Day licence ‘great way to have a crack at game bird hunting’   15 May 2015

Day licence ‘great way to have a crack at game bird hunting’

Day licences for game bird hunting which are now on are a great opportunity for anyone thinking of “giving it a go.”

The new game bird season opened on Saturday May 2, and game bird day licences went on sale two weekends later, on May 11, for $20 per day.

Fish & Game Policy and Planning Manager Robert Sowman says the day (24-hour) licences are aimed at various groups, such as people who’ve never been game bird hunting before who want to try it without spending $91 on a whole season licence, and also the “part-time hunter” who may only hunt for a few days of the season.

“For only $40 someone can go out for a weekend’s hunting to see what they think of it,” Mr Sowman says.

The game bird day licence is ideal for the seasoned hunter to ‘take a mate hunting’ as Fish & Game encourages hunters to do, to introduce them to the sport, he says.

“The mate can buy a day licence – a very modest spend – while deciding whether it’s a pursuit to take up more seriously. You can go hunting for several days with multiple day licences before it obviously becomes a better bet to buy a whole season one.”

The day licence is especially good value for under-18’s to try out game bird hunting, as the junior licence costs a mere six dollars, he add.

Day licences are also popular in the “one-off” situation where a corporate group goes out to hunt on an upland game preserve for the day.

Mr Sowman says that when Fish & Game first introduced the day licences they were especially suited to “special hunts” such as a Canada goose hunt run at Molesworth Station.

Since then, Fish & Game has seen a growing and wider demand for the one-day game bird licences; initially sold at a rate of about 200 a year, now more than 1200 are sold annually.

Mr Sowman says Fish & Game is obviously keen to see even more people who’ve never gone game bird hunting give it a go, “so we are keen to remind people of the day licences now sale – and the opportunity they provide.”

Fish is Game is constantly reviewing its licence categories so that people have choices over how they hunt or fish, Mr Sowman says.

“ We interview thousands of hunters and anglers annually so that we can keep up to date with changing habits or preferences.

“Currently we are preparing to introduce some new fishing licence categories in response to this review process.”

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