17 Apr 2024

Duck hunting season begins in Victoria despite inquiry recommending it be outlawed

This is of course an emotional issue rather than a logical one.  If you kill animals for food what does it matter which animal you kill?  And  poultry are a very widespread source of food.  The KFC and Nando's chains would not exist otherwise.  

Hunting any animal is not for me but we have in fact evolved to kill animals for food.  So hunters are doing a very human thing.  One can only hope that the people "rescuing" ducks are also kind to their fellow human beings.  

I do myself rather like ducks  both in the environment and on my plate but  they are a very capable creature so there is never going to be any scarcity of them.  Quacking creatures in ponds are very common

In wetlands across Victoria, camouflaged hunters waded into the water on Wednesday, turned their shotguns to the sky and began to bring down ducks.

At Lake Lyndger, near the wheat-growing town of Boort, Danny Ryan is waiting waist-deep in water at 8am — the moment Victoria's 2024 duck hunting season commenced.

Mr Ryan, a longtime hunter and spokesperson for the Victorian Duck Hunters Association, points to several dead tree stumps and marks an imaginary line.

This is the distance within which he will shoot ducks, he says, as it is more likely to lead to an accurate shot and an ethical kill.

Under mounting pressure and increased regulations, duck hunters like Mr Ryan are keen to stress their efforts to hunt humanely.

In a little over an hour, Mr Ryan kills three grey teal, one black duck and one wood duck. His haul is one short of the daily limit of six ducks.

It takes skill to identify from the silhouette, size and movement of the duck whether it's a species that can legally be hunted, and as birds come and go, frenzied gunfire gives way to the natural sounds of the wetlands and moments of peace.

"You get to be at one with nature, but at the same time you're interacting with nature and you're harvesting wild game birds," Mr Ryan says.

Some of the ducks the hunter shoots are killed instantly and some fall to the water injured and need to be shot again.

Some he will he eat, he says, and some will be shared with family.

Is it crueller than eating an animal raised in captivity?

"I think the majority of people if they sat down and had a really good think about that, I think that they would come on the side of 'No, the duck's had a better life'," Mr Ryan says.

Last year, a parliamentary inquiry recommended outlawing duck hunting, and many thought the 2023 season would be Victoria's last.

The inquiry cited long-term decline of native birds, animal welfare concerns regarding wounding rates, the unacceptable wounding and death rates of threatened species, and the inability to enforce compliance, as the major factors leading to its recommendation.

But the hunters are back for another season this year, after the Labor state government declined to implement the ban.

And a polarised debate continues over whether the pursuit is a noble way to stay connected to where our food comes from, or the sport of bloodthirsty killers.

The duck rescuers

On the shores of a lake near Charlton, a dozen or so Coalition Against Duck Shooting (CADS) volunteers wait to retrieve injured birds from the water.

Without a hunting license they risk a fine if they enter the water before 10am or get within 10 metres of a hunter.

Some members do enter the water, dressed in high-vis vests, and paddle kayaks with flags and whistles to shepherd ducks away from hunters.

Leading the team is David Evans, who darts around the other volunteers, his head slightly bowed and a walkie-talkie in hand, perpetually in motion.

For 28 years he has spent his autumns scouting wetlands, plucking injured birds from the water, documenting illegal killings and antagonising hunters..

Gone are the days of 8,000 shooters with pump action shotguns, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, he says.

"I think we're lucky to have 50 here in this wetland [today]," he says.

The decline in hunters gives him hope, and he believes public opinion is on his side.

This year, on the opening day of the season, interactions between hunters and those who oppose them are relatively calm, and Mr Evans says it has been that way ever since the proliferation of digital cameras.

But the rescuers say they are often verbally abused and threatened by the hunters, while shooters complain of CADS volunteers rescuing injured birds from the water before they can be killed and collected.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-13/victoria-duck-hunting-season-begins-despite-inquiry/103699988

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