing "top ups" to get to this point though.  if you check out some of Nath's other vids you will see him in action on things other than ducks.

you do have to be careful around ninja though. often when the action is a little slower in the maimai he will get bored and a cold wet nose will start to very forcefully burrow its way under your arm and all of a sudden a labrador head will appear on your chest. 

 

[Drop Bear]

1 hour ago, benno573 said:

you do have to be careful around ninja though. often when the action is a little slower in the maimai he will get bored and a cold wet nose will start to very forcefully burrow its way under your arm and all of a sudden a labrador head will appear on your chest. 

I could take that haha. What a great story. I did not know that dogs were able to be so well trained. 

What I wouldn't do to get some of that venison salami! 

[benno573]

5 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

I could take that haha. What a great story. I did not know that dogs were able to be so well trained. 

What I wouldn't do to get some of that venison salami! 

Mate it is eff good. Best salami I’ve ever eaten. Also good are goat and garlic sausages, venison saveloys, duck nuggets, turkey burgers, venny steaks, whole roast goat or venison legs on the Weber, abalone (paua) fritters... we don’t really go hungry hey...

[kmcrosby78]

On ‎22‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 8:35 AM, Drop Bear said:

haha I bet he is not the first, or the last, Kiwi to bring undeclared smoked fish to Australia.

If it was cured I can't see why it would be a bio-security risk. How was it? 

Delicious - was put into a dip with chives from memory.

[Drop Bear]

On 22/05/2019 at 6:52 PM, benno573 said:

Mate it is eff good. Best salami I’ve ever eaten. Also good are goat and garlic sausages, venison saveloys, duck nuggets, turkey burgers, venny steaks, whole roast goat or venison legs on the Weber, abalone (paua) fritters... we don’t really go hungry hey...

Wow Yum!