You'd never believe me

If I told you that the sea area between Kawau and Tiri was being churned up by maybe 100 boats, you'd call me a fibber. Well, normally you would be right. The reason for the fleet was easy to observe; thousands of gannets bombing into bait shoals pushed to the surface by marauding dolphins. Underneath all of that should've been masses of snapper. Tony and I headed out in The Booger just after a glorious sunrise, leaving martins Bay in our wake as we headed across to and past Motuora.

Its no real secret that the workups are on, and with a fine day forecast it was to be expected that a few boats would be out. it started quietly, with pods of dolphins here and there hunting for bait. We soft-baited and jigged respectively, waiting for signs of workups. The first couple of hours were slow and then WHAM, the dolphins hit the "let's eat now" switch all across the bay rapidly circling bait shoals and carving them up.

Gannets began to circle, then mass up and then bomb. At first the work ups were sporadic and fast moving; several times we set off at full noise but just couldn't get there in time. As the day warmed the workups moved from sporadic to steady. Kahawai joined in and we had some epic fights on light gear. But where were the snapper?

By 10.30 a fleet had amassed and every workup had an attending armada; even so it wasn't too crowded out there (which may describe how wide spread the workups were) and we had time to work up wind and drift into carnage all day without too many hassles with other craft.

We worked hard for our snapper; taking 5 legal fish up to 2.5kg, a couple of gurnard (Tony) and a swag of kahawai. At times I wished I'd taken the fly rod as horse sized kahawai chased bait across the surface...

Home with plenty of time to clean gear and fish, and prepare barbecued snapper. Yum.

Tony rigs something mean in the name of snapper catching

My storm water goes where...?

Nearby my house, there is a storm water system. Rain water runs into a gutter system or dumps into a sloped area alongside the playing field outside my back fence and collects in a series of 2 ponds. The ponds have been there ever since we moved in, and hold waterfowl now and then. Ducks and pukekos. I once even saw a Canada goose in the upper pond.

The ponds also hold grass carp, and I’ve been known to stalk them and pretend to cast a fly to them. (A sign says “NO FISHING” in a number of languages; the carp are there to reduce weed growth. I’d practice catch and release of course and try and tempt them with all manner of weird as carp flies. One day I might hide in the bushes and try a few casts. Oooooh, what a rebel).

Overflow from the ponds dumps into a small waterway lined with manuka; then goes through a culvert and into a pretty innocuous stream, lined with gorse, wandering willy, ginger under a pine canopy. There’s always been a track through the bush, a network of routes provides a good series of walks that rate from easy to get your heart pumping. The stream was a write off, orange silt is never a sign of a greatly healthy waterway, and it was so choked by weeds as to be an unappealing and unattractive eye sore.

Over the past couple of years the council has come in for a bunch of flak for expenditure on a cycleway to replace the main bush track. They did more than that; clearing the waterway, creating bunds to hold back water in soaks, and creating small holding ponds. The change has been remarkable, even more so (from my perspective) since at least 2 families of ducks have moved right on in.  I now quite enjoy my family walks, stopping off to see how the ducklings are getting on. A great example of how creating habitat has encouraged waterfowl to use what was once junk land.

Duck paradise starts here....









The bottom holding pond (Here be carp)

Spillway from bottom dam



From here the water enters the stream

Weed ridden uselessness

The new cycleway

Newly created wetland & inhabitants

Upgrade stream channel. Cleaned, rock lined.

Bunds to control seepage and flow

..... and then, it all ends. 50 metres of wetland creation ends at a double culvert under an arterial road.

I know what lies at the other end of the culvert, but with no chance of any funding I'm just going to celebrate what we have got rather than think about the what-ifs.

And that's where my storm water goes. 

The most valuable time spent in May

On Thursday May 17, dad and I travelled to Hamilton to support our written submissions to the Department of Conservation regarding the draft Waikato Conservation Management Strategy (CMS). I talked about it in a post at the time. Andy had also spoken to his submission a few days later and commented that he felt his comments were well received.

We'd received a good audience by the panel, and I had left feeling confident that we and other hut custodians in the swamp would be able to retain our lodgings; even if more stringent regulations were to be imposed.

Having arrived back from family holiday to Hawaii, I was confronted with something like 480 emails accrued in a space of 9 days. Having distilled them down to a list of things that required attention (54 emails) and ditched the rest my eyes came to rest on one from DOC. I put it to one side and returned to it later in the day. A quick eyeball showed a letter offering thanks for having made a submission, as well as a link to DOC's response to submissions. 168 individual written submissions were made, although I don't know how many were supported verbally before the panel.

Within our area's users, it looks as though there were half a dozen submissions from individuals as well as our user group (Upper Piako Wetland Management Association) with the same central vein - retention of the areas duck huts (shanties) for reasons of historical significance, low environmental impact and for more practical reasons of safety of area users.

It had earlier seemed clear that DOC sought removal of structures (not hides or maimais) from the Kopuatai wetland, however this may not have been the intent. Either way, the amended draft strategy makes the following concessions:

2.5.13 Manage authorised51 private accommodation, including authorised private huts (duck huts) and encampments, on public conservation land within this Place in accordance with Policies 3.10.2 to 3.10.7 in Part Three, and the following criteria:

a)   must be available for public use outside the game bird hunting season
b) must comply with local authority building requirements;
c) must not be rebuilt if destroyed or falls into a substantial state of disrepair;
d) must not build ancillary structures, such as storage sheds, adjacent to existing
  huts; and
e) non-compliant structures and buildings will be removed. [939, 1178]

This policy is infinitely better than complete removal of the huts, and to my mind is a triumph for the partnership between DOC and the user group. The onus is now well and truly on the hut custodians to play their part - we will.That half day in May, spent talking to DOC's CMS panel, is in my mind the most valuable investment in time that could have been made. I think my old grand pop (a man of immense mana and one of the original hut custodians, now resting in a better place) would look down and give us all a pat on the back and say "well done men".

So much water

I arrived at the landing road pretty much on time. Grass growth was phenomenal; warm wet weather is great for bringing on rapid growth. There was a stiff south westerly blowing, giving the day a raw edge. It felt like hunting weather.

As I waited by the river I noticed groups of ducks playing in the breeze, just moving back and forwards aimlessly, then suddenly a group set up uniformly, cupped their wings and dropped. At the crest of the stop bank I had a pretty good view of what they were attracted to - recently flooded paddocks would offer easy food, worms and floating bugs and seeds.

I sat and watched as birds arrived, landed, preened and threw up spray. A couple of hares jogged by as well. I must admit that it was pretty relaxing to kick back.

Soon dad and my uncle, Tom, arrived with the boat. We got loaded up with our gear and 200kg of premix concrete. The concrete was to fill a hole in the dam, the inexorable wear of water had dug a cavity which we'd be filling.

The hole

We went for a tour of the ponds, to survey for spraying and to check the traps. The ponds looked fantastic, clear water, weeds not overly prevalent and a few ducks were in residence, notably pairs of shoveler.

A double dose of trouble for predators

At Park we found the trap tripped.

A ferret had met his end, a good catch. Back at the dam, the dog got excited by the trap there (we'd not checked it on the way in) and found another vermin victim.

This time a stoat, normally difficult to trap he'd got sucked in by the dog roll bait.

Dad and I got cracking digging out the cavity in the dam, then pouring and mixing the concrete while Tom got himself up on the hut roof to repair the leak around the chimney. He was at it for quite a while, during which dad and I installed a new sink at the rear of the hut, checked over the spray equipment and got rid of some rubbish.

Looking good all round, hope we get a good season next year.

... and with so much water everywhere, the ponds look awesome.

F&G gets its comms plan right.

I am very heartened by the message received below! At last I am being personally addressed by the CEO of Auckland Waikato Fish and Game. This is a big step (even though it shouldn't seem to be one in this day and age) and I can only applaud Ben for his message. (Note, I have masked some of his email address to stop nasty web crawling a$$ holes from spamming him).

11th September 2013
Seeking your Feedback

Dear Nick

Now that the game bird hunting season is over, I'd be grateful if you could take some time to consider the future direction of your sport. In November, Fish & Game Councillors will be setting regulations for the 2014 game season. As we signalled earlier, Councillors will be considering remits calling for an outright ban of mechanical decoys. If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to share your views on these decoys with us, or indeed on any other game regulations.

We recently produced a draft Waterfowl Strategy for the Auckland/Waikato Region, which considers the main issues that impact on waterfowl numbers. For each issue, we give a brief introduction on how waterfowl are affected, Fish & Game's current management actions, and the proposed options for future management.

The aim of developing a waterfowl strategy is to provide clear policies that will guide Council in achieving its goal of increasing the Region's waterfowl population. I urge you to take the time to read the Strategy, and we'd greatly appreciate your feedback on it. The draft Strategy is available on our website here. Otherwise, send me an email with Waterfowl Strategy in the subject line, and we'll reply with the Strategy attached.

Any comments on the game regulations or feedback on the draft Strategy can be sent to me at: bwilson@####.org.nz or write to Auckland/Waikato Fish & Game, 156 Brymer Road, RD 9, Hamilton, 3289. As you may be aware, we recently launched an extensive waterfowl research programme to determine the factors limiting duck numbers. In the Auckland/Waikato Region we are co-ordinating a university study on wetland productivity, and we've also started a large study on mallard duck productivity. The mallard research page on the Fish & Game website can be found here. Fish & Game is a small organisation with limited funding which comes from licence sales. We can only succeed with the help and encouragement of hunters and anglers.

Thanks for taking the time to read this letter, and I look forward to receiving your comments.

Best Regards,
Ben Wilson
Chief Executive Auckland/Waikato Fish & Game


Auckland Waikato Fish & Game NZ, 156 Brymer Road, RD9, Hamilton, Tel: (07) 849-1666 Credit must be given, where its due.

Spring has sprung

... the grass has ris', I wonder where the birdies is? It had been a while between going goose hunting, and actually shooting a goose. The boys had been watching the population we’d hunted last time, and thankfully they’d broken into smaller groups. The breeders are off breeding, and the sub adult and juvenile birds had broken into smaller groups of grass-hoovering packs. Tony had scouted and identified a spot where the larger concentration of birds had been feeding; although groups of birds were dotted all over the place, Tony said this paddock was probably the closest spot to the magical X.

One of the hassles with lengthening daylight hours is that to be ready and setup pre-dawn, you have to be out of bed early… so the alarm went at 3.30 and I was on the road at 4.15 to meet up with Chewy and Tony. I parked at the farm shed and when Tony arrived we chucked my dozen shell decoys, blind gun and bag into his truck. Chewy showed up so his gear went in too, so we’d be taking only one truck down the farm. We arrived at the paddock, found our landmarks in the dark (humps of soil from drainage ditch), and set off loaded down with gear to find fresh goose kak. A good stiff westerly was blowing – the ideal wind as it was directly away from the roost. While Tony moved his truck we got our decoys set in small groups to mimic what Tony had seen the day before. Finally, we were done. Guns loaded, and blinds closed. Darkness became gloom as the sun began to rise behind heavy cloud cover and we began to hear the first clucks as the geese began to wake up and move about on the roost. The first geese to move did so in the darkness, 2 silhouettes on whistling wings. Several more mobs passed by, not even craning their necks in our direction before finally a pair swung way downwind, set and came in. First birds down.

After that we had a few moments, Tony with a round jam, I got the cocking handle of my gun caught in my pocket with birds in our faces. It took a while to get the first 10 geese into the bag, then after that we had regular action. With 3 guns we were able to knock over several decent flocks culminating with Tony and I dropping 8 birds from a mob that peeled out my way (Tony was centre gun and I was on the left flank)… It didn’t all go in my direction though, with Chewy getting a number of chances on the right flank as most of the birds peeled that way in the morning.

By 10.30 it was quietening down, so with high tide at 12 we decided to sit it out and see if anything else came in off the harbour. Nothing doing in that department but Tony spotted a group of birds take off from a km away and beat their way into the wind. They got closer and closer and Tony laid on the pleading calls, 3 peeled off, set and glided in. A grand way to finish up, with exactly 40 birds down.

Handy gravel pile (there was goose kak on that too)



Gear pile - travel light when you have a carry ahead of you...

A bit of to-ing and fro-ing with gear and then a nice cold beer back at the trucks before a leisurely drive up the beautiful Kaipara coast to Matt’s house where we cleaned the birds, ate barbecued sausages and had another beer or two. The geese had layers of fat under their skins, they'd been loving the mild weather and good grass growth. The breasts were as large as any I've seen and on the whole the birds were of great quality. Having cleaned up, Matt and I went for a walk to survey one of his ponds that we’re planning to clear, re-plant and hopefully re-populate with bird life.

Pond & environs, a nice project-to-be

Tons of potential there but also quite a bit of work. Home by 4 and spent some time washing the decoys and cleaning out the layout which was a filthy mess. What a great day and a fantastic shot in the arm after a long and jading working week.

Dinner tonite

I'm not a great chef, but sometimes I can work up a decent enough meal. Here was what I had to work with.

Took his breast meat out on the bone, then sliced it into fillet. I decided to turn him into pheasant burgers.

Ingredients:

Pheasant breast fillets
Fresh Ciabatta buns
Camembert
Gherkins - sliced long ways (not cross ways like McDonalds...)
Beetroot
Iceberg lettuce
Caramelised onion & garlic relish
Sweet tomato
Avocado
Red onion slices

Ok, take your pheasant fillets, rub with oil, salt & pepper. Add some oil to a pan and a knob of butter. When butter is melted in oil, cook breasts until tender and slightly pink. Take out and set aside to rest. Slice your bun in half and put Camembert slices on, then toast under a grill. When browned, put avocado, tomato and red onion slices on. Add salt & pepper. Gherkin goes on next, then a pheasant fillet, then relish, then another fillet. Then beetroot, lettuce and if you really want to (I did) put some mayonnaise on the top bun, then put it all together. Grab a beer.

Eat.

Yummm. A fitting way to devour the last bird of the season.

Auckland Waikato - More Ducks Strategy....

I received an email yesterday containing a draft of a strategy, the aim being to reduce the decline in numbers our local duck population. I offered some feedback, more around the need to get hunters aboard and working with the limited F&G staff resource, rather than sitting back and waiting for F&G to "do it for them".

Dave Klee responded quickly, and provided the following dialogue and images from some of the birds that are currently being tracked.

"BTW thought you might be interested in the attached. Some footage of our nest sites from the tracked birds. 059, hatched all her 10 eggs (see pic) on Saturday  but was down to 7 yesterday She has moved nearly 1km since hatching."

 

 

 

".171 on the other hand had this visitor, followed by another black one about 2 hours later, she returned to the nest very briefly, just once, and then abandoned it."

 

 

So of potentially 20 fledged ducks (say 10 per hen/nest) the net gain thus far and before further losses is 7 ducks. Small sample? Yes, tiny, but a pretty graphic demonstration of what's happening out there on top of habitat loss and all the other factors that determine the net number of available ducks.

 

 

Tui Ridge on Facebook

I don't subscribe to Facebook myself, (daily I see the result of people giving away their lives on-line, when their ID is hijacked), but Tui Ridge is now on Face Book.

We had our Beater's Day yesterday, where the guns become beaters and beaters take their turn at having a shot or 2. It was a damn good day, although because of my surgery I escaped any heavy duties and instead got to semi manage cooking a lamb on the spit (while drinking beer, eating goose salami and Gruyere cheese - yummm).

Everyone had a great time and after the meal the fines session took place. I had to wear a fine for my old man running out of ammo on the peg at one of the shoots.... all in all it was really well done and thoroughly enjoyable. Well done to Rick, Malcolm and the team for putting together a community based shoot that's worked very well. Thanks to all who have attended to beat and pick up - just a brilliant effort.

You can find Tui Ridge on Facebook.

Breath-taking quail hunting video

You'd have to go a long way to find a better video than this. John Fraser, some other dude and their dogs on Karikari Peninsular. Stunning.

Season ending injury (do I sound like an elite sportsman? Ha!)

The end to my game bird hunting season is most likely to have already happened; knee cartilage surgery has probably put an end to my ability to scramble up and down hills and through brush; with only 2 weeks to go and based on previous surgery I know I’ll be pushing it to be active by the end of August.

The weekend got underway against the backdrop of happenings; Matt & Tony are away in the South Island for a goose hunting trip interspersed with the Thar Show, where Tony is competing in the goose and duck calling champs. So Matt gave his peg at Tui Ridge to Chewie, for whom it would be his first driven shooting experience. I met up with Chewie and his mate Ben at the service ctr on the Southern Motorway, and we headed down to Tui Ridge where the folks were gathered for the 8^th shoot day. We weren’t expecting great numbers of birds and the return wasn’t high, but boy did I enjoy myself after 2 weeks of no shooting. We had some fine birds as the wind got up and the birds used it to their advantage. Chewie got on the board late in the day, which was very pleasing. After a fine meal of roast pork we all went our separate ways; I hit the road for Craig’s place for my final shindig at the Shanks Ranch.

I was feeling a bit tired to be honest, pretty long hours in the office all week so took it pretty slow as the road into Te Anga is winding and tight. Arrived to find Craig, Mick and his mate Jethro in residence along with a Japanese WWOOF’er (Let’s call her ‘Sue’) and the long term German WWOOF’er Clarissa.

We decided after dinner on a pig hunt so set off to the back of the farm. Rather than checking just the bait site, we’d walk back around the back boundary of the farm. It was quite a rag tag party that set off; Jethro, Craig and I with rifles, Mick and Craig with spot lights and Sue using her cell phone to light the way. (I kid you not). The bait site was clear so we set off across country following Craig (mountain goat with red bands) around up and down slopes and gullys. I had a general idea of our whereabouts, so when I heard running water I pretty much recognised our locality. Then we spied 2 pigs together with the cows. Craig moved away to the left, leaving us with instructions to “head shoot them”; Jet and I found rests and got set up while Mick played the light over them. Jet fired first and hit the smaller of the pigs which offered a better shot, the second pig charged left and Craig’s rifle boomed out as he cleaned it up. When Mick swung the light back to Jet’s pig it had gone – I could hear it grunting as it made its way to the bush. Clearing our rifles we set off in pursuit, running up the gully after the pig. I suddenly realised that Sue was left behind; and having found Jet’s headlamp in the bush I figured that he and Mick would have enough light so I turned around. By the time I found Sue, Craig was on his way over; we found her strung up on a barbed wire fence, gamely trying to disentangle herself. Having got that sorted we gutted and hung Craig’s pig then he set off to look for the others while I headed back to base with Sue. Back there I grabbed Craig’s truck and set off to pick up the lads, finding them only half a click from home. They’d recovered the other pig and had her hanging with Craig’s. We watched the rugby replay until about midnight, then crawled into our sleeping bags. I went out like a light.

BOOM! Awake. Got up and scratched around for coffee making ingredients as the housed hold roused. Andy arrived bang on time and after a brekkie we were ready to head out. We had low cloud overhead and the day was still and quiet… unbelievably for winter it was humid and muggy. Today I’d be lugging the new 20 gauge around. It would take some getting used to the lighter weight and slim lines; but I’m not getting any younger and running around with the heavy waterfowl gun takes its toll by day’s end. We stopped the cars well short of the hunting zones and split into 2 groups to keep noise down. Mick, Jethro and I headed to the swamp area with Heidi (GWP ... thanks Mick) while Craig, Andy, and the WWOOF’ers  with Max and Keira headed out to the 100 Acre. Mick, Jet and I hit birds immediately, with Mick scoring a fabulous melanistic 2 year old cock.

Mick's bird

Whilst hunting around to pick his bird, Heidi pushed another bird out over me and I was able to take it with the second shot of the new gun. Very happy. We then spent 20 minutes looking for Mick’s bird which seemed to have slipped away. After a thorough search we were gathering our thoughts when Heidi snuck away and picked the bird 30 odd metres from where it had fallen. He was still alive and had tried to make good his escape. We were happy lads and had a little pheasant dance…. Then we worked the swamp proper for no birds seen. Our progress was painfully slow, unseasonal heat was taking its toll on all of us. By the time we met up with the other party, we’d seen only a few birds between us. Craig had managed a nice bird so our total was 3 in the bag.

Saturday & Sunday's bag

We hunted back towards the cars with quite a number of hens flying, bit the only cock that jumped did so well ahead, I thought I’d rocked him with my first shot but he glided on looking pretty healthy. Back to Craig’s for lunch which I prepped while the guys went to collect the pigs. I was pretty stuffed by the time home time came around. The drive back gave me plenty of reflection time, and also time to catch up with Matt and Tony’s adventure. They’d struggled to get onto geese; but Tony had managed 3^rd placing in the national calling champs – well done!

Truly enjoyable weekend, may be a while until I next pull the trigger.

When not pulling the trigger is the right thing to do...

Tony, Matt, Chewie and I lay in our blinds in a quagmire watching and waiting for geese to appear. It was cold and windy and ducks flew around in the early morning gloom. During the week, the boys had scouted about 150 birds using a paddock – they’d walked the birds off the previous evening. Because we’d have to walk our gear into a wet and slusshy paddock, I’d decided to travel as light as possible so had the dozen Higdon shells on my back, my layout, blind bag and gun. We managed to get the gear in without too many dramas and set the decoys for the cold SE wind. Because of the presence of a house we couldn’t set exactly for the wind, but none the less it felt like a pretty good setup overall.



I detect a goose

From time to time rain pelted down and we sheltered down. The sun came up, raising temperatures marginally. Finally a ragged group of 5 geese appeared on the horizon. We got down and began to flag and they came our way… before passing overhead and landing 2 paddocks over. Uh-oh.

20 minutes later, a huge group of birds got up and began to fly towards us. At a guess 100+ birds were up and approaching. They hung over us, well up in the breeze before meandering away, then swinging down wind. Half of the birds split off, set up and landed well upwind. The other half continued to mosey around before dropping flaps and landing in with their mates. We were snookered. After a couple of minutes we released the dogs to push the birds away  and they took to the air, disappearing over the horizon. We’d done all we could – there’s absolutely no point in taking random shots, maybe hitting a few but educating the rest. Hopefully they’ll keep.

Next time….

Big bucket list number

In life you need a bucket list, and on mine for a long time has been a hunting trip to Lake Ellesmere. In geographical terms the lake, which lies west of Banks Peninsula is very young at something like 5,000 years old. The lake is like a rather large and shallowish lagoon, which opens to the sea either naturally or by the hand of man.

It is an absolute haven for wildfowl and hosts a massive number of ducks, a stack of geese and innumerable other species. (For example until this week I had seen maybe half a dozen White Heron [kotuku] in my life; so to have a pair circling just overhead on Monday morning was simply stunning).

Last year at this when talking with my mate Tim as he stood lakeside he let a hen mallard go by as he stood in full view while she decoyed, I realised that I just had to go. I told him on the spot that I would be tagging along for a few days (like he had a choice in the matter) next year.  We caught up occasionally during the duration of our short duck season, and his longer (2 month) Wellington season. I booked my air tickets, ummed and arred about what gear to take, and we began to plan in earnest. I figured my part would be easiest, as Tim had travelled the area for a month for each of the 3 preceding years.  We decided that I’d fly to Masterton, he’d grab me from the airport and we’d head to his place to catch up and have a meal, sleep for a bit, drive to Wellington and catch the 02.40am ferry to Picton. Then drive to our accommodation outside of Lincoln, the university town. (Tim informed me that Selwyn district was the fastest growing in NZ).

As usual when getting away from work prior to a break, an emergency crops up. I worked my way through it as calmly as possible, all the while in the back of my mind knowing that I hadn’t yet packed for the trip. Got home, laid out my gear, checked off the mental check list. Got the gun case, broke the gun down, locked the case. Packed everything in to duffel bag. Waders. Gumboots. Jacket, insulated inner, sleeping bag. Anyway, a whole shitwack of gear.

Said bye to the family and got to the airport in time. Made the airport, checked in gun and gear, and sat in the departures area drinking a beer and thinking. Plane left on time and arrived at Masterton on time as well. Got bag, took receipt of gun and walked out of the terminal to meet Tim.  The next part didn’t go to plan….. well the sleep part anyway. We ended up catching up well into the evening and soon had gone past the point of no return. The time arrived to hit the road and we chucked Max the lab in the back, trundled over the Rimutakas, through the respective Hutts, past Petone and casually past the turnoff for the ferry – being a country lad naturally Tim had a conniption so I directed him off onto Aotea Quay, we did a u’ey and were in the right place soon enough. It was cold out, too cold to get out of the vehicle. A nasty wind was blowing so I hoped like hell the crossing would be ok (last time across on the ferry it was a hellish 5 hours of smashing into 6m swells. Crew and passengers took a pasting). Once aboard we found a spot to watch the tennis – little did I know I’d be watching the longest semi-final in Wimbledon’s history. And watch it I did, in its entirety as Tim slept on the floor. Once at Picton we drove off the ferry and headed up to Blenheim where we watered Max at the Wairau River before pulling in for coffee at McDonalds. The wind was howling overhead and the drive down the Kaikoura coast was freaky – 100m offshore the wind was whipping up waterspouts; onshore trees were down every few metres and a huge truck unit had blown across the road and tipped over. Next stop St Anne’s lagoon for a walk, then Cheviott, then onwards. Finally we arrived at Lincoln and drove to The Lodge, our home base. We got our gear in, said hi to Sam who is living there and made ourselves at home. The power had been cut by the storm, but came back on at 2pm. By this stage having been awake for 30+ hours straight I was feeling pretty light headed by the time we hit the supermarket to get supplies in. The afternoon seemed to whiz by and soon we were getting stuck into a meal prepared by Sam. We snuck out for a hunt with no joy, then back for a few beers and a rugby match later and I was wiped out from lack of of sleep so hit the hay – next day we’d be hunting.

Sunday

Up at 5, toast in toaster, coffee in mugs and we were off. Our destination was the NE end of the lake where we’d lay out 2 dozen decoys and try to hit anything that came by. We had a bit of a navigation moment before finding our way to the famous Birdling’s Flat. We drove to our get out point, loaded up with decoy and blind bags, grabbed the guns and headed out to a maimai we could see in the gloom. The NW wind was steady – certainly not the gale of the previous day. As I took my first step into Lake Ellesmere, I had a breath-taking moment… my waders had sprung a leak! It was a cool morning but luckily the water was only about shin deep so it would be only a wet foot as opposed to leg. We set the decoys and sat back to watch. Geese were in the bay but well out of range. In the morning gloom, ducks were moving. A pair of swan came into range and I shot the lead bird – my first Ellesmere bird. Tim got a shot in on a grey duck and brought it down. As the sun rose it became obvious that birds were avoiding the maimai (unsurprisingly) – however they were traversing the main lake shoreline so after a few hours we decided to take a walk across the lagoon to the spit and check out the lake. It took a few minutes to get over there and we quickly scoped a spot that would put us in calling range of passing birds. As we were deciding on a spot a brace if mallards approached - we sat down in the salt bush and when they came in range I shot the drake bird, my first Ellesmere duck! To say I was stoked is an understatement. We got the gear packed out and sat in the truck planning our next morning’s hunt. On the way home we passed the Kaituna Lagoon which was absolutely stacked with mallards. I’d never seen anything quite like it in my life – the birds were sheltering from the NW wind and had arrived in their thousands. I can’t convey in words how many ducks were piled in there… but they were quite safe from us.

Back to the hut to hang the birds, have coffee and lunch and a chit-chat with Sam. That afternoon we decided on a hunt on the northern shore close to base. We took a couple of floating dekes and a wing spinner, found a decent sized back water pond and got ourselves ready. The evening was stunning and I just loved being out there. The ducks that did move were up high and no chances were had.

Monday

Up at 5, toast in toaster, coffee in mugs and we were off. This morning we’d be catching up with Andrew, a mate of Tim’s. We caught up in the allotted spot, drove to the parking spot and loaded up. We’d be lugging in 3 dozen duck and a few swan decoys. We splashed across the lagoon, across the spit and set ourselves up at the spot we’d found yesterday. There was certainly some breeze, but nothing like the wind of the day before. Andrew and I got some old scrub and set up a low profile hiding spot while Tim set the dekes. By the time we were done we were well hidden, with a good spread in front of us. The hunt was memorable for the birds that decoyed in, the birds shot and missed, Tim taking down a passing goose, me having to run into the deke spread to scare out a poor drake that obviously had nookie on his brain. We all had some great shooting and ended up with over a dozen birds by mid-morning, when Kelvin arrived in his jet boat. He and I went for a blast around the Northern part of the lake, what a fantastic experience! We put up fowl of all types and the numbers were staggering. Teal blackened the sky, mallards and geese charged in all directions… before settling where they took off from. Kel dropped me back and we said our good-byes.

Ellesmere fist-pump!

We grunted the gear back to the trucks, bade farewell to Andrew and headed back to base for lunch. A quick kip and we readied ourselves for an evening hunt. The wind had suddenly gone to the south and was strengthening so things looked good. We arrived at the pond early, tucked down in sunken maimais surrounded by rushes, loaded up and waited. As can happen when conditions are right, we had an awesome hunt. First in were 5 parries, 5 down. 4 swan swung downwind, turned and came in feet down. None escaped. Mallards, teal and parries came in continually, so by closing time we had a good mixed bag in hand. What a hunt!

Tuesday

Up at 5, toast in toaster, coffee in mugs and we were off. This time in the opposite direction. We’d decided to head south and look for a bay where we could set up a reasonable spread. This morning would prove to be a bust from a hunting point of view but from every other perspective it was great. Great to be in a new place, great to witness nature’s powers with devastated maimais washed up on the shore, and best of all we were visited by no less than 3 kotuku. After a couple of hours of listening to geese we pulled the pin and went for a mission to find birds. As we headed south we passed the Boggy Creek reserve, had a look at Hart’s Creek reserve and then found what we’d been looking for – ducks. Not lots, but tucked up in a bay were small mobs, whilst teal filled the rest of the bay. We checked the WAMS site, realised it was public reserve – game on….

Wednesday

Up at 5, toast in toaster, coffee in mugs and we were off. (Original huh?). After locating Andrew we set off for our hunting spot and arrived to find access restricted. A quick scout around in the dark and we found a way in, another decoy laden slog. The wind was whipping through the bay and waves pumping. Our first challenge was the sucking mud just a few metres offshore, both Andrew and I found ourselves cast, me because with my dodgy knee I just couldn’t bend it to get out, and Andrew ‘cos he’s a big unit and simply sank. Tim set the dekes while we worked on freeing ourselves, then finally we were set. Soon birds began to move, teal and mallards with the occasional black scaup. The first ducks to arrive landed well offshore and swam in, I stood when they were 40m away and wounded one of the pair. Cursing myself I began to wade out when a mallard drake came over high and fast with the wind behind him and I pulled off a shot I was quite proud of. The drake hit the water and began to drift along shore, meanwhile the earlier bird was paddling down wind.  Max picked up the drake and then we ran down the shoreline where he picked up the first bird, a hen. I wandered back with the birds and sat back to let the others take the next few shots. We had a great hunt, with birds turning up throughout the morning and finished with a dozen mallards.

Yet another bluddy fist-pump

I have a new appreciation for the big water hunting now, with a number of opportunities lost through not taking shots when offered. You gotta be in to win this game.

Sitting in Christchurch airport that evening I reflected on 7 very different hunts over the 4 days I spent at Ellesmere. None of the successful hunts happened without 2 vital ingredients:

1.       Scouting to find birds
2.       Wind

 

Get those right and you’re a chance.

Another tick off my bucket list.