Took these little while ago on the South Island. Very friendly people and the whole country is just absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.

Starting from top (in clockwise direction):
- Black Swan
- Pacific Black Duck
- Pair of Paradise Shelduck (Bird with white head is the female, other is the male)
- Pukeko (Purple Swam Hen)
- Australasian Shoveler (New Zealand Shoveler)

I allways get jealous of your pictures. I really need to step up my hunting trips.

Nice pics.

One of my most memorable waterfowl shoots ever was in NZ. Ducks, geese and swans.

Just awesome, as usual.

Thanks, as always, Oz. You live the dream some of we bird hunters dream of: the endless waterfowl season!

Can you give any details as far as the hunts, please? Also, are all of the importable?

@Patricio
Get them done sooner than later...the way things are going red tape is escalating for importation. Traveling with firearms internationally is not easy either. As much as I like to shoot with my own firearms, these days I am opting for renting firearms locally for the hunt.

@larryshores
Thanks...NZ is such a great destination.


@Kamo Gari
Glad you enjoyed the birds. Yes, all of the birds in the pic are importable. NZ is fantastic. They make it very easy for foreign hunters to bring their personal firearms. Paperwork is usually handled ahead of time so there are no surprises. Police at the airport is very efficient and paperwork is very organized.

Plenty big game outfitters (Red Stag, Chamois, Himalayan Tahr) also offer bird hunts, so shop around and check for USA references. Bird hunts are usually 5 days in length and will give you plenty of opportunities to collect all species, also you can do some high volume mallard shooting which are considered a pest species. Try to go in June/July which will be winter time over there.

South Island has better variety of native New Zealand birds. Although big game hunting is a bit better in the North Island. It is a very beautiful country. English speaking friendly people. Fishing is fantastic as well. One could easily retire there

Nice looking birds and some outstanding taxidermy as well.

The black swan is fantastic....getting that white plumage out is superb as opposed to a swimming mount where the white is covered. The contrast is excellent

Yup....what they said....cool stuff.

Outstanding mounts.

Interesting to note that the Grey (pacific black) is actually what we would term a Grallard. Its a cross bred between grey and a mallard which is more common here than finding a pure grey now days. You can tell by the pale plumage, size and orange feet. Only 2% of grey's are considered pure now, so they are actually a rarer bird than the majority of fully protected duck and teal species here.

Thank you, as always, for the sharing of our shared passion, and as much for the solid information you provide here, Collector.

Are there upland bird hunting?

Thank you all, glad you liked the birds. That is just the small part of the experience. The actual trip down there, the people, the scenery is wonderful.

@Norseman,
There is "some" upland bird hunting in North Island for non-native species like Ring-necked Pheasants, Chukar, Grey Partridge, Bobwhite Quail, California Quail, Merriam Turkey. But I would not recommend NZ for upland.

Some pics....

Beautiful New Zealand Alps



There was a lot of snow in many places during the hunt.



A mature pair of Paradise Shelducks.



Farm where we stayed.




Hunting area



Looking for ponds at higher elevation.



Found a nice pond.



And a nice stag...he was only couple of yards away.




Saw a Himalayan Tahr...they are an introduced species from Asia and are doing quite well at high elevations.



Black Swan....NZ is the only place in the world where you can legally hunt this species.



We came across this huge reservoir of a hydro-electric dam. It was full of birds.




Rush hour...South Island style. Merino famous for their wool.



Mallards by the thousands.



Some nasty weather



Pair of Purple Swamp Hens getting out of dodge city.




Our guides retriever.



A sweet honey hole.

Way cool. Thanks again for the wonderful shots, and taking us along, so to speak.

We shot Canada Geese over decoys at Lake Tekapo in August ............ the morning after our wedding at the Church of the Good Shepherd.

Prettiest church I've ever seen. Overlooks Lake Tekapo. Google search it.......you'll agree with me.

Great morning shooting. First time I had shot them. Need to do a whole lot more of that.

The new bride is still on about it.......but what can I say I offered to take her.... but she wouldn't come because of the cold !!!!!

Absolutely fabulous taxidermy and photos of the NZ countryside and animals.

Agree with shankspony that the pure Grey duck is quite rare now, more likely to come across pure Greys on the Westcoast of the South Island. Shot a few down in South Westland earlier this month on the opening weekend of the duck season. The aggressive mallards are breeding out the Greys in many areas. Greys also decoy much easier than Mallards so tend to get shot out quicker in some areas.

The old swampys (Native Pukeko)are quite good game birds to shoot although are not fast flyers. Fun to shoot on farm land where they will hide out in stands of trees and can be flushed out with beaters, a poor mans pheasant shoot with a difference, cook a puk with a boot and when the boot is soft, eat it and throw out the puk. Boy they are tough and I don't know of anyone who actually eats them.

One of my friends lives in NZ and offers fair chase guided big game hunts in the lowlands and Alp's, fishes for trout on the lakes but never mentions duck hunting. He does however say the varmint hunting is phenomenal. Great pics as per usual collector. Did you export your birds or have them mounted in NZ? We're been sorting out exporting for Australia (waterfowl) and it seems it is coming to fruition. LDK

BEAUTIFULL TROPHIES NEW ZEALAND IS ON MY WISH LIST .