[http://www.sportingshootermag.com.au/news/new-dawn-for-nsw-duck-hunters]

New dawn for NSW duck hunters

22 Nov 2012

Mick Matheson

New duck hunting legislation has been approved by the NSW parliament, marking the long-awaited return of game-bird hunting to the state.

Previously limited to duck mitigation programs under a system laden with bureaucracy, bird hunting will now be accessible to hunters across the state.

However, the passage of the legislation does not mean hunting is legal now, and it will be some months before the new hunting system is put in place.

The bill passed the Legislative Council early this afternoon by 21 votes to 18 after incorporating a handful of amendments. It’s passage through the lower house late this afternoon was little more than a formality.

While a vast improvement over the mitigation system, the new hunting regime will still be limited by a number of factors, including being restricted only to private property where the landholder has a specific licence allowing birds to be hunted there.

There will be no traditional open and closed seasons. Hunting will instead be permitted where and when bird numbers are considered high enough to warrant it.

The bill changes details of the Game and Feral Animal Control Act and the National Parks and Wildlife Act to allow hunting of game birds on private property, but only subject to a number of conditions and licenses.

Under the existing bird mitigation program, shooters had to apply to both the NSW Game Council and National Parks and Wildlife Service before being licensed to hunt ducks, but all licensing and regulation will now fall only to the Game Council.

The SFP says this and other changes remove bureaucratic duplication between the NPWS and Game Council. Both the G and R licences issued by the council will be valid for game bird hunting, provided the holder qualifies.

Waterfowl identification tests will be used to ensure hunters are competent at differentiating bird species before being licensed, but the Game Council will administer the tests. Those who have already done the tests will not have to sit them again under the new system.

The Game Council will dictate when and where game birds can be hunted, ensuring that no population is put under additional stress during difficult times, but allowing quick responses when numbers are up, especially when landholders need help.

An SFP spokesman said the system would be “measured and scientific” in its approach to times and places for hunting of any species, and that it would cover all of NSW.

Three people, appointed by the minister, will form a committee to monitor the system, one from the Game Council, one from the Department of Primary Industries, and the other from the Office of Environment and Heritage. They will determine quotas.

Hunters may only operate on private land, and the owner or occupier of the land must have a native game bird management licence, which will also be issued by the Game Council. These licences will only be issued for “sustainable agricultural management” and preclude any commercial uses, such as the sale of ducks.

Hunters, however, will specifically be allowed to keep the birds they shoot, and they’ll be allowed to consume them or have them mounted.

GAME BIRD SPECIES

Ducks
Australian Shelduck or Mountain Duck (Tadorna tadornoides)
Australian Wood Duck or Maned Duck (Chenonetta jubata)
Black Duck or Pacific Black Duck (Anas superciliosa)
Blue-winged Shoveler or Australasian Shoveler (Anas rhynchotis)
Chestnut Teal (Anas castanea)
Grass Whistling Duck or Plumed Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna eytoni)
Grey Teal (Anas gibberifrons)
Hardhead Duck or White-eyed Duck (Aythya australis)
Pink-eared Duck (Malacorhynchus membranaceus)
Water Whistling Duck, Wandering Whistling Duck or Whistling or
Wandering Tree Duck (Dendrocygna arcuata)

Quails
Brown Quail (Coturnix ypsilophora)
Stubble Quail (Coturnix pectoralis)

Pigeons
Common Bronzewing Pigeon (Phaps chalcoptera)
Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes)

Matt, is this finished? I thought I saw a later news story that said the premier reckoned he was not going to cop it. Considering it has passed through both houses, I can't see how he could do this, except possibly by devious regulation.

No I havent heard that at all?? No doubt the Premier will be coping a lot of bad mail about bringing back duck season but this isnt a duck season as such, just an extension of the mitigation programme.

Would like to see that news story you mention...

Looks like Game Council will be writing the regulation anyhow...

I wonder if QLD will bring back a duck season any time soon

"There has been an enormous spike in the number of gun club members," says NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge, "and with that rise a very large pool of membership funds is being centralised into state and federal peak bodies, particularly the Sporting Shooters' Association of Australia. So the structure set up in 1996 has empowered the gun lobby in Australia, which is now well funded and well organised."

Greens can see the end is near

Funny how the gov and the Greenies (a pox on both of them) FORCED us to organise and now they whine about their unforeseen consequences.

quote:

Originally posted by Bren7X64:
Funny how the gov and the Greenies (a pox on both of them) FORCED us to organise and now they whine about their unforeseen consequences.

Yep [spit]... fuckem'!!