Field & Game Australia Media Release

We are outraged by the Victorian Government announcement of a heavily modified 2020 Duck Season which in the circumstances is completely unjustifiable. We can draw only one conclusion; that this is a political compromise not a decision based solely on the available evidence.

The position taken by FGA during consultation was completely justified and supported by all the available facts, data and science.

Through the submission process Field & Game Australia advocated for a sustainable Duck Season with six birds per day which would also encourage hunters to travel and spend money in regional communities. The Victorian Government ignored an opportunity to provide incentive for more than 25000 hunters to travel long distances to support regional communities impacted by recent bushfires. The short, heavily restricted season will have a negative economic impact on communities that can least afford it. This is a slap in the face for regional and rural Victorians and we ask all hunters to support these communities.

Despite the ridiculous restrictions and the significant time already lost for preparations, we encourage responsible and ethical hunters to make the most of this limited opportunity.

Our 18 000 members entirely support the principle of sustainable hunting because they want their children and grandchildren to have the same opportunity for generations to come. We encourage members to make an extra effort to support communities reeling from summer bushfires.

We have been consistent in our approach to season considerations, the science and data should prevail over emotion and prejudice.

There is still an over-reliance on the South Eastern Australia Waterfowl Survey as a measure of game populations, a purpose it was never designed for. The 2019 survey flew the same transects across parched and drought-stricken areas of NSW and Queensland and to the surprise of nobody, found little water and limited numbers of native waterfowl. This continental view is not a national waterfowl count, it is a longitudinal observation of habitat quality and waterfowl activity over a limited number of transects. Year on year conditions can vary greatly and water birds will not be present if there isn’t water and food.

In light of our submission this year, Field & Game Australia calls for better research to help manage and conserve waterfowl habitat and waterfowl species.

While northern parts of Victoria are extremely dry, the situation is less dire across the rest of the state. Field & Game Australia’s view was that a more balanced approach to the 2020 Duck Season was possible; achieving sustainability while still affording hunters the opportunity to harvest reasonable numbers of game birds for the family table and at the same time spend many millions of dollars in regional communities.

"The season setting process remains flawed, and the Victorian Government needs to deliver on its commitment to implement an Adaptive Harvest model which will take the politics out of season setting and instead rely on scientific facts and data," FGA CEO Dean O'Hara said.

"Given the delays, the uncertainty and the now the compromised outcome for the 2020 Duck Season, the sooner politics is taken out of game management decisions the better.'

FGA Chairman Peter Hawker urged members to take up the opportunity to hunt in 2020, enjoying the outdoors, time with family and friends and the wonderful game dishes they will share together.

“The camaraderie of the camp and outings on our favourite wetlands are more important this year than ever, with many of our members being CFA volunteers, farmers, tradies and small business people profoundly affected by the terrible fires around regional Victoria.

“With the community angst about the fires and the prominence of the climate change debate, it would have been easy and politically convenient for the government to abandon the season altogether,” Mr Hawker said. “Let’s make the most of it.”

Dean O'Hara, CEO, Field & Game Australia

Peter Hawker, Chairman, Field & Game Australia

GMA Media release

Wednesday, 26 February 2020

2020 duck hunting season arrangements

The Victorian Government has today announced arrangements for the 2020 duck hunting season including changes to the season length, opening weekend start times and the daily bag limit.
The restricted season is a necessary response to the prolonged dry conditions that have led to low duck numbers and reduced habitat.
The Game Management Authority provided its advice on the 2020 duck hunting season to the Government prior to the height of the summer bushfires in Victoria.
The Authority has subsequently advised the Government that the bushfires have had a minimal direct impact on current duck populations and habitat.
The 2020 season will start at 8am on 2 May and will last five weeks, closing 30 minutes after sunset on Monday 8 June.
Hunters will be restricted to three game ducks per day throughout the season, with the hunting of Blue-winged Shoveler prohibited for the entire season.
During the opening weekend, hunting can start at 8am on both days and must cease by 30 minutes after sunset.
For the rest of the season, hunting can start half an hour before sunrise and must stop half an hour after sunset.
The arrangements for the 2020 duck season are based on analysis of habitat and waterbird surveys conducted across eastern Australia and other data relating to game duck abundance, habitat distribution and climate.
The GMA and partner agencies, including Victoria Police, will be patrolling both public lands and private properties to ensure compliance with hunting, animal welfare and public safety laws.
As in previous years, the GMA will continue to monitor conditions in the lead up to and during the season. Where warranted, wetlands may be closed to hunting to protect concentrations of rare threatened species.
Details of the 2020 duck season, including any wetland closures, will be regularly updated on the GMA website www.gma.vic.gov.au

In order to grow the sport, and membership, it is recognised that we need to cater for people without a connection or even a history of firearm ownership.

Australian Simulated Field has great appeal as a sport: the ability to compete equally, constantly testing your skills and improving, the social aspect and the outdoor environment where competitions occur.

The Come and Try Day is the perfect entry point.

Bendigo Field & Game’s 2019 Come and Try Day was one of many now being held by branches and a first step for people to experience clay target shooting in a safe and supportive environment.

As participants became comfortable the smiles broadened but never more so than when they broke their first clay target.

Bendigo welcomed the uninitiated but also novice members wanting to learn more about the sport and shooting technique from the experienced volunteer coaches.

Come & Try days also help to demystify the use of firearms and opening the doors and inviting the local community in helps to break down barriers.

“These days expose people to the sport,” Bendigo treasurer Danny Ryan said.

The day was a joint effort between Danny and branch secretary Greg Shelton in response to numerous questions and emails from interested people.

“It’s a confidence thing for the community,” Danny said.

“Something that they can come and try out for zero cost and they can see how much fun it is and how safe it is.”

“It’s a great place for younger kids and ladies to come along and give it a go in a calmer environment, outside the intimidation of a big club shoot,” Greg said.

Twins Thomas and Terry Marthick were among the curious. Thomas attracted by an interest in clay target shooting and Terry looking for practice before a hunting trip with his dad.

Both boys had never shot before but had shown an interest and came along after a quick Google search by mum Leanne Turner.

“It was good fun,” Thomas said, grinning after hitting his first few targets.

“I’ll definitely be back for more.”

Danny’s prediction was right: everyone that gave it a go had a great time.

Shooting is one of the most inclusive sports: it doesn’t discriminate on age, gender, size or physical ability. Granddaughters can shoot in the same squad as their grandfathers, mothers can shoot with their sons.

While hiding from the rain I met Andrew Mills, his sons Lachlan and Connor and their dog Ammo.

Andrew has a familiar story, growing up doing a bit of fox hunting with his grandfather before trying his hand at clay target shooting.

After being a member for longer than he can remember Andrew decided to introduce his sons to clay target shooting, let them have a go, and let them decide.

“If they are interested, we can sign them up and get them licensed and go from there,” he said.

“It’s good to be a part of Field & Game.”

Field & Game Australia (FGA) is proud to announce a new initiative with the Gunditjmara people in Victoria.

The initiative will see FGA partner with the Gunditjmara people to develop and deploy a hunting educational project for Gunditjmara youth, getting them back into country and providing the skills and knowledge to live and hunt on their land.

FGA CEO Dean O’Hara said, “This is a very exciting project where hunters will train the youth of the Gunditjmara people to get them back into country.”

‘The Gunditjmara people have hunted their land for thousands of years and to have the opportunity to partner with them to support a new generation of indigenous hunters is a great honor.” Mr O’Hara said.

“Hunting duck as a source of food is an integral part of the culture of the Gunditjmara people and I hope that the Victoria Government understands the importance of duck hunting to indigenous people.” Mr O’Hara said.

FGA is committed to ethical and sustainable hunting which includes harvesting ducks for the table.

Eugene Lovett, a Mabo signatory said, “My people are excited by this opportunity to partner with Field & Game Australia. Hunting the land is something my people have done for generations and this initiative will help educate our youth and allow them to provide food for their families including duck, quail and kangaroos.” Mr Lovett said.

Elder Greg Lovett said, “We are proud to stand side by side with Field & Game Australia to continue the tradition of hunting and harvesting game from our land to feed our communities.”

Beryl Booth Aboriginal People Embassy Ambassador also put her support behind the initiative. ‘The Aboriginal Peoples Embassy is pleased to support this project and hopes that this is the first of many to be delivered throughout Victoria and beyond” Mrs Booth said.

FGA’s strategic partner Beretta Australia has also pledged support for the project.

Lorenzo Scribani-Rossi, Business Development Manager Beretta Australia said, “When Field & Game Australia approached us about this opportunity, we were more than delighted to come on board and provide support for this exciting project.”

Mr O’Hara called on the Victorian Government to ensure Indigenous communities can participate in the sustainable and ethical harvest of game birds in 2020.

“This is another reason why the Victorian Government must trust in their independent statutory authority (Game Management Authority), trust in the assessment process that this government put in place, trust in the science, facts and data provided during the assessment process where both hunting and those opposed to hunting were engaged equally, and announce the 2020 Victorian Duck season in 2020.” CEO Dean O’Hara said

Eugene Lovett and Elder Greg Lovett also said, ‘We, and the Gunditjmara people, support a duck season for 2020”.

Beryl Booth said, ‘I also support a duck season in Victoria for 2020”.

FGA members have helped the Gunditjmara people over the past 2 years by providing harvested game for the community.

“This is the next step in supporting the Gunditjmara youth to get back into country”. “Harvested food is also supplied to homeless indigenous people in Melbourne so again, to be a part of this great Victorian initiative is an honor’ Mr O’Hara said.

“We already have programs in place in the Northern Territory providing harvested game food for indigenous people. This further demonstrates our commitment to ethical and sustainable hunting and providing that harvested food for the table.”

Portland Heywood Field & Game will run the project with support from the National office.

The map clearly shows that wetland habitats were not impacted.

Media Realease

Field & Game Australia (FGA) has today released a map showing bushfire affected areas of Victoria which busts the myth being peddled by activists that native waterfowl populations have been impacted.

The map clearly shows that none of the over 23,000 natural wetlands covering 604,000 hectares within Victoria has been affected by the recent bushfires.

5.7 per cent of Victoria has been burnt by fires this summer but there has been no impact on any of the 200 State Game Reserves comprising more that 75,000 hectares.

“Activists opposing the 2020 duck season are stating that the duck population has been affected by bushfires, this map shows that there was no habitat for ducks to use within the bushfire affected areas,” Field & Game Australia Chief Executive Officer Dean O’Hara said.

“FGA’s position that a 2020 Duck Season should proceed is based on facts, data and science. Highly regulated hunting is sustainable and ethical and we again urge the Victorian Government to make an immediate decision in line with the evidence based expert advice.

“Our members have been at the forefront of wetland conservation for over 60 years. We are conservationist as well as hunters and make a significant contribution to regional economies.

“Facts and data must triumph over emotion and scaremongering for common sense to prevail.”

We understand your frustration at the delay in the Victorian Government making an announcement regarding the 2020 Duck Season.

Dean O’Hara has spent today in high level political meetings in Melbourne and we are encouraged that it appears to be close to a resolution.

Our position remains that a 2020 Victorian Duck Season is sustainable and should proceed in line with the GMA recommendation. While we don’t know what that recommendation is, and we may not ultimately agree with the outcome, it is the independent, evidence-based advice.

The Government appointed a highly credentialed, independent board to lead the GMA and provide this advice. If the Government chooses to ignore this advice it cannot help but be taken as a vote of no confidence. How can we ask hunters and the community to trust this important regulator if the Government does not?

It is clear anti-hunting forces are using the delay to further lobby Government members.

The firm view we have expressed is that this should be ignored, we all had our opportunity during the GMA consideration process to put our case.
 

FIVE reasons why the 2020 Victorian Duck Season should proceed in line with the Game Management Authority recommendation;

• The GMA was established to manage game hunting in Victoria and should be trusted to do so.
• The GMA bases its recommendations on the best available facts and data and its own expert assessment.
• The GMA has already engaged with stakeholders including anti-hunting groups as part of its considerations process and has provided independent advice as required.
• Nothing has occurred that would alter the GMA advice, in fact conditions have improved.
• The Victorian Government has said repeatedly that it supports sustainable duck hunting conducted within the rules and regional communities, including some struggling after a bushfire affected summer tourist season will welcome them with open arms.

TEN reasons why the current lobbying by anti-hunting groups should be ignored

• Game species (ducks) are already managed for short and long term impacts
• Game species and game habitat have not been impacted to any significant degree by the bushfires nor have entire duck ecosystems been destroyed as implied
• No concerns about native duck species has been raised by the expert panel which this week identified 113 native species that require urgent attention following the bushfires of 2019/20
• Duck “rescuers” are volunteer activists not wildlife carers and claims their focus will be taken away from caring for those 113 species identified by the expert panel is baseless. Their presence on wetlands is already unnecessary and disruptive. Hunters will ethically hunt and dispatch birds in line with the regulations and guidelines for ethical dispatch of game birds. They will do so free from interference from activists who’s primary activity on wetland is trying to prevent a legal activity occurring.
• Whether it is “fun” or not is not at issue; however it implies hunters are lustful killers which suits the agenda; hunters are ethical, support sustainable practices and place a high value on the game meat they harvest
• There is no slaughter. Limits apply, hunting is dispersed over time and the landscape, regulations are enforced and waterfowl hunting takes skill, craft and patience. Reliable data gathered over decades demonstrates that the average harvest per hunter is significantly below the bag limit even in modified seasons.
• Waterfowl numbers are extremely low in drought affected areas, that is because ducks are highly attuned to conditions and nomadic; they go where water and habitat is best, which is why they flourish on a dry continent.
• Push polling is worthless. Hunting is not cruel and is a more sustainable and ethical way to source food than a lot of the mass production alternatives. How a small randomly chosen sample respond based on little direct knowledge or understanding to push polling is not a measure of public sentiment.
• Only a small percentage of the population actively hunt; that doesn’t make it wrong, but it does make it sustainable and low impact.
• Hunter numbers are not declining, they are growing and new entrants embrace the tradition of hunter conservation; caring for wetlands and habitat for all native waterfowl.

Ms Pulford recognised the economic impact recreational fishing plays in regional communities – supporting more than 3800 jobs and bringing in more than $600 million annually to Gippsland and north east areas – and said it could play in an integral part in the recovery process.

“We want to get people back to East Gippsland and the north east with family and friends, spending money and helping local communities get back on their feet,” she said.

FGA chief executive Dean O’Hara echoed this call and said sustainable hunting could further that economic support to regional communities.

“It has been stated many times before – the fact is regional economies need a boost after the recent fires and as a state we should be doing all we can to support the recovery effort,” he said.

“Let sustainable hunters do our part in rebuilding these communities.

“There is all this talk of how we can help each other and those affected by the fires recover, sustainable hunting is a huge part of that conversation.

“Recreational duck hunting is a sustainable and highly popular pastime, delivering an array of regional economic and social benefits."

Mr O’Hara said it is time for an announcement to be made.

“This is not just effecting hunters, but impacting regional areas as well,” he said.

He said there was a run on effect from government to hunter to rural communities.

“(Hunting) is not just a pick up and go situation – people need to book leave, accommodation, organise trips – by limiting the time in which they can do this, it’s restricting the security of cash flow to regional communities,” Mr O’Hara said.

His comments follow reports from Gippsland Field & Game Association members saying they were questioned by pollsters reporting to be a responsible polling organisation.

A spokesperson for the organisation said the company was not polling duck hunting yesterday.

Questions included whether respondents support a decision for a duck season and whether they would support the Labor Government if it declared a duck season.

“The government has shown their support for sustainable duck hunting in past actions and words – made clear by Minister Lily D’Ambrosio in an interview with The Weekly Times in December 2019: ‘The Government won’t be banning duck hunting’,” Mr O’Hara said.

“FGA’s history of recreational game bird hunting and the values that uphold the organisation is a fine Australia example of conservation through sustainable use of wildlife.

“FGA stands by its choice to pursue the facts and the data to ensure the most sustainable outcome for a 2020 season – it is not the role or responsibility of the urbanised community to reject an influx of much needed money into a rural community.”

FGA chair Peter Hawker agreed with Mr O’Hara’s views and called for the use of facts and data relevant to the issue at hand.

“Regional Victoria needs a cash injection and duck hunters willingly provide that to the rural economy,” he said.

“FGA have provided a comprehensive report backed by long term scientific studies proving the sustainability of duck hunting.

“Sensible bag limits apply to represent seasonal conditions.

“Game is good to eat, game is plentiful, and people will hunt.”

Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick entered the Victorian Parliament at the last election with just 2.17 per cent of the primary vote, less than half that of the Shooters Farmers and Fishers Party candidate Geoff Collins, who failed to win a spot once preferences were distributed.

You can argue whether the electoral system delivers just outcomes, but we have to live with the reality that a strong voice promoting a ban on duck hunting now has the platform of a seat in the Victorian upper house.

Ahead of Mr Meddick’s motion to stop the 2020 Duck Season, Field & Game Australia CEO Dean O’Hara wrote to all MPs.

The letter acknowledged Mr Meddick’s right to hold a contrary view but highlighted the need for a sensible debate based on facts and data and not emotion and outlandish statements designed to convey a false impression of the reality of duck hunting.

Field & Game Australia has committed to dealing in facts and data, so in some ways, the public debate is a very unfair fight. Opponents of duck hunting will not only make unsubstantiated claims, they also promote those claims as being endemic, attempting to smear every hunter and the whole activity.

We know issues arise from time to time, that is why the activity is so heavily regulated. Field & Game Australia supports regulation and enforcement, but to suggest every hunter is reflected in the actions of the few who breach the regulations is to ignore the facts.

The saying ‘lies, damn lies and statistics’ describes the persuasive power of numbers, particularly the use of statistics to bolster weak arguments. This is a mainstay of the activist movement and is alive and well in the duck hunting debate.

Take Mr Meddick’s claim that duck hunting is already dying a natural death from a decline in hunter numbers.

To prop up this argument he used one figure in speaking to his motion: that a reported 1300 hunters active on opening weekend in 2019 was the lowest on record. Conveniently, he doesn’t mention that this wasn’t a state-wide figure, just the number of hunters on wetlands where GMA enforcement activities took place.

That hunter numbers were low on popular wetlands where activist numbers were high is hardly a surprise. The GMA’s own data demonstrates that over time in severely restricted seasons the number of duck hunting permits purchased will dip, but it always recovers when conditions and season settings return to previous levels.

The number of hunters buying permits for duck is not declining, but of course, in a season where there is limited opportunity, hunter effort may be reduced.

Claims of broad community opposition, Indigenous support for a ban, incompatibility with other pursuits and that 20 000 wetlands in Victoria will all become iconic eco-tourism attractions are all lacking in evidence and for some reason are never subjected to scrutiny when they are made publicly.

Enough though of the case against; the real story here is the response to the motion that was so overwhelmingly in the negative even Mr Meddick supported an adjournment rather than it being put to a vote.

Agriculture Minister Jaclyn Symes was asked later in Parliament about the motion not being forced to a vote.

“In relation to duck hunting, as I have said on numerous occasions in this house, it is an issue that there are very divergent views on, as attested in relation to the house at the moment. The Andrews Labor government had a duck season this year and we have got no change of policy in relation to that. I do not actually understand what the furore is about adjourning off a motion till later this day. If we were to vote on the motion, we would oppose it.”

Government support for regulated duck hunting, as outlined by Labor MP Nazih Elasmar during the debate, comes with the usual rider.

“The government recognises that duck hunting is a legitimate recreational activity provided the rules are followed. We are committed to ensuring that game hunting in Victoria is conducted in a safe, responsible and sustainable manner,” he said.

Mr Elasmar said extra funding would deliver a 30 per cent boost in GMA staff and improve enforcement.

“As long as duck hunting is conducted safely and responsibly it can be done in a sustainable way,” he said.

“Published studies using monitoring data collected over long periods of time have failed to detect any significant effect of the hunting of game on game ducks. It is generally agreed amongst scientists that the loss of suitable waterbird habitat, changed waterway and wetland management regimes and climate impacts are the primary factors impacting waterbird populations in Australia.”

The support kept coming when Liberal MP Melina Bath rose to speak.

“It will be no surprise to the house that the Liberals and The Nationals will not be supporting this motion,” she said.

Ms Bath raised the “unacceptable” material sent to many MPs by activists supporting the motion.

“They were very repulsive statements, and I will read one: one of the emails called hunters ‘primitive and challenged psychopaths’ and said if they could get away with it, they would move on to human targets. Now I find that offensive, and I am sure that most members in this chamber, if not all, would find that offensive as well,” she said.

“We are allowed to have different opinions and that is what this place is for — debate. But to go down those paths, I believe, is quite unacceptable.”

Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party MP Jeff Bourman dismantled the facts underpinning the motion one by one.

“We talk about there being no support for duck hunting, but 6600-and-something signatures – that is the biggest e-petition to date. So there if there is no support for the hunting of ducks, why on earth is that the biggest e-petition?”

Next to rise was Liberal MP Gordon Rich-Phillips, who was just as deft at panning for the nugget of gold buried in the motion.

“It is often the case that those who preach tolerance, those who preach respect for minorities, those who preach respect for other cultures are in fact the most intolerant themselves,” he said.

“We saw the demonstration of that this morning with Mr Meddick’s comments on this motion where he sought to demonise a group of Victorians who participate and have participated for generations in a legitimate recreational and cultural activity, just because he does not like it.”

Tim Quilty, Liberal Democrat MP for Northern Victoria, gave an impassioned response placing hunting in its historical context and arguing that hunters have a deep connection to the land and care for environment.

“Hunters of all kinds share a connection to the environment and a kinship with each other that the keyboard warriors do not understand and probably never will,” he said.

“Today’s hunters, including those Indigenous hunters amongst us, are proud to continue our shared culture and pass it onto our children.”

Western Victorian Liberal Bev McArthur was the last to speak before the time for debate expired.

“There are public spaces and pursuits that country people have enjoyed for generations, and we care about the bush, we care about the country, we care about the native species and most importantly, we do what is best to look after them — not our friends in Fitzroy,” she said,

The motion now languishes on the notice paper and will likely never see the light of day.

However, the battle continues with Mr Meddick (at the time we went to press) still holding off on bringing forward his Wildlife Amendment (Protection of Birds) Bill 2019 seeking to ban duck hunting.

As the government speakers conveniently pointed out in this debate, the future of duck hunting really rests with hunters themselves. Participating, following the regulations and making good use of the birds you harvest is the best argument you can put forward.

“FGA is disappointed with the lack of response by the government regarding a 2020 duck season,” he said.

“There has been little indication given as to when details of a season will be released.”

With 2020 game bird seasons announced for South Australia and Tasmania, Mr O’Hara and FGA chair Peter Hawker said they had been working diligently with the government lobbying for an announcement in Victoria.

“The organisation, its members and other sustainable hunters have been left at a standstill,” Mr Hawker said.

“Some people have been waiting to book leave, to plan their trips, to know if they can take part in their cultural heritage – none of which can be done without an announcement."

I was very interested when reading Russ Bate’s article in Field & Game magazine, A Family Affair (or Granny get your gun) of the unintended consequences of shared memories and experiences when families take part in shooting, fishing and hunting pursuits.

There are numerous benefits for us all when we engage in shooting sports, whether they be clay targets, duck or quail shooting, deer stalking, culling feral animals or just bagging a few rabbits.

Shooting as a sport and a lifestyle activity has a substantial impact on our physical and mental wellbeing.

The UK Government Office of Science 2008 Foresight Report defined mental well-being as “ … a dynamic state in which the individual is able to develop their potential, work productively and creatively, build strong and positive relationships with others and contribute to their community. It is enhanced when an individual is able to fulfil their personal and social goals and achieve a sense of purpose in society.”

There are five basic components of wellbeing:

Connecting with the people around you. For shooters this is easy because we meet lots of people and we all have a common interest. Think of these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.

Be active: shooting in the field or at the gun club is an active sport. It is outside and involves exercise and is physical as well as mental. Clay target shooting can be done at all ages and at all fitness and ability levels.

Take notice of your surroundings and what you are doing. Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are walking to work, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you. Regular readers will have picked up that this is staying with the here and now.

Keep learning Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun.

Give. Do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself, and your happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and creates connections with the people around you. All these components are easy for shooters as most clubs and organisations run on the help of volunteers. Giving something back to the club or organisation makes you a better person and better off mentally than those who take, take and take some more.

The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), knowing that ‘wellbeing’ is used by policy makers and governments as an indicator and measure of our quality of life, initiated a survey in March 2015 and 1457 people responded. Eighty-six per cent of the respondents were BASC members.

The survey found that shooting actively contributes towards government wellbeing targets by providing personal, social and physical benefits.

The key findings from the survey were:

• Shooting makes an important contribution to health and wellbeing among people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities.
• Shooting can help to get more adults active through sport and physical activity, reduce social isolation and promote personal wellbeing whilst encouraging people to engage with the natural environment.
• Allowing for variations according to discipline, shooting and its associated activities are moderate to high-intensity physical activities.

In the 2015 Australian Psychological Society Wellbeing Survey the following key facts were noted. The top five causes of stress in Australia over the past five years were:

• personal finances — 49 per cent;
• family issues — 45 per cent;
• personal health — 44 per cent;
• trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle — 40 per cent; and
• issues with the health of others close to us — 38 per cent.

I imagine this finding would not be all that different from the main causes of stress in the UK, USA or Europe. When asked, how do you manage stress, the five most popular ways of managing stress in Australia over the five years were:

• watching television/movies — 85 per cent;
• focusing on the positives — 81 per cent;
• spending time with friends and/or family — 81 per cent;
• listening to music — 80 per cent; and
• reading — 75 per cent.

It is interesting to note here that Australians stress over trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but exercise or sport is not listed in the most popular ways of managing stress.

BASC published the Personal Value of Shooting: The social, physical and personal wellbeing contribution of shooting report, which listed the top three reasons people participated in shooting as relaxation, time outdoors and enjoyment.

Ninety-five per cent said shooting was important for their wellbeing and 91 per cent said they would spend less time outdoors if they couldn’t shoot.

Why is this important to shooters here in Australia? It is difficult to pick up a newspaper lately without someone associated with the gun control lobby making negative and alarming inferences about gun ownership and shooting. As shooting sportspeople we are targeted along with criminals, gang members and terrorists because the media and the gun control lobby want to use the crime statistics to make their case appear significant and give them the moral high ground.

We need to have information at hand that we can use to refute their claims, but this information needs to have a positive community focus. To protect our sport, we need to stress that responsible gun ownership and involvement in shooting sports can be positive and have an overwhelming social benefit. Another focus is the intergenerational involvement in our sport where grandparents, parents and children can play and compete together.

The report on the Economic and social impacts of recreational hunting and shooting not only shows hunters and shooters are more active than the average Australian, but overall, they reported significantly higher subjective wellbeing compared to the adult population (as measured by the Regional Wellbeing Survey), for all age groups and both genders.

These are powerful statistics because they show that shooting is integral to being physically fit, exercising, spending time outdoors, relaxing and being connected with others who share similar interests.

Michael Kruger-Davis is a consulting psychologist who has had more than 35 years’ experience shooting clay targets: trap, skeet and sporting. He is a member of the Wagga Wagga Branch of Field & Game Australia. He uses SAGA ammunition supplied by Hunts Shooting Supplies.

The season starts on April 4 and closes on June 30 – with a daily bag limit of 20 birds.

Hunters may only harvest stubble quail from half an hour before sunrise, to half an hour after sunset during the allocated season.

“This is very welcome announcement, and further demonstrates government commitment to hunters in Victoria,” FGA chief executive Dean O’Hara said.

“We now look forward to a similar announcement with regards to the 2020 duck season.”

Mr O’Hara said FGA has advocated for both seasons in 2020 and is the first to acknowledge there needs to be more data on stubble quail and waterfowl alike.

For this reason he said the organisation fully supports the Game Management Authority’s proposal to undertake that research on stubble quail and looks forward to seeing what is sure to be positive results.

“FGA would like to remind all game bird hunters – members and non-members – of the new regulations in place for all game bird hunting,” he added.

“As stated on the GMA website: ‘Hunters will be required to immediately recover downed game birds after they are shot and to salvage at least the breast meat from harvested birds’.”

For more information on the 2020 stubble quail season go to the GMA website at gma.vic.gov.au

There are three basic foot types and a number of features when it comes to dogs’ feet.

Understanding what each look like and the benefits they bring will help you choose the right dog for your preferred prey when hunting. Whilst some of these traits are common to a breed, not all individuals develop them to the same extent. This is something to consider when choosing your next pup from among its litter mates.

The three main foot types are the round (cat-like) type, the elongated (hare/rabbit) type and the in-between oval (half hare) type.

The main feature hunters need to consider is webbing and dew claws.

The “cat foot” has short, well-arched toes that are tight and compact in their arrangement, giving the overall foot a round shape. This high ‘spring’ type conformation means that lifting the limb is more effortless and these breeds are often your endurance animals, especially on firm surfaces.

The advantage of this firm base means they are generally less likely to suffer from foot trauma, particularly from penetrating injuries. Lacking length and contact through the shorter toe, this foot shape in general is less able to take off at speed and does not have the stability for sudden turns at pace.

These guys are your marathon runners. Very few hunting breeds have this foot type, with a couple of notable exceptions — the gordon setter and the cocker spaniel amongst them. Hunting ground birds via flushing in a dry stubble environment, where sprinting and sudden turns are not required, these guys will trot all day when fit.

Other spaniels, such as the Brittany, have a cat-like foot with slightly longer central toes and are often a little more agile on their feet. Round feet with webbing are particularly suited to muddy marsh-type environments and swimming and the water — spaniel breeds fall into this group.

The hare-foot group has a more triangular print, not unlike that of a deer in its overall outline, with the middle toes being much longer than the outside toes. This feature means the dog does not have the spring in its step and therefore the stride is less energy efficient, so it cannot generally be maintained for prolonged periods.

What it does give is traction, so they have a faster take off and sprint speed and better balance for turning at speed, especially when those toes dig in.

If hunting rabbits and hares is your thing, then these feet will be found on greyhounds and whippets.

I hope this is all starting to make sense now.

The last group is the in-betweeners with the oval or half-hare group. Similar to the cat-like feet, their foot is compact, however, they have longer toes and the central toes are slightly longer than the outer toes, leaving an oval-shaped print. Pack dogs, scent hounds and sight hounds generally have this foot shape.

These guys can have good pace over longer distance, are sturdier over rough terrain but can be a little less steady on the tight turns at speed.

The pack dogs like the beagle and fox hound have the slightly tighter foot in the group and are great stayers, especially when rough country running for hours on end. (And yes, before you all get excited, I know we are no longer allowed to use fox hounds to hunt deer in Australia).

The breeds with slightly longer toes are better at speed but again not endurance and your salukis and borzois fit into the slightly longer variety.

Interestingly though, it does make them great in sand or softer surfaces. The little extra toe length and the elongated legs and chest (increased respiratory capacity) gives this group in the middle great variety. Labradors have the second longest toes in the group.

Now what about webbed feet, I hear you ask? All three foot shapes can come in webbed varieties and variations in the extent of the webbing. But most fall into the half-hare foot group.

In the round/cat-like group, the water spaniels are king. With large round heavily webbed feet, these guys can walk across muddy surfaces without sinking in, and sustain prolonged swimming.

The oval group with webbing is where the pointers, labs and weimaraner fit in. The degree of webbing can vary significantly, so if you are looking to duck hunt pay particular attention to the feet when selecting your pup. If you are looking to stalk then this feature is less important, but it will reduce splaying of the toes and provide greater stability on uneven surfaces, making this lot your all-terrain group.

Hare-foot breeds do not generally have webbed feet: with the long toes this can be an undesirable trait as it may split. The tears to webbing with the long toes is almost impossible to get to repair even with suturing. As vets we often have to sew the split top side to bottom leaving it as a ‘V’, and it can cause ongoing pain and lameness. These breeds with their ‘pointed’ feet often do not make great swimmers as the foot shape creates little resistance or drag in the water and so does not propel them.

Nail and pad care are essential for healthy feet.

Chronically long nails are at greater risk of getting torn or split, and in the upright feet of the round and oval foot breeds, also open up the compact foot and stretch the supporting ligaments causing the dog to become flat-footed.

Damage may result in trauma to the small sesamoid bones either side of each joint in the toes, arthritis and constant pain. The importance of nail care and length cannot be underestimated, so training your pup from an early age to have its feet fiddled with and nails trimmed will make your life and theirs much easier.

Pads are also a critical part of the foot, providing comfort, grip and friction for stopping. If you are planning on working your dog on rough ground start conditioning the pads in the off-season. Walking on rough surfaces such as bitumen and hard, rocky ground will help, in much the same way as our feet will harden if we get around in bare feet.

Avoid hot surfaces to minimise the risk of blistering and damage to the pads; this may put your mate on the sideline for weeks, or months in severe cases.

Cuts to the pads should be cleaned thoroughly, remove any foreign objects, then wrap lightly in a well-padded cotton wool bandage. If bleeding (and you remember back to my first F&G article), a sanitary pad makes a great sterile, absorbent dressing and then bandage over the top. Small cuts can be held together with super-glue temporarily, however, be careful not to apply too much as it can be an irritant and you must have areas of wound contact without glue in the middle or it cannot heal.

It is also handy if you don’t stick yourself to the dog.

Longer or deeper wounds should be sutured to get them to heal as quickly as possible and to reduce lost hunt time.

Happy hunting everyone.

PS: Darcy update. She is now 12 months old and has proven herself to be quite the deer stalker. We have put up several Sambar, including one handsome stag and a couple of fallow spikey. Although with the onset of the warmer weather the last few days she is also brilliant on pint with the blow flies. This is going to be a long summer!

Contributed by Karen Davies. 

“It is the most fun you can have standing up” said Charles Wallis, president of the South East Branch. He was inviting me to participate in a Simulated Field Day in England, where clay targets are driven to simulate field targets such as pheasants, partridge and grouse.

The Barbury Shooting School claims: “The Baydon Day is located in the beautiful Ramsbury Valley incorporating some stunning drives. The day includes the highly regarded Anchor Down drive, which offers some excellent high targets to test the best of shots.”

Huw Stephens, the genial director of Barbury, was our leader and our day began with a cooked breakfast at the picturesque Bell Hotel in Ramsbury.

Our schedule for the day was set out with military precision, but was more relaxed than it looks on paper, as you can see from the photo of our photographer Jane and fellow shooter/loader Tony.

• 9.00 Guns arrive for breakfast.
• 9.45 Set off for initial drive.
• 10.00 Guns on pegs for two drives.
• 11.45 Break for coffees and snacks.
• 12.00 Competition flush.
• 13.00 Lunch.
• 14.30 Further two drives.
• 16.00 Afternoon tea and depart.

We learnt more at breakfast from Huw, who said we would have 2500 clays driven over our heads during the day.

The 16 shooters are allocated eight pegs for the first drive, with one person to shoot and the other to load. Jane, who has loaded for Tony before, was keen to take on the task, but I said I preferred if Tony and I loaded for each other. I felt it would be easier to survive lopping off the top of one of Tony’s fingers than one of my wife’s!

Huw also indicated that fibre wads were the order of the day and said he had plenty of Barbury’s 21 g 7.5s with fibre wads. Hmmm! A bit light on for a man who fondly remembers the days we could shoot 36 g loads at clay targets, but more about these little loads later.

The safety briefing finished and Huw gave his last instructions. Poaching targets from those shooters on either side of you is actively encouraged, in fact, more or less compulsory.

This was a practice that Tony and I, being true gentlemen of the field, were a little uncomfortable with but judging by the grin on Charles’ face it was one we were going to be more familiar with before the day was out. No Marquis of Queensbury rules here, more Painters & Dockers.

We formed up in a convoy and wound our way through the tiny streets of Ramsbury and out into a nearby field where we found pegs set up facing uphill. At the hoot of Huw’s horn, targets began appearing over the crest of the hill in all directions.

My, what tiny little fellows they were! As they came closer, they appeared to speed up so it was with some alacrity that we mounted and moved our guns.

Targets were released from a battery of manual traps hidden over the top of the hill and included crossers from both sides and those thrown directly over your head.

It became clear why you had a loader. While the pace was not frenzied (OK, it was on occasion) the targets were relentless in their appearance and it was not possible, even with a loader, to get a shot at them all. Jane’s video footage shows this clearly as targets would fly overhead while Tony and I were concentrating on the breach.

Shells out, don’t hit the loader, shells in, don’t chop off the loader’s fingers!

It was a steep learning curve and it wasn’t helped by birds approaching the sweet spot only to disappear in a cloud of clay as one or other of Charles’ mates, or even Charles himself, gleefully walloped a target in front of our peg.

Not much presidential behaviour on display, unless he took lessons from the Donald!

On more than one occasion I was squeezing the trigger only to watch the target smashed to pieces with parts disappearing in two directions at once. It was clear that the greedy bastards on both sides were into our targets. While quite unnatural to Tony and I, it is to our credit that we adapted quickly and took a few back.

As it turns out poaching does require some finesse. The desire for revenge can cause caution to be cast to the wind, with the result that more straightforward shots on your own peg go through to the keeper with not a shot fired at them, while you push your range to ruin someone else’s shot.

Revenge is indeed a dish best served cold, and a measured approach is best. Nevertheless, as three pegs vie to get to a bird first the whole poaching issue tends to speed up the shooting and push the range out.

Huw sounded the horn and there was a brief pause while shooter and loader changed places and then it began again.

The targets were all high overhead, which meant lots of bent backs and necks and fatigue from raising the gun and swinging it high in the air. By the time the first drive was finished I needed a break and the ground around our peg was littered with empty cartridges.

After a brief clean-up it was back to the vehicles and off to another drive where the birds were a little lower and it seemed more crossing birds were thrown across some light scrub and trees. This seemed to have the benefit of protecting us from the poaching a bit and was a welcome change from the targets thrown in the dizzy heights.

The pace was still fast load, shoot, load, shoot, with little respite. Some erratic shots showed up as muscles became stressed.

We all like smashing targets and swatting some high overheads is great fun, especially if they are in front of some low life who has been encroaching on your peg! Seemingly in the blink of an eye it was 11.45 am and time for elevenses (morning tea) at the gazebo set up in the corner of a field. The weather was mid 20s with quite a high level of humidity.

A few of us opted for water rather than hot tea or coffee.

The break gave Huw the opportunity to explain our next challenge, a team flush. Teams of three (with loaders) would face a flush of targets, mainly driven but there was a springing teal in there. Huw would score, which was the first and last time any scoring was attempted on the day.

Tony’s team won as they did not have any misses, which Tony said “ …was a miracle, as I did not hit too many”. Once again Jane’s video provided the evidence and proved that Tony did contribute and earned his Barbury Shooting School coffee mug.

Then off to another drive from butts on the edge of a wheat field. This was the grouse/partridge shoot. The field rose in front of us but at a milder slope than before allowing for some lower but still very fast overhead targets.

This was easier work as it was possible to take these targets further out in front reducing the number of neck snapping, back breaking shots directly overhead.

We made early inroads on the poachers on either side but when they woke up to why their targets kept disappearing it was on for young and old.

Finally, a well-earned lunch back at the Bell and time to chat to some of the locals who had joined us for the day. They filled our imaginations with talk of high pheasants, fast partridge and faster grouse, real ones! Not cheap to pursue but for those with more modest means the plump wood pigeon can be decoyed and shot. George Digweed’s favourite field shooting apparently!

Our last drive was the famous Anchor Down Drive, which lays claim to extremely high birds that “test the very best of shots”. Well by golly, they weren’t kidding: tiny weeny little targets appeared over a steep ridge and moved smartly downhill and over the heads of the guns.

I was, at this stage of the afternoon, somewhat tired and confused. But as I am not likely to be back there soon, I persisted and tried to shoot all the targets.

So, with aching neck and cracking back I blazed away with decreasing accuracy until, with only a few minutes to go, I offered my gun to Tony with “I have had enough”. Tony did not hesitate and ploughed into the targets until the final horn blew. Between the two of us we fired about 800 shots for the day and hit a whole bunch of targets. We have fired more than 1000 shots each in a day on doves in South America but that was with a 20-gauge auto.

The Barbury 21 g shells we were using were very light on recoil but effective at long range if you pointed them in the right direction. Fibre wads are quite distinctive as the contents of the rubbish bin seem to have been loaded in the shell. Jane’s slow-motion video shows the shot leaving followed by a rain of “confetti”, which caused us some mirth. However, fibre wads are a thing of the future as they avoid the piles of plastic wads we often see around gun clubs.

I did not realise how little recoil there was until I fired some of the 28 g loads I had with a 21 g shell in the other barrel. Although I am not particularly sensitive to recoil, the 21 g loads were significantly softer on the shoulder and yet they crunched up targets at any range.

The day was a great success and something Tony and I had not previously experienced. There was a lot of laughter, including from our video queen, a few curses and a lot of gun fire. Thanks to Charles for the invitation and Huw for directing.

Contributed by Rob Sturzaker.

Jimmy Campbell was a co-founder of breakout Melbourne restaurant MoVida, the first restaurant to ignite Melbourne’s obsession with tapas and sharing plates, but after 14 years, Jimmy eventually sought a quieter life back on the family farm raising sheep.

“About five years ago I decided I’d had enough of working 80-hour weeks in city restaurants, the daily grind and the hustle and bustle of the city,” he said.

“I wasn’t sure I would ever cook again.”

He also had a long-held dream of taking over the only pub in the town, the Bunyip Hotel, and eventually the opportunity came up.

“A pub is like farming, it’s an endless job; this old building is 1836, it’s ancient for Australia and there is always something going wrong,” Jimmy said. “It does have a lovely patina, though.”

The food is fancy but not in an ostentatious way. The locals have always taken from the land and Jimmy prefers to reproduce familiar traditional meals.

He’ll just use the best produce he can source locally and apply his well-honed culinary flair, so it has all the attributes of fine dining but served humbly, wearing the familiar disguise of staple country dishes.

“On the menu tonight we have fish pie, corned beef, rib eye fillet, and braised chicken; all stuff people recognise but it is just done using skill and technique,” he said.

“Everything in the pub is produce-driven and it is all local.

“I’m massive on my hunting as well. I’m out with mates every week, and duck, deer, quail, rabbit -– it is all here. Hunting is part of the DNA in this area, it is just part of normal life.”

Jimmy is a Field & Game member and regularly shoots at Casterton. He’s settled back into country life and the locals have welcomed home a prodigal son.

“It was nice to come home and reconnect with people I grew up with, and those of my parents and grandparents, you tend to inherit relationships out here,” he explained.

“This is the home of the Country Women’s Association and the Presbyterian Women’s Missionary Union; the Fleece and Flower Show posters went up today and I’ve told the apprentices they have to enter the sponge competition this year up against all the local ladies.

“I was excited about cooking for Field & Game, because they are my people and a lot of my clientele,” Jimmy said.

“With the goat, I wanted to demonstrate that you don’t need a lot of preparation or gear and the quality of food you can pull out of a camp oven is as good as anything you will get in a restaurant.”

The ingredients are basic and he says the most important thing is to work on the caramelisation by turning the meat in the pot a few times, which bastes the meat, allowing it to cook and colour evenly.

“In my old city restaurant, I would have charged $40 a portion for this but hunters can take a goat early in the day and have lashings to enjoy around the campfire that night,” Jimmy said.

Campfire goat with damper

Goat:

Ingredients.

• Side of goat
• 4 carrots
• 3 onions
• 1 head of garlic
• Available wild herbs such as saltbush
• 300 ml olive oil
• 300 ml sherry, dry white wine or even water
• Salt
• Pepper

Method.

• Break down the goat into large chunks: loin, rack, legs, ribs and shanks.
• Dice carrot, onions, garlic and herbs, and add sherry, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
• Spread the contents over the meat and leave overnight to marinate (minimum 6 hours).
• Transfer to two large camp ovens and cook on hot coals only – no direct flame – for 2 hours (young goat) to 4 hours (old billy).
• Turn meat from time to time to baste and cook evenly.
• When ready, the meat should have a heavy glaze and the toughest piece (shank) should easily fall away from the bone.
• Serve with a drizzle of lemon juice and hot damper.

Damper:

Ingredients.

• ¼ tsp yeast
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1 ½ cup water
• 2 cups flour

Method.

• Combine ingredients but don’t knead.
• Place in a sealed container and leave overnight.
• Empty dough into a bowl in the morning and cover with a tea towel — leave it to prove for another two hours.
• Gently tip the dough onto a board, being careful not to knock the air out.
• Gently fold from the corners, like folding a napkin.
• Pre-heat the camp oven coals (this is really important).
• Place the dough in the camp oven and dust liberally with flour.
• Allow to cook with the lid on for 30 minutes and then 10 minutes with the lid off to develop the crust.
• Carve and spread with butter.

Matt Fowles wine match

2015 Stone Dwellers Cabernet Sauvignon.

Chef Jimmy cast his eye over a selection of wines and dived straight for the Stone Dwellers Cabernet Sauvignon to accompany his simple camp oven goat and damper smothered in real butter.

“It was the wine I thought would be best suited for this style of dish so Jimmy chose wisely,” Matt said.

“This vintage has aromas of blackberry, cassis and spicy oak with hints of mint and leather. The palate is elegant but intense at the same time, with rich dark fruits, fine firm tannins and a lovely long finish.”

The wine has enough gusto to complement the rich caramelised crust of the goat but still allows the lighter flavour of the meat within to shine.

“I love this dish because of its simplicity, it really is a dish to be cooked and shared around a bush camp,” Matt said.

“Of all the wild foods we have available in Australia goat is right up there as one of my favourites.”

Teaching your gundog to retrieve well in the field is of paramount importance — it puts the icing on the cake.

I like to train retrieving in a confined space to start with, as this gives you control and teaches the dog to be direct. You can also develop drive, speed and style if you handle your dog correctly while in this space.

Here are a few simple steps to follow:

• Find a dummy or a sock rolled up. Even an old slipper. In fact, anything that your dog likes to carry.
• Take your dog into a confined space (the side way of your house or the hallway).
• Get down on your knees and tease the dog with your dummy so the dog wants it. Tease the dog some more until he/she is chasing it around you.
• Throw it to the end of your confined space, and as your dog is going out to pick it up, say “fetch”.
• Once your dog has it in its mouth, encourage it back to you by voice and body language.
• When close to you, take the dummy from its mouth gently and offer praise.

This exercise must be made a game that the dog loves to play. This will develop drive, speed and style. You will notice with this exercise there is no “sit and stay” before the dog is sent or when it comes back with its prize. That comes later when you have developed a bold, keen retriever.

In this game, the dog will only get two retrieves. If you give anymore, your dog will become tired of the game and perhaps bored, creating a slow dog that makes mistakes.

Remember you’re teaching “sit, stay” in other areas of its training, so it won’t be hard to incorporate steadiness later in the retrieve.

Once this game is ingrained in your dog’s brain, then start to put the polish on!

Take your dog to an area like a park where you can find maybe two fences a metre or two apart, get down on your knees with your arm around the dog on your left side, and throw the dummy.

Count to three and let him go to the command “fetch”.

Your dog will quickly get to the stage where you can take your arm away, showing steadiness to the retrieve, and you will still have the speed and style.

The last part of the polish is to sit in front and deliver. In my section on whistle work, it’s explained how to teach a dog to sit to the whistle at a distance so when your dog is coming back to you with the dummy, a quick pip on the whistle as the dog gets to you should produce the required result.

Sitting in front, with a dummy in its mouth, quickly take the dummy. Don’t wait or he could drop it! You might need a gentle reminder by pushing the back end down whilst taking delivery.

All your timing must be right with this exercise and it’s important that the dummy goes in your hand. You can slowly extend the time between the dog sitting and you taking delivery as the dog learns this procedure.

To complete your retrieving, once your dog is waiting patiently for the command “fetch”, every now and then, instead of saying “fetch”, say “stay” and you go out and pick up the dummy. This will make a steady dog.

When introducing dogs to game for the retrieve, I like to start with a dummy covered in a rabbit skin for a month or so, then a cold rabbit for a month or so, then a warm rabbit. If you go from dummies to warm game, you’re putting your dog in a position where it could fail. Better to slowly progress to the real thing than having to fix problems!

My Golden Rules

Consistency.

Be consistent in your word, in your actions and in your training methods.

Don’t set your dog up to fail.

Too often I see people asking their dog to perform an exercise that is too difficult and are disappointed when their dog fails.

This is one reason your dog will lack confidence and go backwards in its training, then confusion sets in. Set your dog up to succeed.

By this, I mean give the exercise, but make it easier so he/she can do it, then build up slowly to what’s required. This should build confidence, trust and understanding.

Understanding how the mind of a dog works.

In training any dog to do anything, we should always remember that in order to control the dog’s body action, we have to firstly communicate with the dog’s mind. Understanding how dogs think is critical.

Given they don’t reason like humans, if you don’t correct them immediately after a mistake, then you will confuse your dog. Once confused, they could very well shut down.

Thus, it is paramount that you remember it’s the mind you’re training, not the body action. Here is an example of how their minds work.

Your dog runs in on a wounded rabbit, hunts it and returns to you triumphantly with the rabbit in his/her mouth, expecting your approval. Instead it’s met with harsh words and disapproval.

The last thing your dog did was to retrieve to hand, so it is undoubtedly the retrieve to hand and not the breaking to shot that you are chastising.

Taking small steps.

I believe the smaller the step we take, the better foundations we are building. Therefore, this should produce a better performance in the field.

Bonding with your dog.

Bonding is about spending time with your dog doing enjoyable things.

This could include playing with the dog, always feeding the dog, walking the dog and being the dog’s best friend. This is building a bond and gaining their trust.

Don’t blame the dog.

Too many people come to me saying. “My dog is doing this wrong!” It’s not the dog that’s doing anything wrong, it could be the trainer not getting the message across properly.

Your dog is just doing what they think you require. Go back over your training method and make it simple. Change it to something more basic, then go slow and show patience.

Short positive lessons are best.

Dogs haven’t the ability to concentrate for long periods, so keep the lessons short but often, reverting all the lessons into habits is how dogs learn the tasks we require.

Remember, it’s the mind you’re training, not the body action.

Essentially, you can get your message across by repetition, praise and patience.

In closing, I would like to remind you of the aphorism, “slow and steady will win the race” — take your time, don’t be frightened to take a step back to go forward, and if you follow this method, I wish you good luck and happy hunting.

Contributed by Rod Watt

The weekend was two days of novelty shooting with 100 targets on both days.

On Saturday 168 shooters competed, enjoying two uniquely challenging top grounds of different disciplines set by each host. On the Sunday, 180 shooters enjoyed a slightly varied ground set-up, shooting the targets from the valley ground.

There was a variation of skill sets required and both grounds tested the ability of shooters from all levels, with targets ranging from common exotics like rabbits, battues, incomers, chandelles, loopers, springers and outgoers.

The towers set along the valley ground were popular, once again proving to be a suitable challenge for all competitors.

The Daylesford Sporting Clays ground offered an experience for those who were not familiar with the discipline and provided competitors with an opportunity to really test their shooting skills.

Shooters travelled from as far as Adelaide, Melbourne, the Grampians and Echuca.

Many thanks go out to all the generous sponsors of the weekend, including major sponsors, Rod Laidlaw from Outdoor Sporting Agencies, Spartan Global and Guy Rehfisch from H.Rehfisch & Co Ballarat, Paul Newton from Daylesford Electrical Service, Grant and Krystal from Bowman Australia, Simon from Westag Ballarat, Hewson Alpozgen from First National Real Estate, John and Jen Hind from National Hotel Clunes, Gary Huntington from R.F Scott & Co, and Eric Jones.

Huge thanks and admiration must go out to all the ground setters from both clubs and especially those who worked tirelessly not only over the weekend, but for months on end behind the scenes in the lead up to the shoot.

Now looking towards the shoot in 2020, which is set to be not only bigger but better than ever.

Contributed by Michaela Shirley from Clunes Field and Game

RESULTS DAY 1

High Gun

Matthew Libbis 94/100

AA-grade

1st John Younger93/100 (Shootoff 9/10)

2nd James Saliba93/100 (Shootoff 8/10)

3rd Doug McLeod91/100

A-grade

1st Brian Buttigieg85/100

2nd Jason Caldow82/100 (Shootoff 8/10)

3rd Jarred Brown82/100 (Shootoff 7/10)

B-grade

1st Daniel Airo – Farulla76/100

2nd Heath Doyle75/100

3rd Steven Jarvis74/100

C-grade

1st Wayne Joseph58/100

2nd Francis Doblie55/100

3rd Salvatore Canzoneri54/100

SUPER VETERANS

1st Ian Cooke88/100

2nd Dom Azzopardi82/100

3rd Gary Whykes81/100

VETERANS

1st Don Sgarbossa89/100

2nd Colin Johns85/100

3rd Philip Stowe77/100

LADIES

1st Janette Densley79/100 (Shootoff 6/14)

2nd Krystal Butler79/100 (Shootoff 5/14)

3rd Kim Lancaster64/100

JUNIORS

1st Tom Bilney88/100

2nd Brendan O’Brien85/100

3rd William Brooks63/100

SUB JUNIORS

1st Ryan Handley67/100

2nd Wil Wallace56/100

3rd Cooper Dunn55/100

RESULTS DAY 2

High Gun

Joseph Densley 94/100

AA-grade

1st John Younger92/100

2nd Matthew Libbis91/100

3rd Robert Hall 90/100

A-grade

1st Jason Caldow 85/100

2nd Stephen Raven 84/100

3rd Brian Buttigieg 83/100

B-grade

1st Nic Davey 76/100

2nd Heath Doyle 74/100

3rd Paul Gatt 70/100

C-grade

1st Michael Warde 73/100

2nd Thomas Ady 54/100

3rd Sheree Chaplin 52/100

SUPER VETERANS

1st Dom Azzopardi 87/100

2nd Ian Cooke 85/100

3rd Neville Johnson 83/100

VETERANS

1st Colin Johns 91/100

2nd Neil Peart 90/100

3rd John Leach 83/100

LADIES

1st Janette Densley 68/100

2nd Rachelle Payne 68/100

3rd Krystal Butler 63/100

JUNIOR

1st Tom Bilney 86/100

2nd Brendan O’Brien 76/100

3rd Jordi Eland 75/100

SUB JUNIOR

1st Wil Wallace 62/100

2nd Jai Camilleri 49/100

3rd Charlie Mereki-Wallace 48/100

OVERALL RESULTS

High Gun

John Younger 185/200 (9/10) after a shoot off against Matthew Libbis 185/200 (8/10)

AA-grade

1st Matthew Libbis 185/200

2nd Robert Hall 180/200

3rd James Saliba 179/200

A-grade

1st Brian Buttigieg 168/200

2nd Jason Caldow 167/200

3rd Ves Dubocanin 165/200

B-grade

Heath Doyle 149/200

Daniel Airo – Farulla 144/200

Thomas Close 143/200

C-grade

Michael Warde 126/200

Francis Doblie 106/200

Wayne Joseph 105/200

SUPER VETERANS

Ian Cooke 173/200

Dom Azzopardi 169/200

Neville Johnson 161/200

VETERANS

Colin Johns176/200

Don Sgarbossa 170/200

Mark Gibbs 156/200

LADIES

Janette Densley 147/200

Krystal Butler 142/200

Kim Lancaster 126/200

JUNIORS

Tom Bilney 174/200

Brendan O’Brien 161/200

William Brooks 117/200

SUB JUNIORS

Wil Wallace 118/200

Ryan Handley 113/200

Cooper Dunn 100/200

Lake Mokoan, a failed and wasteful water storage but very popular recreation and hunting destination, was decommissioned in 2004.

In its place emerged the opportunity to rehabilitate the landscape and recreate a natural wonder that would attract community interest, volunteer effort and most of all, a flood of visitors who would generate significant economic value to the local economy.

Positioned just off the Hume Hwy, the Winton Wetlands should be achieving all those things, but it isn’t.

Prior to the construction of Lake Mokoan in 1971, the Winton Wetlands was a series of interconnected redgum and open cane grass wetlands covering more than 3000 ha.

It was traditionally hunted, and hunting remained a feature of local activity until the decommissioning.

Surprisingly, given the track record of hunters in conserving and rehabilitating Victorian wetlands, there was no invitation to take part in the new Winton Wetlands project.

The rehabilitation of this massive area (87050 ha including woodland) and its promotion as a natural wetland attraction has been impacted severely by two things: the inability to secure environmental water and exceptionally long dry periods.

When the Wetlands fill it is a sight to see, but since the project began it has been mostly dry, and a wetland without water is about as attractive a proposition as a pub with no beer.

Field & Game member Simon Webster asked the question, could we help?

After a lot of research and conversations locally it was clear we could, but would the Winton Wetlands Committee of Management entertain the idea?

The answer was yes, and CEO Dean O’Hara and Simon were given the opportunity to present to the committee.

What FGA put forward was an opportunity to tap into our knowledge, experience, and volunteer base to drive environmental outcomes on site. We also wanted a limited, trial reintroduction of duck hunting on parts of the wetland.

This would have been small and managed depending on the ecology of the wetland.

We were happy to advocate for much needed environmental water so the wetting and drying cycle could be managed and introduce partners willing to invest in wetland conservation projects.

Above all, we sought an opportunity for hunter conservationists to reengage with an important wetland in the north-east of the state. Benalla Rural City Council and Wangaratta Rural City Council supported a limited trial, based on a desire to generate greater community involvement and economic activity.

The 2014 book Winton Swamp to Winton Wetland by Jenny Indian and Stephen Routledge is sold at the visitors’ centre and café. It acknowledges the significant economic value generated from recreational activities on the wetland, with hunting and fishing the largest two contributors.

Ultimately, the pitch was rejected, with the committee advising that while interesting and enlightening, the decision was to focus on the economic, social, educational and research opportunities and a trial of hunting was “not a priority”.

Hunters won’t be back on the Winton Wetlands in the immediate future, but they will be keeping a close eye on this important wetland complex.

The aim was for the project to be self-sustainable in 10 years, but it is generating only a fraction of the funds needed to sustain current operations.

Some decent rainfall would help both the ecology and the economics of Winton Wetlands but the real question is whether this test of the eco-tourism model will ever deliver the benefits that were delivered when hunters and fishers enjoyed access.

It takes a huge number of volunteers to run the shoot and members from many other branches helped out on the day.

Overall high gun winner was Angus Dunn from Swan Hill Secondary College with a score of 22/24. Horsham College’s Kaleb Cole-Krause was boys’ high gun winner with 21, and girls’ high gun went to Mildura’s Trinity Lutheran College student Zoe Heinrich, 19.

Arthur J Gallagher Insurance Horsham, Winchester Australia and the Outdoor Trading Company sponsored the event and Arnold and Linda Niewand donated the overall High Gun Trophy.

MINYIP FIELD & GAME SCHOOL SHOOT RESULTS 2019

OVERALL HIGH GUN WINNER

Angus Dunn Swan Hill S.C. 22

BOYS HIGH GUN

Kaleb Cole-Krause Horsham College 21

GIRLS HIGH GUN

Zoe Heinrich, Trinity Lutheran 19

SENIOR BOYS MEMBER

1. Alex Calleja, Balranald High 21

2. Sam O'Shannessy, Hamilton and Alexandra 20

3. Josh Jellie, Monivae College 20

SENIOR BOYS NON-MEMBER

1. Tom Darcy, Mercy Regional College 19

2. Abe Tucker, Baimbridgel College 19

3. Nick Butler, Ballarat Grammar 17

JUNIOR BOYS MEMBER

1. Max Hausler, Hamilton and Alexandra 20

2. Matthew Simpson, Timboon P-12 19

3. Riley Till, Ballarat Grammar 18

JUNIOR NON-MEMBER BOYS

1. Will Bull, Geelong Grammar 19

2. Luke McNair, Barham High School 19

3. Jim Kyle, Good Shepherd 19

SENIOR GIRLS

1. Zoe Hawker, Kaniva College 17

2. Michaela Shirley, Mt Clear College 16

3. Hannah Munro, Casterton Secondary College 15

JUNIOR GIRLS

1. Rebecca Linke, Good Shepherd 16

2. Mayci Porter, Dimboola MSC 15

3. Ruby Baird, Ballarat Grammar 13

SCHOOL AGGREGATE

1. Barham High School 10.56

2. Trinity Lutheran College, Mildura 8.72

3. Geelong Grammar School 8.58

NSW Department of Primary Industries co-ordinator wildlife management Patrick O’Brien said that whilst the majority of NSW is still in drought, average rainfall in some parts of Victoria might mean improved conditions across NSW are hopefully just around the corner.

“The prolonged drought across NSW has meant reduced inflows so far this season, but we are hoping the culmination of the snow melt with average spring rains will improve inflows and see allocations commence to southern NSW irrigators,” he said.

In NSW, duck hunting is only allowed under the NSW Native Game Bird Management Program, which is administered by the NSW Department of Primary Industries — Game Licensing Unit.

The program allows landholders to sustainably manage native game birds that are impacting on their agricultural land with the assistance of volunteer licensed hunters who have passed the Waterfowl Identification Test (WIT) and hold a current NSW Game Hunting Licence.

“Both the landholder and hunter register access systems will again be available to landholders should they require assistance from licensed hunters this season, particularly for those growers who decide to plant rice, or who are experiencing impacts on their other crops,” Patrick said.

NSW DPI researches are conducting research on duck demography (survival rates, reproduction and movement) and how these rates are influenced by the environment.

The research should provide a much better understanding of what drives waterfowl population changes and, in particular, a more complete understanding of future population size.

“At first, satellite trackers will go on Pacific black ducks, Grey teal and Wood ducks, as they are the most commonly harvested species in NSW. After that, the aim would be to expand the survey to some of the other species,” Patrick said.

Game Licensing Unit compliance officers will again be conducting regular checks across the Riverina during the rice growing season on those hunters who are hunting and operating within the guidelines of the Native Game Bird Management Program, as well as responding to any reports of illegal hunting or untoward behaviour.

Hunters who are endorsed for the game bird program and renew their game hunting licence this year will also be provided with a free Don’t Wing It — be an effective game bird hunter kit. The kit comprises a dry bag, duck caller lanyard, a Don’t Wing It information booklet and a copy of the Duckwise DVD.

“We have limited stock of these sought-after kits, so don’t miss out,” Patrick said.

For further information on the NSW Native Game Bird Management Program go to the NSW DPI website: www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/hunting.

2019–20 outlook

• Climatic influences: A positive Indian Ocean Diploe (IOD) remains the main driver of Australia’s climate over the coming months. A positive IOD is typically associated with below average rainfall and warmer than average days for large parts of southern and central Australia.
• Rainfall outlook: A drier-than-average end to the year is likely for much of Australia, although for western Tasmania and southwest WA indicates a wetter than average September.
• Water allocations: General security allocations in the NSW Murray and Murrumbidgee regulated river water have not yet commenced for 2019.
• 2019 rice crop: A small rice crop is expected for 2019. Growers with access to bore water are expected to plant some rice.
• 2019 duck surveys: DPI conducted their annual duck population surveys across the southern NSW during May and July 2019.

The Nationals promised to conduct a national survey of shooting sports, not just replicating economic evaluations done in Victoria and New South Wales but extending the data to take in the social and health benefits.

Senator McKenzie commissioned the Department of Health’s Economic and Social impacts of Recreational Hunting and Shooting report when she was Minister for Sport.

It landed early in October and the positive outcomes were there for all to see.

An estimated 642 000 Australians who hunt and participate in shooting sports contribute more than $2.4 billion to Australia’s economy annually and generate an estimated 19 500 full-time jobs.

The gross contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or the economic footprint, from recreational hunting and sport shooting activity in Australia in 2018 was estimated to be $2.4 billion, comprising $0.8 billion directly and $1.6 billion as a result of flow-on economic activity.

“That’s money going into service stations, grocery shops, cafés, accommodation, hunting shops and other family owned businesses across the country. It translates to more than 19 000 jobs — many in rural and regional Australia,” Senator McKenzie said.

These are big numbers, and alone it makes for compelling reading, but the social and health implications added even more to the plus side of the ledger.

The report concluded that hunting and shooting provided an opportunity for participants to engage in physical activity and they were more likely to be active than the general population.

It also provided pathways to higher wellbeing for participants through nature connection, self-efficacy, social networks, physical activity and nutrition; again, hunters and shooters demonstrated higher levels of well-being than the general population.

However, the methodology didn’t allow the researchers to determine whether those positive outcomes were the result of correlation or causation: whether hunting and shooting is responsible for the higher levels of physical activity and wellbeing, or some other reason.

Without doing further research, it would be reasonably safe to assume most hunters and shooters don’t participate in the activity because they have a higher level of wellbeing, they have a higher level of wellbeing because they participate.

“Your readers have long experienced the benefits of recreational hunting and shooting in the outdoors,” Senator McKenzie said.

“There are significant health and wellbeing benefits, with the report finding hunters and shooters more likely to have higher physical activity than the general population while valuing the social connection, sense of achievement and time spent in nature.”

Predictably the study came under fire, with the outcomes and even the appropriateness of funding the study in the first place questioned; as if legal and responsible ownership of a firearm makes you unworthy.

It was best summed up by Senator McKenzie when she was subjected to a series of negative questions at a press conference while surrounded by leaders of shooting organisations and industry.

“If I was on a dock with fishing boats you would not be criticising me for standing next to the head of the fishing industry,” she said.

“If I was with farmers you wouldn’t be criticising me for standing with representatives of the food processing industry, the Food and Groceries Council etc. but because an industry that supports the jobs of more than 19 000 Australians somehow involves firearms, legally obtained and used and stored, the view that this is some sort of atrocity I find underlines the prejudice we are actually trying to highlight.”

Senator McKenzie said more than 16 000 people across the country participated in the study, well above expectations, and the findings are significant.

“Your readers should be proud of their contribution whether they participate at a recreational or elite level,” she said.

“Shooting is a sport we excel at internationally and it’s an important part of who we are as a nation. Yet despite the gold medals and sporting accolades, shooting and its participants are often marginalised. This report brings balance to the debate.

“It doesn’t matter whether your equipment is a bow, a knife or a gun — we need to continue promoting the benefits of our chosen activity that’s part of the fabric of Australian life.”

Senator McKenzie is co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Shooting, which aims to raise awareness about sporting and recreational shooting.

“This report reinforces the significance of the industry and I hope you find it just as welcoming.”

Senator McKenzie is currently Minister for Agriculture, an industry that is fighting its own battles against extremist activism and a creeping minority agenda that aims to turn the tide of public opinion against the farming of meat.

In October the National Farmers Federation launched a counter-attack against animal activists, a five to 10-year campaign costing $10 million to shift the balance of public sentiment.

NFF president Fiona Simson told a gathering at the federal parliament that while research commissioned by the NFF had found Australians have a generally favourable impression of farmers and farming, the activism of animal rights campaigners and radical environmentalists had raised questions in their minds about farm practices.

It is a mirror of the firearm and hunting debates where even a positive story about $2.4 billion in economic benefit and happier healthier people is undermined by a small minority because it doesn’t suit their beliefs.

“Our position has always been duck hunting is a lawful recreational pursuit,” Mr O’Brien said yesterday.

“We’ll always listen to the experts in terms of the sustainability of the season any given year, but absolutely we (the Liberal Party) don’t support the proposal coming from the Labor Party, or the Animal Justice Party to enter.”

Mr O’Brien said farmers would be some of the “biggest losers” if the proposal was successful.

“A lot of regional towns would be some of the biggest losers (too) if Labor was to go ahead with this proposal to ban lawful recreational duck hunting,” he said.

“Whether Labor comes out and bans it or whether they try to slowly strangle the industry we’re not sure, but we’re very concerned this is something which is going to be pretty devastating to a lot of farmers and all regional communities.”

FGA chief executive Dean O’Hara said the association’s position had always been that duck hunting was sustainable.

“Our submission to the Victorian Government this year demonstrates FGA’s commitment to sustainable duck hunting and our commitment in working with governments to ensure duck hunting is a legal pursuit for Victorians not only in 2020 but for many years to come,” he said.

Mr O’Hara agreed with Mr O’Brien that all information and evidence needed to be analysed and considered.

A recommendation to the GMA for consideration in relation to the 2020 Victorian Duck Hunting Season from a mother of the next generation of hunters coming through.

As a mother of two children I have sat back and read all the recommendations submitted from the listed stakeholders. Whilst I think it is imperative to allow everyone to have their say and put forward their views, I do think the playing field is not a fair one when the numbers are definitely not evenly competitive when Animals Australia, Coalition Against Duck Hunting, RSPCA, BirdLife Australia and Regional Victorians Against Duck Shooting simply do not want a season, and are showing no willingness to compromise.

My children have held themselves extremely well when faced with the constant discrimination of our family’s way of life and I do truly commend them for it. It is never easy to handle being discriminated against constantly in person, over mainstream media and now social media as an adult, let alone a child. This confirms my views that we are raising resilient, respectful and well grounded children. My children are eager to learn off the land, their grandfather, father and a vast array of other hunters from all walks of life. They have the same passion for the land as we do and that land enables them to learn life skills that many have given up on and now no longer think are part of human existence.

As a mother and business owner where work needs to be completed during the night to early hours of the morning, I have witnessed young children walking the streets alone and in groups with no parent to guide them. Many of these children find themselves committing crimes and taking a path that leads to drugs and alcohol - it breaks my heart seeing this, but at the very same time also once again confirms my pride of our way of life and our decision to raise our children under our wings, teaching them all the attributes hunting offers. I can’t say my children will never do wrong but having a tradition like hunting and the anticipation of the coming season to enjoy gives them purpose - to be a duck hunter you must be dedicated, and dedication in society for youth is something we are lacking.

We teach them morals and integrity when faced with this constant discrimination by those not willing to understand that some people are still true to the land. As a family we all participate in the lead up to a Victorian duck hunting season - counting bird numbers, visiting wetlands, shopping for equipment and supplies, and discussing recipes that we will be able to prepare during the season using the game we have harvested.

As a wife it gives me comfort in seeing my husband communicate with his children, family, friends and other hunters in preparation for the upcoming season, allowing him to take his mind off the busy stressful life we all live nowadays. For some men it is imperative to maintain the hunt as they have done since human existence, once survival of life, now survival to maintain good mental health.

While some parts of Victoria are experiencing extremely dry times others are relishing in perfect conditions. We personally are living in an area that is experiencing dry times, yet we are pleasantly surprised with the healthy numbers of ducks along the mighty Murray River, creek systems and man-made waterways. We have faced for many past seasons the discrimination and loss of opportunity to hunt, as almost all areas once hunted by our family have now been closed to hunting and those areas now National Parks or flora and fauna reserves. We understand that there may have to be compromises for the season ahead from time to time, however all hunters should have the opportunity to hunt without discrimination in their area of the state they call home. The areas experiencing dry conditions may have bag limits apply, however the areas not affected by weather conditions should not be affected. We are fortunate in this day and age to have the resources to monitor the state enabling hunters their full length of a season.

As a mother I should feel comfortable knowing my husband and children can hunt without harassment on public wetlands open for hunting. We pay our licenses, we hunt ethically and at all time abide to the rules and regulations, yet we have no protection from animal activists and this is something we need to work on for the future.

Out of all the stakeholders hunters themselves are the ones that want to see healthy numbers of ducks for it’s our way of life that will be lost if they are not maintained in healthy numbers.

From this mother of little hunters, I want to thank each and every law abiding hunter for being true to your tradition even when the discrimination is relentless - it gives my children hope. 🙏

Contributed by Shanna Finis

FGA chair Peter Hawker said it was hardly a surprise a season was announced given the discussions between hunting associations and the state government based on the sound principles of game management.

“Yes, the season may disappoint some, but we need to look at long term outcomes to be able to sustainably harvest ducks well into the future,” Mr Hawker said.

“It will rain again, waterfowl will breed, and seasons will return to normal provided we are united with the common cause of conservation.

“We need to protect and improve habitat for all to enjoy within the community.”

Waterfowl hunters in South Australia have demonstrated over many years that they will foster the conservation and restoration of wetlands on private and public land.

Bool Lagoon is a classic example and by no means an isolated one in conserving habitat.

“Forward forecasts suggest that we will have a long hot summer, which will no doubt influence local bird populations,” Mr Hawker said.

“In line with drought conditions across the Eastern Seaboard and South Australia, the South Australian government has made the final call.

“The most important aspect is that there is a season – compared to no season at all – for duck hunters.”

Mr Hawker nonetheless expressed concern about bird counts and season setting process and the impact on the state government's thinking regarding species viability.

"It appears birds like the mountain duck (Australian shelduck) and pink-eared duck are misrepresented, based on changes to the farming landscape for mountain duck and the significant breeding capacity of the pink-eared duck being overlooked," he said. 

“If allowed to continue, these flaws have implications for future season determinations.

“More work needs to be done in the education process with our friends in South Australia, with the department and with the government,” Mr Hawker said.

The season will run over 10 weeks from Saturday, March 28 to Sunday, May 31, 2020. There will be a bag limit of four birds per day including no more than one of the Australian shelduck or the pink-eared duck. There will be no quail season.

A species restriction will apply to 2020 with only the grey teal, chestnut teal, pacific black duck, Australian shelduck, maned duck and pink-eared duck available for harvest.

Further date and time restrictions are applicable to Chowilla, Moorook and Loch Luna Game Reserves.

For more information on the 2020 South Australian duck season click here.

Having no history with hunting, clay targets or firearms in general it probably sounds arrogant that I thought I had an idea of what I was signing up for with Field & Game.

That’s why the mere mention of the words ‘pollie’ and ‘shoot’ in the same sentence conjured up visions of a Hunger Games in the rolling hills of Willowmavin.

It might appeal to some, but at Field & Game we appreciate our political representatives and are happy to engage the novices as well as the experienced and competitive in a friendly competition.

The shoot is an opportunity for the curious and open-minded to come and experience first-hand the safe use of firearms and the thrill of having a crack at a moving target.

Politicians from all levels of government and their advisers are placed in the safe hands of Field & Game volunteers who act as safety officers and instructors.

Members representing the Labor Party, Liberal Party, Nationals, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party, Liberal Democratic Party and Transport Matters participated.

FGA chairman Bill Paterson and CEO Dean O’Hara addressed the gathering before they split into teams and headed for the stands to practise.

While the tempting aroma of game food being prepared by chefs Riccardo Momesso and Danny Leone wafted over the shoot ground, the guests were busy being educated on stance, angles and leading targets.

Before long they were in competition mode and unfortunately one team had to enjoy my company and novice shooting ability.

Suffice to say we didn’t win but the Meester family competition kept us entertained.

Bill Paterson suggested, given it was my first time, I ought to provide a view from that unique perspective.

Chatting with Victorian Nationals Leader Peter Walsh was a good start: he’s been attending this event since it began.

He laughed when talking about how people always question his sanity when he tells them he is going to the politician shoot. So I’m not the only one who draws too vivid a picture.

Peter Walsh said for politicians it was all about education, teaching people how to handle firearms responsibly while also learning about Field & Game from the members they interacted with.

“Every year I say I’ve got to go out and practise,” he laughs, “And every year I forget. But this year, this year I will practise before the 2020 event.”

Thankfully the forecast hail didn’t arrive before the shoot was over and the food devoured.

What is clear from the day is that the event works, and the relaxed environment is a great opportunity to spread the message about FGA’s work and our passion for what we do.

Part of the reason the wildfowling is so diverse is that some of it is new.

Mallards were introduced from Britain and the USA 150 years ago, and Canada geese have been naturalised for more than a century. The black swan was brought in from Australia and multiplied quickly.

Today it is an agricultural pest in some areas, a huge bird that can be made into excellent salami and charcuterie.

New Zealand has no foxes, no snakes, no large birds of prey. Game bird populations are managed by hunting.

That means high bag limits in some places — the Central South Island has a daily limit of 50 Mallards a day for the three month season and many districts run to a dozen or more per day.

Canada geese have been taken off the game list and can be hunted any day of the year without limit. These are nothing like the tame birds you see lounging around park ponds.

They are wary and challenging. If there is a bird that can reduce your careful scouting, immaculate camouflage and sonorous calling to rubble, it’s a wild goose.

In other cases native species that have profited from agriculture. The paradise duck (actually a large shelduck not unlike the Mountain duck) now has access to almost unlimited high-quality pasture and thousands of small waters — reservoirs, dams and ponds — that have been created since settlement.

It’s not unusual in some districts to see several hundred ‘parries’ out in the middle of a cut field of wheat or barley. Beautifully marked — James Cook called them ‘the painted duck’ and they are Tadorna variegata to this day – they commit to a decoy like no other waterfowl.

The male and female are completely different in appearance, though both are striking and elegant.

The black duck of Australia and the grey duck of New Zealand are the same species.

They are of course a relative of the Mallard and crossbreed successfully. Greys can be found across New Zealand, Australia and many of the Pacific Islands, though it has to be said that ‘Mallardisation’ is taking its toll on their gene pool.

Like the brilliant blue of the Mallard their colourful green wing flash isn’t pigment but microscopic structure in the speculum feathers causing light to refract.

The shoveller or ‘spoonie’ enjoys cult status in New Zealand and is a favourite subject for waterfowl taxidermy. There are limits on how many may be taken but any spoonie down, especially a big handsome male, is considered a trophy bird.

Upland game birds are spread unevenly across the country. Pheasant and California quail have naturally sustaining populations on both islands and these wild ringnecks are nothing like dim put-and-take preserve birds.

In recent years some high-end pheasant shoots complete with English gamekeepers have also opened up. There is a small population of introduced brown quail and even a scattering of wild chukar partridge in the high country, but you’ll work hard for them to say the least.

Tradition doesn’t come easy in the youngest country to be settled by humans but those with a keen eye will spot them already forming. For reasons lost to history, bacon and egg pie is the customary snack for downtime between flights.

There are local craftsmen like Alan Hammond turning out excellent hand-made duck and goose calls for local conditions, as well as a small but dedicated group carving and collecting decoys. There’s a splendid wildfowling museum near Taupo.

The early colonial outfitting firm of Tisdall began naming their guns (in the English fashion) after legendary Kiwi wildfowling locations. And so the list goes on — British roots, but with a distinctive local twist.

Some explanation of Kiwi slang is in order. In New Zealand a hide is known as a mai mai. They can range from a simple assembly of cut brush and grass right up to some truly wonderful pieces of swamp architecture.

A mai mai in a good location may be handed down through generations and slowly improved over decades. Some have a well-concealed shooting spot out front and a cabin holding bunks, wood heaters and a galley out back. A few are better than my first house.

There is a lot of public water in New Zealand. Many rivers, lakes and countless estuaries can be hunted by anyone with a licence. In some districts fields of cut grain — wheat, barley or maize — pull in birds for miles around.

This is the natural habitat of the layout blind. To me, it’s a style of hunting that lacks the camaraderie of a good hide but there is no doubting the effectiveness and excitement of this style of shooting.

The practicalities of a wildfowling trip to New Zealand are few. The main season runs from the first weekend in May right through the next few months, finishing at different times in different areas.

Locals are generally keen on rugged semi-auto guns — still legal up to five-shot capacity, despite the recent change in gun laws. Non-toxic shot is required when shooting over water.

It pays to understand how deeply wildfowling runs in the Kiwi sporting psyche. Aussies often call the Melbourne Cup ‘the race that stops a nation’. Well, duck season is like that in New Zealand.

Mai mais are spruced up months beforehand, decoys go out of stores by their thousands, cartridges arrive by the container load. In the past, newsreaders would sign off their broadcast the night before opening day by wishing hunters well for the next morning. Some still do, even today.

There is an old saying that three things mark a great experience — the anticipation, the doing of the thing, and the recollection afterwards. If that’s true (and I believe it is), then there are few things in the shooting world that have exactly the same qualities as the opening day of duck season.

Come the fated day many will rise well before dawn. Wildfowlers make a lifetime of rising before the first rays of light creep over the horizon, long before others have left their warm beds.

It’s no wonder they see, and perhaps understand, what others do not. The pre-dawn rituals of opening morning are like Christmas for tens of thousands of us: the first distant crump at shooting light the signal that begins another season.

That buzz is exciting to be caught up in … but you’ll never know if you never go.

After extensive research of the available data and ongoing dry conditions – with a large area of the eastern seaboard experiencing an extreme drought – there is a distinct possibility of not having a season in 2020.

The submission was prepared and delivered based on the organisation’s values of sustainable hunting, not just for next year but for generations to come.

It is this reason FGA has a reasoned voice with government, the Game Management Authority and all the people who make the rules.

This principle value of FGA is linked to what King George VI said; “The wildlife of today is not ours to dispose of as we please, we have it in trust and must account for it to those who come afterwards”.

Future generations will not only be holding us responsible for the state of their wildlife, but for their ability to hunt and harvest.

FGA has a very special place in society and the social scene as an influential, trusted and reasoned voice for sustainable duck hunting, not only in Victoria but for all the states and territories that allow recreational duck hunting.

More than ever public image is so very important, we as a group cannot allow stupid acts by individuals doing the wrong thing - including demanding a full season because “we deserve one” when that was never going to be supported by the regulator, the politicians, or the environment.

FGA continues to be a body of conservationists, hunters and clay target shooters to better promote our way of life to the general community.

This is why the nest box programs, swamp reclamation programs and hunter education programs are so important, especially for the younger members that are entering our lifestyle and sharing our values as Australia’s most surprising conservationists.

We have demonstrated time and again that we still have duck seasons against a tsunami of protest which will never go away. The last year has been a long hard process but we are seeing signs of encouragement from the respective governments that regulate duck and quail seasons.

Only by uniting behind an organised body like FGA, we at least have a chance to save what we have got and ensure generations after us will have the same opportunity to harvest ducks and quail.

The submission outlines FGA’s advice as one of Australia’s premier conservation and duck hunting organisations.

FGA's submission recommends season length and daily bag limits for the coming 2020 duck season in Victoria.

FGA considers all of the data and facts available from external resources.

The GMA board of directors will construct their own recommendation, considering the submissions from key stakeholders, which the GMA will present to the Victorian government.

The decision on whether to modify the season is then left to the Victorian Agriculture Minister Jaclyn Symes and Energy, Environment and Climate Change Minister Lily D’Ambrosio.

Click here to read FGA’s submission to the GMA on their recommendations for the 2020 Victorian duck season.

The two clubs have a long history with Melbourne Field & Game using the gun club’s shooting grounds for their monthly shoots.

Mr O’Hara and FGA chair Peter Hawker met with the clubs committees on Tuesday and are confident the clubs can work together in the future.

“We have a plan and are working together to rebuild relations and build an amicable future,” Mr O’Hara said.

“The Melbourne Gun Cub committee looks forward to working with Dean to resolve any issues going forward and implementing a new agreement in the future,” Melbourne Gun Club president Darryl Johnston said.

They have both been members of the organisation for more than a decade.

Mr Hawker is a Frankston branch member and Mr Mitchell is a Canberra member.

“My family has been members since 1970, I grew up reading the magazines,” Mr Hawker said.

He joined the board more than a decade ago, becoming vice chair in 2017.

“Conservation, hunting and clay target shooting have been a passion of mine since I was a child. Joining the board was my way of giving back to the FGA community,” Mr Hawker said.

Mr Hawker said he was looking forward to working with the board, management, FGA members and the broader community to continue to strengthen the association’s commitments to conservation, hunting and clay target activities.

“Looking at the challenges that lie ahead, the FGA team will be advocating for a duck season in challenging conditions,” Mr Hawker said.

Mr Hawker said the FGA team will do their best to explain how wildlife conservation, volunteer effort and duck hunters conform with the holistic view of having a duck hunting season.

“This is a big task on behalf of its members and the duck hunting community in which we face prevailing and persistent dry conditions across eastern Australia,” he said.

“It is one of our highest priorities.”

Mr Mitchell is also expected to play a pivotal role in promoting a duck season.

Like Mr Hawker, Mr Mitchell grew up hunting and shooting clay targets and has been a passionate shooter since he was a teenager.

He joined the board in 2017 and has a 20-year background in a range of political advisory roles.

Mr Mitchell said one of his main focuses was maintaining the organisation’s political engagement strategy.

“I’m also keen to support growing the organisations membership and fostering mutually beneficial relationships with other hunting and shooting organisations,” he said.

Mr O'Hara is also writing a letter to all parliamentarians, stating the importance of duck hunting and the significant impact it has on the economy.

Click here to contact Victorian parliamentarians.

UPDATE

Click here to see Mr O'Hara's letter to all parliamentarians. 

In the article, author Shane Douthie mentioned the success of the Heart Morass wetlands, a project FGA said it was proud to be a part of.

“Some decent rainfall would help with both the ecology and the economies of the Winton Wetlands but the real question according to FGA is whether the test of the eco-tourism model will ever deliver the benefits that were delivered when hunters and fishers enjoyed access,” Mr Douthie said.

“Benefits that were delivered when hunters and fishers enjoyed access.”

Mr Douthie refers to them as “hunter conservationists”, which FGA believes is a fair statement because sustainable hunting is unfeasible without conservation.

FGA said this was something often ignored when it comes to discussions around sustainable hunting.

Without wetlands people will struggle to find waterfowl. And if there is no water, there are no waterbirds. To maintain a species, you must maintain its habitat.

FGA said hunter conservationists would ensure there was sustainable management plans in place for future generations to enjoy recreational hunting and maintain wildlife populations.

There will be roadblocks, and some people closed off to the idea that hunters are also conservationists.

But as Mr Douthie mentioned, look at the Heart Morass and all the hard work FGA volunteers have put in. The work FGA and its members does is important, and the organisation should be proud to be Australia’s most surprising conservationists.

Click here to read Shane Douthie's article Hunters fears for future of Winton Wetlands published in The Wangaratta Chronicle.

“We are very lucky to have some really pro-active members,” branch president Stephen Lees said.

The branch’s very own Andrew Brock also took out a Member Service Award for his exceptional contributions.

“Andrew’s been with the branch a long time,” Mr Lees said.

 “It takes a lot of effort to run and maintain a branch and the unsung heroes are the volunteers that commit to showing up every time with a smile on their face and a can-do attitude.”

Mr Lees said Andrew is one of those members who if you call him for help, he responds.

 “There’s no one thing I can put my finger on and say this is the reason he deserves this award – he just chips away at little projects and has been a key member in the background.

“We hope all our members aspire to jump in and do as much as you can with the club like Andrew does.”

Another unsung hero is Bart Irwin – one of the founding members of the Northern Territory branch.

Mr Lees said Bart plays a pivotal role in the branch’s media and is a key force behind their Media Award win at the AGM.

“We’re quite lucky to have Bart,” he said.

“He worked for the Northern Territory news for 20 years and he writes a weekly column in the newspaper promoting conservation and anything relevant to FGA.”

“He’s a spokesperson for the branch.”

Bart isn’t the only reason the branch won the media award however.

They also write a weekly newsletter to branch members, communicate via email, put up flyers promoting and welcoming people to their shoots, and do as much as possible on Facebook.

“We just implemented an SMS messaging system into the club to communicate about shoot days,” Mr Lees said.

Mr Lees said their branch message is all about promoting ethical hunting.

“We always push ourselves in a positive light – a positive ethical hunting group,” he said.

“Our conservation work plays a big part in it. Hunting is a part of our sport, but it’s only 25 percent of what we do, the rest is conservation.”

“Conservation is extremely important to myself and the club.”

Mr Lees said every ethical hunter should know you must look after the game and environment if you are to maintain a sustainable population, no matter what the game is.

“We have worked hard to develop a relationship with the government as well as parks and wildlife to show that we as an organisation are committed to the successful management of wetlands throughout the Northern Territory and to be the go-to organisation for the development of wetlands and waterfowl management,” he said.

This hard work payed off with the branch placing second for the Blue Wing Trophy.

They also won the Vermin Control Award.

“The Northern Territory has a multitude of game animals, so we are lucky in the fact that we have a lot of game related shoots, crop mitigation shoots,” Mr Lees said.

“Bart works pretty tirelessly to secure properties for our members to hunt on.”

“We go and speak to the farmers, see if they have an issue with their crops being taken and we assist them in applying for a crop mitigation permit.”

“With that permit you have to maintain how many animals are being taken- we maintain a register of everyone who goes out on these hunts, membership numbers and the number of animals they take so we can stay within the permit.”

Mr Lees says this really helps out farmers, in particular, fresh produce growers.

“Some mango growers were losing 25-30 percent of their crop to the damage of magpie geese," he said.

"They are like locusts, they set in on a crop and destroy it and can do a lot of damage over a short period of time."

“We fully support Minister D’Ambrosio’s statement and are working alongside her office and (Agricultural) Minister (Jaclyn) Syme’s office to advocate the sustainability of duck hunting, not just for today but for generations to come,” Field & Game Australia chief executive Dean O’Hara said.

“Field and Game will continue to advocate for Victorians to have a duck season.

“It is also pleasing to note the increase in the Game Management Authority’s statistics in game licensing.”

GMA’s game licensing data shows an 8.9 per cent growth in duck hunting since 1996, with 25,918 licensed duck hunters by June 30 2018.

This is despite having 13 restricted duck seasons which has included reduced season lengths, bag limits and species.

“The data shows a clear reflection of the increase in the Victorian tradition of hunting,” Mr O’Hara said.

"Whether this increase is due to well being or economic investment, it is important to note there is, in fact, an increase."

Hunters may have already received an email this week from AMR asking you to complete the survey.

Participation in this survey will help the government determine hunting policy by building a clearer picture of recreational hunting and its economic impact in Victoria.

It is an update of the Department of Environment and Primary Industries’ 2013 economic study on hunting which revealed hunters generated an estimated $439 million state-wide.

The survey will give hunters the opportunity to explain why they hunt, what it does for their mental and physical well-being and more in an anonymous environment.

The results will be important in reflecting the economic impression of hunting on both hunters and the broader community.

If you have not received an email but are interested in contributing, please register via the following survey link - https://actionsurveys.com.au/index.php/898996?lang=en

After you have registered someone from AMR will reach out with an access code for the survey.

The postponement appears to be a tactic by the AJP’s Andy Meddick, MLC, to draw further attention to his Bill, which was scheduled for a second reading this week.

“Instead of proceeding on the last few days of the sitting year, he now wants to bring his Bill forward in the first sitting weeks of Parliament next year,” Mr O’Hara said.

Mr O’Hara said the association remained focused on preparing its submission on the 2020 season which is due in on December 13.

“We understand the implications of the seasonal conditions and the pressure on both the Game Management Authority and government to consider a modified season,” he said.

“We are prepared, as always, to work constructively with the government to ensure that our members have an opportunity to enjoy their traditions in an appropriate way.”

The board election saw Bill Paterson and Angela Kloppenborg step down from their board positions, with Darren Stendt and Daniel Young stepping up. Good luck gentlemen you have big shoes to fill but there is no doubt that you will be very successful.

Thank you to Bill and Angela for your invaluable contribution to Field & Game Australia, we wish you well in all your future endeavours and look forward to seeing you around the association.

There were several motions put forth on the weekend.

The Australian Simulated Field Funding Model motion proposed by Field & Game Australia was defeated.

The motion from Bendigo Field & Game regarding My Clubs My Scores was passed and carried.

The motion put forward by Echuca Moama Field & Game to appoint an alternative auditor was defeated and the re-appointment of auditor Brian McCleary & Co. was approved.

The board held their first meeting following the conclusion of the AGM which saw Peter Hawker nominated and elected as Chairman and Scott Mitchell nominated and elected as Vice Chairman.

The board, CEO and Field & Game Australia staff will continue to work on behalf of the members and the greater community to demonstrate that we are the premier conservation, hunting and clay target association.

Dear Members.

Field & Game Australia has been invited by the Game Management Authority (VIC), to make a submission both written and orally with regards the 2020 Duck Season. What is hugely disappointing is that the GMA has also invited:

• BirdLife Australia

• RSPCA

• Animals Australia

• Coalition Against Duck Shooting

• Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting

I was horrified when I received the information and immediately wrote to Simon Toop, Director of Strategy and Research expressing my concern.

Interestingly some of these organisations, if you can call them that, have no status, no structure, no membership, no direct funding, no standards, no constitution, no rules, no respect and no evidenced based argument; in fact, they have no idea, yet the GMA has invited them to make a submission!

Given that each of these organisations maintains a policy of banning duck hunting they have a clear apprehended bias. This is not the forum for a debate on hunting, it is a process to set the parameters for a sustainable Duck Season and the GMA has a clearly defined role to promote sustainability and responsibility in game hunting in Victoria.

The GMA is in effect hosting an anti-hunting forum which is contrary to its charter.

I also raised the absence of indigenous representation. Indigenous people have hunted this land for thousands of years, but it seems they are not entitled to make a submission. Let’s invite a largely non representative group of activists to make a submission instead! You have got to be kidding.

Does the GMA want to listen and take on board the evidenced based facts and data of an organisation, 60 years-old, that is committed to sustainable and ethical hunting or rather listen to the few pseudo organisations that are not genuine stakeholders, and in some cases have a handful of members?

FGA has a membership of over 17,500 Australians.

Has the GMA forgotten the vegan protests that brought cities to a standstill earlier this year that hampered even emergency services responding to those most in need? Have they forgotten the trespassing and disruption activists perpetrate on legal businesses across the country including farmers? Have they forgotten our indigenous community?

I am committed to ensuring sustainable and ethical duck hunting continues in Victoria based on facts and data and the vast experience gathered over our long history of working for all native water birds through protection and rehabilitation of wetland habitat to sustain healthy populations.

I ask this of the GMA; when have you seen Birdlife Australia, RSPCA, Animals Australia, Coalition Against Duck Shooting or Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting on a wetland doing conservation work?

FGA members have invested time and energy over the past 60 years to develop, maintain and rehabilitate wetlands.

I have been a supporter of the GMA in undertaking compliance activities as the regulator; what I cannot and will not support is a circus under the guise of consultation with the GMA as ringmaster.

The views of these organisations is firmly fixed and well known. There is nothing to learned from inviting their submissions so they can simply pursue their narrow ideological viewpoint based on unsubstantiated claims and unreliable anecdotal evidence.

Add to that their activist tactics which disrupt ordinary Australians undertaking legal activities and you can understand the need speak up about the current GMA path.

GMA, it is time to listen to those that are committed to wetland rehabilitation and sustainable hunting and not the distorted views of activists.

Dean O’Hara

Chief Executive Officer

Field & Game Australia

Chris was pushed all the way by close friends Blake Nankervis, Anthony Panetta and Nick Guerra. After receiving his trophy and brand new Beretta 692, Chris the band of shooting mates, who travel far and wide together, also push each other to greater heights.

The targets set by peter Hall received high praise from elite competitors and grade shooters alike.

Here are the results;

Field & Game Australia Beretta National Champion (High Gun 150 targets)

For more results including National Handicap and the Clay & Hunt 100 target event go to www.myclubsmyscores.com

Main Event

Squad lists in squad order - updated.

Start times for all squads (both days).

Preliminary Event

Shotgun start, all squads of shooters start off simultaneously from different stands. A shotgun will be fired at the nominated start time to signal the start of the event. Each stand on the course will be the starting stand for each squad. Squad 1 will start from Stand 1, Squad 2 from Stand 2, Squad 3 from Stand 3, etc.

Start times, 9am, 11am, 1pm and 3pm.

Squad lists 9am.

Squad lists 11am.

Squad lists 1pm.

Squad lists 3pm.

Sale has a great network of volunteers who erect, maintain and monitor nest boxes on local wetlands, which is what attracted Dr Hiller to take a sabbatical from Bemidgi State University in Minnesota, USA and spend some time in Victoria.

So far more than 400 boxes have been individually numbered, their exact location and details of the surrounding habitat recorded.

“This is an ongoing project that Sale Field & Game has been working on for a long time, but my interest is in how we get more information out of the nesting project,” Dr Hiller said.

“They have boxes scattered throughout the lakes specifically designed for waterfowl, but a lot of other things use them: possums, parrots and other stuff. My question to the group was, what is really coming out of them?”

Dr Hiller said the scale and diversity of the nest boxes and the fact that Sale Field & Game has an army of willing volunteers able to monitor and update data for each box would eventually provide a much clearer picture of waterfowl behaviour and nesting success.

“There wasn’t a really clear data set they could use to say this is how this particular box is working, this is how many eggs were produced, or anything like that,” he said.

“My question to them was how could we improve the data and keep track of what is coming out of them, are there particular areas that are more productive, are there areas that are totally unproductive?

“The concept then was to formalise the data collection and make it consistent. “They’ve done a wonderful job over time putting up boxes and maintaining them, making sure they are cleaned out every year, but in terms of working out how to be the most efficient and productive, we need to collect the data.”

Over time the data collected will give an insight into which boxes are being used by which species and the degree of success.

“It will be interesting for me to know what drives that — is it the box closest to brooding habitat that gets the most use and produces the most eggs or is it something else driving that,” Dr Hiller said.

“We will start off by collecting that data for the first few years and see where it goes from there.

“It is a lot of work and a huge investment in time and money, but it will give us a really good indication of what is going on because there are many types of habitat with boxes, and over time we will start to see if boxes work better or worse in different habitat.”

The hatchings from each box can be established by emptying the contents and counting the membranes present, which Dr Hiller said would provide a good indication of how many birds were being produced out of the nest boxes every year.

Dr Hiller said the example set by Sale Field & Game followed the historical pattern around the world of hunters driving conservation and research. He said the restoration of Heart Morass as a viable wetland for all species, the nest boxing program and pest animal management demonstrated how hunters see the bigger picture.

“Sure, they want to hunt and maintain their culture and take home food for the family but they also want the environment to be healthy,” he said.

Another 49 were wounded. A further victim died weeks later. It is by far the worst mass killing in modern New Zealand history.

This column will not go into the politics of these actions. Those are issues for the courts and more qualified observers. It is focused on what this means for licenced firearms owners in New Zealand and any impacts this might have on the Australian scene.

That’s the technical angle but there is a personal side to this. Living in Australia in the 1990s I still recall having to surrender some of my firearms to the Howard scheme. Why did the actions of a madman in Tasmania mean giving up my first .22, the one my Dad gave me? That still stings.

I was two minutes away from the first Christchurch mosque shooting when it took place. The building went into lockdown, cops everywhere. This is a small community — I have friends living nearby who tended the dead and wounded, I know some of the first responders. It was exactly what you saw on TV but worse. It was obvious from the start that things would change. It was also obvious what would come with that — the same tired media bias, the same clueless reporting.

Since then the New Zealand government has introduced legislation to ban all semi-auto rifles in any centre-fire calibre. This was given almost complete support by both the government and the opposition. In fact, any rifle with a magazine holding more than 10 rounds is now banned. Semi auto shotguns with a detachable magazine are prohibited, but semi-auto and pump shotguns with tubular non-detachable magazines that hold no more than 5 cartridges remain legal.

To be clear, there is no ban on Aussies bringing their own rifle or shotgun into New Zealand under a visitor’s permit, provided it is not a prohibited weapon. That process is still in place and is similar to bringing a firearm into most countries.

The legislation was drafted quickly and it shows. The government’s estimates on total cost of the buy-back look absurdly low compared to industry experts. Compensation allowances per firearm appear on the cheap side which might encourage the black market or non-compliance.

All of this will of course only affect licenced firearm owners. There are around 250 000 in New Zealand, with around 1.5 million firearms in circulation. It is worth pointing out that this group makes up an astonishingly low percentage of murder convictions. The number of homicides committed by licenced firearm owners from 1983 to 2018 — a 35-year period — was 12.

As with Australia, licenced shooters are not the problem.

All of this is playing out in front of an undemanding public. That’s hardly surprising given the almost complete lack of firearms knowledge — and a savage degree of bias — shown by mainstream media. Basically, the public thinks that ‘assault rifles’ have been banned and that’s it. There is almost no understanding outside the shooting world of how sweeping these changes are. They extend to Grandad’s old pump-action .22 (if it has a long tube magazine), collector’s pieces, some lever actions. These are not exactly the weapons of choice for crime or terrorism.

Most Kiwi shooters are trying to support each other, to push for fair treatment and compensation, and to keep a positive public image. Above all we need to push back on the media demonising licenced firearms owners. We are not the gang member, the armed robber, the meth dealer. We’re the farmer, the small business owner, the tradie. People who have done nothing wrong — and that’s a statistical fact.

It could have been so much worse. Kiwis can still own a five shot semi or pump for duck season. We can still have a suppressor for a rifle, or a five shot semi-auto twenty two. If that had been the case in Australia in the 1990s I would still have my dad’s nice little Krico, the one that went for scrap under the Howard scheme. Yes, it could have been worse, and we get that.

However, a second amendment to the Arms Act is likely to land just after this column goes to print. Registration of individual firearms looks likely. (New Zealand used to register individual guns but dropped that a long time ago on the basis that it is the owner that needs to be licenced and fit for purpose, not the individual firearm — exactly the way car licences work. I still think that is a sensible approach.) Registration would not have prevented the Christchurch shootings or Port Arthur. An ‘evidence trail’ means nothing when a shooter plans on being caught. At political level there is little sign of opposition to registration.

Registration would mean a permit to acquire when buying a firearm, more strict storage requirements and more administration. The Police Minister and Police Association are both in favour of full gun registration. I have a sense of déjà vu about all this. It sounds familiar.

The 155 ha property was purchased in 1992 when the Hoopers operated a dairy farm at nearby Cohuna. The main attraction was the water right attached to the property, but as time went on, the Hoopers came to admire the landscape.

“It was so beautiful with all the creek lines and the bushland areas that we hung onto it and used it for a bit of winter grazing and hay cutting, but all the time trying to look after the wetlands as best we could with the water we had,” Ken said.

Thirty per cent of the property was already remnant wetland or bush and the rest had been laser graded for irrigation.

The Hoopers stopped farming in the early 2000s, which was headlined by the crippling millennium drought.

“The place became very dry and very stressed,” Ken said.

The Hoopers had looked at putting a Trust for Nature covenant over the non-farming land but couldn’t find a way while they were still farming.

“We had long wanted to do this for the wetlands and bush areas but because the farming areas are interwoven, it was a logistical nightmare,” Ken said.

“Once we finished farming we put the covenant on all but a tiny little bit of the property.”

This major milestone in 2008 should have been the start of a wonderful wetland future for the former farm but ironically it was water, and too much of it, that really set the project in motion.

“In 2011 we got the big flood down the Loddon River and the whole property went under water. It brought in plants we needed but it also spread lignum and red gums all over the place, which we didn’t need,” Ken said.

“At that time the Victorian Government decided to act and put in place the Lower Loddon irrigation buyback scheme because the farming land in the district was just too flood prone.

“They bought all the farms around here — nearly everyone took up the offer — but we were ruled ineligible because we’d already stripped the water off the property, which left us with a situation where we no longer had the irrigation tail water from neighbouring properties that sustained the wetlands.”

This natural disaster would eventually become a blessing, but then, surrounded by dry land farms, another challenge had to be overcome, the rationalisation of expensive irrigation assets.

Goulburn Murray Water’s plans were of little consequence for the farms that had converted to dry land under the buyback scheme but the Hoopers’ property and their plans for a network of wetlands held in trust for future generations faced the prospect of being cut off from the most basic and precious resource: water.

“The original plan was to stop the main supply channel a few kilometres away and that would have left this property stranded without any hope of getting water for our wetlands,” Ken said.

“Jill and I went to the North Central Catchment Management Authority to explain what wetlands we had and how valuable we thought they were.”

Thankfully there was immediate interest and CMA staff went to see first-hand what the Hoopers were developing. In CMA program manager Louissa Rogers, the Hoopers found a fellow traveller, someone who was as passionate and proactive about wetlands as they were.

It took three years of persistent planning and negotiation between agencies but eventually agreement was reached, and the future of the wetlands was secured.

“Louissa really dug in her claws and we got there in the end; three years later, the first environmental water flowed in,” Ken said.

“The CMA developed and committed to a 10-year restoration and management strategy to deliver environmental water.”

Goulburn Murray Water, the Victorian Environmental Water Holder, CMA and the Hoopers are drawn together by the plan, and the real winner is the environment.

“The wetlands are varying types: deep creeks, shallow areas, shallow timbered areas, shallow lignum, all different types of habitat and that is what we are aiming to maintain,” Ken said.

“The different wetlands are separate entities but we plan to use them all as ephemeral wetlands on a rotating basis, so they will all get a chance at being wet and dry and we will always have some wetlands on the property with water, that’s the objective.”

So much has been achieved over the past decade with the landscape and the inhabitants.

“The Growling grass frog had not been recorded in this region since 2008; it was the pinnacle of our plan, and they have turned up again,” Ken said.

“They aren’t here in any large number but they are here and they have the habitat to breed.

“The property is noted for frogs generally; for some reason they love it and they breed here in their millions.

“We have had some fantastic results: for a lot of the waterfowl, it is a feeding area rather than a breeding area but we do have some species breeding here, like crake, rails and a few duck species.

“We get Glossy ibis, Royal spoonbills, Great egrets and Intermediate egrets, grebe and a whole host of wetland species coming in, depending on the water levels.”

The current project is the Australasian bittern, another nationally threatened species, and one familiar to duck hunters, mainly for its recent ability to close wetlands because of the risk of disturbance.

Because of the covenant, there’s no hunting on the Hoopers’ property, and like any hunter conservationist, Ken is happy to do his bit for the bittern.

“We are thrilled our property has been chosen for this project. The work is aimed at the bittern but these new wetlands will benefit all species, there’s no doubt about that,” Ken said.

“I’ll be as thrilled as anybody when we see them on the wetlands we are creating.”

The question non-hunters might ask is why a hunter would put so much into creating habitat that can’t be hunted.

For Ken Hooper, the answer is simple.

“Jill and I both love natural areas and nature, especially birdlife, and we despair at some of the wetland destruction that has occurred and is still occurring,” he said.

“Wetlands and some wetland species are in decline and we want to put something back into the country that has given us our livelihood and preserve something for the generations that come after us.”

Ken said when he was a more active hunter, the beauty of nature was always one of the main drivers.

“We want a legacy and we want this property to serve as an example of environmental stewardship,” he said.

“I’m fully supportive of duck hunting; there’s plenty of places to hunt, and regardless of their status for hunting, hunters understand that more wetlands are needed.”

Amongst the broader population Ken agrees that wetlands tend to be undervalued and are not given the status or attention they deserve.

“Wetlands are places of beauty and tranquillity, they are like the lungs of the landscape and they have a big part to play in keeping our water supply clean, storing carbon and keeping our birdlife abundant,” he said.

“People who spend time in wetlands truly value their status, and that includes the vast majority of hunters.

“When I was actively hunting for all those years I was always looking at the other birds, the aquatic plants and the bigger picture; I always saw myself as being a part of that broader landscape.

“Even today one of my great joys is sitting on a log in the bush with three or four freshly harvested ducks to prepare and a wet dog; all this conservation work gets in the way of it sometimes, but I still like to do it.”

While Ken’s brain is always pondering the next step, he cautions that the property will never become a vast wetland.

“This property is a beautiful balance: one of the examples of that is that I’ve watched one of our old irrigation paddocks with spear grass taking hold and you see the little diamond finches coming in from the lignum where they nest in the wetland areas to eat the seed from the native grasses — there’s the balance.

“People tend to think of wetlands as a round basin with water in it. This is distinct from that, it has many facets and is more representative of what existed on the floodplain before European settlement.

“You can never get it completely back to what it was because it is a cut-off system, but we have environmental water and a long-term strategy, we can develop the habitat values to support those species we need to support.”

While the Victorian season finished before the weather turned, in South Australia the temperature is hovering around zero and the fog settling in over the wetland makes for a slow and spectacular sunrise.

“We’re bloody mad,” Jim Godden suggests as he rolls through the gates to organise the hunt.

He might be right, but isn’t the cold, the fog and the struggle of the soft winter sun part of the challenge, and part of the tradition?

Jim warms to the concept soon enough. He’s standing on a point with his trusty gundog by his side, the decoys are like statues in the still water and all around the first movements of birds can be heard but not seen though the enveloping fog and weak light.

When it’s time, Jim swings onto a pacific black duck and it folds and falls beyond some reeds from where it is easily retrieved. Jim is mighty pleased: it’s his first for the entire season.

“The season has been good: the teal stayed around despite the northern rains and we’ve had pinkies come back in late in the season but blackies have been few and far between,” he said.

“This morning we had more water than hunters, but the birds were on the wing, although with an extra 50 cm of water in the wetland many of the flight lines we’ve become used to during the season have changed.”

Adjustments are made, and Jim moves further into the wetland and into heavier cover.

What is on offer is consistent opportunity, something South Australian hunters don’t always get at the back end of a season. Often the birds have left in their droves, responding to weather events further north.

“We saw birds move after the autumn break and cyclone Trevor and on some hunts, we were starting to see fairly raggedy teal that had obviously been on a fair flight but overall it has stayed consistent,” Jim said.

“You have to follow the birds and understand what they are doing. Even this morning we had to adjust to the extra water and the changes in how the birds were moving around the wetland.”

Just 400 metres away Colin Nunn is having a ball. Hunting alone he can take his time and pick his shots, which is vastly different to his other favourite pastime, Australian Simulated Field.

“I don’t have five blokes looking over my shoulder to see how I’m going,” he said.

“I love hunting this swamp and probably enjoy hunting more than I do clay target shooting but I have this competitive nature and I just have to do it.

“The season was a bit quiet to start with but after that we’ve had a really good run — most mornings we’ve bagged out. We started with low water this year and as that has changed the positions you need to set up in have changed dramatically. Normally we start wet so I’ve never had to deal with that pattern on this wetland — it has been interesting.

“If anything, the birds have come in in bigger numbers as the season has gone on, which isn’t what we usually see.”

Father and son Robert and Christian West have set up on the opposite side of the wetland to Jim and Colin.

Their hunt is steady and fruitful, like it has been for the majority of the season.

“We did the opening weekend at home in Victoria, but we’ve been around here for the rest of the season,” Robert said.

“We haven’t bagged out every time, but we haven’t had a miss at all.

“This morning the birds are still here in reasonable numbers; they are a bit more wary and tougher to get but they are still here.

“We had a few mobs come through but mostly it was singles and pairs this morning, but we did get our first pinkie this morning for the whole season.

“This wetland has been predominantly teal with a smattering of black ducks throughout; today we even saw a few Mountain duck have also moved in.”

Christian agreed that the hunting in this part of South Australia has been excellent, which has kept them coming back.

“My mission was to try to bag as many species as possible and I only missed on the Mountain duck and hardhead, they just haven’t been around,” he said.

“I really like this wetland, it offers a lot of different spots to hunt. Today we sat in timber with the decoys out. which worked pretty well.”

For Ken Carey, who regularly drives from Adelaide to hunt at Loveday, the mission was slightly different.

Ken welcomed the good hunting because he loves a feed of wild duck, but also because it allowed him to work his new labrador Meg (short for nutmeg due to her colour).

“It is the first year for her, so you do sacrifice a few shots to concentrate on working the dog,” he said.

“We had a slow start, but the fresh water has made a huge difference and to be truthful, the hunting has been fantastic. Over the years I’ve hunted all the iconic Victorian wetlands at their peak, but this is better than them for the quality with birds ducking and weaving through the trees, the sort of wing shooting I love.”

Meg has thrived through the season, retrieving 90 per cent of Ken’s birds and plenty more downed by his hunting partner Steve Day.

“She got a couple of Steve’s today: a black duck out of the cumbungi and a couple of others out of heavy cover, that is really a big step forward for her,” he said.

“She has got better and better: she’s learned new tricks like getting on a log to get out of the cold water and standing on her back legs and resting against me if she’s had to swim a bit.

“She did an 80 m deep water retrieve, which was just fantastic, and she is so steady and in control. It is really rewarding when she does so well and to see her develop, we can’t wait for next season.”

Steve Day got his bag for the morning and described it as typical of the entire season at Loveday, steady and consistent. His biggest battle has been finding new ammo to replace his favourite Winchester duck loads.

“It is a shame the duck loads have gone, they were a very good shell. I ran out of them during the season, so I’ve been trying other loads,” he said.

“This morning it was the Gamebore Hyper Steel and they performed pretty well.

“It has been a bit of a surprise the way the bird numbers have held up this season, particularly given the flooding event up north with water running into Lake Eyre but we have held a healthy number of birds all season.

“This wetland is pretty special, as good as anywhere I’ve ever hunted.”

As the report summary notes, the Australasian shoveler is a game species in Victoria and has been subject to recreational hunting for more than 150 years. The species hasn’t been hunted in recent years and the paper provides the background for this decision.

So, what do we learn from the report?

That “ …recent aerial monitoring data (1983–2016) shows a decline in population abundance of shoveler, raising questions about its suitability as a game species.”

This observation is in the context that “Dispersal movements are poorly understood in Australia …”

We read that shoveler breed on the ground and are susceptible to predation, being trampled by livestock or destroyed by other agricultural activities. They are considered one of the least common duck species in south-eastern Australia and were listed as Vulnerable in Victoria in 2012, with the main recognised threats being habitat degradation and introduced predators.

In 1988, a harvest limit of two Australasian shoveler per day per hunter was imposed and this continued until 1999 (except for 1998 when the limit was one bird per hunter per day). The limit has remained at one or two Australasian shoveler per day since then, except for the years 2004, 2009, 2016 and 2017 during which it was excluded from hunting.

In assessing its continued suitability as a game species, three sources of monitoring data were used: the Eastern Australian Aerial Waterbird Count (EAAWC), waterfowl abundance (ground counts) and wetland condition surveys in South Australia and waterbird monitoring (ground counts) at the Victorian Western Treatment Plant.

The southern oscillation index (SOI) and the standardised precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) were used as potential predictors of wetland availability to model population trends.

According to the report: “This analysis demonstrated that shovelers exhibited a general declining trend, which did not respond strongly to changes in either SOI or SPEI. Recent increases were noted for the counts in South Australia but it was not possible to discriminate whether populations were recovering in that region as opposed to congregating in more resilient wetland areas.”

A simpler model (with no environmental variables) was used to predict the expected EAAWC population size for the subsequent 10 years and probability of it dropping below a critical threshold at different harvest rates.

The estimates of probabilities of quasi-extinction were larger than 25 per cent in the first year, even with no harvest. These declined to 11.8 per cent in 2026 when no harvest was assumed, while staying approximately stable (~26.8 per cent) with a 10 per cent harvest, and rapidly increasing to > 50 per cent in only four years with a 30 per cent harvest.

Ultimately this led to the following recommendation: “Based on life history characteristics, current and likely future population trends and predicted influence of harvest on population growth rates, it is recommended that the Australasian shoveler be exempt from recreational harvest in Victoria for the foreseeable future.”

Comment

The prospect of a review sometime in the future if population data improves is little comfort for hunters.

The report confirms that EAAWC produces limited data for Victoria and is problematic, and a further recommendation underlines the need to build better scientific knowledge, including tracking and counting.

The report also notes, as hunters well understand, that habitat has the greatest influence on populations, as well as predation.

Hunters play an active role in conservation and predator management and they can play a significant role in new science, including monitoring and counting of shoveler.

However, effectively removing a game species is hardly motivation and could end up being counterproductive, especially when the modelling clearly indicated that some hunting of shoveler could have been be maintained.

The report; Economic and social impacts of recreational hunting and shooting has been released by the Commonwealth Department of Health.

The gross contribution to GDP, or the economic footprint, from recreational hunting and sport shooting activity in Australia in 2018 was estimated to be $2.4 billion, comprising $0.8 billion directly and $1.6 billion as a result of flow-on economic activity.

The report canvasses the hypothetical impact on the economy if hunting and shooting were prohibited. In that scenario, the researchers conclude that many would redirect their expenditure to other goods and services, and in many cases to similar outdoor activities such as camping, fishing, four-wheel driving and so on. However, even with a redistribution of expenditure the ‘net’ loss to the economy would be $335m, or 0.02 per cent of Australia’s GDP, and 3300 jobs would be lost.

The states where the highest amount of economic activity occurred (on and off trip) were New South Wales and Victoria. These states have relatively large populations of hunters and shooters and hunters and shooters from other states to travel there to hunt and shoot.

The research also addressed the social and health benefits of hunting and shooting sports, finding participants were more likely to be active than the general population. It also provided pathways to higher well-being for participants through connection with nature, self-efficacy, social networks, physical activity and nutrition. Participants in hunting and shooting sports had higher levels of well-being than the general population.

The data for this study was collected through an online survey, completed by 16,576 hunters and sport shooters across Australia.

You can find the full report here (word document) or here (PDF document).

There was also a post script with Minister for Agriculture Jaclyn Symes responding later in the day to a question without notice.

Questions without notice and ministers statements

DUCK HUNTING

Ms LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (12:00): My question is to the Minister for Agriculture. Minister, the Government Whip, Ms Stitt, moved to adjourn debate on a duck hunting ban proposed by Mr Meddick, cutting the opportunity for me to speak. Minister, what is the government’s policy on duck hunting bans, and why was the government afraid to speak on its convictions?

Members interjecting.

Ms LOVELL: The question is: what is the government’s policy on a duck hunting ban, and why was the government afraid today to vote on its convictions?

The PRESIDENT: I think the second question comes under the anticipation rule as the debate was adjourned until later this day. I will call on the minister to answer the first question.

Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Resources) (12:01): I actually would not mind commenting on the introduction to Ms Lovell’s question. In this place and as a participant in Monday night meetings, Ms Lovell, we have an arrangement where the crossbench are actually given a great opportunity to prosecute their motions.

Ms Lovell: Then put it to a vote.

Ms SYMES: There are several more speakers and the debate has been adjourned until later this today.

Ms Lovell: There are only 8 minutes to go.

Ms SYMES: There are several more speakers, and debate has been adjourned until later this day.

Members interjecting.

Ms SYMES: We were not asked to vote on it.

Members interjecting.

The PRESIDENT: Order! The house will come to order, please. There were two questions, which is a problem, but I did ask the minister to address one of the questions and so I will call the house to order and give the minister the call.

Ms SYMES: Thank you, President. In relation to duck hunting, as I have said on numerous occasions in this house, it is an issue that there are very divergent views on, as attested in relation to the house at the moment. The Andrews Labor government had a duck season this year and we have got no change of policy in relation to that. I do not actually understand what the furore is about adjourning off a motion till later this day. If we were to vote on the motion, we would oppose it.

Ms LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (12:03): Minister, did the contribution made this morning by Mr Elasmar fully put the government’s policy, or did he have one foot in each pond, ducking for cover as it were?

Members interjecting.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE AND MINISTERS STATEMENTS

Wednesday, 28 August 2019 Legislative Council- PROOF 31

The PRESIDENT: Order! I think that that is asking for an opinion, and I think we will just leave it at that.

Legislative Council- PROOF Wednesday, 28 August 2019

Motions
DUCK HUNTING SEASON
Mr MEDDICK (Western Victoria) (10:11): I move:
That this house notes that:
(1) Australia’s native waterbirds are at perilously low numbers;
MOTIONS
(2) the current climate emergency is not considered in the environmental assessment of a duck shooting season;
(3) 1 million species around the world are facing extinction because of human activity;
(4) the 2019 duck shooting season opening saw the lowest shooter participation rate on record;
(5) a majority of Victorians do not support duck shooting;
(6) the alleged economic benefits from duck shooting have been roundly criticised by numerous independent experts;
(7) Victoria is home to some of the best wetlands in the world that are perfect for recreational activities such as birdwatching, kayaking, picnicking and hiking;
(8) legislation omits those without a shooting licence to go near the water before a certain time, limiting wetland use for non-shooters;
(9) nature-based tourism makes a positive contribution to the state’s economy and there is appetite for its expansion in regional Victoria;
and calls on the government to stop the 2020 duck shooting season from going ahead.
I rise to move a motion I feel extremely passionate about. For many years now I have joined with a great number of Victorians, people from all walks of life, to bear witness to and to rescue where possible native Australian waterbirds that fall victim to the annual sanctioned slaughter that is duck shooting season in Victoria, a gazetted period that brings together in protest the outrage of the majority of all communities all to satisfy the bloodlust of a minuscule number of people that cling to vacuous arguments that have long lost any currency in a caring community.
Waterbirds in Victoria have suffered tremendously at the hands of shooters but also due to drought across eastern Australia and the scandalous management of water resources in the Murray-Darling Basin resulting in habitat destruction. The most recent annual waterbird survey in eastern Australia makes it clear that the long-term trend is in decline for six of the eight game species of native waterbird and finds no indication of any breeding of game birds whatsoever in 2018. Native waterbirds remain at population levels only a few per cent of their historic numbers, leaving some species perilously close to extinction.
In the criteria that the Game Management Authority use for assessing whether a duck shooting season should proceed the global climate emergency is not considered. Established under a dysfunctional coalition government in 2015, the news that the climate is changing has yet to reach the GMA. In May the UN handed down a comprehensive global report noting that over a million species around the world are at risk of extinction, overwhelmingly due to human activity.
Locally our record on extinctions is terrible, and every year duck shooters continue to shoot and kill threatened species, such as the freckled duck and blue-winged shoveler.
Australia is the only place the freckled duck calls home and it is one of the rarest waterbirds in the world, yet it is routinely shot through carelessness or mistaken identity. In fact at the opening of the 2017 season 68 rare and endangered freckled ducks were slaughtered by shooters. This is the body count at just one wetland. Now consider this: there are an estimated 20 000 places to shoot in Victoria. Who knows how many of these magnificent birds are killed each year?
The diminishing number of shooters last season brought the lowest shooter participation rate on record. A reported 1300 shooters were active across the opening. This was attributed by the Game Management Authority to dry conditions and wetland closures.
As far as we can tell, throughout Victoria’s history, as soon as anyone started asking people whether they supported duck shooting, Victorians said no. In 2007 a Roy Morgan poll of randomly selected city and country Victorians showed 75 per cent wanted a permanent ban on recreational duck shooting. A survey conducted just this year gave similar results. Overwhelmingly, old or young, male or female, city or country, strong majorities of all Victorians support an end to duck shooting.
Of particular interest is the experience of those who call these shooting sites home. A recent survey found that local residents are dealing with stray pellets landing on their roofs and in their yards as well as with terrified children and pets. What is more, complaints of this nature are not responded to by police or government. The Game Management Authority went so far as to suggest people move away if they do not like the shooting.
Indigenous communities and environmentalists also oppose shooting and have long documented damage to the lands surrounding wetlands: evidence of sacred trees cut down for firewood, artefacts disturbed and trails of litter left behind. The high cultural value of these important sites calls for educational tourism above anything else. I was recently taken on a tour of some of the main shooting wetlands around Boort and shown evidence of the disrespect shooters have for our First Nations culture. Scar trees had been chopped down and either sliced up by chainsaws or dragged to another spot to build camp fires, and burial and cooking mounds had been used as camp spots, and worse, as makeshift toilets.
In 2013 the Department of Environment and Primary Industries commissioned a ridiculous report that attributed every expense of duck shooters, like their cars and food purchased for home, to duck hunting. It contained no cost-benefit analysis, used a biased sample and methodology and ignored the benefits of nature conservation entirely. In 2016 Dr Kristy Jones published a comprehensive rebuttal. If it were true, the streets of Boort and Donald would today be paved with gold. Let me assure you—this is far from being the case.
An economic analysis by the Australia Institute in 2012 showed that claims duck shooting contributes significantly to the economy in Victoria are false. In monetary terms revenue from non-hunting tourism is far more important and is negatively impacted by hunting. In non-monetary terms they estimate the benefit of banning duck hunting at around $60 million per year.
Having spoken to the mayors, CEOs and councillors of many of the affected regions, there is no desire to continue with duck shooting in their municipalities. They want safe communities, healthy waterways, recreational activities for young people and families and an increase in visitor numbers to grow their tourism businesses. Some, like Mount Alexander shire, have actually passed motions to end shooting in their region.
Victoria’s wetlands are recognised internationally through the Ramsar convention on wetlands. Having ratified this treaty, we now need to live up to our commitments and to protect Victoria’s wetlands and the flora and fauna that they contain. These sites could be the heart of a thriving nature-based tourism industry in rural Victoria, with birdwatchers, kayakers, hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts keen to visit. But currently laws prevent non-shooters from going near the water in the early mornings, and the sound of gunfire discourages them, infringing on their freedom to quietly and peacefully enjoy the use of public land.
Nature-based tourism can bring real economic benefits to rural Victoria. The Great Ocean Road delivers over $1 billion in tourism revenue every year. Phillip Island does similarly. But country towns throughout Victoria are denied the opportunity to benefit because their wetlands are out of bounds for ordinary people.
This motion is for birds like Piper, a small native teal who fell victim to this year’s duck shooting season. She, like countless other birds, was shot, but not fatally. The indiscriminate nature of duck shooting means that at least one in four birds shot will not die instantly, leaving them to languish with their injuries for days or even weeks on end. Eventually they will succumb to drowning, predator attacks or infection. Piper was shot through the bill, impacting her ability to feed. If she had not bee found by rescuers, she would have slowly starved to death long after the shooter responsible for her suffering left her in the wetlands.
Many caring individuals rallied to save Piper’s life—the rescuers who found her, the vet who treated her and the wildlife carer who rehabilitated her. Finally she was ready to be released onto the tranquil water of Lake Bolac in my own electorate, and I was honoured to be asked to do it. Opening the carrier and seeing Piper back in the wild was a truly special moment. I just hope she will never be put at risk of shooters’ guns again.
It is clear there is no moral, economic, legal or political case for a duck shooting season to go ahead in 2020. I call on the government to listen to the people of Victoria and ensure no season goes ahead. In this age where technology allows the eyes of the world to turn their gaze to acts of violence and cruelty, the whole world is watching. It is casting judgement on this state. We no longer want to be seen as a cruel and uncaring society holding out for so-called tradition instead of compassion. The other states and the world have moved on. It is time Victoria did too.
Mr ELASMAR (Northern Metropolitan) (10:22): I rise to speak on Mr Meddick’s motion. The government recognises and respects the diverse views on duck hunting and hunting in general held by the Victorian community. The Victorian government will continue to take a measured and responsible approach to hunting in general, including duck and other game bird hunting in Victoria. The government recognises that duck hunting is a legitimate recreational activity provided the rules are followed. We are committed to ensuring that game hunting in Victoria is conducted in a safe, responsible and sustainable manner.
The Sustainable Hunting Action Plan is a $5.3 million investment to support and guide the game hunting industry’s long-term growth. We are delivering on all our actions in the Sustainable Hunting Action Plan. Some of our key achievements include the release of new hunting maps showing where hunting of game and pest species is permitted on public land; the replacement and upgrading of 360 new signs and information totems at the state game reserves and parks that permit deer hunting; improved access to seven state game reserves that have undefined or locked access points; the removal of barriers so farmers can now dispose of problem deer and wild deer can be processed commercially for human and pet consumption; the release of the draft deer management strategy for public consultation; expanding the deer hunting areas within the Alpine National Park by approximately 90 000 hectares and allowing all species of deer to be hunted; publication of Game Hunting in Victoria—A Manual for Responsible and Sustainable Hunting; a new Game Management Authority (GMA) website and Facebook page; working with stakeholders to deliver the ‘Respect: Hunt Responsibly’ program; and providing funding to the Australian Deer Association for deer control programs, to the Firearm Safety Foundation (Victoria) to develop five safety information, to the Wetlands Environmental Taskforce to support the Australian National Hunting Archive and to the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations to lead development of the traditional owner game management strategy.
Ongoing updates on each of the actions in the Sustainable Hunting Action Plan are provided on the department’s website: agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/game-hunting/sustainable-hunting-action-plan.
Among several significant election commitments to hunting, we have committed to develop and deliver another sustainable hunting action plan to follow the completion of the current plan by 2020. Our approach has been comprehensive and extends across education, testing, training, communication and enforcement. We have provided a $6 million boost to the independent statutory authority responsible for the regulation of game hunting in Victoria.
This funding boost will deliver a 30 per cent increase in GMA staff to improve local enforcement, to prevent illegal hunting and for stakeholder engagement; new equipment for new and existing compliance officers; increased research capacity; education campaigns; and a new game licensing system.
As long as duck hunting is conducted safely and responsibly it can be done in a sustainable way. Published studies using monitoring data collected over long periods of time have failed to detect any significant effect of the hunting of game on game ducks. It is generally agreed amongst scientists that the loss of suitable waterbird habitat, changed waterway and wetland management regimes and climate impacts are the primary factors impacting waterbird populations in Australia.
When the evidence indicates that changes to a season are required, the government will modify the duck season accordingly, as we did this year. Duck season modifications are common and can include changing bag limits, season length and the species that can be taken. Since 2000, successive governments have modified 16 duck seasons, including the cancelling of three seasons. Our system of administering duck and other hunting can deliver conservation outcomes.
Victoria’s state game reserve system began in 1959 by using game licence fees to purchase private land for the development of breeding grounds for waterfowl. Today we have over 200 state game reserves that provide not only benefits to duck hunters during a short duck season but also long-term conservation benefits for wildlife and the general community. Victoria has 50 000 licensed game hunters, 26 000 of which are licensed to hunt ducks. Hunters come from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds and participate in hunting for many reasons that are often not associated with taking game.
We recognise and acknowledge the wideranging views held by the Victorian community on this issue and the passion of Mr Meddick. I will go through his motion point by point. I will not repeat all of the headlines, but I will go through them. Number (1): out of the many waterbird species only eight are declared game and can be hunted. They are selected as game species because they have biological and behavioural characteristics and are able to adapt to extreme and unpredictable environmental conditions. Their resilience and adaptability is demonstrated in population abundance surveys that show game birds achieving long-term record high numbers when conditions improve, like they did in 2011 and in 2012. Published studies have failed to detect any significant effect of hunting on game ducks.
Number (2) is the climate emergency—an environmental assessment of a duck shooting season. This is not correct. Climatic conditions are a key part of the scientific data that is reviewed in assessing the sustainability of duck hunting. It is generally agreed amongst key scientists that the loss of suitable waterbird habitat, changed waterway and wetland management regimes and climate change are the primary factors impacting waterbird populations in Australia. In light of this environmental variability the government seeks to ensure duck hunting remains sustainable. When the scientific data indicates that changes to a season are required, the government takes action to modify the duck season accordingly. Duck season modifications are common and can include bag limits, season length and the game species that can be taken. The government is finalising the development of a waterfowl conservation harvest model that will further strengthen the scientific rigour around setting and modifying duck seasons to ensure harvesting remains sustainable.
Number (3): population impacts are a key consideration in setting the parameters for duck hunting. Published studies have failed to detect any significant effect of hunting on game ducks. Furthermore, the government is finalising the development of a waterfowl conservation harvest model that will further strengthen the scientific rigour around setting and modifying duck seasons in order to ensure harvesting remains sustainable.
Number (4) is the 2019 duck season. The duck hunter numbers stated by the Game Management Authority immediately after the opening weekend related only to the wetlands at which they were present over the opening weekend. The 2019 harvest report is still being finalised and will be available on the GMA website later this year.
Number (5): a majority of Victorians do not support duck shooting. The government recognises and respects the diverse views on duck hunting, and hunting in general, held by the Victorian community.
However, we will continue to take a measured and responsible approach to managing all game hunting in Victoria.
Number (6): the alleged economic benefits from duck shooting. Hunting is a significant contributor to the Victorian economy. A new economic study of hunting in Victoria will be commissioned in 2019.
Number (7): Victoria is home to some of the best wetlands in the world that are perfect for recreational activities such as birdwatching. We agree, and this situation remains the same with the existence of a short, regulated duck season.
Number (8): legislation prevents those without shooting licences going near the water before a certain time. This public safety measure only applies to around 240 wetlands out of the tens of thousands in Victoria. It was put in place because some people have unnecessarily and purposefully chosen to put themselves and others in dangerous situations in popular hunting wetlands. The exclusion period is also limited to the early morning and late evening, with people allowed on these 240 wetlands for most of the day.
Number (9): nature-based tourism makes a positive contribution to the state’s economy. Hunting in general also makes a positive contribution to the state’s economy. The 2013 government economic study estimated that all types of hunting contributed $439 million to gross state product. Duck hunting, ecotourism and other public land activities currently coexist in Victoria. Duck hunting is only permitted for a relatively short period of the year, with half of all hunting occurring on private property. Victoria’s state wildlife reserve system has been designed to provide a balance of wetlands that are open and closed to hunting. This provides the opportunity for a mix of wetland activities to coexist across the state and for game species to seek refuge from hunting, which assists with ensuring duck hunting remains sustainable.
Finally, the motion calls on the government to stop the 2020 duck shooting season from going ahead. In conclusion, I would say the government welcomes the conversation. We recognise that duck hunting provides significant social and economic benefits to Victoria, and we also acknowledge that there is a lot of opposition to the practice. We have no current plans to cease duck hunting.
Ms BATH (Eastern Victoria) (10:39): I rise to speak on behalf of the Liberals and The Nationals this morning in relation to motion 148 standing in Mr Meddick’s name. It will be no surprise to the house that the Liberals and The Nationals will not be supporting this motion. Mr Meddick has also flagged his intention to put forward a bill in relation to duck hunting. At the time that occurred a number of weeks ago I am not sure if other Liberals in this house received but I know many Nationals, including me, received some emails in relation to support for that particular bill and naturally we also received some in opposition to the bill.
Why I am raising this this morning is some of the conversations that came in through the email system were quite disappointing and in fact were quite offensive. Some of the comments that came in in relation to the type of people who take their families duck hunting were really unacceptable. It felt to me that these were blanket-coverage statements—ideological statements—about people that they had no great knowledge about. They were very repulsive statements, and I will read one. One of the emails called hunters ‘primitive and challenged psychopaths’ and said if they could get away with it, they would move on to human targets. Now I find that offensive, and I am sure that most members in this chamber, if not all, would find that offensive as well. We are allowed to have different opinions and that is what this place is for—debate. But to go down those paths, I believe, is quite unacceptable.
When I speak with people who enjoy the family pastime, and I know some who are quite close to me who do this and have done so over multiple generations, duck hunting is very much a family occasion and a community occasion. Certainly there are groups of people who have gone out into the wilds to enjoy the beautiful countryside, the wetlands, the environment and the whole ambience of our rural and regional areas and in doing so also take part not in a sport but in an occasion that has happened for decades and decades.
Indeed it is a cultural pursuit that families and individuals partake in. They do not shoot for sport, as I have said, they prize the meat and they prize the game. It has a particular flavour. I know from time to time I really enjoy going to the Lost Angel up the road and having the confit duck—it is absolutely to die for. But these people enjoy going out into nature and obtaining their own individual game and cooking it, preparing it or freezing it down for later months.
Indeed I thank Mr Dean O’Hara, who I know happens to be in the audience today, for sending me some information about Field & Game Australia. Mr O’Hara happens to be the CEO of Field & Game, and he went on to say in his letter:
As hunters, we take a little during the season, but we are not a threat to Australia’s wild duck populations. The accepted science, here and internationally, is that regulated hunting has no impact on the sustainability of waterfowl populations.
The key factors in the sustainability of our waterfowl populations are water and habitat.
And I want to speak to habitat and water in a moment. He went on to speak about how Field & Game has worked hard over 60 years to preserve and rejuvenate many wetlands. Indeed Field & Game also looked at introducing a licence fee. This is an involuntary tax where hunters pay for the establishment of Victoria’s network of state game reserves, securing critical habitat for waterfowl and other species.
He went on to talk about a wetlands environment task force, where the trust and the task force look at purchasing and rehabilitating wetlands. In my electorate the Heart Morass is particularly dear to many Gippslanders and to many Victorians who tread their way there—and indeed national and international tourists—for this pursuit. There are many, many volunteers who put countless hours into that, and again I will develop that area in my debate shortly.
I also want to point out that Field & Game have purchased wetlands and an educational centre near Geelong, which is showing a diverse range and interest in this area. They also run various programs like Bug Blitz and a whole range of programs setting up establishments for wetland bird species to breed and flourish. I think this is key: hunters in this pursuit are mindful to encourage and encompass all the benefits and the requirements that keep bird species alive and thriving.
As to Mr Meddick’s points, I will just go through a few of them that I think are very pertinent in order to counter his arguments. In relation to Australia’s native waterbirds being perilously low in numbers, indeed the International Union for Conservation of Nature is a global authority and speaks to the status of the natural world and the measures needed in terms of safeguards. Victoria’s game bird species do not feature on the red list of birds under threat in terms of population decline; indeed they are listed as species or a general collaboration of ‘least concern’ for this institution.
Australian species are certainly nomadic. Game species are nomadic—that is their very nature—they are highly adaptable and they travel vast distances in response to rainfall. They follow where they can feed and breed, which is most sensible. This is nature. This is how species adapt and survive.
A lack of water and habitat will also see a lack of ducks. So there are not necessarily fewer ducks; it just means that they have sought refuge elsewhere. We know even within our own state at the moment, even within Victoria, that rainfall varies quite dramatically. In South Gippsland, just for example, we have had a great winter season at the moment, but you go 2 hours down the road and in Bairnsdale and all through East Gippsland they still lack water in great severity. Ducks read the play and indeed travel where they need to.
The second argument in relation to the low numbers is that the Kingsford method currently used by the GMA—Game Management Authority—does not count ducks. Field & Game have been advocating for—and also I am pleased to hear that the government has agreed to implement—an adaptive harvest model based on evidence and fact, rather than the current method which just measures one point in time. So in order to get the science right and the numbers accurately dictated and evaluated you have to do the proper science and evaluation.
Mr Meddick’s motion says the 2019 duck shooting season saw the lowest shooter participation rate on record. Well, that does not mean that interest is declining at all; it means that shooters also are adaptive and hunters are adaptive to what is going on in their system and what is going on with the birds and nature. In 2019 there were 26 000 duck game licences issued. This number has been consistent over the past few years. The Game Management Authority has stated that duck game licences are stable and not in decline. This is the regulatory body set up by and still currently running with the current government.
If we assume there was a low number of hunters when the season was opening, then it would be directly related to duck numbers. What we really understand is that they were respecting the law. Also, they may not wish to engage with protesters who on regular occasions have actually demonstrated a lack of respect in terms of the law. Approximately 1300 hunters took part in the opening weekend in Victoria, and whilst this was lower we certainly understand that there were fewer wetlands.
So there is a flux and there is a respect that the hunters appreciate.
In terms of a majority of Victorians not supporting duck hunting, if you go to a poll, it can be very much biased depending on how it is asked. I will give one particular example that I raised only last week. We have seen with the regional forest agreements the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning put out a survey. Indeed they also looked at a youth symposium. If you look at the details around that youth symposium of 49 young people, it was incredibly weighted in one area; it was incredibly biased. I will not drill down into the details, but I have mentioned this before. The department put eight pages out in relation to what the youth were thinking. If you want an outcome, sometimes you just have to go to a particular pocket of the room to find that outcome. Mr Elasmar spoke about the government looking at having an inquiry in relation to duck numbers and also the community interest and the economic benefits. I think that at least needs to be on the table in 2019.
In relation to the economic drivers for this activity in this region, even Minister Pulford in 2014 spoke about the economic driver of $430 million into the Victorian economy through duck hunting. What we know in the country is that duck hunting is a great pastime. Many people actually direct their funds and choose to spend their money entertaining their families and bringing their families together. They buy fuel. They buy coffee. They go to the hunting shops and buy hunting equipment or coats and the like. They go to the pub. Indeed we know that there are many overseas visitors who come here with hunting pursuits in mind and for duck season. This is very much an important driver for the rural and regional economy, particularly when it is so under pressure for a range of reasons. I was up in Mildura in May and I spoke to some fantastic people up there who really care about the environment and who care about their country town and who want to be able to still be a family and go out and direct their money into the economy in this fashion.
I want to spend some time on Heart Morass, which is a wonderful, wonderful environment and wildlife reserve down near Sale in my electorate. I want to speak to what Field and Game Australia are doing in that area. It covers 1800 hectares and it is a wildlife reserve. It can encompass a whole range of activities, and it does. I know Mr Meddick’s motion talks about kayaking, birdwatching, picnicking and hiking. All of those things are currently being conducted on a regular basis and are enjoyed by families at Heart Morass. Indeed only recently there was a tree-planting exercise—I think it was in early July—where many people went out and planted thousands of trees in addition to those already planted by volunteers in Heart Morass. It is a significant wetlands and is part of the Ramsar-listed Gippsland Lakes. It provides for a wonderful range of flora and fauna—frogs, reptiles, fish and the like.
I want to put the message to this house that families who partake in duck hunting respect the environment. They respect the animals that they hunt. They respect the fact that they are part of the
solution to provide ongoing measures to sustain duck populations. It is important that we support these industries because they have a flow-on effect to rural and regional Victoria. The Nationals and the Liberals will certainly not be supporting this motion before the house today.
Mr BOURMAN (Eastern Victoria) (10:54): It is actually a delight to have a chance to talk about duck hunting, what with everything else going on at the moment. Before I start I just want to thank the government and Mr Elasmar for their continued support of duck hunting.
I am assuming this motion is designed as a warning shot, because it has clearly missed the mark. I intend to educate Mr Meddick on the facts, and my lesson should not take too long. I am going to quickly go through the motion, ‘I move: … yada, yada, yada … Australia’s native waterbirds are at perilously low numbers’. None of the game birds included in Victoria’s regulated game seasons are in any way threatened; it is drought that is the problem. Waterfowl tend to breed less during drought. Where there is water, there are ducks; where there is no water, there are no ducks. Correlation and cause are not always the same thing. Yes, there may be fewer waterfowl, but it could be just because the place is in drought. It is fairly simple.
Then we get to number (2). This is one I enjoy:
the current climate emergency is not considered in the environmental assessment of a duck shooting season;
There are a whole lot of different factors taken into account in setting up the season. There are a whole lot of things, such as the overflights by our good professor who goes and counts ducks in places. There is an analysis of it, and it does take into account the climatic and environmental conditions for the simple reason that, again, if there is no water, there are no ducks. If there are no ducks to count, the recommendation will no doubt be to reduce the season. It is fairly simple. The climate emergency is a catchall for a whole lot of things going on. If there is a drought, which is part of this climate emergency—we will not get into that—then that will no doubt show in the lack of numbers.
Number (3) says, and I am not sure where this one came from:
one million species around the world are facing extinction because of human activity;
As someone put to me, the odds of getting a royal flush in poker are one in 649 740. That fact is about as relevant as this point is to duck hunting in Victoria.
Number (4):
the 2019 duck shooting season opening—
I will actually correct the member. It is not ‘duck shooting’; it is ‘duck hunting’. If you are going to criticise something, at least get it correct—
saw the lowest shooter participation rate on record;
Again, for those of you who have been paying attention, it is dry. Ducks tend to be where the water is, and hunters do not tend to hunt ducks that are not there.
There are a lot of people who have been going out there for decades and generations who might go out there and camp and I would still suggest that if there are actually no ducks whatsoever to shoot, they will probably go and find somewhere else to camp. Again, correlation and causation are two different things. You cannot just say that one is the cause of the other when you are just completely ignoring the real facts. Here is a cracker:
… a majority of Victorians do not support duck shooting …
In fact less than 3 per cent do. There is an interesting point here. Mr Meddick, I believe, was elected on a 2.7 per cent primary. I did not get that much more myself. But that means 97.3 per cent of the people do not want him here. So I caution anyone about using this sort of thing to deal with this issue.
The crossbench—anyone that has not got a full quota in their own right: the majority of Victorians do not want you here. Think about it.
Members interjecting.
Mr BOURMAN: Yes. I am sure you guys will get over it. But let us get onto the poll, this much-vaunted poll. I wonder who did it. Could it be the Coalition against Duck Shooting? Possibly. The poll results state:
Respondents were first asked: “In your opinion, should the shooting—
and I say shooting, not hunting—
of native water birds for recreational purposes be banned in Victoria?”
Those who initially thought the shooting of native water birds should not be banned in Victoria, or who were undecided—
about 25 per cent—
were told: “You may or may not be aware that due to drought and climate change, the numbers of native water birds across eastern Australia have dropped by over 80 per cent, that at least one in four native water birds shot at, are wounded, and that duck shooting has been banned in WA, NSW and Queensland.”
Well, duck shooting is not banned in New South Wales; you shoot them off the rice as a pest-mitigation strategy. Anyway, there is a whole lot more we can go into, but talk about push polling—worthless.
Mr Meddick’s point number (6) is:
… the alleged economic benefits from duck shooting have been roundly criticised by numerous independent experts …
Independent? I think not. It was one of the big four consulting firms that did the original study. It was not GetUp! or anyone like that. I think it is fair to say that that number, which is now outdated, is fairly accurate. Just saying it is not credible with no real reason is pretty ordinary.
Next is number (7), which will help me with fixing up number (6):
Victoria is home to some of the best wetlands in the world that are perfect for recreational activities such as birdwatching, kayaking, picnicking and hiking.
Absolutely—duck hunting as well. In fact there are 200 or thereabouts of these reserves which exist today solely because of the foresight of duck hunters, who introduced game licences and willingly purchased game stamps to fund our superb network of game reserves. So let us think about that: when was the last time you saw an activist running around making breeding boxes for the ducks? When was the last time you saw them out clearing carp out of something? I do not think you are going to have to think too long to come up with ‘Not at all’.
Number (8) states—and I am conscious that there are a few more people to go:
… legislation omits those without a shooting licence to go near the water before a certain time, limiting wetland use for non-shooters …
This is for the activists’ own safety, and in fact with the opening now changing from a 7.00 am start to a 9.00 am start the shooters—the hunters—have less time on their own without having to worry about activists getting in front of them. So I actually agree with one thing—the activists should be pushed back. They can come in at lunchtime. If the hunters’ time comes back, then I believe the activists’ time should too.
We should not be encouraging people to break laws. It is silly. I wonder how many tourists ever visit a state game reserve in the off-season, when there is no duck shooting—hunting; I will correct myself on that one. How many? I would say probably somewhere between zero and words I cannot say, but let us say not a lot.
My favourite one is Lake Mokoan, which is now the Winton wasteland—oh, wetlands. That used to attract hunters from everywhere and generally contribute greatly to the local economy. Once active use was banned millions of dollars were used to turn it into a tourist centre. I have had it described to me as a white elephant with tumbleweeds in the car park. I do not think that the taxpayer’s value for money was really high on that one.
The next point is number (9):
… nature-based tourism makes a positive contribution to the state’s economy and there is appetite for its expansion in regional Victoria …
Absolutely—game hunting contributes more than $439 million a year, and that is from five years ago. It contributes more than the grand prix and is second only to the Spring Racing Carnival, so expanding hunting opportunities is an excellent idea. I think we really should do that. Again, as someone put it to me, camo is the new green.
Almost lastly, the motion:
… calls on the government to stop the 2020 duck shooting season from going ahead …
Well, it is a duck hunting season. There is no justifiable or factual reason to do this. In fact whilst we are in drought in part of this state, we are actually flooding in other parts. I saw it with my own eyes in the Latrobe Valley. There are going to be a lot of ducks down there. Even though the duck hunters from Gippsland will tell you there are no ducks out there, there will be a lot of ducks down there.
I am just going to do a couple of things. Ethical hunting—the Game Management Authority are very big on ethics and, as such, so are hunters. This involves knowing and respecting the game; obeying the law, which is something the activists could work on; and behaving in the right manner. No-one is perfect, but I have noticed that hunters are now calling out their own when there is substandard behaviour. We need to be doing this—we need to be taking this on board—but we are the responsible ones. We are the ones trying to mind our own business. We are doing something in a way that has been done for generations. We are the ones that are under attack in this instance.
I will say a couple of small things about hunting as a conservation method. Whether they like it or not, the world wildlife fund begrudgingly recognises that in certain instances hunting is a conservation method. Over-hunting in the US in the early 1900s nearly brought extinction to a number of species, but the hunters got their act together. The hunters actually started funding conservation efforts and now white-tailed deer, mule deer, turkey, bison and all these things which were a problem are now abundant, but we can never drop our guard. If you are going to hunt something, it needs to be hunted in a sustainable and managed way.
Just before I go, there is an e-petition running. We talk about there being no support for duck hunting, but 6600-and-something signatures—that is the biggest e-petition to date. So there if there is no support for the hunting of ducks, why on earth is that the biggest e-petition?
Lastly, for the people that are not going to support this—I understand Mr Meddick is not going to change his mind—and for those that profess to support data-driven and factual motions, here is your chance to vote no.
Mr RICH-PHILLIPS (South Eastern Metropolitan) (11:04): I am pleased to rise this morning to speak in opposition to this motion moved by Mr Meddick, and I do so on the back of the comments made by my colleague Ms Bath in her earlier contribution.
It is often the case that those who preach tolerance, those who preach respect for minorities, those who preach respect for other cultures are in fact the most intolerant themselves. We saw the demonstration of that this morning with Mr Meddick’s comments on this motion where he sought to demonise a group of Victorians who participate and have participated for generations in a legitimate recreational and cultural activity, just because he does not like it. The man who preaches tolerance on everything else came into this place and made some frankly disgusting comments about the fraternity of Victorians who engage in recreational hunting on our wetlands. He made claims about illegal activity, he made claims about rubbish being left, he made claims about damage to trees and the like, all without basis, all without evidence, because he does not like a legitimate cultural activity that has been pursued by Victorians over generations.
I would like to place on the record—I acknowledge I have limited time because there are other speakers—that the Victorian Liberal Party is very proud to support our Victorian duck hunting heritage. Of course it is largely as a result of the work of a former Victorian Liberal Premier, Henry Bolte, that we do have such wonderful hunting infrastructure in this state. My other colleagues Ms Bath and Mr Bourman spoke in their contributions about some of the history that led to the development of infrastructure that we now enjoy, that led to the development of the wetlands that we have across Victoria that we would not have if it was not for the work of recreational hunters in the 1950s and the Bolte government in the 1950s and 60s. Mr Meddick and his activist friends were nowhere to be seen when the hunting fraternity in Victoria was recognising the value of wetlands, was recognising the need to protect and develop wetlands which we now enjoy across the state, both for hunting and for other recreational purposes.
Ms Bath in her contribution spoke about the work of Field & Game Australia, which has been an exemplar in protecting and developing and regenerating wetlands in this state. She spoke about the Heart Morass and she touched on the Connewarre Wetland Centre, which I was pleased to attend the opening of I think two or maybe three years ago. Both are projects which have been undertaken by Field & Game, both are projects which benefit all Victorians as a result of the work they have contributed to the rehabilitation and development of those wetlands, and both are projects which would not have occurred had it been left for the ecoterrorists who are opposed to hunting in this state. It is purely as a consequence of the vision of the Victorian hunting community over decades and generations that we have the resources that have gone into the wetlands, that we have projects like the Heart Morass and the Connewarre wetlands, which cover thousands of hectares of land which has been remediated as wetlands and is available to all Victorians to enjoy.
Mr Meddick has listed in his motion a number of elements—nine elements—which other members of the house have gone through individually, and I do not intend to touch on all of those particular aspects. One thing he does raise in his motion is the economic impact of hunting in this state. That was something which was assessed independently in 2013 through an independent engagement undertaken by the previous government, and that independent assessment demonstrated that the contribution across the state from hunting is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Mr Meddick sought to contradict that in his contribution. In fact he referred to an analysis undertaken by one Dr Christy Jones. Now, what Mr Meddick did not say in his contribution was that Dr Jones is in fact associated with Animals Australia. So, far from being an independent analysis like he claimed it was, it was a vested interest, a vested voice, seeking simply to undermine the value of recreational hunting, and duck hunting in particular, in this state.
Mr Meddick went on to make the often-stated claim that if we do not have duck hunting in Victoria we can all enjoy ecotourism, which will be a wonderful economic boon to the state. Of course the people who actually live in our regional communities which are the beneficiaries of recreational hunting know all too well that the belief in ecotourism as the saviour of our regional communities in the absence of hunting is a fallacy. Just this year we saw with the truncated duck season that was announced by the government a number of rural communities expressing concern that they would miss out on the benefits of duck hunting because of the government’s decision to truncate the season.
In northern Victoria we had the mayor of the Loddon shire, Cr Cheryl McKinnon, reflect on the impact that the truncated duck season would have on her community. She made a particular reference to the fact that duck season was going to end before the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, which has been a peak hunting weekend in her community, a time when recreational hunters would visit the Loddon
municipality and would—as Ms Bath indicated—purchase food, in some cases accommodation, fuel and hunting supplies in local communities. Many hunters make a point of purchasing food, fuel et cetera in the local communities where they are hunting rather than in their base in Melbourne in a deliberate effort to support the communities in those regional areas they are visiting. It is very clear from the comments of the mayor of Loddon shire at the time that she recognised, her council recognised and her local community recognised that the truncation of that season this year was going to have a negative economic impact on that community.
Ms Bath and Mr Bourman spoke about the Winton Wetlands, the former Lake Mokoan, which had been a long-time destination for recreational hunters in this state.
Following the decommissioning of Lake Mokoan around 2009–2010 and the creation of the wetlands centre, and with the banning of hunting at that site, we have seen what was developed become a white elephant—the cafe and wetlands centre out there at Lake Mokoan have minimal visitation and minimal economic impact. It is a white elephant in comparison with the economic benefit that was being achieved for that community when Lake Mokoan was still available for hunting and the support that led from that to the greater Benalla community as well.
The Liberal Party and the Liberal-Nationals coalition very much recognise the value of recreational hunting and duck hunting in particular to this state. We recognise the cultural value it has for many Victorian families going back over generations and the legitimacy of that cultural pursuit for many families back over generations.
We reject the demonising that Mr Meddick seeks to paint on those Victorian families who have hunted for generations. We reject his claims that there is no economic benefit from hunting; there clearly is. It is a well-established Victorian pastime. It is a good, safe outdoor recreational activity that gets Victorian citizens out into the fresh air, out in our regional communities. It is a win-win for families and it is a win-win for regional communities and the Victorian economy more generally. It should be supported by members of this place. It certainly is supported by the Liberal and National parties. I call on all members of this house to reject Mr Meddick’s demonising of an important part of the Victorian community, to reject his scaremongering and to reject this motion this morning.
Mr QUILTY (Northern Victoria) (11:14): Today I am going to speak about the great tradition of hunting in Victoria. I am not sure if any of you noticed from your air-conditioned offices, but just yesterday hundreds of people from all over regional Victoria showed up on the steps of Parliament. They are outraged by the fact that the public are increasingly not allowed to use public land. Today I speak on their behalf about duck hunting, just one of the activities people have enjoyed for generations that the urban elites now look down on.
There is no older or more culturally significant activity in Australia than hunting. Hunting of ducks and other wildlife has been carried out in Australia for 60 000 years. Of course the vast majority of Australia’s hunters have been the First Nations peoples living all across the continent. To them hunting did not just provide food; it helped provide a profound appreciation of and connection to country. Imagine if it were possible to communicate with someone who lived in Australia thousands of years ago. What would we have in common? Today’s hunters would have lots to talk about with those from long ago because the behaviour of animals and how they interact with the environment is a universal language. We would share a bond, an appreciation and an understanding across time. Hunters of all kinds share a connection to the environment and a kinship with each other that the keyboard warriors do not understand and probably never will. Today’s hunters, including those Indigenous hunters amongst us, are proud to continue our shared culture and pass it onto our children.
In terms of history, animal activism is insignificant; it measures its history in mere decades. If the history of hunting in this country was equivalent to a 1-metre ruler, the history of animal activism would barely reach 1 millimetre. However, sad to say, this is a genuine threat to our way of life. The saddest part of this is when Labor governments turn their backs on regional and working-class people
and align themselves with city-based extremists. And make no mistake: the animal activist agenda is an extremist agenda. They know it is a short step from banning people from killing their own food to stopping anyone from killing animals for food, and then one more short step from not killing animals for food to stop using animals for anything at all under all circumstances. If they had their way, zoos would be closed, they would end all sports involving animals and eventually ban the keeping of pets.
Animal activism is performed by urban elites and others who have lost their connection to the natural world, lost their links to country. It is the new kind of cultural imperialism. It is class warfare. I think they believe they are good people, but to those of us continuing a great tradition they are just a different kind of bully.
It is bad enough that they want to stop the public from using public land, but they also want to impose this upon hunters on private reserves. There are several reserves of this type that are funded by duck hunters that meet the recreational needs of hunters while creating new nature reserves. Duck hunters are conservationists. I go further: hunting is really the only workable conservation model.
But this is not just an issue of personal freedom. Licensed game hunters spend more than $400 million on their activities in Victoria alone, with 60 per cent of that expenditure occurring in regional areas. Tourism in regional Victoria is already reeling from bans on rock climbing and the other lockouts—stopping horseriding at Warrnambool and stopping car rallies in the north-west of the state. A ban on duck hunting would not just be a kick in the guts for tourism and regional Victoria; it could be a knockout blow for hundreds of people who depend on the duck hunting season for their livelihoods.
In my first speech I spoke about how people in regional Victoria was so disappointed with being governed from Melbourne that maybe they should consider a ‘Rexit’—or regional exit—and form their own state. I was kind of joking. However, every time I see city people proposing these things and making rules for the regions—and we see it almost every sitting week—the idea of a Rexit becomes less funny and more of an idea that’s time may have come.
The Liberal Democrats oppose this motion.
Dr RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (11:19): The Greens have always been vehemently opposed to the legal slaughter of ducks for sport in this state. What the government continues to describe as a recreational pursuit is in fact a cruel and barbaric practice—the routine slaughter of hundreds of waterbirds in the name of sport.
Every year native ducks that would otherwise be protected species are declared fair game and are allowed to be shot by hunters. These ducks are the Pacific black duck, the mountain duck, the chestnut teal, the grey teal, the pink-eared duck, the wood duck, the hardhead and the blue-wing shoveler, some of our precious native birds, birds that are protected species for most of the year and then declared fair game for two months.
Many of these ducks are already vulnerable and their numbers are continuing to fall as persistent drought conditions have threatened their habitat. The 2018 Aerial Survey of Wetland Birds in Eastern Australia found that most game species abundances were well below long-term averages, in some cases significantly lower. During the 2019 season the blue-winged shoveler, normally eligible to be a game bird, was excluded from the season due to continually low numbers.
As the effects of climate change worsen, we are likely to see more of our wetlands dry out and duck numbers continue to drastically drop. Dry conditions have been persistent throughout the last few decades, and since 1995, 15 out of 25 seasons have been restricted and four were cancelled, yet the most recent seasons have been allowed to go ahead.
We are facing a climate crisis and an extinction crisis which are putting our native animals at risk, and yet in Victoria we still allow recreational shooters to kill our native ducks for sport and for fun. It is hard to stand here and call it a sport because it is far from it. Instead of being a controlled competition between relatively equal participants, duck shooting requires the massacre of one creature for the enjoyment of another. Most ducks do not die as soon as they are shot. Those that are not retrieved or rescued in time are left to die slow and painful deaths. Ducklings are left defenceless and orphaned after their mothers are killed.
My former colleague Sue Pennicuik is a passionate activist in this area and spent her 12 years in this place fighting for a ban on duck hunting. She asked countless questions and made many statements in this Parliament holding the government to account on their continued complicity in the routine slaughter of ducks in this state. When introducing a similar motion to the one before us now to ban duck shooting back in 2011, eight years ago, Ms Pennicuik described her visit to the wetlands during the shooting season, saying:
It is a beautiful place, but at dawn the peace and serenity were assaulted by the sound of tens or hundreds of shotguns, which went off in a crescendo for the next two hours. The atmosphere was quite tense and really frightening.
I was very upset by what I witnessed. Birds were killed and wounded, including a large number of ducklings … I found that everyone present at the lake that weekend was distressed and upset by the absolute onslaught of shooting, by the cheers as birds fell from the sky, by the large number of wounded birds and by the tiny ducklings killed in the first breeding season in more than a decade. Nobody could fail to be upset by what was witnessed there.
This is the reality of duck shooting in Victoria. And each year the season is rife with breaches of the rules and with cruel and illegal behaviour. Ducks are not retrieved from the water immediately as required, non-game species birds are shot and killed, and hunting dogs and boats are used to stir up flocks of ducks. Despite claims that the Game Management Authority has the means and resources to oversee the duck shooting season, breaches of the laws continue to happen each season.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the many activists who have fought against duck shooting for years and years. These people volunteer their time and energy to travel to the wetlands season after season to witness the slaughter of native ducks by a small number of recreational hunters. They put their own personal safety at risk to rescue wounded birds and to document breaches. Without their work the evidence of illegal hunting activity and animal cruelty would never have come to light and the government would continue to be complicit in this cruel practice.
It is beyond time that we acknowledged that duck shooting has no place in a progressive Victoria in 2019. Duck shooting is banned in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, and has never been permitted in the Australian Capital Territory. The popularity of duck shooting in Victoria has dropped significantly over the last 30 years, down from around 100 000 hunters in 1986 to about 14 000 today, and the vast majority of Victorians oppose duck shooting. It is time to not only call off the 2020 duck shooting season but to ban the practice altogether.
Mr HAYES (Southern Metropolitan) (11:24): The Andrews Labor government refers to itself often enough as the most progressive government in the most progressive state. Whatever the other merits of this claim, it is very hard to reconcile with the fact that the supposedly less progressive states—New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia—have all implemented bans on duck shooting but we have not. Indeed it was in each case a Labor Premier who initiated the ban.
From my point of view, a key consideration is the fact that native bird species are declining in record numbers due to the expansion of human numbers, and hence human activities, leading to habitat destruction. In the face of swelling human numbers, which we could control if we had the political will to do so, we have an even greater obligation to protect our wildlife.
In the case of ducks and other native waterbirds, drought and climate change and increased demands on water have had a serious adverse effect on their numbers. The most highly regarded evidence concerning duck numbers in Victoria and beyond is the 2018 Aerial Survey of Wetland Birds in Eastern Australia, and that survey was unambiguous. It found a significant decline in breeding pairs
of ducks in 2018 throughout eastern Australia. In most game species abundances were well below long-term averages. All major indices—total abundance, breeding index, number of species breeding and wetland area index—show significant declines over this time. It is a grim picture.
With the Menindee Lakes and other parts of the Murray-Darling Basin drying out as much as they have been, it is imperative that native ducks that seeking refuge in Victoria are able to fly north once conditions improve. The conservation message is clear: duck shooting adds to the pressure on declining species and is a threat to their long-term capacity to survive. It is not sustainable.
Now the vast majority of my constituents do not support duck shooting and want to see an end to it as soon as possible, but I know that the government persists with it because it thinks this is what country Victorians want, but I suspect it is wrong about that because I am reinforced in that conviction because of representations I have had from Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting. They say that horses run around paddocks terrified, dogs bark, cats hide. The wildlife are very disturbed and it drives people crazy.
As well as the negative effects on country amenity, Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting say it has a negative effect on the economy of local towns as tourists tend to stay away from towns near wetlands during the duck season. They believe an end to duck shooting could be part of an economic boom in regional Victoria driven by nature-based tourism.
They point out that nature-based tourism is the fastest growing component of tourism generally, already bringing in $40 billion to other parts of Australia. Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting say that rural Victoria, with its stunning, largely undiscovered wetlands, diversity of wildlife and goldmining, is well positioned to be a leader in the growing and lucrative trend of nature tourism.
The motion also fits in with the strategy of water managers such as Goulburn-Murray Water, Victoria’s largest water manager, who seek tourism ventures that are sustainable and do not adversely impact on storage operation, water quality, environmental values or public safety and can adapt to fluctuating water levels. So let us put an end to duck shooting and flick the switch to nature-based industry and tourism. Now, that really sounds like a progressive government in a progressive state. I support the motion.
Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (11:28): I rise to speak on Mr Meddick’s motion, and I just want to go through a few points following on from Mr Bourman’s comment about how representative Mr Meddick is of Western Victoria Region. For the record Ms Pulford got 37.61 per cent of the vote, I got 29.32 per cent, Mr Grimley got 4.4 per cent and Mr Meddick got 2.71 per cent, so if Mr Meddick wants to quote statistics it is absolutely correct, as Mr Bourman said, that he is not representative of Victoria and especially not of Western Victoria Region, and that is where we like to think that all things rural emanate from.
Not only would Mr Meddick have us end duck hunting, he would have us end virtually all country pursuits. He would have us not eat meat. What is he actually going to do with all the animals we have to destroy because we no longer farm animals? In fact what is he doing about all the animals that get destroyed in the wheat and horticultural industry? They all have to be destroyed to produce his wheat, almonds, tomatoes—whatever—at a rapid rate. There is hypocrisy everywhere here.
Mr Elasmar, my colleague from the government, gave a very erudite description of exactly what the government thinks of this and exactly what they are doing in terms of providing regulation for country Victoria. My colleagues Ms Bath and Mr Rich-Phillips eruditely went through the benefits of duck hunting for Victoria and the work that they do. I want to quote from the Field & Game organisation and Mr O’Hara, who said:
Duck hunting is sustainable, and we support the Victorian Government commitment to introduce an adaptive harvest model that relies solely on science and takes the politics out of setting duck seasons.
Our members are committed to ethical, responsible and sustainable hunting and we encourage you to support their cultural tradition.
Victoria’s increasingly urban population has over recent generations become disconnected from the bush …
As my colleague Mr Quilty said, we saw yesterday the number of rural people who had to come to the steps of Parliament House to tell us that urban people should not be telling country people how to live their lives. There are public spaces and pursuits that country people have enjoyed for generations, and we care about the bush, we care about the country, we care about the native species and most importantly we do what is best to look after them—not our friends in Fitzroy.
Like many Victorians—
Mr O’Hara went on—
you may have no inclination to participate, you may even dislike the practice, but we encourage you to consider that for our members this is a way of life.
I am familiar with hunting in Scotland, and I must say that if it was not for the hunting estates in Scotland many of the native species would no longer exist. They drive a very valid and viable economic activity and they actually look after the native species that exist.
As for this business about climate emergency, we have just heard today about the NAPLAN results. I am sure the children all know about climate emergency but they seem to be unable to read and write. As my colleagues in the Liberal-National parties and other colleagues on the crossbench have said, and the government has said, we do not support this ridiculous motion and we will be voting against it.
Ms STITT (Western Metropolitan) (11:32): I move:
That debate on this motion be adjourned until later this day.
Mr RICH-PHILLIPS (South Eastern Metropolitan) (11:32): We oppose adjourning this motion now. Under sessional orders there is a 90-minute window allocated for debate on each item of general business. According to the clock there is just over 8 minutes remaining. Ms Lovell would like to make a contribution, and there is time for Ms Lovell to make a contribution and then for the question to be put. We believe that given this debate has proceeded as it has this morning we should have a vote on this motion. People should put on the record what their position is. The coalition very clearly will oppose this motion and we believe that other members in the chamber should also take a position on this. So we do not support the motion to adjourn now. We believe that given there is literally only 8 minutes left on this debate we should allow Ms Lovell to make her contribution and then put the question so everyone’s position on this issue can be seen publicly.
Mr BOURMAN (Eastern Victoria) (11:33): I do not support adjourning this motion. Along with the reasons Mr Rich-Phillips gave, I am also going to say that if Mr Meddick believes enough in his issues to get himself elected to Parliament, bring it to a vote and let us see who has got the support.
House divided on motion:
Ayes, 25
Barton, Mr
Leane, Mr
Shing, Ms
Cumming, Dr
Maxwell, Ms
Somyurek, Mr
Elasmar, Mr
Meddick, Mr
Stitt, Ms
Erdogan, Mr
Melhem, Mr
Symes, Ms
Gepp, Mr
Mikakos, Ms
Taylor, Ms
Grimley, Mr
Patten, Ms
Terpstra, Ms
Hayes, Mr
Pulford, Ms
Tierney, Ms
Jennings, Mr
Ratnam, Dr
Vaghela, Ms
Kieu, Dr

Noes, 14
Atkinson, Mr
Finn, Mr
Ondarchie, Mr
Bath, Ms
Limbrick, Mr
Quilty, Mr
Bourman, Mr
Lovell, Ms
Rich-Phillips, Mr
Crozier, Ms
McArthur, Mrs
Wooldridge, Ms
Davis, Mr
O’Donohue, Mr
Motion agreed to.
Debate adjourned until later this day.

We can all remember the childhood thrill of going to see Santa, usually at a busy shopping center.

When you finally made it through the line, the store buzzing around you with noise, your mum would get you and your siblings lined up, smiling with Santa for a treasured family photo.

The reality for many families with special needs children, is that they don’t get to enjoy that experience. The line is too long, the noise is too overwhelming, the chaos of the December period is sometimes too much for the children.

 Lauri Rowe, Head of Administration and Events at Field & Game Australia was determined to find a better way.

“It broke my heart when I was told,” Lauri said.

And out of this determination grew the Field & Game Australia’s community event, Christmas for the Kids.

The first of what Lauri hopes will be an annual event for these children was held at our Willowmavin property near Kilmore.

35 special needs children were invited from Seymour College to come and enjoy the day, with activities set up for them including meeting and speaking with Santa.

There were volunteers on hand throughout the day alongside the teachers in order to make sure the children had a fantastic time and left with the all important photo with Santa.

The day was officially opened by Rob Mitchell MP Federal Labor Member for McEwen before the kids boke off into groups to enjoy the activities.

“I’m proud with what we’ve achieved. It’s been a huge success,” Lauri said.

“The kids were so excited when they found out,” teachers assistant Jess Barwell said.

Dean O’Hara, CEO of Field & Game Australia, said the event could not have happened without the support of volunteers  and sponsors.

“The community got right behind us. I really can’t thank our sponsors and supporters enough,” Dean said.

Sponsors included The Elm’s Retirement Village, McPherson Media Group, both Seymour Woolworths and Seymour Coles, CVGT Australia, Bendigo Bank, Marsh Insurance, and Rotary Kilmore.

The Country Fire Authority brought a fire truck, entertaining the children with the fire hose and letting them climb up on the vehicle.

More than a few of the delighted kids claiming they couldn’t wait to be fireman as they rushed past Santa and their teachers in excitement.

Their smiles could not get wider as they all sat down around Santa and each received a gift, containing a hand knitted beanie created by Seymour Haberdashery and a book.

When asked about the best wish Santa chuckled, “There was a request for 10 X-Boxes, so they could be shared around with friends.”

“This is a small gesture, but it is just another example of how we support our local communities” Dean O’Hara said.

It may be a small gesture, but it’s given these families a photograph that they will treasure, and the kids a fun day out.

It is great to have Winchester aboard as a partner for the podcast. We have the equipment and a strategy mapped out to deliver engaging content every month with additional specials and the occasional podcast with a live audience.

Above all this is your podcast. A place for members to share their knowledge and expertise and to provide questions we can put to our podcast guests.

We got so excited after unboxing the gear that we recorded the "Podcast about the Podcast" which you can listen to below.

Episode#1 will be available on the website and hosted through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, Alexa and all the popular podcast apps. This first one ihas only been made available here,

Peter has a wealth of experience and success as both a competitor and ground setter at major national and international shoots.

Event Director Daryl Snowdon joined Peter at Bairnsdale Field & Game this week to walk the six grounds and discuss a bold move to position three traps per stand, throwing 90 individual targets.

Entries are open for the 2019 Field & Game Australia Beretta National Carnival at Bairnsdale on November 1,2 and 3.

This year you can shoot over three days, with the introduction of a new 100 target prelim. event on Friday 1st November with prizes for OTG and all grades.

This 100 target event will be shot over 15 stands and will be all pairs, both report and simultaneous pairs.

This is a separate event you need to enter as well as the Beretta National Carnival 150 target main event which will be held as usual on Saturday and Sunday.

To enter the National Carnival (November 2,3) follow this link

To enter the 100 target warm up event (November 1) follow this link

Get in early and we'll see you in Bairnsdale.

OTC will sponsor two major National Handicap events which will be shot over the 150 target main event on November 2-3

OTC GB Promatic National Handicap Event

1st - 30th (Share 65 slabs ammo)

OTC GB Promatic National Junior Handicap Event

1st - 15th (Share 35 slabs ammo)

The Junior Handicap is a new edition to the National Carnival which Lee Berger from OTC said reflected the company's principle of giving back to all levels of shooting ability and especially junior shooters who are the future of the sport.

"We have a long history of providing support not only to the National Carnival but to Field & Game branches and we are excited again to have the opportunity to partner Field & Game Australia at its largest event," Lee said.

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Entries are now in the hundreds so book now to avoid disappointment

Entries are now open for the 2019 Field & Game Australia Beretta Australia National Carnival at Bairnsdale Field & Game on November 1,2 and 3.

This year you can shoot over three days, with the introduction of a new 100 target prelim. event on Friday 1st November with prizes for OTG and all grades.

This 100 target event will be shot over 15 stands and will be all pairs, both report and simultaneous pairs.

This is a separate event you need to enter as well as the Beretta National Carnival 150 target main event which will be held as usual on Saturday and Sunday.

To enter the National Carnival (November 2,3) follow this link

To enter the 100 target warm up event (November 1) follow this link

Get in early and we'll see you in Bairnsdale.

In November, as always, the Field & Game National Carnival will be held. This year again it will be held in Bairnsdale. It is easy to think that if you are a lower grade shooter or an average A-grade shooter, the Nationals are out of your reach or that you will perform badly, be embarrassed or humiliated. However, succeeding at the Nationals is not always about shooting a great score.

The Nationals has a lot to offer all shooters but for the lower grade shooters there is so much they can gain from the top competition in Australia.

Firstly, there is always the chance that you may get to shoot alongside some of Australia’s best shots. They may not be in your squad but they may be in the squad before you or on the practice traps, so you can watch how they address the target and how they shoot the target. In shooting magazines and YouTube videos we are often told about hold point, pick up point, kill point and follow through.

At a large competition you can observe some of the best as they go through their pre-shot routine and then their shot routine.

Secondly, there is the opportunity to visit the trade displays. Have a look at and compare guns and gear. Pick up a Perazzi, Krieghoff or Beretta.

Some of these companies even offer gunsmithing services where your gun can be checked and adjusted, springs etc replaced for little or no charge. As well as looking at the merchandise and maybe getting a bargain, there is also the opportunity to meet the people behind the brands. This can be very handy when months later you decide you want a new gun: you can call them up and re-establish the relationship that was formed at the Nationals.

The most important aspect of attending the Nationals was bought home to me personally in 1997. I had been shooting trap for about 18 years and had never been to the Nationals.

In 1997 they were held in Wagga Wagga, which is only 110 km from where I live. At the time I wasn’t intending to go. I didn’t want to take time off work and I thought that as a B-grade shooter there would be no point in going. I was a member of Hay Gun Club and Jack Headon asked if I was going. I said “No”, and he responded with, “Why not?”

Jack was a several-times National Championship and a member of the ACTA Hall of Fame.

His argument became compelling when he said: “It doesn’t matter how you shoot at these Nationals, when you come back you will shoot much better at your local club shoots.”

So, armed with Jack’s words of wisdom and, having Jack as a mentor, I went to the Nationals as a B-grader, finished the Nationals as an A-grade and three weeks after the Nationals, was in AA-grade.

For the Field & Game shooter the premise is still the same. If you only shoot at your club and neighbouring clubs, you do not get to see the range of interesting, challenging and difficult targets that are set at the Nationals.

It is also likely that at the Nationals you will strike a target that is difficult and may even appear impossible. At the Pinegrove Nationals I struggled with some looper targets and seeing that each field had a couple of these targets, it meant I was really struggling. There wasn’t much I could do at the competition but when I got home I sought out a coach and made sure this target wasn’t going to be a problem next year.

The last point is that the nationals give you a baseline from which to evaluate your performance in the future. Each time you go to your club shoot you will be able to say: “That was a target that could have been at the Nationals” or “None of those targets were as hard as the targets that we shot at the Nationals.”

By shooting the more challenging targets and keeping a log of your performance you get to understand what you can and cannot do well. You know what to practise and where you need to put your efforts in when training.

I will be at this year’s Nationals. I go for the competition, the targets, to have fun, the camaraderie and to learn something. I get to meet old friends from years past and meet new ones. If you do not go to the Nationals this year, think about making sure you go in the future, especially if the competition is close to home. I have never shot outstandingly well but I have always had a great time.

Michael Kruger-Davis is a consulting psychologist who has had more than 35 years’ experience shooting clay targets: trap, skeet and sporting. He is a member of the Wagga Wagga Branch of Field & Game Australia. He uses SAGA ammunition supplied by Hunts Shooting Supplies.

FGA CEO Dean O’Hara said the organisation has been seeking longer-term partnerships with aligned organisations and the agreement with Beretta Australia is a welcome and significant milestone.

“They are keen to be involved across the three pillars of Field & Game Australia: Australian Simulated Field competition, hunting and conservation,” he said.

“It is great to have them onboard as a major sponsor of the National Carnival and we look forward to working with Beretta Australia over a long period as partners so we can grow together.

“Now that this has come together it was important to include Beretta Australia’s support of the National Carnival in our information to members, but there is a lot more to our partnership that we will reveal together in coming months.”

Beretta Australia managing director Luca Scribani Rossi said Field & Game Australia’s membership represents a large pool of enthusiastic and loyal Beretta customers so there was a clear commercial aspect to the partnership.

“We have a long history of supporting competitive shooting in Australia and around the world and of course we want to remain close to our constituents and facilitate that relationship,” he said.

But equally important are the shared values and ideals of the two organisations.

“The theme of the Beretta gala dinner last year was conservation around the world and each of the members of Beretta’s worldwide family was asked to share their initiatives,” Luca said.

“We see Field & Game Australia as a perfect partner because they share those conservation values embraced by Beretta around the world.”

Corsivia targets will be used at the 2019 National Carnival, which Luca said were another example of Beretta Australia’s commitment to the environment.

“We are very proud to be able to supply them for the Field & Game National Carnival.”

Bowman Traps are onboard again as a sponsor and supplier of traps for one entire ground and providing the same on site support with maintenance as they did last year,

“Grant Sandford from Bowman Traps will be assisting to set the grounds in the weeks leading up to the Carnival. We had no major mechanical breakdowns last year and no major delays, Bowman’s support is critical as we continue to grow this major event,” event director Daryl Snowdon said

Reg Biggs, Bairnsdale’s treasurer and one of the driving forces behind the event said a lot was learned from 2018 when the branch accommodated six grounds and hosted more than 500 competitors.

“We are making some minor changes to the layout including to expo site,” he said.

“We re doing more work to the road network to make it easier for people to get around the grounds and we are also working on a campsite a couple of kilometres from the ground which we will confirm.”

Reg said the event was a big undertaking, even with the experience of last year, but the members welcomed the addition of a Friday preliminary shoot.

“We were happy to take on the extra event on the Friday; it is a very exciting initiative and will appeal to a lot of shooters,” he said.

Practice grounds will be open on Wednesday and Thursday for those who want to travel early and shoot for longer.

As for the wild winds that made the first day of the 2018 event difficult for everyone, Reg isn’t making any promises. He wields a lot of power and influence in Bairnsdale, but not that much.

“There’s an old saying, as the days get longer the winds get stronger, so that is out of our hands,” he said.

What they can control is dust, and a lot of suppression work has been done to minimise the impact of any ill wind.

As for the Bairnsdale members, Reg said they are keener than ever.

“We are getting a lot of support from our members like we did last year, we had a lot turn up for the pre-Nationals briefing we held to kick off the build up.

“East Gippsland Shire Council and the community in general is right behind the event having seen the success of last year,” he said.

“Places in town like the Bairnsdale RSL couldn’t believe how busy they were.

“Because we have the Melbourne Cup races at Bairnsdale Racing Club on the Tuesday we hope a lot of people stay and make it a decent break for the whole family.”

The event will be shot over 15 stands and will be all pairs, both report and simultaneous pairs.

Event director Daryl Snowdon said the change to the format was simple arithmetic, travel, time and effort vs targets offered.

“Shooters want to shoot more,” he said.

The main event will be shot as normal on the Saturday and Sunday and shooters can add the extra event when booking their National Carnival spot.

“What we’ve learned from past National Carnivals is that people travel early and want to have a shot on the Friday afternoon and what has traditionally been on offer is a practice ground.”

With a shotgun start, squads will start on all 15 stands at 9 am, 11 am, 1 pm or 3 pm (you can nominate your time when you register) and all 100 targets will be shot over one two-hour round.

“They will get to see and shoot at targets on the actual grounds for the National Carnival but they won’t be the same as they confront in the main event over the next two days,” Daryl said.

“Some targets will be changed, the speed and/or trajectory may be different and certainly all the pad positions will be moved for the main event.”

Daryl isn’t setting all of the targets this year, but his years of experience as a setter and competitor leads him to suggest those shooting on Friday shouldn’t get too far ahead of themselves.

“If we were to allow shooters to practice on the National Carnival targets I don’t think it would be that much of an advantage anyway, in fact it could be a disadvantage,” he said.

“If you look at other disciplines they shoot the same targets event after event and year after year and people still miss. Quite often it can be a disadvantage, it can add pressure if you know what target is coming, especially if you had trouble with it previously, that’s what will be in the back of your mind.

“Competitors should take every target as they see them in the main event and shoot accordingly rather than have a preconceived idea based on what they saw the day before.

“As we saw last year with the wind, two days at that time of the year are rarely the same anyway.”

The shotgun start on all stands is designed to allow those who travel furthest to shoot a later time slot, but in early booking the 1 pm shoot is clearly filling fastest.

The extra full day extends the social element of the National Carnival and is also beneficial to the host town of Bairnsdale as shooters book extra accommodation and keep themselves entertained.

“We expect 250 to 300 people for the Friday event,” Daryl said.

“In the Unites States you can regularly go to events and shoot 500 plus targets and we have people flying interstate and driving long distances to shoot 150 targets. We decided to offer some additional value and more incentive for the people to do that to support the National Carnival.”

Field & Game Australia (FGA) Chief Executive Officer Dean O'Hara said the partnership brings together two great organisations with ambitions to further wetland conservation, Australian Simulated Field clay target competition and hunting across Australia.

"This is the first strategic partnership to be announced and we look forward to working with Luca Scribani Rossi and his terrific team on a range of exciting projects starting with the 2019 Field & Game Australia Beretta Australia National Carnival.

"We are seeking longer-term partnerships with aligned organisations and the agreement with Beretta Australia is a welcome and significant milestone"

“Now that this has come together it was important to include Beretta Australia’s support of the National Carnival in our information to members, but there is a lot more to our partnership that we will reveal together in coming months.”

Beretta Australia managing director Luca Scribani Rossi said Field & Game Australia’s membership represents a large pool of enthusiastic and loyal Beretta customers so there was a clear commercial aspect to the partnership.

“We have a long history of supporting competitive shooting in Australia and around the world and of course we want to remain close to our constituents and facilitate that relationship,” he said.

But equally important are the shared values and ideals of the two organisations.

“The theme of the Beretta gala dinner last year was conservation around the world and each of the members of Beretta’s worldwide family was asked to share their initiatives,” Luca said.

“We see Field & Game Australia as a perfect partner because they share those conservation values embraced by Beretta around the world.”

Watch the video of the partnership announcement below

Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, Eva Lawler said the Territory Labor Government is ensuring that the declared annual waterfowl season is sustainable for the long-term benefit of all, including hunters, residents, tourists and tourism operators.

An aerial survey across the Top End’s floodplains in May this year, has estimated the 2019 magpie goose population as 1.48 million, double what it was two years ago.

The Northern Territory Government is currently reviewing the Management Plan in consultation with key groups including recreational hunters, with the new plan to be in place prior to the next hunting season to ensure harvests continue to be sustainable.

Field & Game Australia has made several representations to the NT Government in recent months,

“We will continue to work closely with recreational hunters, residents and tourism operators to ensure the ongoing sustainability of the Territory’s waterfowl population," Minister Lawler said.

The season details are as follows;

Daily bag limit

During the declared season the limit for magpie geese is seven birds per person, per day.

The daily bag limit for other listed waterfowl is 10 birds per person, per day.

The maximum allowable number of dead animals in a person's possession is as follows:

• away from the person's place of residence is 21 magpie geese and 30 other listed birds
• at the person's place of residence, the number is unlimited.

Hunting hours

You can only shoot during certain hours of each day:

• September - 6am to 7pm
• October - 6am to 7pm
• November - 5:45am to 7:15pm
• December - 5:45am to 7:30pm
• January - 6am to 7:30pm.

Closing dates

The hunting season closes on the following dates:

Howard Springs Hunting Reserve and Lambells Lagoon Conservation Reserve - 7:30pm on 23 December 2018.

All other areas including hunting reserves, Crown land and private property - 7:30pm on 6 January 2019.

Animals under this permit

NT Hunting Mate app

You can download the NT Hunting Mate app to access waterfowl hunting rules and information on your phone.

This year you can shoot over three days, with the introduction of a new 100 target prelim. event on Friday 1st November with prizes for OTG and all grades.

This 100 target event will be shot over 15 stands and will be all pairs, both report and simultaneous pairs.

This is a separate event you need to enter as well as the Beretta National Carnival 150 target main event which will be held as usual on Saturday and Sunday.

To enter the National Carnival (November 2,3) follow this link

To enter the 100 target warm up event (November 1) follow this link

Get in early and we'll see you in Bairnsdale.

A key objective of the Plan is to ensure sustainable hunting through cooperation with hunting organisations to improve habitat, management of pest species and improved data collection.

$200,000 has been allocated under SHAP for the demonstration project at McDonalds Swamp SGR which will be used to improve habitat. The collaborative project will see Field & Game Australia working with Parks Victoria, the North Central Catchment Management Authority and Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (Vic). 

McDonalds Swamp SGR is the first of two demonstration sites to be chosen. The project follows the audit of all State Game Reserves which highlighted gaps in management regimes, access and signage.

The collaboration with hunting organisations will develop new new management principles which will be demonstrated on site.

Field & Game Australia development manager Daryl Snowdon said the chosen SGR has had ongoing issues with the ability to manage appropriate water levels which has resulted in an abundance of reeds and little open water.

"This is a great opportunity to address those issues so the wetland can benefit more effectively from the watering plan that has been in place for several years," he said.

Let me preface this article by saying that I have nothing against spending a cold, wet night clustered around a campfire with a bunch of friends. I have done my fair share of lying in a swag under the stars listening to a cacophony of snoring and other bodily noises from those same mates.

Those ‘weekends with the boys’ were the standard format of our fishing and hunting trips through the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

But by the ‘90s, things had started to change.

Hunting and fishing trips still involved the same blokes with whom I had been sharing those experiences for many years, however, now with our kids off our hands, our wives were increasingly part of the group. How this happened and the effect it has had, good and bad, are my reason for this article.

Those of us, male and female, who have a partner who enjoys the same things we do will know what the benefits are. Arguments about the cost of a case of shells, a new gun or a fly rod become few and far between. Any guilt you once felt (or were made to feel) when you left your partner at home while you disappeared for the weekend, becomes a thing of the past.

Sure, there is an economic downside as the cost of equipment doubles now that you have to provide two of everything, but my experience has been that the investment is worth it. To spend an evening together planning your shooting and fishing trips for the year is a real pleasure.

To have someone with whom you can share the experiences and the memories of these trips only adds to the enjoyment. So how were a few of us able to achieve this nirvana and did we really have anything to do with it?

There is no doubt that, in our hunter-gatherer society, women have always been cast as the gatherers and men the hunters. Shooting and fishing were always for the blokes and this belief is still pretty widely held. However, now that we no longer hunt with rocks, spears and bows and arrows, there is no physical reason women can’t enjoy the hunting role. Getting wives and partners to accept this change is part of the battle and it doesn’t necessarily happen overnight.

In putting this article together, I have taken the input of four women who are passionate about the outdoors, who enjoy hunting and fishing and who came into these sports for a variety of reasons.

Debbie Meester and Angela Kloppenborg are well known to many FGA members through their various roles with the organisation. Rochelle Hunt and my wife Jacqui round out the group.

Deb’s article in the last issue of the Field & Game magazine is a good starting point as it pretty clearly defines one of the principle reasons many women want to become involved and the problems they often face. In Deb’s case, she was motivated by her love of the outdoors and a desire to spend time with her partner; her problem was that her lack of a firearms licence and a WIT test were seen as insurmountable problems by all concerned. I suggest the problem actually didn’t exist, but more of that later.

Rochelle’s story is similar. Her motivation was essentially the same as Deb’s: a desire to spend time with her family. Although she was always keen on fishing, her early involvement was limited to filling the occasional empty seat in her husband Steve’s boat. Her involvement in shooting took a little time to develop and she was generally content to leave it to ‘the boys’.

However, when her son Bill took up shooting, it became more of a family affair and Rochelle, like Deb, took up clay shooting. From clay shooting, it was a short step to duck and then deer hunting.

Today there are few weekends when Rochelle is not chasing some form of game. To her it’s about putting food on the table; she loves venison and in her own words “can do anything with it”.

Her move to duck hunting came comparatively late in the piece and her involvement is a reminder that some of the old beliefs are hard to lose. To this day, Rochelle leaves the night before the opening to the boys. Steve and his friends gather around the camp fire as they have for the past 40-plus years but Rochelle heads for home. She joins them the next day before sunrise and in time for the opening of the season.

As I say, some old traditions are hard to lose (or perhaps it just her preference for her own soft bed rather than a swag and the company of a bunch of snoring old blokes).

Angela and her husband Chris are great examples of the benefits of sharing your passions. Today, in their retirement, they travel widely, shooting and fly-fishing and often visiting some of the great gun makers dotted around the globe. Angela puts her involvement in the worlds of shooting and fishing down to “if you can’t beat them, join them”. After accompanying Chris and some other friends on various duck hunting trips she decided that, if it was going to be a regular event, she had better learn to shoot. Like Deb and Rochelle, her next step was to take up clay shooting and today, like them, she can be found in the wetlands during the duck season.

The Kloppenborg’s other passion, fly-fishing, was the result of a trip to New Zealand, with both taking up the sport with equal enthusiasm. Angela was quick to point out that fishing and shooting have been, and continue to be, the basis for a lot of their travel and that they have been able to see some fantastic places as a result.

My final conversations on this topic were with my wife Jacqui. Now in our 50th year together I suppose I should have asked her why she became involved a little earlier. Let me say from the outset that she doesn’t shoot and to the best of my knowledge has fired a gun once.

Despite this and as those who know us will confirm, Jacqui has spent more time in the shooting field than many keen bird hunters and is a passionate fly fisher. Importantly for me, her answers tie together the input from Deb, Rochelle and Angela and in addition, provide some valuable guidance for those of you who are keen to develop these shared passions with your partner.

For the first half of our married life, it was business as usual. She looked after the house and the kids while I went away chasing pigs, roos and ducks with the boys. In the mid ‘90s and with our kids off our hands (or at least out of the home), we were lucky enough to become involved with a shooting syndicate in the UK. For the next 15 years we had the privilege of shooting driven pheasant, partridge and grouse throughout the UK, a unique opportunity admittedly made easier by my work-related travel.

It was during these trips that her interest was aroused by the ‘mechanics’ of driven shooting. She was given dispensation by some of our hosts to join the beaters and to see the incredible work carried out by them, the pickers-up and their dogs. Talks with gamekeepers gave her an understanding of their lives and challenges and of the incredible value that shooting brought to them, their teams and their communities.

Her time in the UK had also developed her interest in the actual shooting side of things and to this day, if we are engaged in any form of driven shooting, she stands with me at the peg and loads for me. As the correct term for someone who loads for you when you are using a single gun is a ‘stuffer’, it is important this is clearly explained to any audience before you introduce your wife as your stuffer.

So, looking back on my conversations with these four ladies, the common ground is apparent.

Many wives and partners are looking for an opportunity to share more time with their spouse. Many enjoy the outdoors and are prepared to rough it as required. Most will be happy to give shooting and fishing a go if encouraged to do so and given the opportunity in a supportive environment. Many may actually become just as committed as their spouse and in some cases, go on to be as good or better.

Importantly, there is one thing we all need to be aware of and that is that you don’t have to pull a trigger to enjoy a morning in the wetlands or stalking deer in the bush. Whether or not your partner has a firearms or game licence or can cast a fly should not preclude them from joining you for a weekend and should never be a pre-condition for their involvement. There is so much to enjoy in the worlds of hunting and fishing and so much to appreciate in the rivers, wetlands and forests in which we pursue our passions that pulling the trigger or reeling in the fish can almost become secondary.

I am pretty sure I speak for Debbie’s sons, for Steve and Chris, and certainly for myself when I say their chance to share their time and loves with those four ladies has been worth whatever effort it has required.

Last, but by no means least, comes another very important benefit. As you will see from the photos accompanying this article, our wives have a wonderful capacity to involve their children and grandchildren. If we are keen to pass on our traditions, they can play a key role.

Long, ‘floppy’ ears (such as spaniels) with lots of folds and ears with a lot of hair growing in the ear canal are more likely to suffer problems.

A sore ear can be particularly distressing and the initial, treatable problem can quickly turn into something more serious with excessive scratching and head shaking.

To determine the cause of your pet’s problem it is best to see your vet as quickly as possible. Most infections occur in the outer part of the ear, in the canal and are called otitis externa.

Causes

There are many causes for ear problems, including injuries, bacterial infections, fungal (yeast) infections, grass seeds, dirt or sand, excessive wax production, soap or water in the ear canal, ear mites, allergies and other skin conditions.

Watch for one or more of the following signs:

• scratching one or both ears
• smelly ears
• head shaking
• head tilted to one side
• a discharge from the ear — it may be yellow, green, brown, black or cream
• painful ears or head when touched
• redness and inflammation of ear flap and ear canal
• swelling of ear flap
• stumbling or circling to one side
• lethargy and depression.

Diagnosis

Because most ear problems show the same signs, the ear canal and ear drum have to be examined with an otoscope for us to make a diagnosis.

For example, a grass seed in the ear may cause your dog to have exactly the same signs as a bacterial infection; we need to be able to see into the canals to tell the difference. The ear drum must be assessed, as a ruptured ear drum is a much more serious illness that can cause balance problems and inner ear infections. The medication we choose may be altered if the ear drum is ruptured. Some medications if given with a ruptured ear drum can cause temporary or permanent deafness.

Sometimes a smear is taken and examined in our in-house laboratory to check the cause of the problem and tailor the treatment to your pet’s needs. Other times a sterile swab is taken and sent out to a pathology laboratory to ‘grow’ the bacteria or yeast causing an infection, or to determine the best treatment, especially if we suspect an antibiotic resistance issue or unusual bacteria.

Some dogs that have chronic recurring problems (particularly if they are triggered by allergies), have bacteria or fungi that are resistant to the common ear ointments and drops, and need different formulations to treat the infection. This can only be determined with microbiological culture and sensitivity testing.

Occasionally sedatives or general anaesthesia is required if the animal is particularly painful or aggressive.

Medication and treatment

Medication may be given in the form of drops, ear cleaning solutions and tablets. It is essential these treatments are used correctly. Intermittent use of antibiotic solutions can favour the multiplication of resistant bacteria. This is why we always prescribe the drops for a certain time and recommend a revisit to check the ears at the end of the course. If the ears aren’t 100 per cent, then the problem will reoccur once the medication is stopped.

Sometimes more extensive treatment is necessary. For example, an ear that is full of pus may need to be flushed under general anaesthesia, to remove as much discharge as possible and assess the ear drum. Or a grass-seed must be removed under sedation or general anaesthesia to prevent rupture of the ear drum.

How can I prevent ear problems?

There are some things you can do:

Cut the hair around and inside the ear flap short to allow better circulation of air if your pet has a hairy, floppy-type ear flap.

Get your groomer to pluck the ears regularly to prevent matting and build up in the hair down into ear canal.

Use an ear cleaner once or twice monthly, or after swimming. This has antibacterial agents that protect against a broad range of infections. It also dissolves the wax and debris inside the ear and allows the dog to shake it out. It also dries out the ear if your dog has been swimming or water has gone into the ear during a bath. Do not poke things like cotton buds into your dog’s ears as you may cause further damage, including pushing wax or debris further down into the canal. Cotton wool and your finger is as small as you should go.

Control allergies. Allergies often cause or contribute to ear problems, as the inside of the ear is lined with skin, and skin is usually the primary organ affected with allergies in dogs and cats.

Infections in the middle and inner sections of the ear will not produce a discharge or an odour that is visible under most circumstances.

Otitis media is an infection of the middle ear. This is the section on the inside of the ear drum and contains the small bones that vibrate with sound and allow hearing. Infections in this section of the ear will not produce a discharge in the outer ear unless the ear drum is damaged.

When we look down the ear canal at the ear drum, the membrane of the ear drum is often cloudy and ballooning outward because of the fluid swelling behind it. These are often bacterial from the outer ear, foreign objects such as grass seeds, viral and can result from colds, flu, allergies, or infections migrating their way up from the throat. There is a small pressure relieving tube called the eustachian tube, the one that sometimes pops when you yawn or swallow. This allows the pressure in the ear to equalise when air pressure changes around us to stop the ear drum from perforating. On occasion, infections will track up this tube into the middle ear.

Clinical symptoms may include: pain in the head or neck, holding the neck in a guarded position, tilting the head, scratching at the ears (without otitis externa being present), yawning excessively, crying out in pain, ataxia/incoordination, facial paralysis, some loss of hearing, seizures, and fatigue.

Treatment will usually involve oral medication, as ear preparations cannot cross the intact ear drum. If the ear drum is damaged generally, the ear will be cleaned with sterile saline only because of the risk of causing hearing loss. Your vet may take a sample of the fluid from the internal chamber and send it to the laboratory to identify the specific bacteria and suitable antibiotic where an infection is suspected, to make the correct treatment choice. We will often also use some form of pain control to improve your dog’s comfort as this condition can be excruciating. Some animals may require surgery to remove all or part of the ear drum to allow relief of pressure and therefore pain, and to encourage drainage of infected fluids. The ear drum will usually grow back in a month with control of the infection.

Otitis interna is an infection in the innermost chamber of the ear. This section has several important functions and symptoms may include loss of hearing or balance, loss of appetite, nausea, head tilt, circling, leaning or falling toward the affected side, general incoordination, or spontaneous horizontal flicking of the eyes with the fast phase away from the affected side. Extension of infection from the inner ear to the brain leads to meningitis, meningoencephalitis, or abscesses.

Diagnosis is difficult as this chamber is part of the bony skull. X-rays can detect changes in the bony part of the bulb that makes up the inner ear and fluid may be suspected if the area is less ‘transparent’ than normal. However, more sensitive CT and MRI are preferred if feasible and will give a definitive diagnosis.

Otitis interna is a very serious condition. If your dog is unable to eat or drink normally due to nausea or disorientation, then hospitalisation for intravenous fluid therapy is generally warranted. Nausea must be controlled and dehydration avoided. Treatment will usually involve oral or injectable medications and in some instances surgery to drain the chamber and instil medication directly into the inner ear. This is a very complex surgery and often referral to a specialist will be advised.

Two potential long-term complications of inner ear infection include a permanently altered sense of balance and/or persistent signs of Horner’s syndrome. Your dog may also become permanently deaf in the affected ear.

That said, most dogs with otitis interna respond well to medical management. Expect a two- to four-month course of oral antibiotics to prevent a relapse. The altered sense of balance is typically improved within two to six weeks. Small dogs may recover their balance more quickly than large breeds. In recurrent severe cases, some dogs may have the entire inner, middle and external ear chambers removed (total ear ablation) to relieve their symptoms. Thankfully, this is very rare.

Fortunately, middle and inner ear infections are relatively uncommon compared to external ear issues.

As a side note, some dogs will shake their heads so violently they can cause bleeding between the layers of cartilage in the ear flap, which creates a pocket of blood called a haematoma. Small bleeds may resolve without drainage or surgery, larger ones may require surgical correction as well as the treatment of the ear irritation or infection.

Often the ear flap will scar leaving it thickened and looking more like a crinkle cut chip. Your vet is best to advise you on how to manage this and don’t be surprised if they delay surgery to let clotting to take place and bleeding to stop as well as allowing time to get the infection under control.

Veterinarian Dr Karen Davies owns and uses hunting dogs and has broadened her expertise to include animal rehabilitation, animal physiotherapy and animal hydrotherapy services. Readers of Field & Game Magazine can draw on her experience and expertise by submitting questions to editor@fieldandgame.com.au

Karen can be consulted at Direct Vet Services, 8/22–30 Wallace Ave, Point Cook, VIC; Email: directvetservices@bigpond.com or Tel: (03) 9369 1822.

Daniel opted for a venison ragout as a way for hunters to use tougher cuts of meat.

“I used some back leg and a shoulder which is just diced into cubes. First put the classic trio of finely chopped celery, onion and carrot into the pot and fry it off to start the base, then add star anise, juniper berry, cinnamon, cloves and extract the flavour.

“Then add the venison cubes to brown before adding tomato paste, red wine (something you would drink) and chicken stock and just let it cook for two hours.

“It is a really hearty rich-style ragout, which we served with chunky Paccheri pasta.”

Nobody in the crowd put their hand up when Riccardo Momesso asked if anyone had attempted venison carpaccio. He then proceeded to demonstrate how simple it is to make.

“There’s only one way to eat those primal cuts, you cut the back strap out, let is sit in the cool room to dry out a bit and then slice it as thin as possible,” he said.

“Salt, pepper, olive oil and a wild mushroom dressing made from rehydrated mushrooms is enough to cook it slightly and then you eat it on some toasted crostini, it is fantastic.”

The second dish from Australia’s game guru was a simple venison schnitzel.

Again using the back strap, you simply cut through between each two bones. Remove one of the bones from each piece and then use a meat tenderiser to gently flatten the schnitzel to 1 cm thick. It doesn’t need a hard whack, a soft touch is enough to break it down.

“To coat the schnitzel we use a mixture of bread crumb, parmesan cheese and wild herbs. Just pass it through the breadcrumbs, then an egg wash and back into the bread crumbs and pat it all down to get a good covering,” Riccardo said.

“Then just fry in the pan until golden then finish it in the oven to medium rare, season with salt and you have a beautiful meal that really respects the venison flavours.”

The first time it took hold in one of our outbuildings which contained traps and some firewood. It burnt to the ground and also melted the top of the septic tank attached to the toilet building.

A couple of days later, after a wind change, the fire returned to the area for another go, this time burning through 200 m of our rifle range, both sides of our DTL ranges and everything it could around the range including the large container we use for storage (melting the paint on the inside of the container due to the heat of the fire).

Luckily the fire fighters in the area managed to save our club house on both occasions which we are so very thankful for.

Due to unsafe conditions, only one member was permitted to go and check the range each day for damage, until clearance was given for four members to inspect the range after 11 am on February 9 when road closures were lifted.

When we arrived that day, the range appeared black and eerie. We spent several hours inspecting the boundaries of the range, signage etc. and establishing the extent of damage. We soon realised the gate at the entrance of the range had been damaged and we organised a repair the same day. We are extremely thankful to Jarrod Eaves, who after we made a phone call to him, dropped what he was doing and came with all the necessary equipment to fix the gate.

Next day, four members returned to continue fixing the fencing.

A working bee was organised for March 2 to replace the septic tank, signage, clean up burnt rubbish and complete securing and making safe the range so that the March shoot could be held the next weekend.

Another working bee was held on March 16 to clean up and remove the damaged outbuilding. We are extremely thankful to the Jarrod Eaves, George Eaves, Jono Price, Andrew Carr and Jason Abbott for the equipment and time they contributed to get us back up and running and to the other members who have been working tirelessly behind the scenes organising the supplies needed for the working bees and to the members who have turned up and helped on those days.

It goes to show how a small club can band together in a time of need and get things done.

Stephanie Fulton, Huon Field & Game

Then hunt protesters in the UK moved from demonstrations to entering land, assaulting people, endangering lives. A few months ago, a game restaurant in Toronto was the subject of a protest. This is a small business run on private property. Activist Len Goldberg said he believed things were improving, saying he saw new vegan items added to the menu after the second or third protest. “Progress was being achieved,” he said, presumably unaware of his unhappy knack for an Orwellian turn of phrase.

A few months before that, 35 vegan protesters raided a Melbourne restaurant shouting at customers and chanting anti-meat propaganda through loudspeakers. Staff were visibly shaken when protesters pushed video cameras in their faces, even though they asked not to be filmed. “To create change in our society, we must challenge belief systems and force people to take a side”, the group wrote on Facebook.

“It was hard to communicate with them”, the restaurant manager is quoted as saying. “I asked who was in charge and one lady said ‘we all are’. We were trying to talk to them but they were quite in-your-face with talking and speaking over the top of you — they were very loud, yelling,” she said.

“A couple of tables were very upset, to be honest, one table in particular was very emotional. We just did the best we could to calm the people, give them comfort that the police were coming.”

And of course, recently there has been the ‘cash for cruelty’ claim levelled at Animals Australia. It is alleged by several newspapers that this large, well-funded organisation paid low-income workers to treat live export animals badly so the acts could be ‘exposed’.

Today things like this are so common they hardly rate a mention. In this we err, and greatly err. Why? There is a word for all this. It’s deeply unfashionable, it’s old-school, it raises ghosts that perhaps we need to raise if we are to grasp what is going on. It’s the word used for those with a set of beliefs and the will to force others to live by them. It’s the word for those who think that advocacy, public debate, parliamentary reform, rule of law and democratic responsibilities don’t apply to them. The word is a simple one: fascist.

It’s a hazy term but the gist is clear enough. In 1944 Orwell himself (who had more than a passing familiarity with fascism of all kinds) said that “almost any English person would accept ‘bully’ as a synonym”. To many the word carries overtones of right-wing dictatorship, but in its broad political sense it applies to anyone willing to compel others to be like them using force. Here we have all the bullying features of fascism, but with a modern twist — fanciful nationalism has been replaced by fanciful animal ideology. And with fascism marches an old partner. Today we are seeing the death of empathy. Unlike violent protests (which are often just a handful of people), it runs deep and wide.

Not long ago a hunter in Canada found his wife and baby daughter killed and eaten by a grizzly bear. To any balanced person, it’s a tragedy. Bears are immensely powerful but not very fast killers. Having secured their prey they maul and chew, according to survivors. At some point that poor woman saw the bear and knew what a terrible mistake she had made. Her last moments would have been ugly and filled with frantic fear for her baby. It is hard to imagine a worse end.

Then the mask slipped to reveal something sinister. All over the world, comments on news sites were divided between those who sympathised and those who openly took pleasure in the fatalities, all because the father was a hunter. The second group have no problem with their callousness — their cause is ‘right’, so anything goes.

The rules of science don’t apply either. Invented research, gossip and anecdotes are trotted out to an undemanding press as facts. Certain opponents of duck hunting in Victoria are experts at it. Unlike real science, so often complex and uncertain, these media releases make simple, emotive and colourful reading because they have been expressly designed as clickbait. The lie told often enough becomes the truth.

The law recognises intent. Here the intent is unwholesome. It’s not really about saving creatures that many of these bullies can’t even name, but to make their human enemies less, to hurt them. Here’s a hint — if everybody is entitled to just your opinion, if you have to wear paramilitary gear and a balaclava to make that stick, maybe you’re the bad guy.

Most hunters known to the public through writing or television receive death threats, but it’s worth stepping back for a moment. Never in history has it been so easy to tell a complete stranger you’d like to kill them or their family. Before police existed, the response would have been rough justice. After police, it became a crime. But today it is so common that social media platforms are simply unable or unwilling to control it. It is expressed in countless ways, often misspelled, but most boil down to one simple premise: be like me or I’ll hurt you. We are becoming desensitised to this and are all cheaper for it.

We’ve seen this before. You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. Red flags should go up when you hear the end justifies the means. It’s not drawing too long a bow to say that the civilised world spent most of the 20th century fighting this. We can make war on it when it’s another country but today it walks among us and we seem to have no answer. We have defeated many dictators but the religion is still out there.

Whenever there is a war crime we wonder how they found people willing to do the dirty work. The truth is on any social media platform. There are plenty of people willing to sign up for atrocity without even being coerced into it. Those who talk loudest about rights and diversity are the first to take them away, I find.

It’s tempting to think all this is about hunting but it isn’t. It’s about the society we live in. It’s about the right to enjoy life and legal activities without oppression. And it should worry the man in the street because if duck hunting were gone, then it would be fishing and meat, and then the next thing and the thing after that. It’s a slippery slope with no end.

There is something ugly and broken about all this. I don’t have the answers, except to look back on the past and those who defeated undemocratic bullying before. And the first step was always the same — to step back from the fog, see the situation clearly for what it is, to name it aloud.

And to remember that in the long game no fascist idea has ever lasted. They burn bright at first but always falter in the end. Why? Because they do not come from an honest heart. Because they are about revenge and the pursuit of power for its own sake.

And because there are always — and I do mean always — those who will stand against them, who will never surrender.

Members of Geelong Field & Game have been constantly monitoring and reporting on changed conditions in relation to the Curlew Sandpiper in a bid to have the area known as Hospital Swamps opened.

The media statement from the Game Management Authority is below  which includes maps of the areas.

One wetland to reopen and one to partially close to duck hunting

The Victorian Government will reopen part of Lake Connewarre near Geelong to duck hunting and has now partially closed a section of Lake Bolac south of Willaura due to the presence of a significant number of threatened birds.

The previously closed area of Lake Connewarre State Game Reserve known as Hospital Swamps will reopen to duck hunting on Tuesday 14 May as recent monitoring has shown that the large number of critically endangered Curlew Sandpiper previously on the wetland have now left the area.

The northern section of Lake Bolac will close to duck hunting tomorrow due to the presence of a significant number of Freckled Duck, (see map below).

The rest of Lake Bolac will remain open to hunting, however, hunting hours will be restricted to between 8:00am and 5:00pm from tomorrow to remove the risk of Freckled Duck being misidentified by hunters during low light conditions in the morning and evening.

Hunting from boats at Lake Bolac is still prohibited due to the presence of a large number of threatened Blue-billed Duck which tend to reside in the middle of the lake. However, hunters are permitted to use non-motorised boats to retrieve downed birds hunted from the shoreline.

Game Management Authority CEO Graeme Ford said regularly monitoring Victoria’s wetlands helps to ensure that threatened species are protected and duck hunting remains sustainable.

“Government officials monitor open and closed wetlands throughout the season. The hunting status of these wetlands may change if circumstances change," Mr Ford said.

“Changing hunting times or methods such as prohibiting hunting from boats also helps to ensure that threatened species are better protected, and duck hunting remains sustainable.”

“In summary, Hospital swamps at Lake Connewarre will now open to duck hunting next Tuesday, the northern section of Lake Bolac will close and on the rest of the lake, hunting from boats will remain prohibited and hunting times will be restricted to between 8:00am and 5:00pm,” Mr Ford said.

“As always, hunters should be on the lookout for protected species and clearly identify their target before shooting. If you are NOT SURE, DON’T SHOOT.”

Victoria's 2019 duck season closes half an hour after sunset on Sunday 19 May.

GMA Game Officers, Victoria Police and other authorised officers from partner agencies will remain active throughout private and public land across the state for the remainder of the season to ensure people act in a safe and responsible manner.

For more information on the duck season, please visit www.gma.vic.gov.au

The water issue raised by the Coalition Against Duck Shooting is a decade old and was dealt with at the time. CADS conveniently ignores Gary's lifelong commitment to the natural environment, his role in driving the Heart Morass Restoration Project and the countless hours he has contributed as a volunteer to restore this important wetland.

The hunters, birdwatchers, bushwalkers and eager school groups who regularly enjoy Heart Morass thank him, so to do the ducks and other native waterfowl, endangered frogs and many other inhabitants of this world class wetland.

Heart Morass would not exist without the commitment of Field & Game Australia, its charitable WET Trust and the efforts of dedicated volunteers led by Gary Howard. FGA and its members have built an enviable reputation for conservation over many decades. Our members get their hands dirty making a practical and valuable contribution to the environment. CADS, the self-appointed saviours of native waterfowl only get their hands dirty slinging mud, they have never lifted a finger to protect, rehabilitate or create habitat. They happily ignore the accepted science that habitat and water are the critical factors for waterfowl populations, not highly regulated and sustainable hunting.

The ongoing efforts of FGA, Wet Trust and our volunteers demonstrate why we are Australia's most surprising conservationists. We won’t stop fighting, no matter how much mud is slung.

FGA raised concerns about a dangerous escalation of CADS activism prior to the 2019 Duck Season commencing. Over Easter this activist organisation continued to promote its "investigative and enforcement" teams being on wetlands. We described this activity pre-season as vigilantism and we will again be asking authorities how they can tolerate activists purporting to be the regulators.

As demonstrated recently, animal rights extremists will invade farms, prevent businesses from operating and disrupt city workers purely for the publicity. They operate with no respect for the law, or the rights and views of others.

FGA continues to work with authorities to address the issues of hunter harassment, both on and off the wetlands, and we will keep members updated on the progress of those discussions.

Dean O'Hara. CEO, Field & Game Australia

Field and Game Australia CEO, Dean O'Hara has an important update for members about the recent disruption by animal rights activists in the Melbourne CBD on Monday 8 April, 2019.

Click on the below video view the CEO update

The disruptive vegan protest which shut down part of the Melbourne CBD and several abbottoirs demonstrates the need for more action to curb extremest activism.

Animal rights activists are entitled to their view, but not to interfere with other citizens going about their lawful business; whether that is getting to school, catching a tram to the city or hunting legally.

Field & Game Australia has no issue with peaceful protest and we can accept that minorities may have different views.

We don't accept that a minority of extremists should be able to interfere with the broader public, our agriculture sector or legal cultural pursuits like hunting.

More needs to be done nationally to curb the excesses and bring these extremists back into the fold of civil society where differing views are accepted and people are respected.

Click here to read The Weekly Times article about the 'farce' related to the recent animal activist court appearances.

Dean has a strong background in management; dealing with government (both politicians and bureaucrats) and policing. He comes to us from Victoria Police, where he was Assistant Director – Head of Operations and Stakeholders and previously Head of Asset Services with Goulburn Murray Water. Prior to migrating to Australia, Dean spent 17 years serving with Sussex Police and left that force as a Forensic Specialist in major crime and counter terrorism investigation.

A resident of Mooroopna, Dean is a member of the local CFA , is an FGA member (Seymour) and two of his daughters have taken up simulated field shooting.

I am sure members will give Dean a warm welcome as he makes himself known around the branches.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Glenn Falla who stepped in as Interim CEO following Richard Light’s departure. Glenn has kept the ship running during one of our busiest and most complex periods, the run up to Duck Opening and the Opening itself. A job very well done.

FGA is facing a great many challenges and opportunities and I am confident that we have a top team of professionals to tackle them.

Dean said the role was a great opportunity to make a difference.

"It is really exciting to become a part of the Field & Game team," he said.

"I look forward to meeting and talking to members , I share your passion and I am committed to advancing the interests of Field & Game as the premier organisation for conservation, hunting and clay target."

We’ve seen the claims by anti-hunting activists that duck hunting is as good as dead.

The basis for this claim is the observed number of hunters at wetlands where they were operating, including lake Cullen near Kerang.

In 2018 and again in 2019 we also observed very few hunters on wetlands where activists were present.

Hunters have made a clear choice to avoid the circus, frustrated by years of inaction by authorities to prevent these zealots from entering the water in contravention of regulations and interfering with hunters by standing in their shot zone, or in their decoys.

FGA witnessed the same activity on opening morning at Lake Cullen and again we saw nothing being done to deal with the activists. While activists are able to operate with impunity and without regard to public safety, why would hunters expose themselves to the risk?

Activist will claim this is a win for the environment and ducks, but they won’t mention the economic loss to the township of Kerang,

A small family group that hunted at Lake Cullen spent $300 in Kerang on supplies for the weekend, while activists lined up at the wood fired pizza tent they brought with them.

Hunter numbers were also reportedly down on wetlands where the Game Management Authority was present. Again, this is in no way an indication of the health and popularity of duck hunting in Victoria. The GMA’s own data demonstrates over time that in severely restricted seasons the number of duck hunting permits purchased will dip; but it always recovers when conditions and season settings return to full levels.

Victoria has a shortened 9 week season, and a bag limit reduced by 50 per cent. It is understandable that some hunters will weigh up whether they will get value for money given the limited opportunity.

The duck hunting culture in Victoria is stronger than ever despite the constant attacks, harassment and vilification. Animal Justice MP Andy Meddick will announce details of his bill to ban duck hunting, a push driven by an ideology that includes making all Victorians vegan.

Labor and the Liberal/Nationals Coalition have expressed support for ethical and sustainable hunting which is what Victoria’s duck hunters demonstrated on opening weekend. There is no reason to change.

Hunters are proud and actively sharing their stories from the weekend, of family, friendship, and fetching wild food for the camp, We are alive and kicking and to paraphrase Mark Twain “reports of our death are greatly exaggerated”.

The statement issued by the Coalition Against Duck Shooting (CADS) is a dangerous escalation which encourages activists to take the law into their own hands. It demands a targeted response from regulatory authorities.

Victoria’s 26 000 duck hunters participate in a legal, but highly regulated activity and abide by those laws. Those who don’t should be prosecuted.

For years, activists have been allowed to flout laws restricting when they can enter wetlands and preventing them from impeding or getting too close to hunters. These activists regularly capture birds preventing hunters from retrieving and humanely dispatching them, as required, and prolong their suffering to be seen “rescuing” ducks. The consequence is that hunters can legally harvest another duck to replace the one taken by the activist.

Hunters show respect for the game birds which provide food for the family table and give back through wetland conservation, lobbying for water for wetlands, nesting support and predator management. CADS takes wounded birds before they can be quickly and humanely dispatched, extends their suffering and when they can’t be saved keeps the carcass to toss on the steps of Parliament.

CADS grossly exaggerates the wounding rate and draws a link between the contaminant PFAS and cancer which is contrary to the existing science, sadly, this is familiar behavior.

When activists parade a dead game bird the questions should be how many laws were broken to obtain it? Was it taken from someone who legally hunted it? Was its suffering prolonged? And will it meet a useful end on the table or be wasted to fuel their propaganda?

With reported outbreaks of avian botulism claiming water birds in parts of Victoria, perhaps the first question should be whether a bird was shot at all?

EPA have issued this precautionary advice following further testing of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) concentrations across Victorian wetlands, including adjacent to Heart Morass, where advice was in place for the 2018 Duck Season.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand and the Environmental Health Standing Committee (enHealth) report there is no consistent evidence that PFAS are harmful to human health. However, since these chemicals accumulate and remain in humans and the environment for many years, it is recommended that as a precaution, human exposure to PFAS be minimised wherever possible.

The updated EPA fact sheet is provided below.

The spreadsheet can be downloaded here

A PDF version can be downloaded here

Happy hunting.

Field & Game Australia has been represented at the meetings around management of wetlands, particularly those with protected or endangered species present. We will continue to engage in this process throughout the season, including lobbying for wetlands to be opened for hunting when circumstances change.

The announcement will be no surprise to FGA members who attended duck fever nights this week who were briefed on the situation. We also wanted these announcements made as early as possible to allow hunters to plan their opening weekend, so it is pleasing it has been done today rather than next week, as we initially expected.

For clarity the season arrangements are below followed by the closure/restriction details. We will continue to keep members informed of any changes throughout the season.

UPDATE: The Game Management Authority has released this statement

Wetland closures for the opening of the 2019 duck hunting season

The following wetlands or parts of wetlands will be closed from the start of the 2019 season to protect or prevent disturbance to significant numbers of threatened birds:

· Hospital Swamps (part of the Lake Connewarre State Game Reserve, near Geelong) will be closed to hunting due to the disturbance hunting would have on a large number of critically endangered Curlew Sandpiper prior to their migration to Siberia. The remaining wetlands that make up the Lake Connewarre State Game Reserve (Reedy Lake, Salt Swamp and Lake Connewarre) will remain open to hunting.

· Lake Bolac (adjacent to the township of Lake Bolac): Hunting from boats will be prohibited due to the presence of a large number of threatened Blue-billed and Freckled Duck. However, hunters are permitted to use non-motorised boats to retrieve downed birds hunted from the shoreline.

· Lake Linlithgow (near Hamilton) will be closed to hunting on the opening weekend only due to the presence of a large number of Blue-billed Duck. Hunting from boats will be prohibited on Lake Linlithgow for the remainder of the season. However, hunters are permitted to use non-motorised boats to retrieve downed birds hunted from the shoreline.

· Lake Lonsdale (near Stawell) will be closed to hunting due to the presence of a large number of threatened Freckled Duck.

· Lake Murphy State Game Reserve (near Kerang) will be closed to hunting due to the presence of a large number of Freckled Duck.

· Pine Lake (near Horsham): Hunting from boats will be prohibited on Pine Lake due to the presence of a large number of Blue-billed Duck. However, hunters are permitted to use non-motorised boats to retrieve downed birds hunted from the shoreline.

· Round Lake (near Lake Boga) will be closed to hunting due to the presence of a large number of threatened Blue-billed Duck and Caspian Terns.

· Tower Hill State Game Reserve (13 km north west of the township of Warrnambool) will be partially closed to hunting due to the presence of a significant number of Blue-billed Duck. The western half of the lake will be closed to hunting but the eastern half will remain open.

· Round Lake, part of the Cope Cope State Game Reserve (south of Donald) will be closed due to the presence of a large number of Freckled Duck and Blue-billed Duck.

As in previous years, Kow Swamp near Gunbower and Reedy Lakes (Reedy, Middle and Third Lake) at Kerang will be closed for the entire season to reinforce their status as wildlife sanctuaries where hunting is prohibited.

Game Management Authority (GMA) CEO Graeme Ford said closing wetlands or prohibiting hunting from a boat ensures that threatened species are protected and duck hunting remains sustainable.

"Through closing wetlands or regulating hunting methods, such as boating, where appropriate and paying close attention to bird numbers, we are able to ensure that rare and threatened species are protected," Mr Ford said.

"Government officials will monitor the closed wetlands throughout the season. If the reason for the closure no longer exists, they will be recommended to be reopened for hunting."

Hunters are reminded that the daily bag limit is four game ducks per person on the opening weekend, with a five game duck per day bag limit for the remainder of the nine week season. The hunting of Blue-winged Shoveler is not permitted for 2019.

As per last year, hunting on the opening weekend of the 2019 season will commence at 9.00 am on Saturday and 8.00 am on Sunday across the whole of Victoria as part of a two-year trial to ensure an orderly start to the season. For the rest of the season, hunting times will revert to the standard period of half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset. The season closes half an hour after sunset on Sunday 19 May.

Hunters are reminded they are required to immediately retrieve any ducks they shoot and ensure they harvest at least the breast meat from the duck.

GMA Game Officers, Victoria Police and other authorised officers from DELWP, DJPR, Victorian Fisheries Authority and Parks Victoria will be patrolling wetlands across the state during the duck season to ensure hunters act in a safe and responsible manner.

For more information on the duck season, please visit www.gma.vic.gov.au

Field & Game Australia has been asked to promote this research survey and encourage members to take the time to participate.

The Commonwealth Department of Health has commissioned RMCG to conduct the first national survey on the economic and social benefits of recreational hunting and shooting which follows similar studies in Victoria and New South Wales.

This is important and valuable research so please click the link and complete the survey. Share the link in your own circles and encourage other hunters and shooters to participate.

The research covers:

- the spending associated with recreational hunting and shooting
- the impact of recreational hunting and shooting on physical health
- social benefits of recreational hunting and shooting

People all over Australia will be able to take the survey over the next few weeks. The survey takes 15-20 minutes to complete.

Click this link to take the survey

Background

A 2013 study found game hunting licence holders generated an economic impact (direct and indirect impacts of game and pest hunting) of $439 million in Victoria .

In NSW, the 2017 hunting economics survey found that recreational hunting by the 19,000 NSW game hunting licence holders accounts for $119 m of Gross State Product and 860 jobs within the NSW economy.

The 207,000 non-game licence holders account for between $446m and $1,366m of Gross State Product and between 3,932 and 11,572 jobs.

Field & Game Australia is the nation's premier organisation for conservation, hunting, and clay target sports. For more information, including how to apply for this exciting role, please refer to the position listing on seek.com.

Port Phillip
Tuesday 5th March
Veneto Club, Bulleen

Shepparton - Trelly's
Wednesday 6th March
6.30pm to 10pm
Trelly's Outdoor - 209 Corio Street, Shepparton
FREE entry

Geelong
Thursday 7th March
6pm to 9pm
Geelong Racecourse - 99 Breakwater Rd, Breakwater
Adults $10, Kids under 18 FREE
Present your current FGA membership for an additional ticket for the door prize of a shotgun

Sale
Friday 8th March
Sporting Legends, Sale

Bendigo
Pre-Duck Season Practice Shoot
Saturday 2nd March
12.00pm (midday) start
Collins Road, Bagshot
GMA on site to answer questions, SEP trainers to help pattern-test your field gun with hunting loads, sausage sizzle, car boot sale (hunting, camping, fishing gear) and more.

"It's a legitimate recreational activity that many Victorians participate in, " Acting Premier Jacinta Allan said on Monday.

"We have no plans to change that."

In a media statement lone Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick claimed anti-hunting statements from newly minted Liberal member for Brighton, James Newbury as "cross party support" but the Liberal-Nationals coalition quickly came out to also back duck hunters.

"Every year almost at the start of duck season someone comes out and calls for banning duck season," opposition agriculture spokesman and Nationals Leader Peter Walsh said.

"I would have thought for new crossbenchers in the upper house there is a lot more important issues in Victoria than talking about duck hunting."

Mr Meddick, the only surviving Green in the Parliament Samantha Ratnam, and Reason Party's Fiona Patten's announced they would join with other crossbenchers to convince the re-elected Labor government to ban duck hunting.

According to reports about half the 11-member crossbench in the upper house, including two members of the Derryn Hinch Justice Party are supportive.

The announcement is welcomed by Field & Game Australia which has been campaigning for a better resourced GMA. We support the additional resources for research, and development of an adaptive harvest model that will take the politics out of season setting. However, the package does not address the need to expand the role of the GMA to promote hunting in Victoria.

The announcement is below.

FUNDING BOOST TO KEEP GAME HUNTING SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE

The Andrews Labor Government is boosting funding to the Game Management Authority to ensure hunting remains safe, responsible and sustainable this hunting season, and in future seasons.

The Game Management Authority (GMA) is an independent statutory authority responsible for the regulation of game hunting in Victoria. It promotes sustainability and responsibility in game hunting and delivers programs to improve responsible hunting across the state in conjunction with its partner agencies.

The $6 million boost over four years will deliver:

• a 30 per cent increase in GMA staff to improve enforcement and stakeholder engagement

• new equipment for new and existing compliance officers

• increased research capacity • education campaigns

• A new Game Licensing System

This funding will help the GMA enforce the strict conditions placed on duck hunting in Victoria, to ensure that it is done in a safe and sustainable way.

The Labor Government has also committed to the implementation of a new Adaptive Harvest Model to improve the way populations of duck and other bird numbers are assessed.

This will strengthen the scientific basis of future decision making and compliments the Government’s Sustainable Hunting Action Plan.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Agriculture Jaclyn Symes

“This additional funding is part of our Government’s commitment to ensure that game hunting is conducted in a safe, responsible and sustainable way.”

“Game hunting is a legal recreational activity that generates jobs and economic benefits for rural and regional Victoria.”

“The GMA and partner agencies, including Victoria Police, DELWP, DJPR, Victorian Fisheries Authority and Parks Victoria, will continue to work together to ensure people act in a sustainable and responsible manner and comply with hunting and public safety laws.” 

The season is reduced from 12 to 9 weeks with four birds per day on opening weekend and five per day for the remainder of the season and no Blue-winged shoveler in the bag.

Field & Game Australia statement

We are disappointed by Minister Symes & Minister D’Ambrosio’s announcement of a heavily modified 2019 Victorian Duck Season.

Through the submission process Field & Game Australia advocated for a full bag of 10 birds per day and a full length season and provided ample scientific and empirical data to support our position.

We have seen no compelling data from the government for us to modify our position. Our members are reporting widespread concentrations of birds across the state, particularly after the significant rainfall in early December.

More than 26000 duck hunters, the regulated participants and primary customers of the Game Management Authority, who pay the Government for the privilege, deserve a comprehensive explanation of the rationale behind this decision. We call for the Andrews Government to refund all duck hunting license holders 62.5% of their current license fees in line with the announced season modifications. It is only fair that the government reduce the fee in line with the reduced season.

The season setting process is flawed, secretive, relies on data not fit for the purpose and lacks any transparency. The complete absence of quality science backing this decision is a major concern and we call on the government to immediately overhaul the process to address these deficiencies and implement an adaptive harvest model as soon as possible to take the politics out of season setting.

We question what is trying to be achieved by the reduced bag limit and season length when the expert scientific view is that hunting has no adverse impact on the sustainability of waterbird populations.

All the Andrews government has achieved with this announcement is to further increase the economic hardship on regional Victoria by reducing the time and incentive for hunters to spend money in struggling regional centres.

Richard Light

CEO, Field & Game Australia

GMA Media Release

Dry conditions lead to restrictions for 2019 duck season

The Game Management Authority (GMA) has today outlined the arrangements for the 2019 duck hunting season including changes to the season length and the daily bag limit.

Prevailing and persistent dry conditions across eastern Australia has reduced duck numbers, breeding and wetland habitat in Victoria. As a result, the GMA advised the Victorian Government that a modified season was necessary to reduce the seasonal harvest, to ensure duck hunting is conducted responsibly and duck numbers remain sustainable.

The 2019 duck hunting season will be modified from twelve to nine weeks commencing on Saturday 16 March 2019 and closing on Sunday 19 May 2019.

Hunters will be restricted to four game ducks per day on the opening weekend, with a five game duck per day bag limit for the remainder of the nine week season. The hunting of Blue-winged Shoveler will again be prohibited throughout the entire season.

As per last year, hunting on the opening weekend of the 2019 season will commence at 9.00 am on Saturday and 8.00 am on Sunday across the whole of Victoria as part of a two-year trial of opening the season during daylight hours. For the rest of the season, hunting times will revert to the standard period of half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

The settings for the 2019 duck season are based on analysis of habitat and waterbird surveys conducted across eastern Australia and other data relating to game duck abundance, habitat distribution and climate.

Hunters are reminded of the laws introduced last year requiring them to immediately retrieve all game ducks that they shoot and to at least salvage the breast meat from a duck to ensure that harvested game is not wasted. These laws formalised what is already standard practice for responsible hunters.

The GMA and partner agencies, including Victoria Police, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions and Parks Victoria, will be out again in force in 2019 to ensure compliance with both hunting and public safety laws.

As in previous years, the GMA will continue to monitor conditions in the lead up to and during the season. Where warranted, wetlands may be closed to hunting to protect significant concentrations of waterbirds.

Details of the 2019 duck season, including fact sheets and information about any wetland closures throughout the season, will be available on the GMA website in due course.

Over the years I have observed hunters throwing different objects in the direction of a bird their dog has not seen fall — rocks, sticks, even a live round, in an attempt to get their dog to go in that direction and hopefully find the bird.

The dog will go to the splash and hunt around there, while his master shouts encouragement (or not) from the bank, boat or hide; meanwhile, birds are passing or flaring off.

It can be amusing or annoying to those hunting nearby. This is a typical situation for a gundog not taught to pick up unseen game.

So, how do we avoid this scenario? It is not that difficult and can be very rewarding provided you are prepared to allocate the time.

Training starts when a pup is quite young, six to eight months of age, but don’t despair if you have an older dog — the fact is, you can teach a dog of any age to run blinds.

While most of the birds he will retrieve in the field will be in water, he must master this training on land first; corrections and adjustments are much easier to make on land, and you also want your dog chock-full of confidence before going to the water.

The basic requirements before you start is to have your dog retrieving reliably to hand and remaining seated while you walk off and return. There are various methods of teaching blinds, and although I have simplified the information for the working gundog and his owner, I’ve used these and variations of the following methods successfully for many years.

Step 1 — Employing the fence or straight edge again, same as the back cast, we heel the dog along, dropping a dummy as we go and letting your dog see you do this. Twenty metres is far enough initially, the same as we did for the back command, only this time we turn and face the dummy with your dog beside you. Using the command you have chosen (dead bird or blind), line him back in the direction of the dummy, making sure he doesn’t leave you too quickly. Hold him briefly as you cue him before sending (I have a six foot check cord attached to the dog’s collar for this purpose) and just like the back command, you gradually extend the distance as he progresses. When he is confidently lining out to 100m, then it is time for a change of scenery.

Step 2 – Walking through a park or, preferably, a paddock, which gives your dog better exposure to different types of terrain, place a peg in the ground.

I use the temporary electric fence pegs available from farm supply stores; they have a spike on one end, making them easy to push into the ground and are light and easy to see. You can also use natural features like a stump, tussock or tree.

When you have chosen your marker, drop the dummy again, letting dog see, and heel him away a distance that you are confident he will handle, before lining and verbally cueing him back for the blind.

While holding a good line, you can extend the distance in this exercise by dropping two or three dummies: send for the first at 50m, when he returns walk off another 20 m on the same line and send for the second, and on return, move on another 20 m.

Step 3 — Using a different part of the paddock, select a start point and mark it with a peg or existing feature — make sure you identify it clearly as you will use the same spot often!

From this position then choose two or three spots to place your blinds, again easily identifiable: the first at about 40m, the second at 60m, the third at 80 m. The angle between these points from the start position needs to be at least 60 degrees between each one.

Although you have chosen multiple points to place blinds, you will start with just one! Sit your dog and walk out to the first blind, then turn and face your dog, and using the command for blinds, drop a dummy on the ground, return and line, using the verbal cue to send for this blind, again making sure he does not go too quickly.

Run this blind no more than three times in one session, two or three times a week for three weeks — keep in mind these timelines are general only, every dog is different.

When your dog is confidently running this first blind it is time to turn it into a memory blind. This is achieved by delaying the retrieve: after placing the blind, heel him away a short distance before returning to send. You will gradually increase the time before sending until you can place blind without him seeing you do this.

If you have schooled him properly he will not hesitate in running out to retrieve the dummy. If he hesitates or runs off on a different line, then you have moved on too quickly. Go back and rebuild.

When successful, introduce the second blind as a separate exercise, the same as for the first. I do not move on to the third until my dogs are confidently picking up both blinds unseen.

It is important you maintain enthusiasm in your dog; don’t go out and throw 20 marks and expect him to still be keen when you run blinds.

Next issue: distractions and water blinds.

It is a time almost beyond our imagination now. The electrical outlet makes its debut at the World’s Fair and will soon light the world. Number plates are introduced in the United Kingdom for the first time, and Herbrand Russell, the 11th Duke of Bedford, is quietly planning to do something that nobody has ever done before. The year is 1904.

His goal was a bold one: to send six Himalayan tahr from the zoological gardens of Woburn Abbey (some only captured in recent times from the highlands of India) to a British colony on the far side of the globe. To reach the South Island of New Zealand the small herd would make the longest journey ever undertaken by an alpine animal. It did not pass without incident. They left Plymouth on the SS Corinthic, a steamship of the White Star line. For reasons lost to history, the tahr were placed under the care of the ship’s butcher. During the journey one of the bulls escaped and raced around the deck before finally flinging himself into the ocean, the first and only tahr in history to drown at sea. The herd was released at Mt Cook among the snow-capped mountains of the Southern Alps. The aim was to make the new country a sportsman’s paradise.

The introduction was successful. A second shipment was dispatched in 1909 and by the late 1920s tahr were well enough established for licensed seasons.

In New Zealand tahr numbers are not controlled by wolves and snow leopard as they are in their native range. People must be their predators here. They can be excellent on the table and have been sold as specialist game meat. In recent decades they have moved to a multi-million dollar industry as a premier game animal for international hunters (who are classed by NZ Tourism as ‘high value’ tourists.) Between accommodation, guides, hospitality and other spending, each tahr bull is estimated to have an average worth of $14 000 to the New Zealand economy. Just let that sink in for a moment.

The terrain in which they live is unquestionably beautiful. The mountain slopes seem endless and alpine weather is fickle. This is a game played with top quality optics and if visibility is low, the day can be lost. It can be relatively easy, or there can be exposed crossings, snow and avalanche risk. A bull that is not cleanly dropped may never be recovered. You can die chasing these creatures. Many have.

The Tahr Control Plan has been in place since 1993. It was an agreement between stakeholders — the Department of Conservation (DoC), hunting groups and others with an interest in alpine habitat. The plan set a limit on geographic range and a population number of 10 000 tahr.

But a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. On the hunting side, the number of professional guides in New Zealand has increased from a scant dozen or so to 10 times that number and more. The number of tahr and the number of bulls being taken has also gone up. The value of tahr to both professional and recreational hunters has grown enormously.

On the political side, New Zealand recently moved to a new coalition government made up of Labour, NZ First and the Green Party. This means the Greens hold a major bargaining chip within the new government, enough to snag their candidate Eugenie Sage a role as Minister for Conservation.

In the eyes of many this has exposed a weakness in the system. The Green Party won just over 6 per cent of the popular vote, and the new minister has never won a seat in parliament in her own right, relying on the complex ‘list’ system to become an MP. This means someone with no clear mandate from the people of New Zealand is now making the decisions that determine national policy on New Zealand’s wildlife. And it is very clear that for many people within the green movement, all introduced species — including trout and deer — are the enemy, to be eliminated at all cost. This is already green party ideology in Australia. It only needs a balance of power situation to give it wings.

It’s true the tahr population has increased, but by how much? Sadly, Australian duck hunters know this dance well. The aerial surveys used to determine Aussie duck seasons are open to all sorts of questions about methodology, but nothing comes close to the guesstimate used by the Department of Conservation as the basis of the proposed tahr cull. Using a single sample and extending it over vast areas of habitat (including terrain where tahr don’t live) they arrived at a possible tahr population of 35 000 with a margin for error at a whopping 50 per cent.

Based on that estimate the minister intended to cull 25 000 tahr by one means or another. This included shooting virtually all of those $14 000 bulls (not allowed for under the agreed plan) and leaving the majority of culled animals to rot.

Margin of error is not an academic nicety. If actual population is at the lower end of the estimate it would mean that the number of tahr to be shot is greater than the number of animals that exist on the ground. That’s extermination, not management. The reason offered was that tahr numbers had grown ‘out of control’ and were damaging alpine vegetation. But it is equally clear — by the department’s own admission — that no plant species has ever gone extinct because of tahr. Major culprits include hares and grasshoppers (a surprise, but apparently true) and the massive natural movement of rock and scree caused by the alpine environment itself. It’s also worth remembering that all alpine vegetation in New Zealand evolved under browsing pressure from a range of birds like the upland moa, takahe and kakapo. That’s why so many species have evolved browsing defence mechanisms (for example, the spines on spaniard and matagouri).

Greg Duley, publisher of NZ Hunter magazine, dubbed the proposed cull ‘Tahrmageddon’ on the basis that it could wipe out virtually all tahr on public land. The Game Animal Council — the statutory body set up to provide advice on these issues — was not involved in the decision.

As an FGA representative I was able to watch the dismantling of duck and quail seasons in Queensland. It followed the same path — a build-up of fake numbers by green and anti-hunting factions, followed by a sympathetic minister blindsiding the hunting groups involved. That one-two combination is how the game is played.

In this instance, the response from the hunting community both within New Zealand and overseas was staggering. A fighting fund was quickly set up. Donations poured in, including many from Australia, from hunters sensing the thin edge of the wedge. Many came from ordinary guys who understood the principles at stake. At the other end of the spectrum, the Dallas Safari Club quickly created a video of support, as did British hunting videographer Byron Pace with a first-class documentary, The Rise and Fall of a Mountain King. In parliament, the opposition quickly attacked the cull as unbalanced.

That fighting fund is currently heading towards $200 000. If needed it will be used to seek a court injunction to stop the cull, or to provide protection for tahr using valid population data. Setting tahr up as a Herd of Special Interest under the management of the Game Control Council is also an option.

The hunting community made good decisions. At the height of the controversy the minister attended the Sika Show, the biggest hunting expo in the country. Despite a tense situation she was treated with courtesy and was able to see at first hand the size of the industry she is negotiating with. Hunters were well-behaved and as a group we were able to keep the moral high ground. In a stunning move, ammunition suppliers across New Zealand refused to supply cartridges for a large-scale cull. (New Zealand is a small country and anyone breaking ranks to supply the cull would have lost business permanently.)

We often see social media as a tool for the anti-hunting community but in this instance the hunting team was absolutely on point, both in terms of message and speed. The result was a Dunkirk moment. Make no mistake, tahr were gone for all money on public land until all these steps were taken. But in short order hunters were able to bring the decision back to the table and put their views to the minister in a new management plan.

It seems to have resulted in a string of concessions — reducing the total cull from 25 000 to 10 000 for a start. That 10 000 to be made up of 6000 nannies from difficult access areas and the remainder to be taken by hunters (which is essentially the normal take anyway). No bulls to be culled and control to be carried out in measured and agreed ways with involvement of hunters. Wild Animal Recovery Operations (WARO) will be used where possible to utilise the carcasses.

As we go to press the minister seems to have moved in her understanding of how big the issue is, how united the hunting community is and how exposed the government is (in the legal sense) for its rushed approach.

The department seems to have accepted the need for proper consultation and reasonable management involving hunting groups. And hunting groups remain resolute, united and cashed up without any messy PR mistakes.

However, the final result hangs in the air. The fighting fund remains in place if the concessions are not realised. It’s now a waiting game to lock these concessions into a binding agreement.

Is this crisis over? Not by a long shot. There are so many ways this process could be derailed. Many hunters remember the department’s view back in 1993 — ‘that extermination (of tahr) is the preferred option.’

Whatever the future holds, the result of all this is much bigger than tahr. We may be turning the tide from ‘introduced pest’ to ‘managing the resource’. We’re the good guys and we acted that way. It was — and is — the defining moment of this hunting generation. We know how to do this now and no hunting problem will ever look the same again. We found our voice. I’m so damn proud of us.

I’d also like to say on behalf of all the Kiwi hunters out there still fighting, a thank you to our mates in Australia who chipped in for our Dunkirk moment. We got to live another day and now we begin the long fight back.

But when the dust settles it won’t be forgotten. I hope you never need us … but that if you do, we’ll be there for you, too.

It is a nice-looking gun, with a plain black satin finished action, with ProSport in gold at the bottom back corner of the receiver. The finish on the 30”, vented flat rib barrels is a more matt finish and does not reflect or distract from target acquisition. I liked the tapered rib too.

The wood is nicely grained with fiddleback flashes and the stock is straight with a palm swell on each side. The comb is adjustable for height and cast and has a unique locking/adjusting system that is accessed with an allen key through the upper right side of the recoil pad.

As a lefty I found that there was enough height and cast on adjustment for me to set it up quickly so I could consistently break targets. I fiddled with the height between my first and second rounds as I had it set up too high for my liking. I like a 60/40 height split and could easily achieve this with the adjustable comb. I found the length out of the box to be fine for me (6 ft tall and heavy set). There is a thinner pad in the case and it could easily be changed with the tools provided.

The example I tested had 32” barrels and I like them and didn’t find them too long, heavy or unbalanced. The barrels swing nicely and having shot the same course at Melbourne Gun Club with a Kolar with 30” barrels Vs the Browning with 32” barrels I feel it was easier to track the targets and that I was more consistent on 35m+ targets with the longer barrels on the Browning.

There is a brass mid sight and a hi-viz front sight that comes with plain narrow, broad chequered or plain broad angled options. Out of the box the test shotgun was fitted with the large green sight, but there’s also white or red provided.

The unique feature of this Browning is the extended chokes with a gas block ring at the base. This ring is designed to form a tight seal to block gasses from the barrel migrating between the back of the choke and the barrel.

The gun comes with eight chokes: Cyl, 1/4; 1/2; 3/4; Full (x2).

While the back of the chokes were not pristine after shooting 100 targets they were much cleaner than regular chokes having shot the same number of targets. For people not in the habit of regularly removing and cleaning their chokes I would assume the cumulative effect would help prevent getting chokes stuck or being hard to remove due to a lack of cleaning. The chokes patterned well and gave good consistent target breaks as long as I shot them in the middle.

I was shooting 32 gm and 28 gm 1250 and 1300 fps factory shells and with the gun weighing around 4 kg I did not notice the recoil and did not experience any excessive barrel movement between shots.

The action was tight (as you would expect from a new gun) and it closed positively with the top latch just to the right of centre on the top tang when closed. The safety was positive and easy to engage and disengage as was the toggle for barrel selection. The trigger is adjustable backwards and forwards via an included allen key and it comes with three shoes: a wide trigger shoe (reminiscent of the Superposed Browning trigger from the 1970s), a standard width modern trigger and a right-handed wide shoe trigger that is canted to the right for right-handed shooters.

I have not seen one of these on a production gun before, so would be interested to see how people like it.

The only firearm I have shot with such adjustment on a trigger was a Steyr LP10 E air pistol and found it to be comfortable.

Trigger pull is consistent and the triggers are mechanical, which would allow for easy fitting and tuning for a tube set for those sub gauge or skeet shooters out there.

The one issue I had was a misfire while shooting station 4 on the skeet field.

The trigger was frozen and would not move. I could not trace the source of the misfire and I did not experience any other issues with the gun while shooting 500 shells through it.

I was wondering if it was that I did not open the action fully after the last shot — leading to the hammers not resetting (but there should have been trigger movement in this case) or if I had my finger on the trigger when opening the action.

Either way I tried to replicate the misfire, but could not, the issue did not surface again and otherwise the firearm performed flawlessly.

Hunting weaves its way through the historical narrative of the Barwon Estuary, generating controversy and public debate in equal measure throughout the years.

Often ignored, or alternately, wilfully neglected in this narrative is the positive contribution made by dedicated waterfowl hunters to these valuable wetland environments.

Long gone are the days of large-scale commercial harvesting for the game meat market, and the virtually unregulated duck seasons where hunters operated according to abundance of waterfowl.

Duck hunting in the modern age is limited in duration and highly regulated to be both ethical and sustainable. It is not, as many would think, at odds with conservation principles, essentially because of the high value hunters place on the small number of ducks they harvest.

Because they value the natural resource, hunters are motivated to protect it, which is why they are Australia’s most surprising conservationists.

Geelong Field & Game formed in 1964 and for its members (most of whom are duck hunters), the Barwon Estuary is home.

During duck season, they take from it, ethically and sustainably harvesting wild food for the family table, but that is a fraction of their annual interaction with these important wetlands.

For many of the 10 000 people who now live near the Barwon Estuary it is a beauty to behold, a vista to enjoy from the verandah or a place to walk or play.

Hunters are different. They are outdoors people, with an innate curiosity that draws them to explore the natural world around them. Whether hunting or not, they are keen observers of weather, environmental conditions, water, plant life and, especially, bird life.

They will spend time observing and studying; for them, the Estuary is a lifelong classroom you keep attending to build knowledge and understanding.

In 1964, Ron Green owned a sports store and gun shop in central Geelong and he put a notice in his window to spark interest in forming a Field & Game branch.

“There was a branch in Colac; I had been to a target shoot with them, and I thought, why don’t we have a branch in Geelong?” he said.

Post World War II rifle shooters were well organised, partly because the government of the day encouraged participation and familiarity with long arms, a safety net for the defence of the nation.

Ron said shotguns were different, and these hunters were often poorly trained in safety and hunting practice.

“We used to run all the pre-duck season target shoots and saw a need to better train people and make them safe,” he said.

“The early aims were to coordinate hunters and improve safety and conserve our wetlands. One of our first projects was putting up duck nest boxes and observing how they were used and which birds used them; we did a lot of research work on Lake Connewarre.”

Field & Game emerged in 1958 amid concerns about the decline of the Pacific black duck.

More broadly, there was a view that Victoria’s rapid growth was occurring at the expense of nature, a point made by leading conservative politician Arthur Rylah in 1959.

“Without the increased wildlife-carrying capacity … the rapid development of the State will leave little living space for game birds and other wildlife,” he said.

The keen hunters who formed and guided Field & Game had a clear vision for the future. They recognised that the biggest influence on duck populations was habitat, not hunting.

They encouraged the Victorian government to impose a licence fee on duck hunters. The funds were used to set up network of State Game Reserves, protecting vital habitat.

Victoria has more than 200 SGRs covering 75 000 hectares, including Reedy Lake, Lake Connewarre, Hospital Swamp, Salt Swamp and Murtnaghurt Swamp.

For 60 years, Field & Game members have continued to contribute to the health of these wetlands through environmental works, nest boxes to support breeding, water and pest animal management, revegetation, weed control and rubbish removal.

John Long was an early president of Geelong Field & Game after joining in 1966. Now 85, he’s still an active hunter of foxes, which do untold damage to native species.

“We hunt ducks for 12 weeks a year but we spend the rest of the time on conservation projects; I spend six months of the year hunting foxes,” he said.

“The place was in a terrible mess at various times: there were car bodies and rubbish dumped there, we planted trees by the thousands and put in nest boxes.

“We have maintained it to be a pretty pristine waterway.”

One of the earliest environmental projects undertaken by hunters was building structures to return water to Hospital Swamp.

“I think there was an effort to make grazing land out of it and they had stopped the water getting into it,” John said.

At the time, John said they were accused of self-interest: creating a habitat just so they had more ducks to hunt.

“They couldn’t see we were trying to save a wetland that benefits all sorts of waterbirds and creatures,” he said.

“If it wasn’t for hunters it would be a wilderness and rubbish dump or drained for grazing; in those days the broader community just didn’t care about wetlands.”

Public debates about hunting on the Barwon Estuary have flared over the years and increasing urbanisation in the region guarantees that will continue.

If you delve into the Geelong Advertiser from 1871–3, you discover a three-cornered contest over Lake Connewarre.

The landholder, a Mr Rutherford of Lake Connewarre, took aim at the “big guns” in the pages of October 19, 1871.

“On Sundays particularly, the lakes are haunted by sportsmen, who keep up a regular fire from morning till night. The friends of Sabbath observance will do well to turn their attention to this matter.”

The “big guns” were swivel guns, used to fire into flocks for commercial harvest and they publicly defended their right in several articles and letters. One, on October 25, 1871 referred to Mr Rutherford’s claims as a “multiplicity of exaggerations”.

“His sole object for many years has been, if possible, to poison the public mind against the use of big guns on the lake. He forgets to mention that the wildfowlers are owners of land with ten times the lake frontage his has got, and that he is the only landowner who is against shooting on the lake with any kind of gun,” James Woolley wrote.

Under another attack, this time from ‘Sportsman’ or recreational hunters, who were concerned the big guns were decimating wild duck populations, Mr Woolley said his 18th season on Lake Connewarre had produced double the take of any season since 1853.

“The whole matter is selfishness from beginning to end on the part of those who raise a cry against the big guns,” he wrote.

In August 1872, following a public meeting and gathering of a petition, a Geelong delegation of game purveyors and fishers (concerned about netting restrictions) went to the Victorian Parliament and successfully argued for the withdrawal of the bill.

It was only a reprieve: eventually the swivel or punt guns were banned, and ultimately, as farmed food became more plentiful, commercial harvesting also ended.

What survives is recreational duck hunting: not a sport but a tradition that keeps its practitioners connected to nature and the self-reliance of harvesting your own food for the table.

Paramount in decisions to conduct hunting seasons is sustainability. Seasons are routinely abandoned or restricted based on duck numbers, observed breeding, water and environmental conditions.

This is not at odds with the ethos of the hunter.

Don White was a game officer in 1959 and at the same time managed the Fisheries & Wildlife research station at Serendip.

Don said he worked closely with Geelong Field & Game volunteers on many conservation projects.

“They were just about the only ones who were interested in wetland conservation at the time,” he said.

Projects were funded with money raised through game licence fees, so hunters were effectively paying for the conservation projects and then volunteering their labour to help.

“People think it was always there and always managed; they don’t know the amount of work put in, especially by Field & Game,” Don said.

Artificial drainage kept water out and grazing leases threatened the viability of the wetlands. That environmentally unfriendly regime changed with the designation of State Game Reserves.

“Part of my work was also negotiating to buy key pieces of private land that would make the wetlands viable. There had to be a fair bit of restoration done: Reedy Lake had a big tip on it where rubbish had been dumped, and while they were designated Crown Land, little effort as made to support waterbird habitat,” Don said.

Geelong Field & Game now meets at the Connewarre Wetlands Education Centre, established on 36 hectares of land bordering Hospital Swamp.

The Centre is a partnership with Field & Game Australia’s charitable trust, the Wetlands Environmental Taskforce, and is used as base for community education in wetland environments and their conservation.

The Centre has hosted the popular Bug Blitz program, an arts-based approach to engaging students with the environment.

It has also become a base for research into avian influenza.

Working with Professor Marcel Klaassen from Deakin University, Geelong members conduct a trap and release program to collect scientific samples from wild ducks.

The research involves capturing and studying the virus from the wild to understand how it evolves and how to protect against outbreaks in the human population.

Hunters are not just a part of the Barwon Estuary’s cultural history, they are part of its future.

Hunters value these important wetland environments and as they have demonstrated repeatedly, they are prepared to work hard to preserve them for all creatures and all users.

Ray Agg, whose conservation efforts with Geelong Field & Game span 50 years, is still as keen as ever to contribute to the heath of the Barwon Estuary.

“People want to live near those wetlands now, and we’ve stopped hunting the north side of Lake Connewarre because of that; we have made concessions but hunting can coexist,” he said.

“I love the place, I really love it.

“I just love getting out there; if I get a duck for the table, terrific, but I just like being out there in the wetland environment, I always have.

“It is hard to explain to people the love you have for the wetland; it is just a fantastic place and it is always a great experience.”

An e-petition sponsored by Victorian MP James Purcell gives a brief, and misleading, history of Tower Hill in the ‘grievance’, stating: “It was declared a National Park in 1892, but after years of degradation from clearing, over grazing and quarrying it was classified as a Game Reserve in 1961. This classification remains in spite of years of planting to revegetate the grounds, plus construction of a visitor centre designed by Robyn Boyd and run by the Worn Gundidj Aboriginal Co-operative.”

A more fulsome history would include the enormous amount of work done by hunters following the 1962 SGR declaration to restore Tower Hill based on Outlook, an 1855 painting by Viennese artist, Eugene von Guerard.

Barry Quigley, a life member of Warrnambool Field & Game, was one of those early volunteers.

“We did a lot of tree planting. I also helped organise the building of some islands; we had a number of working bees to do that,” he recalled.

Barry said that as well as restrictions on hunting times, access to some areas had been made more difficult by track closures.

Instead of locking out hunters, he suggested opening up access, not only for hunting but for conservation works in areas most people never get to.

“I’m not a big fan of National Parks, it tends to be a lock and leave situation,” he said.

“I’m well out of hunting but the restrictions on Tower Hill came in because it has become a bit of an icon as far as tourism is concerned. But the closure of tracks that were used for hunting years ago has meant people don’t see problems developing.”

Tower Hill, a volcanic formation created 30 000 years ago, is the largest nested maar formation in Victoria but as it pushed through the earth’s crust it also forged a shallow crater, which later filled with water to create the lake.

The importance of the site was recognised by hunters and soon after Field & Game formed in 1958, Max Downes, then superintendent of Game Management, made it abundantly clear in a report that hunters were needed to save Tower Hill.

“In summary, it is suggested that a State Game Reserve is the best way of developing the unique wildlife management potential of Tower Hill,” he wrote.

“This development could not be achieved under any other system. From a wildlife aspect, it is unnecessary to prohibit shooting on the lake since this will achieve no conservation purpose, yet considerably restrict public use of the reserve.”

The question being asked now, in light of the latest push, is what has changed?

“There are still people who use it for hunting despite the restrictions and there should be more input from the hunting fraternity on what happens and how it is managed,” Barry said.

“I still visit two or three times a month just to look through and it doesn’t appear to have the management it needs, most of the focus seems to be on the visitor centre and tourism,” he said.

“I can’t see any benefit in removing hunting as an activity there or turning it into a National Park.”

Warrnambool Field & Game president Geoff Morris said the branch put considerable money into the visitor centre, funding the planning and design costs to get it built.

“This latest push to take it away from being a State Game Reserve has been done very quietly,” he said.

“Not once have we been invited to go to one of the meetings or debate the issue.

“We deserve the right to be included in any discussion about reclassification; we were there right from the start and our members put a lot of time, effort and money into the volcano.”

The argument that Tower Hill should have been one of our first National Parks and that making the change would correct the historical record has little merit.

When it came to the time of gazetting, Tower Hill was considered to be so degraded it was left out. It was only in the 1960s after declaration as a State Game reserve that hunters and field naturalists joined together to rehabilitate the landscape.

The attraction visitors enjoy now exists in large part due to the volunteer conservation efforts of hunters.

“We had a lot to do with bringing the bird populations back and we put money into the information centre; we paid for the plans to be drawn up, it was called the Natural History Centre then,” Geoff said.

“As much as it is a tourist attraction, there has been very little money spent on it in recent times.

“We were there right at the start when they were crying out for people to help, and while it isn’t the easiest place to hunt ducks, if they want to change it, they should invite us to the table.”

The simple fact is that little has changed from those formative years when a range of challenging issues led to the creation of the original Victorian Field & Game Association.

Threats to wetland habitat, access for hunting, public opinion of hunters, hunter behaviour and political advocacy were very real issues in the 1950s, and they still are, so the fight is really a constant one to maintain and build on what we have.

Terry Whelan worked at a tannery with a lot of hunters and clay target shooters, and quickly joined Field & Game.

“I was always a keen shooter,” he said. “I remember going to church as a kid with Mum and Dad and following flies on people’s backs with my finger; I didn’t get any, I didn’t have the lead right probably.”

Terry, the youngest of seven children, grew up on a farm in Gippsland and by the age of 10, he was the proud owner of a Daisy air gun.

“It was ‘watch out for the birds’ around home then,” he said.

“I think I bought the first Lithgow .22 with rabbit skin money when I was 12. We roamed the paddocks; you didn’t even ask for permission then, you just went with the dogs and a rifle, or later a shotgun.”

Times were changing though, and in the early 1950s, the Field Sportsman’s Association formed to build better relationships with property owners and maintain areas to hunt.

Peter Ayres recalls meeting in Sale, where the idea for a hunter conservation organisation was first floated.

“There were several things on the agenda, the most important one was that all the wetlands were privately owned and we looked like losing them,” he said.

“We could see the writing on the wall.”

Peter said it was a reporter from the Gippsland Times, where he worked for 46 years, who planted the seed.

“He got up and said, ‘The only thing I can see is you fellas have to form an organisation and you have to pay a fee’, which brought a lot of groans,” Peter said.

“In those days there was no licence fee, no arms licence, nothing, but he said we needed to do it to buy the wetlands back.”

Peter said hunters were drawn to the idea because they had come to the realisation that if nothing was done, the habitat and hunting opportunity would be lost forever.

In those days, after a string of flood events, Peter said water was considered an enemy of progress.

“All they thought about was draining it,” he said.

Saving wetlands and convincing the government of the day to impose a fee on hunters and use the proceeds to set up the State Game Reserve network created a legacy still enjoyed by members today.

“I was really pleased when the Association formed and I’ve been involved ever since,” Terry said.

“Our family has always helped with the nesting boxes; I’ve got five boys and I have always encouraged them to be conservationists, we help with anything.”

Bryan James was also involved from the beginning of the Field Sportsman’s Association and later Field & Game.

“The Shire president Ray Archibald had property down at Hollands Landing and he was having a lot of trouble and looked like closing access to his property. He thought we should do something to create an organisation land owners could trust,” Bryan said.

“It didn’t take long to realise we needed an organisation that could also deal with government because there were concerns about the draining of swamps for farming and it was clear that government intervention would be needed.

“We needed something more than a disconnected crowd of shooters.”

Bryan said the achievements of those early days were made easier by having a sympathetic government led by Sir Henry Bolte, who was also a keen duck hunter.

Even so, he said the conservation efforts of hunters, and their willingness to pay to protect precious habitat, established a reputation that continues to serve us well.

“Our reputation speaks for itself,” he said.

Bryan was unable to make the 60th dinner but in a video message he said it should act as a new beginning for the next generation of hunter conservationists.

“It is perhaps a fresh starting point for the younger generation to strive to achieve the same things,” he said.

“You have to be pretty vigilant to make sure other people with different opinions don’t hold sway and you have to emphasise your conservation credentials.”

The birthday cake was cut by Tom Chick, who was granted Life Membership of Field & Game Australia during the evening.

The citation read:

‘Upon joining the board in the early 2000s, Tom, through his sound financial management, enabled the board to navigate its way through a severe financial crisis, which threatened the future of FGA.

‘During his 15 years as a board member Tom not only took responsibility for the financial aspects of FGA, but played an important operational role in a number of major projects and key activities from conservation projects, Duck Season openings, the National Carnivals, as well as human resources and payroll matters.

‘Tom has always displayed commitment and a willingness to get involved. He personifies the volunteerism that FGA values and relies on.’

A few days later, the significance of the award was still sinking in for a man whose passion for FGA is unbridled.

“It was totally unexpected and it is taking a while to sink in; it is very much appreciated,” Tom said.

Tom said he was fortunate to have the necessary skills at a time when they were most needed.

“It was very tough: we had, as the official record states, a fraud, and we were supported very strongly by our branches to get back on our feet,” he said.

“I steered the ship but I had a great chairman and a terrific set of people on the board. We did what we had to do: restore systems, turn around the finances and set a platform for the organisation.”

While the turnaround in finances was significant, Tom said that, during the same period, membership grew from 8500 to 17 000, the National Carnival was established as a premier event, and FGA returned to being a strong voice for conservation, hunting and responsible firearm ownership.

“My role was just one part of that,” he said.

“Walking into the room for the 60th was absolutely brilliant, to see old friends and to see an organisation that still has so much passion.”

Max Downes, a patron of Field & Game Australia, gave an impromptu address at the dinner on the importance of reminding non-hunters of our conservation history and our important contribution to preserving wetland habitat.

Professor Marcel Klaassen from Deakin University gave the keynote speech on his important research into avian influenza.

The suggestion that another pandemic like Spanish flu, which killed more people globally than were killed by munitions in World War I, is a matter of when, not if, might seem a little glum for a party.

However, Prof Klaassen had plenty of positives to report, particularly his relationship with Geelong Field & Game and his gratitude to hunters for helping gather live and dead bird samples for his research.

There was also encouragement for the consumption of wild meat.

The context was global warming vs the dramatic growth in meat consumption (particularly chicken).

His verdict: intensive meat production comes at a growing cost to the planet, so taking a wild duck for the table is actually better for the planet, making hunters a tinge greener than most people imagine.

2013 champion Anthony Panetta spoke at the Civic Reception hosted by East Gippsland Shire Council prior to the Nationals.

That same year he lost his father Vince, who had been his shooting buddy and the reason he got involved in the sport.

He lost his way, lost focus and eventually earlier this year, interest.

Competing at the National Carnival was the culmination of a process to reignite his passion for clay target shooting.

“I rediscovered the reason I loved the sport in the first place; it is getting together with friends and breaking targets,” he said.

Participating just for the enjoyment meant that whenever you crossed his path, Anthony had a smile on his face.

“I was having fun, even in the wind, just trying to break as many targets as I could; it is still fun whether you break five or 50,” he said.

Anthony said the wind meant the targets presented on the first day didn’t get the credit they deserved.

“The targets I shot today (Sunday) were superb, as good as you will find at any shoot anywhere.”

Past champion Robert Hall said the course setters did a great job and even with the wind, scoring was still good.

“I practiced with Blake on Wednesday and I knew he was on but Chris Brown and Nick Guerra were also very good; it is really good for shooting in this country, we urge each other on,” he said.

“Ground two was my favourite: I just thought there were some good long targets there where you could get a good gap on the birds.

“This is the biggest shoot in Australia now; everybody wants to win this shoot.”

Chris Brown said he returned to shoot the National Carnival because everybody was talking about how good it was.

“A lot of people I know shot last year and hearing about how good it was I didn’t want to miss out, you always want to be a part of it when there’s 500-plus shooters coming,” he said.

Chris said while the wind bought luck into play, the scores reflected the quality and depth of the shooting ranks.

“It was just resilience; everybody had some good luck and some bad luck, it was just about keeping your head down and working with what you were presented,” he said.

“Blake Nankervis and Cameron Kivinen shot 96 and 95, that was crazy good shooting in that wind.”

Renae Birgan is no stranger to the title of National Ladies Champion but her win at Bairnsdale capped what has been an incredible shooting year.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to come away with the win this weekend,” she said.

“The conditions were really tough and the competition was superb, the girls shot some brilliant scores.”

Renae’s competition year included achieving a long-term goal to win the FITASC Ladies World Championship, and wins at Commonwealth, Oceania and national level.

“It was a life-long goal to win the FITASC World Title, and to cap off the year with the Field & Game title is a dream come true,” Renae said.

“You had to knuckle down on the Saturday in tough conditions and do the best you could; I’ve shot in some pretty bad conditions before but it is right up there.

“If you relied on the target the previous shooter got, you were going to be caught off guard; I called pull and just went with whatever came out.”

For keen observers of the scoreboard, Nick wasn’t on the radar when shooting started on the final day at Bairnsdale even though he shot 93/100 in the blustery conditions on Saturday to sit just three off the incredible 96 posted by eventual runner-up Blake Nankervis over the first four rounds.

“The score wasn’t there because I forgot to put our scorecard in last night, that’s why you didn’t see me up there,” he said after claiming the title.

Nick, who is a member at Cobram and lives in Nathalia, said the conditions on Saturday, with a westerly blowing a steady 40 km/h and gusting up to 65 km/h, were challenging for every competitor.

“Everyone had the same — wind affected targets and the dust — but it was still a good day,” he said.

“I felt a bit sorry for the organisers because after all the effort they went to, to have such an ordinary day, but overall I was pleased with 93; I shot two and six, two of the harder courses in the wind.

“Nearly every target was different, you couldn’t try to repeat what you had just done, you had to be really watchful of individual targets, that’s for sure.”

A near flawless 49 from the last 50 targets set up a shoot off with Blake Nankervis.

“The 96/100 Blake shot on Saturday was just exceptional,” Nick said.

“I’ve been trying to get to these sorts of heights ever since I started shooting and to do it in a shoot off with Blake, who is one of my best mates, that is even better. I would have loved to have seen Blake win as well.”

Nick said the scale of the Carnival was a credit to Field & Game.

You can read our submission here

We encourage members to read the submission but forthose who want to cut to the chase, here are the recommendations we put forward.

Winchester Australia general manager Clive Pugh said that ammunition assembly operations at its factory in Geelong would cease during 2019, with manufacture of products currently made in Geelong moving to Winchester sites in the United States.

“As we shift out of local manufacturing we will increase the import and distribution side of our business, expanding the use of our warehousing facilities in Geelong,” Mr Pugh said.

“Ammunition imports have been a substantial part of our business for many years and our customers, particularly the major ones, are well-established users of imported products so we plan a seamless transition to continue full availability and indeed increase the range.

“The decision to cease local manufacture is no reflection on the talents of our manufacturing employees, who have served our customers and the company well. This was a difficult business decision that was driven by the need to provide our customers and end users with the best product from the global Winchester operations while reducing costs within the overall Winchester business.

“We will be providing support and full entitlements to all those people who leave the company, although we will also be exploring opportunities for some people to move to new roles,” he said.

While this news truly does mark the end of an era, Field & Game Australia looks forward to continuing our relationship with Winchester Australia.

FGA Development Manager, Daryl Snowdon, has worked closely with the EPA in order to achieve something that FGA branches can work with. Many versions of the guideline have been produced and many changes made. There was an initial push towards steel shot, but while the guide will still mention steel shot the key focus is now the management of lead shot and Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons (or PAH) in clay targets, meaning both these things are still viable options.

A PDF version of the guide will be available on the EPA website before the end of the year, we will let you know as soon as it comes out and will be available to help you interpret the guide and work out what it means for you and your Branch.

As part of the Victorian Government's Shooting Sports Facilities Program grants, four of the successful branches are required to produce an EMP funded by the grant. They have agreed to work with the FGA National Office to produce a template EMP that will be available for all branches to adapt. Customising the template to produce a range-specific EMP for the four branches required to have them is a key deliverable of the grants. With their gracious agreement we will be able to produce a plan that benefits all Branches.

Daryl Snowdon & Richard Light

In her motion, Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi attacked the Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia (SIFA) and its members for running political campaigns at Queensland and Victorian elections.

Senator Faruqi claimed more than 50 breaches of the NFA and that SIFA is trying to weaken gun laws and their campaigns should “…terrify us all”.

Senator Faruqi claimed SIFA contributors Nioa, Raytrade, Outdoor Sporting Agencies, Winchester and Beretta stood to benefit and the Government should “..resist moves to weaken Australia's gun control laws.”

The Greens motion named the companies but listed “Baretta” instead of Beretta which Liberal Democratic Party Senator David Leyonhjelm corrected.

“Once again the Greens have shown that they have NFI about the NFA. In fact, they have no  idea about firearms, the firearms industry or gun control in general,” Senator Leyonhjelm told the Senate.

 “Like the $400 million registered buyback after Port Arthur, the NFA has been of zero value in reducing firearm related crime, because terrorists and criminals do not buy registered guns. Restrictions on licensed firearm ownership by law-abiding citizens do not target those who own and misuse firearms  illegally.”

Senator Leyonhjelm said the NFA was the equivalent of trying to crack down on unlicensed, dangerous drivers by increasing the difficulty of the driving test. Queensland Senator Fraser Anning made the same point in opposing the motion.

Nationals Senator Nigel Scullion led the Government’s defense of the NFA and law-abiding firearm owners.

“We  stand  with  over  one  million  law-abiding  firearms  owners  across  Australia  who  have  purchased  their  legally obtained  firearms  from  a  local  law-abiding  business,” he said.

“These businesses go through thorough processes to ensure that our nation’s gun laws are adhered to. It is because of law-abiding store owners, shooters and industry that we've had such a small amount of breaches over two decades.”

Liberal Party Senator Anne Ruston said the government was proud of the NFA and also recognised that many Australians have legitimate reasons for owning legally registered firearms.

Senator Ruston also supported the need for the firearms industry and the community to have a voice on the NFA.

“The government consults with the states and territories as well as the community and industry groups,” she said.

“We welcome feedback on all aspects of the National Firearms Agreement and broader firearms issues.”

The motion was passed 31-25. Below is a list of who voted.

The NSW DPI Performance, Data & Insights 2018 report shows the estimated economic contribution from regulated hunting activities and related expenditure is in excess of $1.8 billion. With a figure of $1.54 billion estimated in 2017-18, there has been clear growth of hunting in NSW.

You can view a PDF of the 2018 report here, or view an interactive online version at the DPI NSW website.

From FGA’s perspective I see three very positive outcomes and one concern, they are :-

• Our deep fear that the result would be close and give the Greens the powerful position of being required by Labor to form government, did not eventuate and in fact the Greens' vote was decimated.
• Labor won a clear majority in the Lower House and are close enough to a majority in the Upper that they will be able to pick and chose the minor parties to support their bills. Hence, minor parties in the Upper House will be unlikely to be able to force through issues of serious contention to FGA. It is unfortunate that it appears that no Shooters Fishers and Farmers candidates were successful, although they may have a slim chance in Eastern Victoria. On the other hand it appears that a candidate of David Leyonhjelm’s Liberal Democrats is likely to win a seat in Northern Victoria.
• The attempt by James Purcell to move from the Upper House to the Lower House seat of South West Coast was unsuccessful. He is quoted in the papers as putting this down to the late change in preferences of the Australian Country Party and the DLP. Good to see our efforts in that seat being successful and we trust this will be the end of the move to change our State Game Reserve at Tower Hill into a park.

The issue of concern is the likely election of an Animal Justice Party candidate and four Derryn Hinch Justice Party candidates, the views of both of which are not in line with the interests of hunters and shooters.

To be elected to Victoria’s Upper House requires a quota of 16.6 per cent. However it is important to understand that the fact that somebody is elected to the Upper House does not mean that they have substantial support. For example, the Animal Justice’s Western Victoria candidate who is likely to be elected received about 2.6 per cent of the votes.

In Western Victoria, Derryn Hinch’s candidate received less than 4.5 per cent of the vote. In both cases if they are elected it will be due more to preference deals with other parties and the Labor Party surplus, than their level of public support.

It is also reasonable to assume that Derryn Hinch’s party in particular also benefitted from the collapse of the Greens’ vote.

There are several areas of concern for the future which the shooting organisations raised with the major parties during the election. After a round of meetings with shooting organisations, Labor have committed to the following:-

• A 30% increase in staff for the GMA with a boost to funds of $6m.
• Finalise development of the Adaptive Harvest Model to improve the way in which we assess duck and other bird numbers and to inform duck season decisions. The finalisation of this model will be subject to consultation with an expert panel the membership of which we will be consulted on. This method will strengthen the scientific basis and continue to take the politics out of determining duck numbers.
• In consultation with stakeholders, Labor will appoint a new chair and reconvene the Firearms Consultative Committee in December 2018. The committee will meet on a quarterly basis. The Minister for Police will attend on at least an annual basis, and all meetings will be attended by a representative from the Minister’s office.
• Labor will commit to develop and deliver another Sustainable Hunting Action Plan to follow the completion of the current plan by 2020.
• Continue to work with hunters to expand game meat processing for wild venison and to resolve issues around mapping and access to Crown land, licensed for grazing, for deer hunting.
• Labor will provide a further $2m per annum for Shooting Sports Grants.
• Labor’s $14m hunting package will ensure hunters across the state continue to have access to recreational hunting opportunities that, whilst a recreational activity, have a gamut of other environmental benefits.

This is all welcome news and gives us plenty of work on with the new government over the next four years.

In preparation for the Victorian Election this weekend, Saturday 24th November, I wish to add some comments related to the Upper House (Legislative Chamber) election.

As has been stated by our Chairman Bill and many other people, this election is a critical milestone for hunters and the shooting community in general.

We are seeing unprecedented attacks against our traditions and fully legal and legislated pastimes.

The worst case scenario for us is the Greens forming a Coalition with Labor, holding the balance of power or making a supply deal. One of the Greens' core positions calls for the end of duck hunting. FGA, along with other shooting and hunting organisations, sought commitments from both the Coalition and Labor to a number of issues of concern to hunters and shooters. We're sharing the responses we received from the major parties, below.

There are a number of minor parties running in the Upper House and many have strong support for hunting and shooting. These parties (in alphabetical order) include:
-    Australian Country Party
-    Democratic Labour Party
-    Hudson for Northern Victoria Party
-    Liberal Democrats
-    Shooters Fishers & Farmers Party

There are two methods of voting in the Upper House – voting 1 above the line for an individual party – this locks your vote into the group voting ticket and the preferences negotiated by the party you vote for, which may include anti-hunting candidates.

The second method is to vote below the line by voting for at least five candidates; allocating numbers from 1 to 5.  In this case your preferences are controlled by you and you can ensure your preferences are directed to the pro shooting and hunting parties.

We recommend that you vote below the line to ensure your preferences are directed where you want them to go (to parties and individual candidates that support shooting and hunting) and are not subject to party preference deals that may see your preferences directed to anti-hunting parties such as the Greens or Animal Justice Party.

Additionally the following candidates are Field & Game Australia members:

Lower House (Legislative Assembly)
Benambra District: Bill Tilley – Liberal
Gippsland South District: Danny O’Brien – Nationals
Murray Plains District: Peter Walsh – Nationals
Ripon District: Peter Fava – Shooters Fishers & Farmers Party
Shepparton District: Peter Schwarz – Nationals

Upper House, Eastern Victoria Region:
Jeff Bourman – Shooters Fishers & Farmers Party
Robert Danieli – Australian Country Party

Upper House, Northern Victoria Region:
Marilyn Danieli – Australian Country Party
Luke O’Sullivan – Nationals
Daniel Young – Shooters Fishers & Farmers Party

Upper House, Southern Metro Region:
Nicole Bourman - Shooters Fishers & Farmers Party
                    
Upper House, South-Eastern Metro Region:
Gordon Rich Phillips – Liberal

Upper House, Western Metro Region:
Ben Caruso – Australian Country Party
Tony Leen – Australian Country Party

Upper House, Western Victoria Region:
Mark Wright – Hudson for Northern Victoria (Hudson 4 NV party)

Regards,

Richard Light
CEO, Field & Game Australia

(Authorised by R Light 65 Anzac Avenue Seymour VIC)
 

You can view or download a full list of all results (by grade/category) in PDF format here. Championship results are as follows:

Winchester Australia National Championship

High Gun - Nick Guerra 142/150 (9/10 in shootoff)

AA Grade

1st Blake Nankervis 142/150 (8/10 in shootoff)
2nd Chris Brown 141/150
3rd Cameron Kivinen 140/150

AA Grade L-R: Cameron Kivinen, Blake Nankervis and Chris Brown

A Grade

1st Philip Stowe 129/150
2nd Frank Papaluca 125/150
3rd Wade McGirr 124/150

A Grade L-R: Wade McGirr, Frank Papaluca and Philip Stowe

B Grade

1st George Filippidis 121/150
2nd Eddie Meadows 109/160 (10/10 in shootoff)
3rd Dominic Branca 109/160 (8/10 in shootoff)

B Grade L-R: Eddie Meadows, George Filippidis and Dominic Branca

C Grade

1st David Shephard 102/150
2nd Henry Lohr 101/150
3rd Andrew Caldwell 97/150

C Grade L-R: David Shephard, Henry Lohr and Andrew Caldwell

Beretta Australia Ladies National Championship

1st Renae Birgan 133/150
2nd Brittany Melbourne 130/150
3rd Brooke Tangey 111/150

Ladies L-R: Brooke Tangey, Brittany Melbourne, Renae Birgan and Beretta Australia’s Greg Chan

Beretta Australia Veterans National Championship

1st Neville Johnson 123/150
2nd Alan Backman 122/150
3rd Dominic Azzopardi 121/150

Veterans L-R: Alan Backman, Neville Johnson, Beretta Australia’s Greg Chan and Dominic Azzopardi

Raytrade Junior National Championship

1st Mark Du Rose 133/150
2nd Xavier Russell 125/150
3rd Tom Bilney 123/150

Juniors L-R: Kaine Edwards from Raytrade, Mark Du Rose, Xavier Russell and Tom Bilney

Raytrade Sub-junior National Championship

1st Ben Studham 124/150
2nd Nicholas Brighenti 112/150
3rd Zac Jones 100/150

Sub-Juniors L-R: Kaine Edwards from Raytrade, Ben Studham, Zac Jones and Nicholas Brighenti

Winchester Australia National Handicap

1st Blake Nankervis 147/150
2nd Nick Guerra 146/150
3rd David Shephard 146/150
4th Chris Brown 144/150
5th Adam Hirchfield 143/150
6th Robert Hall 143/150
7th James Saliba 143/150
8th Reece Turner 142/150
9th John Younger 142/150
10th Bart Brighenti 142/150
11th Sox Pilipasidis 141/150
12th George Filippidis 141/150
13th Cameron Kivinen 140/150
14th Greg Morey 140/150
15th Brian Mortensen 140/150
16th Philip Stowe 140/150
17th Luke Willemsen 140/150
18th Rodney Hill 140/150
19th Jack Gibbs 139/150
20th Renae Birgan 139/150
21st Lee Berger 139/150
22nd Mark Du Rose 138/150
23rd Con Scalora 138/150
24th Matt Hall 138/150
25th Andrew Caldwell 138/150
26th Henry Lohr 138/150
27th Brenton Irons 137/150
28th Adam Du Rose 137/150
29th Aaron Edmondson 137/150
30th Wayne Lowan 137/150

National Handicap winners, L-R: Winchester’s Brian Mortensen, Blake Nankervis, David Shephard and Nick Guerra

www.berattaaustralia.com.au

Grant Sandford and his team have done a great job and we appreciate their sponsorship and participation in our biggest event.

You can check out the Intoshooting stand at the National Carnival expo site. www.intoshooting.com.au

Do you want to be more successful in the field and help to ensure hunting is sustainable into the future?

The Gamebird Hunting Essentials Masterclass is designed to develop and improve the shooting and hunting skills of hunters at all levels.

This Masterclass includes:

• shooting skills coaching
• estimating distance
• matching choke and load to hunting location and target species
• pattern testing field choke and load combinations specific to your shotgun
• gamebird retrieval strategies

Join in or get a group together and become a more effective and efficient gamebird hunter.

Master the Hunt - sign up now on EventBrite

November 17 - Beginner/Novice Masterclass

November 18 - Advanced/Expert Masterclass

Squad list, alphabetical order (by surname) - Updated 31/10/18

Squad list, by squad order - Updated 31/10/18

Timings for all squads, both days (displayed below)

Don't miss your chance to be part of the biggest Nationals ever at Bairnsdale Field & Game.

ENTER NOW AT EVENTBRITE

Lots of accommodation options still available in nearby Lakes Entrance & Sale. See posts on the Bairnsdale FGA Facebook page for more info or visit www.visiteastgippsland.com.au

Each year, two three-year terms of office on the FGA Board expire (as per the FGA Constitution), in 2018 these positions were those held by Peter Hawker and Mark Daley. In addition to these two positions becoming vacant, Board member Jim Godden resigned his position due to increasing work commitments. This added a third position to be filled, for the remaining two years of Jim's term.

After calling for nominations we had four candidates, Peter Hawker, Mark Daley, Glenn Falla and Daniel Johnson.

As per Section 5.3.4 of the FGA Constitution we held a postal ballot which closed at 16:00 AEDT on the 12th October 2018.  The public count of the ballots was held at the Pullman on the Park Hotel on Friday 12th October 2018 at 19:30.

The results were announced at the AGM on Saturday 13th October. Subsequent to this announcement on review of the election process and results on Monday 15th October, scans of three valid ballot papers were found to have been delivered to the Returning Officer’s junk email folder after being correctly received at the office before the close of the postal ballot. These three ballots were not included in the public count.

The election scrutineer was informed of this situation and ruled that the three ballot papers were valid and had been received within the window of the voting period, and final results should be re-tallied including these three ballot papers.

The impact of the votes on these three ballot papers did not change the election of the three successful candidates; however, it did change the outcome for positions the candidates were elected to. It was initially announced at the AGM that Glenn Falla had finished second with 300 points and that Peter Hawker had finished third with 303 points.  

On inclusion of the three additional valid ballot papers the final election results are as follows (lower score indicates highest preference):
Mark Daley, Bendigo FGA: 274 points, elected for a three-year term.
Peter Hawker, Frankston FGA: 306 points, elected for a three-year term.
Glenn Falla, Geelong FGA, 309 points, elected for the two-year term.
Daniel Johnson, Ballarat FGA: 371 points, not elected.

All candidates have been contacted and informed of the final results.

Out of 68 branches, 42 returned their votes, 7 branches abstained, and 19 branches did not return their ballot papers. Of the 195 ballot papers that were distributed, we received 126 of these, 23 ballots were abstained, and 46 were not returned.

We would like to congratulate Mark, Peter and Glenn on their election and thank Daniel for standing as a candidate.

Your 2018-19 FGA Board consists of:

Mark Daley
Glenn Falla
Angela Kloppenborg
Peter Hawker
Scott Mitchell
Bill Paterson

Only 16 branches were present at the MCG and 20 are required for the AGM to proceed as per Section 6.7.2 of the Constitution:

6.7.2 No business shall be transacted at any Annual or Extraordinary Meeting unless a quorum is present. If within 30 minutes of the time appointed for the commencement of the Meeting, a quorum is not present, the meeting shall be adjourned by the Chairman to a date, time and place being not later than fourteen days from the date of the meeting.

We hereby give notice of the rescheduled AGM meeting to occur as follows:

Date: Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Time: 10.00 am registration open
10.30 am meeting open

Venue: FGA National Office, 65 Anzac Ave, Seymour, Vic, 3660

The  app was created to provide hunters with information and functions so they know where, when and how to hunt responsibly, safely and sustainably in Victoria.

If you use the app let the GMA know know how you think it can be improved by taking a quick survey

The current app can be downloaded for free here

Jake joined legendary duck hunter Ramsey Russell and Ryan Bassham from Sitka to document their hunts in South Australia and Victoria with Glenn Falla’s guiding service, Falla’s Waterfowl Outfitters.

“It didn’t take much to get me here, Ramsey twisted my arm only a little bit,” he joked.

Jake made it his mission to learn the language (asking for dead horse on his pies and greeting everyone with g’day mate) but he will not be attempting Vegemite again any time soon. It was however, the only bitter taste left from his Aussie adventure.

“The story I will tell friends is of the duck hunting community here. Honestly, I didn’t know it was as connected as it is. I didn’t realise how similar it would be, familiar is probably a better word for it,” he said.

“I’ve been reaching out to the world on social media saying people should come here, for no other reason than they need to see what is going on here, because it is a unique opportunity.”

As usual, Jake’s main mission in Australia was to capture compelling footage.

It takes a certain amount of bravery (and a good insurance policy) to wade into a swamp with a high-end digital cinema camera, a digital SLR and a bunch of lenses, but Jake is up for the challenge.

You can take all the care in the world, but you also have to take risks to capture the moments that matter to the story.

“Ramsey wanted to create some stories on his duck hunting adventures around the world and flattered me by asking me to help,” Jake said.

“I’m glad I am here because this is a tremendous trip.”

Jake wants the best for his clients but there is another, underlying motivation driving all his work; the need to tell real stories.

“I see it as very important. I don’t know the exact percentages but a large proportion of the population lives vicariously through other people’s experiences,” he said.

“It used to be through magazines or television but the explosion of social media has intensified the vicarious curiosity of people.

“My stories are not just about hunting, they are life stories, which happen to be about people who hunt because I’m an advocate for the activity of hunting, but there is so much more to it than that.”

Portraying hunting well helps to inform and educate the vast majority of people who have no connection to hunting, and will never choose to experience it for themselves.

Of course, hunters the world over will lap it up, and some will be inspired enough to embark on their own adventure to hunt ducks in Australia. Jake isn’t done with the island continent either.

“I know there’s so much more of Australia left to see,” he said.

“Really, when it comes down to it, you peel this camo off and I’m just a wildlife and adventure enthusiast, always have been, and from childhood I’ve been interested in Australia and Africa.

“Even in the United States there is such diversity and variety of things we can do. I live in Colorado and pinch myself when I’m driving the kids to school and look up at two 14 000 ft peaks. Then I come to Australia, or Mongolia or Africa and I have to pinch myself, I never take it for granted because not everyone gets to do what we do.”

You can check out more of Jake’s work by searching for Latendresse Media Collective.

Not many duck hunts start with a Neil Armstrong moment, but when Ryan Bassham set foot on Lake George in South Australia, he was the first hunter to do so in a pair of Sitka waders.

Sure, it’s not quite as momentous as leaving your footprints on the moon, but how many people can claim to have been the first to do something on a continent?

Ryan’s Australian adventure began with a conversation with legendary duck hunter Ramsey Russell from getducks.com

“Australia has always been a place of intrigue for me and somewhere I’ve wanted to visit. My main reason initially was to hunt water buffalo in the Northern Territory, but several years ago Ramsay and I were in a camp somewhere and got talking about what the waterfowl hunting was like,” Ryan said.

“I have a collection of waterfowl books about species around the world and I remember studying it hoping maybe, one day, I would get here.”

Ramsey being Ramsey, he stumbled on a connection when he found himself in a hide in Arkansas with Field & Game members Glen Falla and Trent Leen.

Two years later Ramsey Russell made his first trip to hunt in Australia and soon after Glenn Falla launched Falla’s Waterfowl Outfitters, joining the stable of global hunting opportunities with getducks.com

Roll on a year and Ramsey is back standing on the shores of Lake George in SA with Ryan alongside him and the conversation about waterfowling together in Australia is now a reality.

“I’m so pleasantly surprised,” Ryan said.

“It isn’t much different to home (Bozeman, Montana) and there’s a rich culture of waterfowl hunting here which is pretty amazing. Nobody back home knows about this, in fact they were scratching their heads and asking ‘Why Australia?’ “

Of course, Australian duck hunters already know the answer, but most of the world is oblivious to the possibilities.

Glenn Falla said that is particularly true in the United States where many hunters wouldn’t travel to the next state, let alone to the other side of the world.

Over the last couple of years, the conversation has started to change, with social media, podcasts and articles about Australian waterfowling building interest.

Ramsey Russell said Australia has featured in California Waterfowl, Safari Club International, Dallas Safari Club and Sporting Classics and The End of the Line podcast recorded while on this trip was one of the most downloaded of all time.

Glenn said Australia was now a part of the discussion for travelling hunters.

“It is invaluable, we are really in an embryonic state in terms of hunter tourism, the exposure is fantastic,” he said.

“There seems to be huge interest in the US and also from China.”

Glenn said he’s in it for the long haul and expects it could take five years to establish a steady book of international clients.

Local clients are also emerging, whether it is access to mitigation on the rice in NSW or new, or novice hunters looking for instruction as much as guiding.

“It may be people who don’t have the experience or knowledge and want to accelerate their learning or even city dwellers who want to experience pest animal hunting,” he said.

“I’m happy to try and fill that void as much as I can.”

Ryan, who said Trophy Expeditions is based on there always being an adventure out there, hunted Lake George and Lake Albert in SA and under the tall timber in Victoria.

“It isn’t just about hunting, it is the effort to get there, meeting new people and experiencing different cultures,” he said.

“I’ve joked about it a few times but seriously, watching the movie Crocodile Dundee when I was a kid and young and impressionable, created this mystery about this place which drove me to want to come here.”

From a business perspective, he said there was an “allure” about Australia.

“It has exceeded expectations. What has been really nice is that it is so much like home in every way; there’s a bunch of Australians here who like to chase ducks, just like we do, which is a heck of a lot of fun.”

“The hunting is fantastic. I compare it to hunting I’ve done around the Great Salt Lake in Utah and down on the Gulf Coast of Texas.”

Ramsey said he’s done a lot of thinking between trips to Australia, reaching the conclusion that the older he gets and the more information he has, the more confused he is.

Australia has opened his eyes to the fact that hunting globally is being constantly undermined and hunters need to stick together.

“This is a profound destination and it has really made me think about the relevance of hunting,” he said.

“We’re all clinging to the same life raft.”

In the US, hunting generates $35 billion in economic activity but in the context of a trillion dollar economy, that isn’t a big number. Ramsey said wise use, conservation, and consumption are all good arguments for hunting, but he now wonders if we should just boldly stake our claim in a simpler way.

“We hunt, that’s what we enjoy doing, there’s great diversity in the things people like to do, this is just what we do,” he said.

“In a free society we should have that right.”

Simon Webster waded out to a hide in the Macleod Morass on the closing weekend confident of a good result.

The walk to the entry point and the wade out to the hole were hard going but birds were dropping into the decoys well before the official start time, although the first arrivals were three Blue-winged shovelers.

As the weak winter sun rose only to be rendered even more ineffectual by heavy cloud cover, Simon braced against the cold and peered into the distance.

He didn’t wait long before a pair of teal looking to settle were drawn into the decoys, and within an hour there were nine ducks in the bag.

Then, as if alerted by a group text message, every duck in the district decided to “shelter in place”.

For more than an hour we waited, and waited, but nothing was flying.

Of course, the watched kettle principle played out once the hunt was abandoned. While watching for any activity or opportunity there was nothing, but once the decoys were packed in the sled and Simon’s back was turned for the wade home, a single blackie flitted by, flying low over the vacant hide.

In a way, the ending of the hunt reflected the nature of the season in Gippsland.

“It was a great opening and business as usual with everybody starting on time and getting some good hunting,” Simon said.

“It was one of those years where if you went in a group, one hunter would get a bag and the others might only get ones or twos.”

Like most places, Gippsland was dry for most of the season, which is particularly unseasonal for this part of the world and had a real influence not only on the abundance of birds but the species.

“It was really the year of the Grey teal down here, with virtually no Pacific black duck until late in the season when we got a little bit of rain,” Simon said.

“The birds that were here were fickle, and you mostly got one chance at a spot and then you had to scout around for another location.”

With the rain, the last three weeks of the season were really good, but Simon said prior to that it was a bit patchy.

“We had virtually no chestnut teal here this season which was bizarre for this region, and a lot of Grey teal which only arrive here in numbers when it is particularly dry, which was the case for most of the season.

“It was a very unusual year.”

A day earlier, Mathew Warner settled into a temporary hide on Heart Morass, expecting to benefit from some good scouting but it no longer seemed to be where the birds wanted to settle.

Patience brought its reward, but it was nearly an hour after opening when the small mobs started to flare over the decoys.

“It was a very good hunt, a bit slow at the start but once the birds started to move around we got them coming right into the decoys and we had a good hunt,” Mathew said.

“Watching those black ducks come into the decoys with wings set, I love it.”

The ducks’ arrival also set two-year-old Buster’s heart racing and each time he would step forward ready to retrieve as soon as the gun was mounted.

His excitement wasn’t tempered.

“This is Buster’s first season. He’s coming along pretty well: he breaks a bit in the shallow water, but in the hides he’s a lot better. He’s learned a lot on the past year, and he’s come a long way,” Mathew said.

“It is really exciting hunting with a new dog. He made a few long retrieves and listened to me, which is the most important thing. He really enjoyed himself.”

Looking back at the season, Mathew agreed hunters had to scout regularly and work harder to get results.

“It has been up and down: the birds concentrated where they wanted to be but they weren’t anywhere else, so it was hit and miss. If you could get onto them you would have a good hunt each day, but you had to play it day to day.

“It has been a tough season, even today was a bit mixed and not everybody got their bag, but that’s hunting.”

For all hunters, the real success of the 2018 Victorian Duck Season has been the no-fuss approach to increased regulation and scrutiny.

The later start times across the opening weekend were complied with, so too were new regulations around retrieving downed game birds and harvesting of at least the breast meat.

Across the border, South Australia hunted longer and stronger that it has for years.

“In the Riverland, birds hung on with the continued dry weather up north,” Jim Godden said.

“There was a great start to the season, and a bit of a lull mid-season as birds shifted from the Riverland to the south-east, but by closing weekend we started to see returning teal that were coming back in.”

Jim encouraged people who hunted in SA this season to fill out and return their Hunter Report Card.

“Fill it in and send it in, it will only help with future hunting,” he said.

Sixty years ago when hunters banded together to save wetland habitats, they couldn’t have foreseen just how valuable their efforts would be.

Field & Game Australia (FGA) emerged in response to concerns about the future of the iconic Pacific black duck and brought hunters together to save the wetland habitats crucial to a healthy population.

Hunters volunteered to pay licence fees to fund the creation of the network of State Game Reserves, which continue to provide important habitat for not only ducks but all waterbirds.Field & Game Australia is still the peak organisation for wetland conservation and that includes purchasing and restoring wetlands areas.

According to researchers from the Deakin University School of Life and Environmental Sciences’ Blue Carbon Lab, Victoria’s wetlands provide another substantial benefit, locking away the annual emissions of 185 000 people, or roughly the population of Geelong.

The tally, which came to 3 million tons of CO2 each year, increases our understanding of how the environment helps to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

Lead researcher Dr Paul Carnell said inland or non-tidal wetlands were an integral part of Australia’s carbon budget.

“While a lot more is known about how trees suck up and store carbon, freshwater wetlands can actually sequester 20 to 40 times more carbon than forests on dry land,” he said.

The key to wetlands’ success in carbon storage is the mixture of plant material and sediment in the soil, which contains little oxygen, and makes it hard for the carbon to be broken down and re-released into the atmosphere.

“Instead the carbon in this material is stored in the ground, that’s called carbon sequestration, and each year new material is added to the wetland’s overall carbon store,” Dr Carnell said.

“It’s the reverse process of digging up and burning coal or oil, here wetlands are taking that gas and putting it back into the ground.”

Victoria has about 530 000 ha of inland wetlands, which include marshes, peatlands, pools and lakes, making up about 2.33 per cent of the state’s land area.

As part of their study, which was funded by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, ecologists from the Blue Carbon Lab worked with Victoria’s 10 Catchment Management Authorities to take soil samples from more than 100 different wetlands across the state.

The soil was taken to a lab where it was dried, pulverised and put through a machine to analyse how much carbon it contained.

In total, the researchers estimated Victoria’s inland wetlands had a soil carbon stock of 68 million tons, worth about $6 billion under Australia’s most recent carbon price.

The study, published in the journal Global Change Biology, found Victoria’s alpine wetlands had the highest overall carbon stocks, while permanent freshwater sites like billabongs sequestered the most amount of carbon each year.

“Many of us already know that wetlands are great places to find birds, are important for fisheries and provide vital ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling, erosion control and flood mitigation. So this data shows they play a critical role in carbon storage too,” Dr Carnell said.

“On the flip side, this means disturbance and loss of wetlands has the potential to release significant quantities of CO2 back into the environment.”

Head of the Blue Carbon Lab, Associate Professor Peter Macreadie said the new study estimated that since European settlement, the loss of wetlands in Victoria had released up to 74 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents, equal to the emissions of 16 million cars over one year.

“Since European settlement we have lost more than a quarter of our non-tidal wetlands here in Victoria, mostly due to agricultural practices and development,” he said.

However, wetlands also have a dark side which offsets their capture and storage of carbon.

“These wetlands can be large sources of methane emissions. They’re effectively nature’s fart factories. So that’s something we’d like to be able to quantify further in future research too.”

In the meantime, Associate Professor Macreadie said it was critical Victoria properly protected and managed the inland wetlands it had left including using an existing pathway, money collected through carbon offsets.

“Right now, if you purchase a carbon offset for your flight to Sydney for example, that program will most likely plant a certain number of trees they estimate will grow to store the CO2 equivalent to your plane trip,” he said.

“But we know that wetlands are far more efficient at storing carbon than trees. Here in the Blue Carbon Lab, we’re collecting the information so that governments and carbon offset providers may one day be able to offset carbon emissions by restoring wetlands.“

For pure design and ingenuity you can’t beat mother nature, and from a young age Paddy was drawn to the bush. In 1958, when he heard the Victorian Field & Game Association (FGA) was being formed in Gippsland, he rushed to join.

“In 1951, at 19 years of age, after cleaning the bush alone or with my camping mates I joined my first volunteer group along the Murray River near Echuca,” Paddy said.

“In 1958, on a trip back to Melbourne I read about the formation of the VFGA but because I was living in Sydney all I could do was donate some cash.”

A year later Paddy moved back to Melbourne and became an active member.

“It was an opportunity to join with others to repair the environmental damage of the past,” he said.

“In our early days a Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) representative came to our meetings to talk about their work. He said they were nearly broke, so I gave them a good donation and they made me a life member. A lot of our members dug deep to keep them afloat.”

For years Paddy was active with both organisations but he eventually tired of the “social” outings with a little work on the side conducted by the VNPA.

“There was no comparison with FGA working bees which were well planned and organised, the members were not afraid of hard yakka,” he said.

One early effort at Kerang involved a controlled burn at a 1200 acre wetland which had been used as a dumping ground. The clean-up was a slog, but after several weeks the light rubbish had been collected and bagged and the larger junk like old water tanks, car bodies and bathtubs, removed with heavy machinery and crushed.

The work continued with 15 000 trees and plants planted by Field & Game volunteers.

“Years later I revisited the swamp, it was healthy and thriving and alive with birds and wildlife,” Paddy said.

“As an Irishman would remark, it was as if the hand of man hadn’t set foot there since creation.”

Paddy had always been drawn to the bush, and from age nine, when graduated from slingshot and bow and arrows to his first firearm, he was a hunter.

A second-hand slug gun received as a birthday gift at age 10 wasn’t a licence to hunt anything. A family version of the pest animal bounty was in force.

“The ammo was restricted because of the cost,” Paddy recalled.

“I had to hunt some pest birds or rats to get extra ammunition.”

At 15, a Harrington & Richards 16-gauge shotgun was just the ticket for a trip to Werribee with some mates to hunt ducks.

“My first real duck opening was at Kow Swamp near Gunbower; my two brothers, one 15, the other 16, myself and four ex-servicemen who were relatives of my mates,” Paddy said.

“The men slept on the grass with a tarpaulin over them in case it rained and the seats from the old Chevrolet were taken out for the boys to sleep on as best we could.

“We had no training at all, not much sleep, no waders, mosquitoes as big as blackbirds and we got no ducks although the men got quite a few.”

Around 1950 Paddy went to Third Marsh near Kerang for opening, he recalls it was filled with live trees, good cover and birds.

“I got 15 ducks before lunch.”

A good result soon spoiled by a youthful mistake. Paddy had not thought ahead and they spoiled while he was off checking the progress of the rest of the hunting party. The next day he cleaned a fresh bag of birds and headed straight home via the ice works in town.

Jack Drewitt, a fine gun and bushman, became an early mentor and a partner on regular hunting trips.

“He instilled the golden rules,” Paddy said.

“Work hard, do your best, only hunt for food or for pest animals and above all, respect the bush and the wildlife.”

Campsites had to vanish, leaving the area as if you had never been there. Spare time was spent cleaning up after less principled campers. It was the basis for Paddy’s lifelong interest in conservation.

For Christmas 1953, after finishing school, Paddy was given a Renault 750 and the following year he quit his job to go exploring in central Australia. His equipment was rudimentary, but a .22 Mossberg rifle, some fishing line and tackle, tinned food, powdered milk and a box of matches seemed enough to get by.

“I hung a water bag on the front bumper like I’d seen the bushies do, and I did buy a sleeping bag along the way after finding the stones an uncomfortable bed when no grass was available,” he said.

Roads were gravel or dirt and mostly single lane; but the road from Adelaide to Alice Springs didn’t exist.

“I was young, fit and adventurous and I reckoned on learning from my mistakes,” Paddy said.

“My system worked but I fell into every trap along the way and carry the scars to prove it.

“The water bag died a disastrous death on the rough roads but a kerosene tin made a good substitute apart from the nasty taste.”

Mixing with rough and tumble bushies, indigenous communities, farmers, drovers, prospectors, drifters and the odd criminal seeking to remain undiscovered gave Paddy a real education. Life skills, philosophy, self-reliance and bushcraft were collected on his travels, along with a host of stories to be told and retold.

“I once came across an Aboriginal man 100 miles from anywhere who had a fire going, some bellows, an anvil and a hammer,” Paddy said.

“He was sharpening the bit for a large water boring drill, working in the heat and flies to get it ready before the foreman arrived with the rig. The indigenous people were great hunters and survivors.”

Paddy describes Tennant Creek in those days as a town at the end of a lumpy track too rough for cars.

“It had two pubs, a store and a café with food, mostly inedible,” he laughed.

“I ordered ammunition from Harris Scarfe in Adelaide and my pastime was hunting something to cook on the open fire. I was able to hit rabbits on the run and even a few wild duck en route to Mt Isa.”

Paddy returned from his outback adventures to take up a position as a maintenance engineer at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital.

He became fast friends with a fellow in the workshop called Charlie Dixon, a trained gunsmith who repaired and modified guns for clients across Victoria.

“He made “Dix” compensators and variable chokes but he didn’t have a car so I used to run him around to pick up and drop off jobs. Through Charlie, I met George Biggs (Hartley’s Sports in Flinders St), Horrie James (Donald McIntosh’s in Lonsdale St) and Fred Shearer in Malvern, all champion shots.”

Paddy’s father came from Gippsland and he found himself returning regularly to an area close to his heart.

“I met Dr Hugh Martin in 1957 or 1958 and joined the VFGA,” he said.

Because of odd work hours Paddy wasn’t able to join committees but he loved the working bees, nest box projects, fox drives and clay target shoots. He helped establish the Serendip sanctuary and has been a generous benefactor of conservation and other projects over the years.

Paddy describes a lot of conservationists as “walk and gawk”, he much preferred getting his hands dirty with the sort of practical work done by Field & Game. He helped with the establishment of ibis rookeries at Rhyll on Phillip Island and at Kerang, the restoration of important wetlands and the establishment of shooting grounds at Ararat, Sale, Lysterfield and Cape Schanck (Port Phillip).

“I’ve had a few pats on the back but I lift my lid to all the others that have given so much more,” Paddy said.

“My real reward is to see how far Field & Game has developed. It is great to drive through the farming areas and not see holes in every sign and windmill blade. We give young people the opportunity to become involved in an organisation where they learn safety and respect for the environment and wildlife.”

Paddy’s final word is on hunting and the activists who oppose it.

“To me, ethical hunting is not cruel and it poses no threat to sustainable wildlife populations, it is just another method of gathering food,” he said.

Now in his mid-80s Paddy is finding it more difficult to contribute in the hands-on way he prefers but he encouraged FGA members to keep doing the hard yakka.

“As a strong organisation we will always be a wonderful help to the Aussie environment,” he said.

Days after the June branch shoot, the heavy equipment rolled in to create new tracks which will be used to bus squads to and from the new grounds.

The new area under development is heavily timbered and the open ground has thick, high cover.

“We are very lucky to have the support of our neighbour to give us the extra two shoot grounds; we can easily accommodate four grounds on our existing land, and we will put another two on the new ground,” Bairnsdale president Mick Crane said.

The two new grounds are in a unique area; we can have surprise targets coming out of heavy undergrowth. I think it will provide an exciting challenge for everybody.”

Bairnsdale’s first base at the shoot ground was an old concrete bunker (it still stands near the entrance if you look to the right as you drive in), but these days the branch is blessed with modern infrastructure.

The new clubrooms, opened last year, are as good as you will find anywhere and a new skeet ground, funded with help from the Victorian Government’s Shooting Sports Facilities grants program, will allow for two practice grounds.

For treasurer Reg Biggs, this will be his third National Carnival at Bairnsdale and the quality of infrastructure and additional land to spread out the grounds gives him great confidence.

“I’m supremely confident, I think it is going to be a wonderful event full of challenges for us, but we will produce good results with the team we have working on it and the passion our people have for it,” he said.

“We can’t promise good weather, we held one a few years ago which was known as desert storm, but we can promise a good event.”

Reg has been active at the branch for 35 years, so he knows a thing or two about the sort of targets to expect.

“We have a mixture of areas, open ground to the south and fairly wooded areas to the north and east, it will present some challenges but also some memorable targets.

“People who have been looking to shoot amongst trees will find there are plenty of trees around; you just have to make sure a tree isn’t in line when you pull the shot.”

The National Carnival is a big commitment for any branch and as well as monthly committee meetings, sub committees have been meeting twice a month since February.

Mick Crane said branch members had all stepped up to help.

“Like every club that does this there is a huge workload, but everyone we have tapped on the shoulder has been happy to help. We’ve also had good support from local businesses,” he said.

“We have structured it so we have a ground manager co-ordinating each ground with support staff to load traps and keep things running smoothly.”

As we walk through the bush that will host the two new grounds, Mick shares his excitement about the ability to offer competitors of all abilities a range of interesting and challenging targets.

“In our heavily wooded areas you will see some fast targets through the trees and people will need to be on the ball and in front; we can throw some high targets through there as well,” he said.

“When you get out onto the open ground there will be some longer targets, probably similar to what competitors experienced at last year’s National Carnival.”

Field & Game development manager Daryl Snowdon said the new ground added another dimension for competitors.

“The starting point is to set grounds that have a balance of targets, they won’t be easy but they won’t be demoralising either,” he said.

“You can expect scores to be shot relative to handicaps.”

As well as using the three distinct areas, a lot of platforms will be used for high targets.

“The National Carnival will be shot under the new rules so there will be five stands per ground and only five pairs per ground (one per stand),” Daryl said.

“It means you will shoot more singles which will change the way the grounds are set.”

In setting the grounds, the aim is for continual improvement, building on the standard set at Pinegrove, and last year at Wodonga-Albury.

“The joy of co-ordinating the whole event is that you have that overall view so that the grounds gel together and offer a balance and consistency of targets,” Daryl said.

Of course, reliable equipment to throw targets is critical to the smooth running of a National Carnival.

“It is great to have Intoshooting and Bowman traps on board, that takes a huge amount of risk out of it. They are supporting us with traps and technical assistance across the event, which is great for us,” Mick said.

Grant Sandford from Intoshooting welcomed the opportunity to showcase Bowman traps at the National Carnival.

“We are humbled and thrilled to again be involved at this great event and to showcase our Bowman traps. The Field & Game branches support us and Bowman traps, so we are very happy to be involved again and I want to thank Bairnsdale for the opportunity,” he said.

“Bowman is a very strong product and we have proven the product through the branch network; these are very consistent, but with any good product you need support and at Intoshooting we take great pride in the back-up support we provide.”

Among the Bowman traps to be used at the National Carnival is the new second generation Supermatch series.

“We have done a lot of development in Australia and it has virtually made the trap bullet proof,” Grant said.

“We have a strong relationship with Bowman and they take on board a lot of upgrades and development work we do here in Australia.”

Plenty of work remains for the organising committee, including passing areas for the main road in and out, but Bairnsdale has left nothing to chance in preparing to host the 2018 National Carnival.

“This is the third National Carnival I have been involved with at Bairnsdale and I think each one has got bigger and better; for this one, the organisation and planning is well above what we have had to do in the past,” Reg said.

“It will mean a smoother, easier run and no hold-ups.”

For competitors travelling longer distances, Mick Crane said the area is perfect for the whole family to have an extended break.

“I really hope people will stick around after the event and enjoy some time exploring Gippsland. We hope a lot of families travel for the National Carnival and spend extra time taking in what the region has to offer.”

Duck hunting has been permitted at Lake Boort for many years, and will continue to be permitted during declared duck hunting seasons under the new management plan released by Parks Victoria in partnership with Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation.

In season, duck hunting will not be restricted across the wetland but camping will be, with designated areas with fireplaces established to protect sensitive areas.

The intent of the plan is to protect and enhance the outstanding natural, cultural and recreational values within the reserve and it defines the approach for managing the cultural landscape, ecosystems, fire, water, pest plants and animals, recreation and tourism.

The 502 ha Lake Boort Reserve is a special place for the Dja Dja Wurrung, and is believed to hold the highest density of scarred trees in Australia, which will be a focus of research, interpretation and cultural tourism experiences.

The plan recognises the opportunity to enhance existing partnerships with hunting organisations such as Field & Game Australia (FGA) and with other volunteers to improve game habitat.

Lake Boort is being restored as a temporary flood plain lake with the delivery of environmental watering. Until 1997 the lake was maintained as a permanent water body, and duck hunting was popular.

The change in the water regime and the millennium drought resulted in less duck hunting over several seasons, but natural flooding in 2011 resulted in good hunting seasons in 2012, 2013, and 2017.

The seasonal watering plan proposed by the North Central Catchment Management Authority would provide water to Lake Boort in spring about once every five years, depending on the availability of water.

The wetting-drying water regime will increase the productivity of the wetland and benefit game habitat but according to the plan, it is unlikely the timing of environmental watering will result in sufficient water during the duck hunting season to attract significant numbers of waterbirds, except in years where significant natural flows occur.

“It is therefore likely that a good hunting season would be likely at Lake Boort once or twice during every four to six years,” the plan states.

The plan acknowledges that during wetter years, the opening weekend is likely to attract significant numbers of hunters and will need to be managed to minimise adverse impacts on cultural sites and natural values.

One of the stated goals is to raise awareness of the cultural values:

“Working in partnership with the Game Management Authority, Field & Game Australia and the Traditional Owners to communicate the cultural heritage values of Lake Boort (and other regional wetlands) to duck hunters who hunt here, and to regional duck hunting groups.”

This includes promoting a minimal impact code and codes of behaviour.

FGA made a formal submission on behalf of members following the release of the initial draft plan for Lake Boort.

I seem to be repeating myself, but praise cannot be given often enough. We had really good duck and quail seasons this year, with increased scrutiny from all angles and hunters were well behaved, responsible and able to articulate the reasons they enjoy hunting and providing sustainable, wild food for their table.

The protesters have failed in their highly emotive campaign and we have seen that they are changing tactics.

They lobbied the government on the grounds that the regulator was unable to properly regulate hunting — using a report prepared by an AA linked organisation that was leaked to them.

The government did not respond to their false claims and we proved that the hunt could be conducted successfully. It was also, contrary to their claims, well regulated.

They then tried to use the emerging issue of PFAS contamination to have the consumption of ducks stopped. Again their claims were ill informed, inaccurate and unfounded.

They attempted to round up shot species and place them at the Premier’s office, not on the steps of the Victorian Parliament, because on those expansive steps it would have lacked any visual impact.

They scoured wetland for three weeks after opening and produced only three protected species and there was no evidence that they had been shot.

We, as hunters are removing the oxygen from their highly emotive, biased and prejudicial arguments.

Maintain your vigilance, keep your focus and do not engage them at their level. Our hunting is protected in legislation, demonstrating that we are responsible and ethical is the best argument we can provide to continue hunting.

There was a disturbing video distributed by Coalition Against Duck Shooting (CADS) the day after duck season ended in Victoria.

CADS association filing with Consumer Affairs Victoria reveals it has just seven members, how they came to be considered a stakeholder by Government is baffling to us.

It was disturbing because of the manipulation of days of footage, cobbled together to portray an alleged activity in a manner that supported their claims.

More disturbing is the fact that this was swallowed hook line and sinker by the media, and once again, journalists failed to apply their craft and question the veracity of the video or the motivations of those who spoon-fed it to them. It was first reported with CADS emotive but unsubstantiated language that the ducks were “terrorised” intact.

The reporting led to seizure of the boat in question and GMA prominently posting an image on social media without any charges being laid.

I urge the government to give the people involved — who at the time of publishing have not been charged with any offence — a fair go, not undertake trial by social media and to also consider the larger ramifications of seizing hunters boats based on the sketchy evidence provided by anti-hunting groups who have an obvious agenda and bias.

Many hunters I am speaking to are increasingly incensed at the lack of prosecution of any protesters who are clearly breaking the law — especially the Wildlife Act 1975 Section 58C and 58E by continually hindering hunters.

Many jurisdictions around the world, particularly the US and NZ actively and effectively enforce hindering regulations to stop unwarranted harassment of hunters enjoying their legal and highly regulated past time.

I personally reported incidents to the GMA this year and have had no feedback from them as to whether any action, investigation or prosecution was ever undertaken.

The vilification of hunters and unbalanced enforcement of hunting regulations has to end before this escalates and hunters feel compelled to take the law into their own hands when the government refuses to enforce its own laws.

We have a good story to tell and we want to keep portraying positive hunting and firearms stories.

Several good articles have been published recently including an ABC SA report on hunting and wild food, an article in the Mildura Weekly about Aussie Hunters Show a Heart, a group of hunters who raised over $16 000 for the Royal Children’s hospital.

The Weekly Times ran a story raising concerns about an upcoming VEAC review of coastal wetlands and reserves seeking assurances from the Environment Minister that hunters would maintain access as we currently do.

Two podcasts featuring US and Australian hunters experiencing our great public land hunting aired in America recently and the international visitors were fascinated by the difference in our duck species and the fact that they don’t migrate, as North American birds do.

Having hunted extensively in the US, it is only a good thing to have the cross pollination of hunting ideas and cultures and expanding the knowledge of our world class hunting in Australia is very positive.

I have been getting out to branches since the last magazine and have enjoyed visits to the Northern Territory, Canberra and Goulburn.

Each branch is to be commended on their efforts and as usual, their success comes down to a core group of volunteers willing to dedicate their time to something greater than themselves.

Each branch faces unique challenges, being weather, regulatory, developing a critical mass to thrive, etc. and we will endeavour to provide help and give guidance where we can. I enjoyed being able to get out and shoot with people I share a common interest with and I didn’t embarrass myself around the courses!

I was pleased to see that our efforts in the NT helped contribute to a regular length goose season with a 66 per cent increase in birds from 3 to 5 per day. While it was not what we recommended, it is a step in the right direction and we will continue to engage with the NT government to help shore up the science and ensure that their approach to setting the season is based on a sustainable harvest model.

We are looking forward to meeting with the GMA and the government in the next couple of months to review the 2018 hunting seasons and to contribute our expertise towards the 2019 season.

We have been working hard in the office preparing for upcoming major events, including the Nationals in Bairnsdale, AGM and 60th Anniversary Dinner. I look forward to meeting you at these events and others soon.

Hunters showed themselves to be responsible and respectful, and it is interesting to note that the anti-hunting movement has changed its tactics from trying to swing the public approval for hunting to pursuing video evidence of hunters not complying with the regulations.

FGA put a great deal of effort into getting the “hunting with respect” message out to all hunters, and we believe this effort was rewarded by the strong compliance by hunters to some tough new regulations.

We have revised our rules for Australian Simulated Field clay target competitions (version 2.3 effective July, 1, 2018) and these are available from: your branch as a printed booklet; on our website; and the FGA app. There have been many adjustments, improvements, and clarifications.

A major change has been the removal of the requirement for adult males to shoot from a ready position of “gun down”. From now onwards, you do not need to have a line on your jacket and are able to shoot with the gun already mounted when you call for the target.

The reasoning behind this was simple. It is very difficult to ensure that a competitor is holding the gun below the line on his jacket if you are safely behind him; there were always allegations that someone was “creeping”.

Furthermore, the rule did not apply to ladies or juniors. The logic was that ladies could be at a disadvantage when having to do a quick gun mount, and juniors were felt to have enough to worry about in learning to shoot without mounting the gun.

Will it make a difference? Well, now everyone is on the same footing and the chance for some to take an unfair advantage is removed.

Personally, I will continue to shoot “gun down”, as my main reason for shooting Simulated Field (other than having a fun shoot most weekends) is to keep me practiced for game shooting, and a smooth, fast mount is essential for game.

Even on double targets, I find I do better if I dismount and remount between the first and second target. It’s all about timing and flow. Indeed, when I had a lesson with John Bidwell (former world champion) he taught me to do this.

On the few targets where you are better off having the gun mounted, I will take advantage of the new rule and start mounted. In fact, these targets are often not what I would regard as simulating a game shot, so I am happy not to use them to practice my game mount.

Now we are in the second half of the year it is time to book your place in the 2018 FGA National Carnival, which will be held in November at Bairnsdale.

We will be building on the success of the changes last year and, will again have the ability to increase the number of competitors and still manage our time effectively. The facilities at Bairnsdale have recently been greatly improved, thanks to the Shooting Sports Facilities Grants from the Victorian Government and the branch is also extending the shooting ground to handle additional layouts. It promises to be another great carnival.

We also have a celebration in October, FGA’s 60th Birthday! This will be an evening of fun and memories, and we would like to see as many members attend as possible. Plus, thanks to some detective work by Gary Howard in the Sale library, we now have archival proof of the date of the first FGA meeting from which FGA was founded, it was at Sale on June 26, 1958.

Finally, we are again seeing legislation being introduced into the Victorian Parliament which gives us cause for concern. This is the Electoral Legislation Amendment Bill 2018.

Key attributes of the Bill included:

• public funding of political parties and political campaigns;
• providing administrative payments per elected member and per vote public funding ($6 for each first preference Legislative Assembly vote and $3 for Legislative Council vote); and
• donations to political parties from organisations such as FGA would be limited to $1000 (this limit would not apply to unions).

The legislation, as originally presented, would have made it virtually impossible for voluntary organisations such as FGA (which derives income from membership fees) to engage in effective political activity.

Thankfully, there will be changes to the legislation to address some of those issues, however we still have significant concerns, not least of which is the public election funding that will flow to the Greens. Increased public campaign funding of incumbents will also make it harder for new entrants to be successful.

The government and not the minor parties, which did not demonstrate any interest in the problems that this legislation would have created for organisations like ours, initiated welcome amendments.

While the legislation will not pass until after this magazine is published, that is a formality with the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF), Greens, and Northern Melbourne Upper House member Fiona Patten set to help Labor get the legislation over the line.

SFF is an important voice for firearm owners and hunting in Victoria, but on this particular issue we have to agree to disagree.

There have been a lot of amendments to the legislation and we will update members when the legislative process concludes.

The Justice Legislation (Police and Other Matters) Bill 2018 seeks to make a number of changes to our firearms legislation including re-categorising lever action shotguns (the ‘Adler’ changes).
The full Bill can be viewed at the legislation.vic.gov.au website.

SSAA Victoria, Field & Game Australia and the Australian Deer Association oppose the re- categorisation of lever action shotguns on the basis that there has not been a sound, evidence-based case made for any change.

Regardless of what shooters may or may not think about the Adler shotgun, there is a broader principle at stake here: if we say nothing while this illogical, politically driven change goes through, we simply make the job our opponents easier.

Each of our organisations has made a submission to Parliament expressing our opposition, but adding your voice will give it strength. You can view our submission here.

We are asking hunters and shooters to take five minutes to contact their local MPs and let them know that:

• - You oppose the re-categorisation of lever action shotguns on the basis that there has not been an evidence-based case made for change.
• - The proposed changes just make life harder for law abiding shooters with no public safety benefit.
• - The Federal Government has also stated that the NFA is an agreement in principle only and is not binding, therefore it is up to every state to decide whether they want to legislate any of it.

 
What you can do

Hunters need to remind politicians that hunting is an important economic, social and cultural activity in Victoria and that the authority overseeing hunting should be given a similar scope as the authority overseeing recreational fishing.

If you live in Victoria you should write to your local State members of Parliament (Upper and Lower House – six in total) and remind them, in your own words, that:

• You oppose the re-categorisation of lever action shotguns on the basis that there has not been an evidence-based case made for change.
• The proposed changes just make life harder for law abiding shooters with no public safety benefit.
• The Federal Government has also stated that the NFA is an agreement in principle only and is not binding, therefore it is up to every state to decide whether they want to legislate any of it.

Please focus particularly on Opposition and Crossbench MPs (Liberal, National, minor party and independent).

Remember to be polite and respectful – we are asking our elected officials to help us and to make sure that hunters are treated fairly.

To find the contact details for your local MP, visit https://parliament.vic.gov.au/findelectorate/ and enter your postcode.

Predators and prey: does rabbit control reduce the abundance of foxes?

It’s long been an important question in ecology – do predators control prey species, or does the abundance of a prey species control the abundance of a predator by influencing its food availability? And what happens when both are invasive species, such as the European Rabbit and Red Fox in Australia?

It’s also a question that has direct relevance to management. Managers often advocate controlling invasive prey in the belief that this will also reduce predator abundance. In practical terms, will control of rabbits reduce the numbers of foxes, and thereby reduce the detrimental effect of both species on farming systems and biodiversity?

This is the issue that Mike Scroggie and colleagues at ARI set out to test, using long-term data (from 1998 to 2015) on the abundance of rabbits and foxes, collected from spotlight surveys at 21 transects in rural locations widely scattered across Victoria. These transects were established to monitor the effects of the RHD virus on rabbit populations. Many of the locations were also targeted for intensive rabbit control via ripping warrens.

As expected, their analysis showed that rabbit abundance was substantially reduced by control measures. There was little response of rabbits to rainfall, but there were higher rates of increase in the autumn-spring interval, and negative density-dependence (i.e. population growth slowed as density increased). But it was the results for foxes that were most surprising! The rate of increase in fox populations was not related to rabbit abundance. Although rabbits are a common prey of foxes, it may be that foxes can effectively ‘switch’ to other prey when rabbit numbers are low. Rather, fox populations increased after high rainfall, and they too showed negative density dependence.

The conclusion from this research is that controlling rabbits to a low abundance does not substantially reduce fox abundance in south-eastern Australia. Rather, if we wish to control fox abundance, it’s necessary to undertake management actions that deliberately target fox populations.

Published in a highly regarded international journal, this work is likely to attract attention worldwide. Managing invasive predators and prey is a global issue.

Reference: Scroggie, M.P., Forsyth, D.M., McPhee, S.R., Matthews, J., Stuart, I.G., Stamation, K.A., Lindeman, M. and Ramsey, D.S.L. 2018. Invasive prey controlling invasive predators? European rabbit abundance does not determine red fox population dynamics. Journal of Applied Ecology (online early).
(see https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13253)

I would like to advise you that Field & Game Australia (FGA) has withdrawn from the Combined Firearms Council of Victoria (CFCV).

FGA chairman Bill Paterson has resigned as chairman of CFCV, and the FGA Board has ratified the decision to formally end our association with the organisation.

CFCV was formed as a united voice representing the views of Victoria’s six major organisations representing firearms owners, shooting sports and hunting.

Recently CFCV was strident in its opposition to legislation to reform political donations and electoral funding for political parties in Victoria; and particularly the role played by the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party.

While FGA shared concerns about the legislation and its impact on our ability to conduct political activities on behalf of members; the CFCV approach was not representative of our views and was published despite our clear objection.

In the circumstances, we indicated immediately that we would withdraw from involvement with CFCV, but delayed making any public statement until after the FGA Board meeting held late last week.

CFCV was never a substitute for FGA’s own political activity, and I assure you that we are always active in representing your interests at a political level.

Richard Light
CEO, Field & Game Australia

The fox drive has gained a wider audience, featuring recently of the ABC Landline program.

You can watch the clip here;

Conservation & Hunting is a specialist publication produced four times a year by Field & Game Australia and the Australian Deer Association. You can read the latest edition by clicking this link

The declaration applies to areas of Crown land managed by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Parks Victoria, Phillip Island Nature Parks, and Victoria’s four Alpine Resorts, with feral cat control implemented by department and agency staff and their agents to protect threatened wildlife most at risk from feral cats.

Recreational hunters will not be permitted to hunt feral cats on Crown land (Permission to hunt on Crown land does not extend to feral cats), unless they are accredited volunteers operating in control programs managed by Parks Victoria or the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.

The Labor Government recently undertook public consultation on the proposed feral cat declaration. Over 1,000 submissions were received, with more than 75 per cent of respondents supporting the declaration of feral cats as pests.

For more information about the feral cat declaration, visit https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/invasive-plants-and-animals/feral-cats.

• public funding of political parties and political campaigns, and
• providing administrative payments per elected member and per vote public funding ($6 for each first preference Legislative Assembly vote and $3 for Legislative Council vote).

The legislation will deliver a financial windfall to the major parties, and the Greens, based on their number of elected members post the November 2018 election, further entrenching their electoral status and power.

While the legislation will not pass until next month, that is a formality with the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, Greens, and Northern Melbourne Upper House member Fiona Patten set to help Labor get the legislation over the line. Support of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party is critical in determining the passage of the Bill.

The Coalition, Western Melbourne Upper House member, Rachel Carlin-Jenkins and Western Victorian Upper House member James Purcell oppose the legislation.

Mr. Purcell thinks the legislation is ‘disgraceful’.

“It’s one of the greediest pieces of legislation I’ve seen,” he told the Victorian Parliament

Dr. Rachel Carling-Jenkins said she ‘was never going to support (the legislation)’.

The original legislation would have made it virtually impossible for voluntary organisations, the only income of which is membership fees, to engage in effective political activity.  Thankfully, there will be changes to the legislation to address many of the issues of concern to voluntary organisations like Field & Game Australia.

Those changes are due to the Government and not to minor parties, which did not demonstrate any interest in the problems that this legislation would have created for people like us.

There have been a lot of amendments to the legislation and it will not be possible to assess how all these new rules will affect organisations like ours for a few weeks.

We will keep members updated on its progress.

What's changed?

The 2018 rulebook has been completely restructured and mostly rewritten, with the aim of making the book easier to use, reference and understand. The content for much of the rules is still the same, but these are the major changes:

• Ground setting target requirements have been changed with a view to make it easier for branches to set compliant grounds (rule 2.2, 2.4).
• The requirement for Veteran age shooters to elect to shoot as Veteran for the next 12 months at the start of each year has been removed. Veteran age shooters can now choose on the day of competition whether they wish to shoot their grade or compete in the Veterans category, same as shooters who qualify for Junior, Sub-Junior and Ladies categories (rule 7.4, 7.5).
• Proof of membership requirements have been updated and clarified (rule 8.1, 8.2).
• Gun mount in the Ready position is now optional and the requirements for lines on jackets/vests has been removed. Shooters of any grade or category can choose to shoot gun up or gun down (rule 9.12, 9.13).
• Sighter targets may now only be shown for the first shooter in the squad, and all sighter targets must be shown before the first shooter begins shooting (rule 10.1).
• A minimum barrel length for firearms has been introduced for safety purposes (rule 13.1).
• A maximum shot load for cartridges is being phased in (rule 13.3):
  • January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019: 32g (1.125 oz).
  • January 1, 2020 onwards: 28g (1 oz).
• Shot sizes have been defined, generally size 9 to 7, depending on country of manufacture and whether the shot is steel or lead (rule 13.4).
• The process for conducting Shoot-offs has been clarified (rule 22.3 to 22.7).
• A maximum score of 25 per round has been introduced for handicap scores (Appendix 1).
• "Beginner" handicaps are now calculated at the end of a shooter's first event, not after their first round (Appendix 1).

Referees will not need to re-sit the Referees Exam, but a new one has been prepared, aligning with the restructured rulebook. We encourage all active clay target shooters, especially Referees, to familiarise themselves with the new rules.

Where do I get the new rulebook?

You can view and download a copy right here.

You may also view it Field & Game Magazine app (coming very soon), and printed copies will be available from branch clubrooms in the near future.

I'm shooting this weekend, what rules do I follow?

If you're shooting this weekend, the current rulebook to follow is Version 1.8.1 from 2011. The new rulebook, Version 2.3, comes into effect on July 1 this year.

An update from CEO Richard Light.

Dear Members,

I spoke with the media today in regards to the 2018 Victorian Duck Season and provided them with the following information.

• This year’s duck season has been an overwhelming success. all hunters enjoyed a full season and were able to harvest organic, wild ducks to eat.
• With this year came a slew of new regulations that added to the complexity of complying with an already highly regulated activity.
• Hunters did a fantastic job of complying with the new regulations, respecting the modified opening times and retrieval regulations. The key to the success here was the communication, education and enforcement. It is worth noting that the 9am, 8am and regular starting times were well respected, so it is not so much the opening time, but the communication and education that were the keys to success.
• Hunters overwhelmingly demonstrated that they are capable of sustaining an ethical and humane hunt for future generations to come.
• We look forward to the Minister building on this successful season and call on her to declare a full season for next year as soon as possible. We will be seeking support from all political parties to support ethical and sustainable hunting in Victoria, that is a major economic contributor to the state, particularly in regional economies.
• In regards to an article from the ABC today, The highly edited video makes certain unsubstantiated claims. We question the validity of the highly edited video, we understand that were taken from hours of footage, shot over 2 weeks, provided by opponents to hunting that undertake illegal activities in harassing hunters. We call on the regulator to investigate ALL claims of breaches of hunting regulations, especially those by protestors infringing on the legal, highly regulated hunting activities of law abiding citizens.

Regards,

Richard Light

The survey is providing an opportunity for Victoria's 50,000 + licensed game hunters to have a say on how they want to be communicated with and what game hunting topics are of importance.

The responses from the survey will provide the GMA with the information it needs to continually grow as an effective communicator with regard to all aspects of game hunting in Victoria.

For more information, and to take the survey, visit www.gma.vic.gov.au/research/hunter-surveys.

It has been a very successful, albeit relatively dry Duck Season in Victoria but with only two weeks to go you can be proud of the behaviour and effort you have put in to ensuring Duck Season continues for generations.

Northern Territory Visit

I have recently been to Darwin for a meeting with the Northern Territory Minister for Environment and Natural Resources Lauren Moss MLA and Education Minister Eva Lawler MLA, NT Field & Game (Steve Lees and Bart Irwin) and the NT Firearms Council to discuss the upcoming Magpie geese season.

After arbitrarily declaring a limited bag limit and season last year without consultation and the corresponding backlash from hunters and hunting groups, the meeting we had last Tuesday was a good turnaround. The NT Government presented data showing a strong increase in the number of Magpie geese and while there was discussion around the scientific method to be used to determine an adaptive harvest bag limit, all indications point towards an increased bag limit and season. There is a follow-up meeting this week to continue the discussion on the scientific approach and details of the season.

I enjoyed visiting the NT Branch on Friday afternoon, where they are busy with a number of construction projects, including installation of a skeet field and lighting to shoot 5 stand into the evening. I enjoyed the State of Origin Shoot on Sunday, but even though Victoria was well represented with the largest team, I couldn’t assist with getting us over the line. Congratulations to the Tasmanian Team on their win. It was good to meet with the members and committee and I particularly enjoyed shooting with the junior shooters – Hunter and Billy.

We met with farmers on Monday to discuss crop destruction mitigation including the owners of a mango farm, melon farm and hay/turf farm.

One farmer stated that last year he harvested his various crops over 177 days and his permit was only 222 geese. He had geese on the property from October 1 to March 26. He lost $18,200 worth of hay, $5,000 in damaged paw paws, and 300 paw paw trees destroyed by geese, which cost a further $2,400 to replant.

The 300 lost trees would have produced $120,000 of fruit over their two-year lifespan.

Extrapolated out to all of the agricultural industry in the NT, uncontrolled pests represent a significant loss to farmers. Hunting of the pest species is a critical element of a large-scale behaviour modification program involving a combination lethal and non-lethal methods such as LRAD (long range acoustic device) and gas guns. Protecting productive agriculture is critical and appropriate pest destruction permits are a key element.

Field & Game advertising campaign

We recently met with the company that produced our recent advertising campaign for us and the summary below shows the number of ads and their reach.

I hope you managed to see some of the ads when they were on.

Anti-hunting campaign complaint lodged

You may have seen, or heard about an anti-duck hunting television campaign paid for by Animals Australia masquerading as “Regional Victorians Against Duck Shooting”.

These ads unjustly vilify duck hunters and obviously breach advertising standards. We have filed a detailed complaint against these ads with Ad Standards Australia. The frustrating part of the official complaint process is that it can take up to four weeks to determine if our complaint should be referred for adjudication.

Updates to our management systems

We have been assessing our longer-term needs as an organization. A critical system that requires attention is the member database. It has been a good system that has served us well, but it requires an update to meet modern standards and requirements, as there are issues with remote access and functionality, including the manual payment system and member profile updates.

It will be a large project that will be months in the planning, selection, integration and implementation; but will deliver a more reliable, streamlined, scalable and integrated solution.

We have reviewed our financial system and have implemented our financial manual, with improved processes, such as issuing of purchase orders and improved time keeping.

We have undertaken a personnel system review and updated contracts, job descriptions, policies and procedures.

While back office systems and processes are not sexy, they are the foundation that allows us to continue to deliver services to our membership efficiently and effectively.

I look forward to seeing you in the field or around branches.

Regards,

Richard

Richard Light | Chief Executive Officer
Field & Game Australia
AUSTRALIA’S MOST SURPRISING CONSERVATIONISTS

Tom Brinkworth is one of Australia’s biggest private landholders. He happily chats with hunters as they arrive for the opening of the South Australian Duck Season, but leaves it to others to talk about the conservation projects he has fostered with the creation of Wetlands & Wildlife.

The opening hunt of the season is taking place on the Cortina system, a conservation project aiming to create 5000 ha of connected habitat, including some of the most valuable wetlands in the region.

The Morella project was completed in 2014 and now connects 13 000 ha of wildlife habitat near the Coorong National Park, Martin Washpool Conservation Park and Bonneys Camp Well.

The scale is vast, making it one of the largest conservation projects on private land in Australia.

Dave Rehn from Keith Field & Game traces the history back to a Jip Jip, a favourite waterhole frequented by local duck hunters.

“When Tom Brinkworth first bought the area, he was planning to develop it and put it to pasture,” he said.

“A few of the locals recognised they might lose it and they lobbied pretty hard to get Tom to change his mind and Tom, as he does, not only agreed but put a weir across the water course to manage the water and turned Jip Jip into the great area it is today.”

Dave said that early interaction with hunters was the catalyst for Tom Brinkworth to create Wetlands & Wildlife, a conservation company aiming to complement the national park system on private land.

“It shows what can be done when people get together and work towards improving the environment,” Dave said.

“It has grown into a huge environmental success; for all the controversy over the years, Tom Brinkworth has been able to deliver on environmental outcomes — it isn’t just talk.”

Keith Frost has been involved from the beginning and remains a director of Wetlands & Wildlife and a key figure at organised hunts with help to fund ongoing conservation works.

“Tom was the brainchild: he acquired land that had been hunted in the past, and he has continued on with hunting and locking up important habitat for future generations,” he said.

“A lot of this country was grazing land and it had been reclaimed, a lot of the banks that were in place to keep water out are now being used to keep water in and wetlands that were seasonal are now more permanent.”

The land and water is also used for academic research, education, and tourist activities.

At a landscape level, the region is similar to the Coorong, which attracts the most attention during debates about water policy and the environment.

Parallel coastal dunes interspersed with flats were formed by rises and falls in sea level over the past 400 000 years. Winter rains left water trapped between the dunes and it slowly flowed in a north-westerly direction until it eventually disappeared into limestone sinkholes or found its way into the Coorong via Salt Creek.

This created more than a million hectares of seasonal wetlands with some permanent lakes and ponds, which teemed with waterbirds and aquatic plants and provided abundant food for the indigenous inhabitants.

A settler colony founded in 1836 encountered a landscape dominated by water in winter, which made overland travel difficult and any low-lying country unsuitable for farming without extensive drainage.

The first drain was dug in the 1860s and the digging has been going on ever since, to the point where the term ‘natural landscape’ had little meaning — only 6 per cent of the original wetland habitat remained, and 90 per cent of the original vegetation was cleared.

The Morella and Cortina systems are significant environmental assets but even so, it has been a battle.

“There is nothing even close to this anywhere else in South Australia but with the water regime and the highly managed systems we have, Wetlands & Wildlife have had to lobby hard to make sure these wetlands get their share of water within the system,” Dave said.

Evan Pettingill, another long-time director of Wetlands & Wildlife, said landholders encouraged to preserve important wetlands decades ago were now having to fight for water.

“We are at a disadvantage,” he said.

“There has been such a change from the 1980s when landholders like Tom were encouraged to manage these wetlands, now the water is needed elsewhere, but it will probably all cycle around again.”

Keith said the company continues to argue the case for the south-east wetlands.

“Water is highly political and there has been a lot of lobbying and negotiation to ensure these wetlands have water supply,” he said.

“It is part of the traditional water course that flowed into the Coorong; our argument is that this area is just as valuable, or even more important than the Coorong.”

Keith Field & Game is still involved and Dave reckons the impact of private conservation of wetlands in the south-east has been cultural as well as environmental.

“Going back to the 1970s, the pressure to stop duck hunting was high and without this there is a chance South Australia would not be still hunting today,” he said.

Membership of Wetlands & Wildlife is at record levels and in addition to the 27 000 ha of Watervalley Wetlands, the organisation has stewardship of the Warraweena Conservation Park, a 355 sq km former pastoral property in the Northern Flinders Ranges that has now been destocked.

Wetlands & Wildlife membership is $50, which includes discounts on tours, camping, accommodation and hunting. Find out more at www.wetlandsandwildlife.org.au

The day before, hunters’ rigs rolled off the dusty roads and into the campgrounds, checking in with the hunt organisers and chatting about the season ahead.

They are from all parts of South Australia and Victoria.

Keith Field & Game members are here in numbers, including David Rehn, who also has the task of organising hunters on part of this vast stretch of water.

A lot of years the ducks in South Australia disappear just before opening, drawn north by fresh rainfall or the flush of water that comes with the remnants of a cyclone. Not this year.

“You need a lot of hunters to cover a place like Cortina,” David says from experience.

About 320 guns are here for the opening, including Brian ‘Hollywood’ Hoyland, who has hunted on this stretch of water many times before.

“It is one of the most magnificent areas of water and I’ve only probably seen 60 per cent of it over the years,” Hollywood said.

“I’ve seen it at its best and its worst but it is a fabulous water course.”

In the dark, David comes across a group of hunters who are way off course and are readying to walk onto the same neck set aside for the Keith crew. He guides them to another access road before getting ready to hunt.

The walk in is about 800 m and it is hard going where the water has started to draw back.

Hunters from different camps are taking their places; it is difficult to see more than one or two other hunters from any position, but there is no mistaking the boom of the first shots, signalling the hunt has begun.

Hollywood gets the odd chance but he was already playing down his opening on the walk out. The water is receding and brackish and he expects for the most part the ducks have gone looking for fresher water.

He’s right, one or two birds is the average here but in other parts of Cortina (and part of the same shoot) one lucky crew from Shepparton is assigned to a far flung body of water and they wade out to the sigh of tens of thousands of ducks lifting into the air. As one reports after the shoot, they all got their bag in quick time and spent the rest wondering at the sight of so many birds.

“I thought it would have hunted a lot better than it did,” Hollywood said, especially after the success of every other shoot through to early April.

“If you discount the opening morning, this year would be one of the best years ever had in that region.”

David agrees.

“The opening was probably the worst hunt we have had so far as duck numbers but we were covering such a big area and the average was still six to seven birds,” he said.

In subsequent week the hunting moved around to well-known waterholes like Jip Jip, Pretty Johnny’s, Jaffrays and then back to Cortina.

“Every one of those hunts we have averaged 10 or 11 and at Jip Jip we bagged out,” David said.

“The lower south-east around Lake George is just black with ducks and hunters have been having a great time. There has been no rain up north to drag the birds away and it doesn’t look like changing soon.”

Early April is most often the start of the second wave of duck hunting in South Australia as birds return but this year, most never left.

“At Cortina the water has come back a long way since opening because we’ve had warm and windy days that suck the moisture out,” David said.

“The numbers have been holding up really well though, and hunters are certainly taking advantage.”

In the Riverland, Jim Godden said there were many birds around for opening weekend with Barmera Moorook Field & Game at Loveday.

Jim’s bag was limited because he was busy working a young dog with each retrieve but reports from other hunters were good.

“We had a clean out at the same time as Victoria did but good resident populations have remained, so the hunting has been good right through,” he said.

“What I’m hearing consistently still from hunters is that the conditions and the hunting is very good across South Australia.”

Lake Martin was closed for the opening weekend of the Victorian season due to the presence of Curlew Sandpiper to minimise disturbance prior to their migration to Asia.

Curlew Sanpiper numbers continued to grow from 100 to 800 through March as the lake dried and it has remained closed to hunting since March 30.

A private wetland (south of Stanhope, near the junction of Two-Tree Road and Girgarre - Rushwoth Road): which was closed to hunting due to a significant number of Freckled Duck will also open on Tuesday.

Riccardo is busy with a new business, Ferrovia Deli & Fine Foods in Railway Parade, Pascoe Vale (across the road from Pascoe Vale railway station).

The café is currently open for breakfast and mornings but owner Danny Leone has plans to extend into the building next door and open for lunch and dinner later this year.

“Danny is a good friend of mine and he asked me to come and join him; it is going from strength to strength,”

“With the restaurant we are going back to our roots. Danny is from Sicily and I’m from Calabria, they are very similar cooking styles and historically, they belong in Pascoe Vale,” Riccardo said.

Riccardo is busy and the kitchen is hot as he completes two duck dishes for service.

He’d love to be out in a field somewhere enjoying his love of quail hunting but it is bone dry and on this mid-April day he woke to 27 degrees and a dust storm sweeping across Melbourne.

“Hopefully in coming weeks I can have a walk and a bit of a look for some quail, but it is dry, there’s been no rain and the ground is as hard as a rock,” he said.

“I can at least get the exercise. The quail are always out there somewhere but I suspect there’s not many in Victoria at the moment, they are like ducks and follow the rains and the water.”

Riccardo likes to cook all sorts of game and while his duck legs with homemade gnocchi appears complicated and a long labour of love, he reckons it is simple enough for most hunters to try.

You compile the dish in parts over a few days but most of that is the 48 hours the duck legs sit in the marinade while you do other things like hunting and the mash for the gnocchi is made the day before you intend to eat.

“The traditionally made gnocchi is made with potatoes, they come from the ground and are earthy; duck and potato with a rich tomato sauce is a marriage made in heaven,” Riccardo said.

“This recipe isn’t breaking any new boundaries. It takes time to accomplish but it is really simple, the way my Italian family has cooked for centuries. You could also use pasta, like a heavy pappardelle, but I like the gnocchi because of the way it embraces the sauce and takes on the flavour.”

When the restaurant opens later this year Riccardo will base some dishes on game, a reflection of his love for it and the following he has amongst hunter-gatherers.

For Field & Game magazine Riccardo produced multiple dishes, two of which are featured in this edition.

“After the events of last year we need to show how versatile duck is and that there is no need to waste it, no game should be wasted,” he said.

“My motto is to always leave a few eggs in the basket, we need to hunt sustainably and with respect for game and that follows through into the kitchen. You go out exploring and hunting for game and you should do the same in the kitchen, exploring new ways to use your game, and experimenting, which is equally enjoyable.”

The time had come to take my oldest son Fred, 10, on his first duck opening. I was lucky enough to be given the chance to shoot at the Connewarre Wetlands Centre, a managed wetland, through Geelong Field & Game.

My own duck and quail hunting started at the age of nine in the Wimmera. I was taken by my father dam and channel hopping for ducks (me being the retriever in the absence of an actual dog), and was occasionally given a shot with an old single-barrel shottie, which had a three-inch piece of foam as a recoil pad.

I believe this was only there to boost my confidence, as I am positive it didn’t help with any recoil. I ended up on my bum the first time I shot it!

Fred had attended a duck education program run by the Geelong Field & Game at the Connewarre Wetland Centre, where he learnt about safety, equipment required, decoy spreads, etiquette, respect and many other things that go with being a responsible duck hunter.

He also attended a duck calling session with Blair Findlay from Toxic Calls, at the wetland centre earlier this year.

When I told Fred of the plans two days before opening, his excitement was evident. Immediately he got his camouflage gear and calls out, and even put his pillow in his swag. On the eve of duck opening, I picked him up from school and he was ready to go!

We had a night of camping awaiting.

Once our swags were set up, we headed down to set up the hide. He made sure there were sticks, grass and camo netting for the hide, and wouldn’t leave until he was happy with the arrangement.

Sitting around chatting on what tomorrow could bring made his excitement grow but he put himself to bed early so tomorrow would come quicker.

First light appeared above the bushes and his excitement had grown to fever pitch. Fully dressed in camo gear, duck callers and binoculars around his neck, with his mate Frizzy the dog ready to go, the young bloke was keen to get amongst it.

Arriving at the hide, the young bloke set up the decoy pattern, which he had learnt on the education days, and in a way he believed would be good for the day. Jumping back in the hide it was time to wait until opening. Within minutes birds started to land around us. Fred was even able to tell what type of ducks were coming in (very proud Dad moment, he had done well). This also showed how well the managed facility was. The countdown began, so we waited until 10 minutes past nine to make sure. Within the next hour there were plenty of ducks to be had, and it didn’t take long to get a bag. The two retrievers (young bloke and the dog) were beginning to get all tuckered out. It was time for home.

Fred packed up all the decoys as the dog tried to rest/sleep in the shade. Walking back pulling the punt full of all the gear, there was a guarantee someone would sleep tonight.

It was wonderful to hear the first words out of his mouth when getting out of the car: “Can we go again tomorrow?”

That night duck schnitzels were on the menu and devoured by the entire family, included our one year old. I am happy to know my young bloke is on his way to being a respectful hunter, and will be part of the future of hunting in Australia.

I’d like to thank Field & Game Australia for allowing us this great experience, filled with memories with my young bloke on his first opening, and hope we get to share many more to come.

Enforcement was present at 38 wetlands, with the main concentration of effort in the Kerang region where protesters also massed.

It was a very different opening, but hunters are nothing if not adaptable.

“I’ve never felt more regulated at a duck opening,” Melbourne Field & Game member Steve Tucker said.

Steve was with a crew at Lake Elizabeth that didn’t fire a shot and didn’t get a duck, courtesy of a lone protester who stood in front of the decoy spread waving a flag on a pole.

The protester claimed to have a firearms licence, a WIT and a hunting permit but in Steve’s view he should not have been in the water. Even if the paperwork was in order, it was acquired not with the intention of hunting but with a clear intent to interfere with the hunting of similarly accredited people.

“The way I see it, it isn’t in the spirit of the legislation,” Steve said.

A short distance away at Lake Cullen, hunters were also dealing with protesters and with the number of guns limited (most, it seems, decided to avoid the circus and hunt somewhere else), there was not a lot of opportunity.

What little shooting there was started on time and the hunts passed without incident leaving the anti-hunting fraternity with little to do and nothing to complain about.

While the hunt was a disappointment to those who ventured out, the outcome in reputational terms was more than worth the effort.

A little to the southwest, at Sandhill Lake, several groups of hunters had the place to themselves apart from the compliance team watching from the surrounding hills on the second morning.

While many Field & Game Australia branches organise hunting trips during the season, this was less formal.

The hunters were in two main camping area and together they all agreed on the way they would hunt, which started with nobody even entering the water until the official start time.

Nobody shot early and everyone enjoyed a productive weekend.

“This would have to be one of the best duck openings I’ve had,” Darren Stendt from Geelong Field & Game said.

“It is a 50 ha wetland and we organised with all the other camps that we would all walk out at 9 am; the cooperation between the individual hunters and the different camps was fantastic, and that is what made the hunt for me.”

Darren said the 9 am and 8 am start times for the first two days were not really an issue.

“If you can stay off the wetland for as long as possible, everyone gets a good crack,” he said.

“The way I see it, no matter what the start time is, we are all hunting at the same time and the birds are still in that same state where they are moving around creating opportunities.”

Steve Pask has been duck hunting in the region for 47 years and he’d been keeping an eye on Sandhill.

“I’d been watching this wetland for three weeks and as hunters started to come in I went and spoke to them and the message was simple: if we all work together, we will have a magnificent hunt,” he said.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better result; it isn’t hard to achieve with good communication and cooperation between hunters. It would be one of the best hunts I’ve experienced in 47 years, but it isn’t rocket science.”

Darren and Steve set the tone for opening weekend, but stick of compliance wasn’t the driver, instead it was the carrot of better hunting.

“I picked it up on a private shoot in South Australia where the rules were don’t enter the water; it worked for the hunt, it worked for keeping the birds in the area and it is certainly preferable to people trudging through your decoys and shining lights around as they head out,” Darren said.

Port Phillip member Tass Mouzakis was already very familiar with Sandhill and wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to hunt there.

“I’ve been coming here for 20 years camping and just enjoying the area when it has been dry but to have water and experience an opening here has been brilliant,” he said.

There are only two camping areas and the main one, 150 m off the access point, is a tight circle surrounded by bush. The close proximity made organisation easier, but most thought the same collaboration and cooperation would work at much larger wetlands if hunters put in the effort.

“On a big wetland such as the Marshes when in flood, visiting every camp would be more difficult but this should be the approach to hunting, with everyone cooperating to make sure everyone gets a fair go,” Darren said.

“Nobody deliberately wants to go out there and break the law, nobody wants to be a ratbag.”

As a local, Steve Pask was upset and frustrated by what occurred at Koorangie State Game Reserve a year earlier and he was worried about the rocky road duck hunting seemed to be headed down.

He was also initially angry with changes imposed on all hunters because of the actions of a few.

His response was to control what he could by making hunters accountable, not to the authorities or the legislators, but to fellow hunters.

“I wasn’t happy about the start time, I was angry about it, but the way the weekend went I might have been swayed, it was all right and it took the steam out of the opening weekend, which was probably not a bad thing,” Steve said.

“They (enforcement staff) watched every move this morning but there was nothing there to pick on, we were all responsible.”

Both mornings, even in broad daylight, the Sandhill hunters enjoyed a spectacular sight and good hunting.

“The first flight was phenomenal; I didn’t know whether to grab a shell or my phone, to see the birds lift up like that,” Darren said.

Tass agreed that the spectacle and the hunting on offer took the sting out of the enforced late start time.

“We started hunting after 9 am and hunted for 90 minutes on opening morning; around 4000 birds got up in the first flight, it just went black and if people didn’t bag out they were up around seven or eight birds,” he said.

“As for the late start times, if it had been a 7.20 am start I think hunters would have bagged out 20 minutes earlier, which was the main difference, the sun was up, so it was bright, it was hard, and the birds got up quicker, so it does have good and bad points.

“For a few of my crew it was their first time at Sandhill and with the camps so close together we’ve all shared food and drinks and enjoyed the time together, so combined with the hunt, it has been a great experience.”

The best antidote to this poisonous finding occurred on the opening weekend in Victoria where the regulations (including new start times and retrieval and harvesting regulations) were met with an increased and effective enforcement effort and almost universal compliance.

It should be noted that engagement and education played an equally critical role, with enforcement staff visiting hunters’ camps and hunters themselves ensuring those around them understood and complied with the new regulations.

No doubt, many hunters, still angered by the report’s main claim that: “While many hunters are responsible and respect the game hunting laws, non-compliance with the game hunting laws is commonplace and widespread …” were determined to disprove this sweeping claim.

So how did Pegasus Economics arrive at this conclusion?

The evidence is scant and in a legal vernacular of a criminal case “entirely circumstantial”.

To understand the context of the report and its findings you have to go back to when and why it was commissioned.

After the opening weekend of the 2017 Duck Season and the well-publicised failings that occurred at Koorangie State Game Reserve, the Board of the GMA indicated to Victorian Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford that it would commission an urgent, independent review of the GMA’s operating model and resourcing levels.

Ms Pulford had made it clear publicly that duck hunting remained a “ …legitimate recreational activity, provided the rules are followed”, placing enforcement and compliance at the heart of the response to Koorangie.

“There is no excuse for not knowing the law, or for hunting in unethical, unsustainable and inhumane ways,” she said.

The GMA sought particular advice on:

• the relevance and appropriateness of GMA’s compliance and enforcement policy;

• the effectiveness of GMA’s compliance and enforcement regime and activities; and

• a comparative analysis of resource requirements against other Victorian regulatory bodies and other jurisdictions’ game management regulators.

The lines of inquiry included the operating model, comparative resourcing, compliance planning and execution, collaboration and skill sets.

Analysis included desktop research, formal and informal interviews, discussions and focus groups.

Field & Game Australia, the Australian Deer Association and SSAA (Vic) were engaged but so too were Animals Australia, RSPCA, CADS and the vocal but unrepresentative Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting.

The investigation started with a narrative describing what occurred at Koorangie on the opening weekend of 2017, and earlier at Box Flat in 2013, as bad and the GMA was part of the problem.

Evidence supporting that narrative was adopted in the report, but differing views were not.

Both FGA and ADA were present at Koorangie and gave first person accounts, however, the report chooses to use a quote from a newspaper article given by a representative of another organisation who was hundreds of kilometres away.

The quote, suggesting that charging the small number of hunters acting illegally and confiscating their firearms on the spot would have a much greater impact supported the narrative that the GMA incorrectly focused on protector activity at Koorangie rather than on enforcing the game laws for which it has primary responsibility.

The report does not reflect the difficult environment presented by the mix of hunters, protesters and the firearms.

Surely, in this volatile mix, which relies heavily on the tolerance and composure of hunters in the face of often aggressive interference with their legal activity, the safeguarding of human life and the maintenance of public order takes precedence over the enforcement of game regulations.

Protection of its citizens is the first order of any government.

The report relies on anecdotal evidence, examples of boastful Facebook posts and comments from organisations (including anti-hunting activists) to advance the suggestion that “unsanctioned non-compliance with the hunting laws is commonplace and widespread”.

This view has been repeated ad nauseam by anti-hunting groups but its presence in a report does not make it true.

Fisheries Officers conducted more than 47 900 inspections during the period between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017 resulting in 60 prosecutions.

Recreational fishing accounted for 46 593 inspections and 4254 detected offenders (8.8 per cent of inspections) although serious offences resulting in prosecutions were just 0.8 per cent.

The GMA does not record the number of inspections so no comparable figure is available, however, the number of prosecutions in the same 2016–17 period was just six from 26 planned compliance operations.

Greater enforcement logically leads to detection of more offences.

In 2015–16 the GMA conducted 51 planned operations (nearly double) and issued 26 court proceedings but far fewer infringement notices.

For hunting or fishing the number of prosecutions is a tiny fraction, especially when you factor in not only the raw number of participants but the frequency of their active participation.

Regulators of hunting and fishing are reliant on high levels of self-enforcement backed by education and licencing that reinforces the rules and encourages compliance.

The vast majority of hunters do comply with the law and are supportive of well-resourced enforcement activities that target the minority who do not.

The report notes the GMA is in a difficult position of regulating an activity that is very highly regarded by its advocates and practitioners but opposed on moral and ethical grounds by other stakeholders, and it cannot afford to be seen to be indifferent or inactive in enforcing the law.

However, that pressure should not allow opponents to get away with the implication that hunting can’t continue because enforcement officers are unable to monitor 100 per cent of the activity.

No regulatory system has complete oversight and to depict hunting as a lawless environment is to ignore the facts. Hunters are ultimately responsible for their actions and the majority of hunters do not break the law.

The Pegasus Economics report makes one other significant claim that anti-hunting organisations are promoting; that as a small statutory body, the GMA is vulnerable to capture by the interests it is seeking to regulate.

The new regulations imposed on duck hunters in 2018, including the unpopular late opening times and the initially unworkable interpretation of retrieving regulations, is ample evidence that hunting interests have not ‘captured’ the regulator.

Add to the list the continued exclusion of the blue-winged shoveler from the bag, wetland closures, including Hird Swamp on opening weekend because of the presence of a single bittern, and the capture theory unravels.

The report states that some ‘stakeholders’ consider the GMA is not independent and impartial in its administration. The anti-hunting lobby seems to think the regulator must be in the other camp if it isn’t in theirs. The GMA role is to regulate hunting, which the Parliament sanctions as a lawful activity.

The report suggests the GMA should “ …engage with stakeholders across a wide spectrum of values and interests and to adapt and adjust to changing community attitudes and expectations”, which hints at addressing more than just ensuring responsible and ethical behaviour and a drift into slow eradication through regulation and red tape.

Those two damaging claims aside, the Pegasus report does have many good points. It outlines in detail many of the same organisational, regulatory and capacity issues that exist.

The majority of these were already well known, and FGA and ADA raised them in a joint submission to Minister Pulford prior to the 2018 Duck Season.

The problems with the GMA are not the fault of the Andrews government but it does have the capacity to deliver a stronger, more effective GMA, which all hunters would welcome.

When the Pegasus report leaked to ABC’s 7.30, Minister Pulford told the program:

“It is entirely possible that the GMA will not survive this process in its current shape, in its current form.”

FGA and ADA do not believe it should survive in its current form: from the beginning the GMA’s scope has been far too limited and it’s resourcing has been far too constrained.

Much has been made of the Greens’ future prospects following the Tasmanian and South Australian elections and a federal by-election in a Victorian seat, Batman.

Half of Batman is comprised of state seat Northcote in which the Greens defeated Labor convincingly.

In South Australia the Greens attracted 6.6 per cent of the vote, down 25 per cent on their vote four years ago.

In Tasmania their numbers in the 25-member Legislative Assembly were reduced to two, down from five in 2010 — their worst result in 20 years and disastrous, particularly bearing in mind that Tasmania has a Senate-style voting system for its lower house. Over the latest two state elections support for the Greens has halved.

In Batman there was a swing of 6.5 per cent to Labor, even though the Liberals did not nominate a candidate. Pundits and experts predicted an easy win for the Greens and during the campaign polls suggested the Greens had a lead of up to six per cent.

On the back of these results some commentators are hailing the demise of the Greens.

Clearly the results expose Greens’ grandiose ambitions, such as winning 25 seats in the House of Representatives, for what they are. Whether these results justify writing the Greens off is another question.

South Australia always has been a weak link for the Greens and Cori Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives fared just as poorly, losing their Upper House seeking re-election. Since the elections their other Upper House member has joined the Liberals.

For Nick Xenophon the results were disastrous.

It seems that voters decided a 16-year-old government presiding over crises and scandals had to go and, to some degree, minor parties were collateral damage.

The trend in Tasmania looks more significant. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether the Greens’ poor showing was influenced by one-off factors such as whether, and if so to what extent, Labor’s policy to ban poker machines drowned out other issues, other than economic issues.

Then there is the retirement of two Green members after one term and the impact that had on the result, if any.

More significant is the question as to whether the Greens’ decision years ago to broaden its appeal by becoming a human rights party as well as an environment party has deprived the Greens of a distinctive brand and backfired.

Their leader Cassy O’Connor might be well-regarded around Hobart’s Salamanca Place, but does she have the credibility of Bob Brown or Christine Milne, genuine environment warriors?

This is a question with implications for the Greens’ federal leader, Richard di Natalie.

As for Batman, local factors played a critical role. Retiring member David Feeney was a poor fit for the electorate. However, Labor’s candidate Ged Kearney was an ideal fit.

Internal divisions between the Greens’ candidate Alex Bhathal and some local Green leaders, including Green councillors was critical. Some Greens actively campaigned against Ms Bhathal, as demonstrated by the leaking of a 100-page dossier to The Age, which eventually published the story.

The Greens were in trouble from the moment the story was published. Local divisions manifested themselves in practical ways, such as a significant reduction in the number of signs placed in houses.

Even had the Greens been united, the result in Batman was always going to be closer than the result in the Northcote by-election. The internal divisions put the outcome beyond doubt.

The results of the latest three elections certainly have dented the Greens’ belief in the inevitably of their progress. However, it would be premature to assume the Greens have passed their peak and are on a downward trajectory.

The Victorian Game Management Authority (GMA) counted 2100 hunters on the 38 Victorian wetlands where enforcement officers were present during the opening weekend.

For the first time, a contractor was brought in to operate high-end drones over popular wetlands in the Kerang region. The drones are capable of flying at a height of two or three kilometres and still check if a hunter has shaved.

The GMA confirmed post-opening that the only footage being used to investigate an offence is of a person (presumably a protester) interfering with a hunter.

Lake Cullen and Lake Elizabeth were the focus of activity with 170 protesters and heightened enforcement to go with the new opening times and regulations.

The GMA reported no early shooting at any of the wetlands where enforcement was present, including Lake Cullen. Hardly surprising given that barely a shot was fired on opening morning.

That did not stop Sue Pennicuik, the Greens Upper House member for Southern Metropolitan using the privilege of Question Time in the Victorian Legislative Council to put her take on the record.

“In the last sitting week I asked you about the number of compliance officers and police that would be deployed across Victoria’s wetlands for the opening of the duck shooting season given the massacre of birds at Koorangie marshes last year and the release of the Pegasus report, which stated that it is impossible to police duck shooting across the wetlands. In a written response to me you stated that this year duck hunters are on notice and that that type of behaviour will not be tolerated. However, there are widespread reports of illegal behaviour by duck hunters across Victoria, including bags of ducks being found dumped on the road; shooters not retrieving birds, which I witnessed myself at Lake Cullen; shooting too early and shooting too late after dark; and shooting from moving boats. My question, Minister, is: how is the government going to prevent this behaviour for the remainder of the season?”

Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford confirmed there were no reports of shooting early and that 20 hunters were found in breach of regulations and many were what would be considered “minor offences”; she gave the following breakdown:

“As I indicated, there were no reports of hunters shooting early. Two hunters will receive infringement notices for failing to make reasonable attempts to retrieve a downed bird, and a further three hunters receive a written warning for failing to comply. Two people will be prosecuted for taking protected wildlife; the firearms of one of those hunters were seized. A group of three hunters will be prosecuted for hunting in a closed area; that was on Sunday, March 18, and all three had their firearms seized. There were some other hunting offences which we would describe as, relative to the others, minor offences: one for hunting from a moving boat, one for somebody not having their game licence, one for possession of toxic shot on a state game reserve, one instance of failing to retain a fully feathered wing and one of hunting with toxic shot. There were some written warnings for some other matters: failing to kill on recovery, possession of toxic shot, hunting from a moving boat and failure to retain a fully feathered wing — one instance of each.”

Still, the Greens MP pressed on: “You cannot be looking very hard if you have not heard of any reports of early shooting, because they are pretty widespread, but I am happy to furnish you with that and the other reports of behaviour. I have to say that my personal observation at Lake Cullen was that on the breaches that I saw, we actually had to encourage the GMA officers to do something about it, including one duck which appeared to have been shot by a rifle and which I will be following up with you.”

The Ministers office confirmed more than a week later that no further information had been provided.

The exchange is typical of the public debate over duck hunting, where the evidence, in this case, almost universal compliance with hunting regulations, is ignored because it does not help the anti-hunting cause.

Birds Australia, which once accepted the sustainable use of wildlife but now opposes duck hunting as a matter of policy, continues to engage as a key stakeholder, particularly around wetland closures.

We had the bizarre case of the western side of Hird Swamp State Game Reserve being closed on opening weekend to minimise disturbance to Australasian bittern. The swamp opened to hunting on the Monday morning, so does that mean the bittern only use it as a weekender?

BA’s April newsletter had duck hunting as the lead, stating unambiguously: “Native waterfowl are still killed in duck shooting seasons in Victoria, SA and Tasmania. Birdlife Australia has successfully ensured 12 Victorian wetlands are closed to hunting, but our ultimate aim is to have the entire season banned.”

This would appear to indicate BA’s sole goal in participating in closure discussions is to stop hunting where it can, and everywhere if possible. Is this a credible starting point for what should be an evidence-based process?

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) used a drone contractor over the opening weekend at wetlands in Northern Victoria to conduct surveillance.

This is the first year the department has used drones to survey wetlands and also to monitor the behaviour of hunters and protesters, including at wetlands that were closed.

“Using drones will be a great way for staff to efficiently survey large masses of land. It will mean we can put staff where they are needed and respond quickly to illegal activities,” DELWP operations manager Glenn Sharp said prior to the opening.

“This is a trial to see if this type of surveillance provides increased efficiencies at large-scale events such as duck hunting opening weekend and other recreational activities on public land.”

The drones are capable of viewing activity from heights that would make it difficult for people on the ground to hear or to observe the drone during flight. Drones were also flown low over wetlands, testing the reaction of birds. The operator was able to fly at heights as low at 30 m without evidence of disturbance.

The deployment of drones is an interesting development, which could change the perception of their usefulness in wildlife management.

Dr Graham Hall, who was in Gippsland at the start of the season collecting head and wing samples for research, is an advocate for using drones to inform the Eastern Australian Waterfowl Count at a more localised level.

He said a paper on an unmanned drone trial in NSW provided the platform for a shift to targeted monitoring of key waterfowl habitat, which can be combined with satellite data on water availability and the evidence from ongoing research on harvested birds to build a bigger and clearer picture for management authorities.

“It gets you into a modern paradigm of management that is done all around the world called adaptive management,” Dr Hall said.

WET is a charitable trust established in 2002 as a natural extension of the conservation activities undertaken by members of Field & Game Australia since 1958.

The WET trust has played an important role in developing the Heart Morass wetland near Sale and the Connewarre Wetlands Centre near Geelong, and also owns an allotment of 140 ha (350 acres) on the west side of Lake Buloke.

The dinner was held at the The Boardwalk in Bendigo just prior to the 2018 Duck Season.

As well as generating much needed funds for wetland conservation, the evening provided an opportunity for the WET Trust to formally acknowledge the ongoing efforts of Gary ‘Pud’ Howard.

Pud was the subject of a ‘This is your life’ presentation prepared by Laurie Rowe with the secret compliance of his many friends and colleagues in Field & Game.

While photographs rolled through on the screen showing not only Pud’s historical activities but a timeline of his hairstyle and fashion (much mirth ensued), the words honoured his leadership, dedication and enormous contribution to the Wetland Environmental Taskforce, Heart Morass and Field & Game Australia.

In late 1966 he was transferred to Yarram for work and was soon conscripted by Dr Hugh Martin to join the Victorian Field & Game Association. When the Yarram branch wound up, its assets and most remaining members transferred to Sale.

John Hirt summed up Pud in the early days.

“My initial impressions of his commitment and ability have been thoroughly confirmed over the years. His passion continues unabated, and has translated into a relentless and lifelong involvement and dedication to the aims and aspirations of Field & Game Australia and the wetlands.”

A dedicated environmentalist, long before it was fashionable, he embraced critical wetland/waterfowl habitat projects, including the establishment of many State Game Reserves within Gippsland, control structures at Dowds Morass, access improvements at Heart Morass and Lake Coleman, tree planting at Jack Smith Lake, Heart Morass, Clydebank Morass and Lake Coleman, pest eradication and nesting support.

The list of his work to rehabilitate the Heart Morass is too lengthy to detail and somehow, he still finds time to be a passionate duck hunter.

A life member of Field & Game Australia and Sale FGA Branch, this was an opportunity for the WET Trust to express its appreciation. WET also appreciates the generosity of supporters who donated auction items.

Congratulations to everybody who hunted in Victoria during the opening three weeks.

You have shown everybody that, given the proper framework and enforcement support, we can just get on with successful and sustainable duck hunting.

We worked hard in the lead up to the season to get the new regulations straightened out, and to then deal with wetland closures.

I was disappointed in the closures process.

While Daryl Snowdon and I were involved in the call with the GMA, as was David Laird of SSAA and Birds Australia, I felt that again neither the GMA nor the government listened to our opinion.

I suspect some of the closures were not based purely on protected species limits and closing of The Marshes (when there was little water in it) and Hirds Swamp and Lake Martin just for the opening weekend was bizarre. The closure again of Lake Martin late on the Thursday afternoon before the Easter long weekend, with people already there or travelling there to hunt, felt like Lake Elizabeth two years ago. This is not the way to win hunters support.

I would like to thank Barry Howlett and ADA, and David Laird and SSAA for working closely with us to ensure the right messages were communicated to all our combined memberships. Our combined efforts were noted and even commented on by Minister Jaala Pulford in Parliament:

“I would also take the opportunity to thank the hunting organisations, the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia, Field & Game and the Australian Deer Association, all of whom probably had less than enthusiastic sentiments about the new regulations but played a really important role in conveying to their members the importance of everybody abiding by the old rules and the new rules alike.”

Jaala Pulford, Victorian Agriculture Minister

Victorian Parliament, March 29, 2018

I spent opening weekend in the Kerang area and had the pleasure of meeting many hunters and FGA members. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t have the time to join the camp with the spit roast at the Southern end of Cullens. Those guys looked like they knew how to camp!

What was immediately evident was the large enforcement presence. There was a roadblock on the highway into Kerang with breath testing and compliance officers talking with hunters, educating them on the new regulations.

I almost needed to make an appointment to visit hunters’ camps as they were being visited multiple times by different enforcement groups. But it was good to see the positive two-way discussions being had between hunters and enforcement officers.

I spent opening morning at Cullens and Lake Elizabeth. I observed absolute compliance with the 9 am start on Saturday, 8 am start on Sunday and the 6.56 am start on Monday (at Hird Swamp). Given the compliance with the different times, it is evident the time is not the issue, it is the education, communication and enforcement efforts that ensured this was done properly. It was also great to see co-operation between the different camps in co-ordinating the times they moved out to the wetland and also in calling out protected species while in flight. I observed all hunters making more than reasonable attempts to collect downed birds.

The miniscule number of mostly game birds dumped by CADS at the Premier’s office a full three weeks after opening was a desperate attempt to grandstand: all it demonstrated was the weakness and fallibility of their argument.

Compared to last year, it shows that hunters can very successfully hunt inside the framework of current regulations when there is proper education, communication and enforcement. Based on the supplied figures (below), this represents 0.13 per cent of the birds harvested over opening weekend. Of the 73 birds collected only 6.85 per cent were non-game species (two coots and one grebe), which means 0.009 per cent of the estimated take were protected species! I was disappointed to hear that these birds will not be tested by the GMA, as has been the case in the past. I would encourage the GMA to undertake testing and publicly report the results to clarify many claims and counter claims as to the source of the birds.

There have been some reports that numbers were down for opening, based on the GMA estimate of 2100 hunters on the 38 wetlands they monitored. This is not the case at all and was misconstrued (or blatantly misrepresented) by some groups as the total number of hunters. If you extrapolated this number across all 20 000 Victorian wetlands, it would represent more than one million hunters — you need to be careful how ‘facts’ are reported.

Official number of hunters supplied by GMA and quoted in Hansard by Minister Pulford:

“With respect to the figure of 2100 hunters, that is the estimated number of hunters where agency staff were present at wetlands across the state over the opening weekend. The total number that were actually hunting comes from our phone survey, which is conducted after the opening weekend and then every two weeks after that. We have some preliminary figures through which I have included below. These all have to be verified by our statisticians and will be included in our harvest report which is finalised later in the year and includes quail. Deer are dealt with in a separate report, given it is a year-long ‘season’. Based on 24 833 licensed duck hunters as of opening weekend.”

• • Hunted opening weekend: 8964
• • Ducks harvested: 56 647
• • Saturday harvest: 45 816
• • Sunday harvest: 10 831
• • Hunting Public land: 61 per cent
• • Hunting Private land: 39 per cent”

This is a solid opening and shows that hunters continue to have a significant financial impact and benefit in rural areas and can sustainably harvest ducks.

I also think hunters have gotten smarter and decided to avoid the circus with protesters.

I observed protester activity and what I observed was generally well behaved, however, I have been provided with evidence (that has been handed to the authorities) of blatantly dangerous and illegal activity by protesters.

I have discussed this with the government and will continue to lobby for protesters to not be allowed to disrupt the lawful activities of hunters. What concerns me greatly is the overtly aggressive tactic of standing in front of hunters in the water. This is crazy behaviour and it must be regulated or legislated against by the government to avoid unnecessarily dangerous and potentially fatal situations. Protesting should never be allowed to be used as a valid reason to get a firearms or hunting licence and any person doing so should immediately have their firearms and hunting licence revoked. The government cannot possibly support a person who’s main reason for procuring a firearms licence is to protest or undertake illegal activity. Such illegal activity is surely grounds for not being a fit person to have a firearms licence. The government is tacitly arming protesters.

I encourage you all to continue to report increasingly dangerous and illegal behaviour to VicPol via Crimestoppers. Any information you provide through this avenue helps build an intelligence database against the protesters.

We had Dr Graham Hall visit us for Victorian Opening and undertake the Head and Wing Study for the 10th straight year. He also travelled down to Gippsland for opening. Having not met Dr Hall before, I had a number of fascinating talks with him while he was here and increased my knowledge of game birds substantially. I am interested in starting to develop a research strategy and, no surprise, a blue-wing shoveler study is top of the list. It is critical that any study we fund or undertake is soundly based on scientific principles that are robust and stand up to scrutiny from the academic and scientific community.

We cannot afford to spend money on a study that governments can ignore. There are some key developments coming down the pipeline that will make satellite tracking of birds much easier and cost effective. We are monitoring this and other technologies, such as drone bird counts, very closely.

Enjoy the rest of your duck & quail hunting seasons.

Actually, given what we observed on the day, we should have anticipated the inquires.

The hunt was closely watched by enforcement staff from a hill and when the hunters walked from the water they made a beeline for camp because they too thought a semi-auto was being used.

What they discovered (and what is pictured) is an SHS STP12 Straight Pull Shotgun owned by Paul Klein and purchased from Rehfisch & Co. in Ballarat.

"Because we were rolling it over to reload, from a distance it looked like a semi-auto" Paul said.

At under $1000 he reckons the STP is a good general purpose shotgun and with 4+1 shot capacity it suits his main hunting which is pest animals, particularly foxes.

"I'm probably hunting ducks as well as I have with any shotgun I've had," he said.

"The only drawback is having to walk around picking up the shells but for the limited amount of duck hunting I do it saves me buying another shotgun.."

Paul said the straight pull isn't as practical as a traditional under and over for duck hunting but he's happy to compromise.

"As a general purpose shotgun it's fantastic."

Pest animal hunting is permitted for holders of game licences endorsed for duck hunting, only during the open season for duck hunting (and during the same times of day), and only for three species: European hares (Oryctolagus cuniculus), European rabbits (Lepus europaeus) and Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes).

Pest animal hunting on State Game Reserves with partial or full closures to duck hunting is not permitted, and currently the hunting method is limited to the use of the same shotguns and non-toxic shot permitted for game duck hunting on State Game Reserves.

These changes are part of the Sustainable Hunting Action Plan's aim to remove barriers and improving access for hunters. Field & Game Australia is actively lobbying for the ability to hunt pest animals in State Game Reserves (and other public land), and this is a step in the right direction.

These amendments will make it easier for hunters to deliver conservation outcomes by removing some of the barriers to performing pest animal control. For more information, visit the Game Management Authority website.

We have had a busy couple of weeks with the immensely successful start of the Victorian Duck Season.

Congratulations to everybody who hunted in Victoria during the past 3 weeks. You have shown that when we are given the proper framework and support of enforcement that we can successfully and sustainable hunt ducks. Our actions have helped ensure the future of hunting for our children and generations to come.

We have been working hard over the weeks preceding opening to get the regulations straightened out and to then deal with the closures.

I was disappointed in the closures process. While Daryl Snowdon and I were involved in the call with the GMA, as was David Laird of SSAA and a Birds Australia representative, I felt that again our opinion was not listened to by the GMA or the government. I suspect some of the closures were not based purely on protected species limits (>100 for a large wetland and >20 for a small wetland). Closing of Koorangie (when there was no water in it) and Hirds just for the opening weekend was bizarre. And the closing of Lake Martin late on Thursday afternoon before the Easter long weekend, with people already there, or travelling there to hunt was dejavu; Lake Elizabeth from 2 years ago. This is not the way to win hunters support.

I spent opening weekend in the Kerang area and had the pleasure of meeting many hunters and FGA members.

What was immediately evident was the large enforcement presence. There was a roadblock on the Highway into Kerang with breath testing and compliance officers talking with hunters, educating them on the new regulations.

The miniscule number of mostly game birds that were presented at the Premier’s office today, 3 weeks after opening, is a desperate attempt by the anti’s to grandstand and to drum up flailing support for their lost cause and demonstrates that their arguments are just not valid.

Based on the supplied figures (below) the 73 birds presented today represents 0.13% of the birds harvested over opening weekend. Of these only 6.85% were non-game species (2 coots & 1 Grebe), that means 0.009% of the birds harvested were protected species that were collected! I was disappointed to hear that the dumped birds will not be tested, we have requested that the government undertake testing and publicly report the results. This would clarify many claims and counter claims as to the source of the birds.

There have been some reports that numbers were down for opening, based on the GMA estimate of 2,100 hunters on the 38 wetlands they monitored. This is not the case at all and was misconstrued (or blatantly misrepresented) by some groups as the total number of hunters

Official hunter numbers supplied by GMA and quoted in Hansard by Minister Pulford:

“With respect to the figure of 2100 hunters, that is the estimated number of hunters where agency staff were present at wetlands across the state over the opening weekend. The total number that were actually hunting comes from our phone survey which is conducted after the opening weekend and then every two weeks after that. We have some preliminary figures through which I have included below. These all have to be verified by our statisticians and will be included in our harvest report which is finalised later in the year and includes quail. Deer are dealt with in a separate report, given it is a year long "season".

Based on 24,833 licensed duck hunters as of opening weekend.

Hunted opening weekend: 8,964

Ducks harvested: 56,647
Saturday harvest 45,816
Sunday harvest 10,831

Hunting Public land 61%
Hunting Private land 39%

This is a solid opening and shows that hunters continue to have a significant financial impact and benefit in rural areas and can sustainably harvest ducks.

I have discussed with the government and will continue to lobby for protestors to not be allowed to disrupt the lawful activities of hunters.

I encourage you all to continue to report increasingly dangerous and illegal behavior to VicPol via Crimestoppers. Any information you provide through this avenue helps build an intelligence database against the protestors.

Important grants

We have a Victorian government grant to undertake a feasibility study of our Willowmavin property and are putting together a team to help us complete this study.

We also have a grant to help digitize and organize our collection at the Australian Hunting Archive and to help achieve goal this I was fortunate to meet with the Registrar of the Australian Sports Museum at the MCG – Mr. Greg Hunter, to see how their collection is organized and run. I got some very good advice on the systems and processes used to preserve, record and catalogue the collections that we can adapt to our archive. It was a privilege to be in the same room with some very significant sporting artifacts. I was particularly amazed to see a box of Olympic and Commonwealth Games medals that had been donated so they can be preserved for all Australians.

Field & Game magazine

We are closing in on the editorial deadline for the next magazine on the 9th April and we have been benchmarking the publishing process to understand what the expected timeline and delivery of the magazine is. It is frustrating that the main variable – Australia Post’s delivery times, running between 3 days to 3 weeks - is beyond our control. The timing of the editorial deadline to receiving the magazine is a balance of getting it to you on time Vs having relevant and timely content. We will continue to closely monitor and adjust this as needed.

State Elections

There have been recent elections in South Australia and Tasmania and we are planning visits to meet with the relevant new ministers.

I hope you all have safe and successful hunts, particularly with the upcoming Quail season almost upon us.

Regards,

Richard

Richard Light | Chief Executive Officer
Field & Game Australia
AUSTRALIA’S MOST SURPRISING CONSERVATIONISTS

Duck season opening weekend brings thousands of Victorian hunters and their families into regional Victoria every year.

But the huge boost they provide to our regional economies is under threat because the Andrews Labor Government continues to push its anti-hunting agenda.

Daniel Andrews and Jaala Pulford appear to be undermining the credibility of the Game Management Authority (GMA) by refusing to adequately support it.

Strong enforcement requires a multi-agency response to ensure the small number of people who choose to break the rules face the full force of the law.

Instead, Daniel Andrews and Jaala Pulford are using the GMA as a scapegoat to explain Labor’s failure to stand up for Victoria’s more than 130,000 recreational and professional hunters.

Duck hunting is a legitimate recreational activity, but Victorian hunters are being penalised by a Labor Government desperate to keep the Greens on side.

Peter Walsh

Leader of The Nationals

EPA statement 

Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) is reminding duck hunters in the Gippsland area about its advice not to consume PFAS (per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances) affected eel, carp and duck taken from the Heart Morass area. This includes any part of the animals, including duck breast.

EPA is continuing to work with responsible land owners including Department of Defence, (DoD) to ensure all PFAS present in Victoria at elevated levels are identified and managed.  

PFAS are a group of man-made substances, many of which are in widespread and common use including in historic firefighting foams and in home products like non-stick pans and carpet treatments. 

While there is still no consistent evidence that PFAS cause any specific illness in humans, they can persist in humans for many years.  EPA is taking a cautionary approach to minimise risk and recommends against consumption of animal products or water where PFAS levels are considered high. 

This is a complex issue and EPA is leading an interagency group to develop a comprehensive survey of biota including nomadic and resident ducks. This testing will include other chemicals and metals of general concern to the community.

DoD has been cooperating with EPA to make results of its testing available and EPA has audited these results to assure accuracy.  

The latest analysis of DoD testing, which was released in December 2017, does not alter EPA’s advice on wildlife consumption. 

For more information go to:

http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/about-us/news-centre/news-and-updates/news/2017/october/09/pfas

We've received our duck counts and wetland surveys and have prepared summaries to help plan your hunting.

Please note: anything not on these lists was not surveyed by our volunteers. If you're interested in helping out with our counts, conducted in February and November, please contact the National Office on (03) 5799 0960.

When we meet at the archive Max is lively and enthusiastic. He points to a photograph of himself as a young man on his first deployment with the Australian Antarctic Division.

It was 1951 and the photograph could just as easily be a poster for a swashbuckling Errol Flynn feature film. As it turns out, the only connection is that Flynn’s father Theodore was a respected biologist.

Max was an adventurer but his mission as a biologist was measured and scientific.

He was on the first Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) to Heard Island, a sub Antarctic island located in the Southern Ocean, about 4000 km southwest of mainland Australia.

The island and surrounding waters teem with wildlife and other natural wonders and Max set about documenting the species.

“I spent a year there as a young biologist; it was the first time I’d seen snow or ice, my first time out of Australia,” he said.

That first expedition came after what Max calls the “heroic age” of Antarctic exploration and before the “technical age”, where scientists with particular expertise and research goals were sent.

“We learned on the spot, whereas now they teach them before they go,” Max said.

He conducted the first census of southern giant petrels (Macronectes giganteus), and nearly 40 years later he helped repeat the exercise, alerting scientists to a halving of the breeding population, from approximately 3500 pairs in 1951 to 1700 pairs in 1987.

An account from Nils Lied’s diary from October 1951 demonstrates just how rugged and isolated expeditioners were.

“Since the last entry, we have had a most harrowing experience,” he writes.

“Our cook, Jack Starr, took ill one night — last Sunday 7th, in fact, and complained of severe pains in his right lower abdomen. It was diagnosed by Dr Rec as appendicitis, and cables started to ply back and forth between Heard and the Antarctic office in Melbourne weighing the pros and cons of the case.”

Medical evacuation was impossible so the ‘Heardites’ were instructed to cleanse the recreation room and convert it to an operating theatre.

“Dr Rec wanted the following assistants: biologist Ken Brown as assistant surgeon to help him underbind the tissues and arteries etc; myself to hold Jack’s guts open while he and Ken did the digging: biologist Max Downes to be in charge of instruments; Frank Hannan, OIC, to be the anaesthetist and Kevin Johnson R/O to be general ‘sister’ to fetch and carry,” the diary records.

The surgery took four hours: one hour to achieve a complete anaesthetic, and three hours to do the actual operation.

“He was very calm, poor lad. I know I would have had the willies in no uncertain way had I been the patient, considering the primitive circumstances of the whole show,” Nils wrote.

By late October the patient was recovered and the diary records him going fishing and Max got back to studying the birdlife.

Max wrote a number of books and papers on the birds of Heard Island and also documented the history and impact of sealers who operated from the 1850s to 1877, and on a return visit in 1987 he discovered a sealers’ cemetery on the island.

Max even has his own glacier, Downes Glacier.

When Max first graduated, adventure in the Antarctic was irresistible but on his return, his childhood hunting with his father would lead him down a more logical path.

“After I returned I looked around for a job and Fisheries and Game was starting up and I got a job straight away; what I liked about it was I was working with hunters rather than working on research, we were working on applying our knowledge on wildlife,” he said.

“I had accepted from an early age that hunting is a legitimate activity; people have been hunting for millions of years, and it is part of being human.”

From 1953–1968 he worked as a biologist and held the position as Superintendent of Game Management during a critical period for waterfowl conservation in Victoria.

“I was responsible for the game bird program; for the first two years we had to work out what recommendations to make to Government about game birds.”

It took six years but Max was able to convince Government that the real risk to game bird populations was the loss of habitat and climate, not recreational hunting.

“On the one hand, they were worried they would be shot out and on the other hand they hadn’t realised the destruction of the swamps and seasonal conditions were far bigger influences on the duck population than hunters,” he said.

“In the first years, I was able to show the Department they needed to have some system to preserve habitat. It took from 1953 to 1959 but the Government adopted a game management program whereby they started State Wildlife Reserves to preserve habitat and Field & Game (Victoria) formed to also preserve habitat.”

Max worked with hunters to support the conservation program, including a large-scale banding project. Together they achieved an outcome long envisaged by the hunting community.

“It took 100 years to get to that stage; the suggestion from hunters for a game tax or licence had been around since the 1800s and there had been 30 attempts to do it,” he said.

“It was the community motivation that convinced Government.”

Community support for hunting was more broadly felt than it is today, something Max attributes to the demise of commercial game meat. While he doubts commercial processing would be possible in the current climate, when the fish and game market operated in Flinders St it was a staple and special source of food and provided a link between non-hunters and hunting.

“The details of the game market are all in the archive; it is a special project waiting for someone,” he said.

Max likens the current campaign against hunting to the early 20th century when for 20 years hunting was frowned upon.

“The Ornithologists Union was started by really keen hunters but over time it divided into people who shot and those who considered killing things inappropriate,” Max said.

“As part of the propaganda, either side would exaggerate their case; it emphasises the point that without work to compile proper data, the claims of anti-hunters are wildly exaggerated. The advantage hunters have is the national archive and the real facts it contains.

“There are two types of evidence: evidence where there are no statistics and evidence where there are statistics, and we need a small group of hunters who understand that the argument isn’t about superficial things.

“Hunters as a group are engaged in my view in a fairly elitist pursuit and therefore they have difficulty convincing the wider population. Hunters are not separate from the rest of the community, hunting is a valid community activity historically, and in the present context, and it is an artificial belief to think otherwise. It is so invalid it is wicked.”

Max has also worked extensively on deer, firstly during an eight-year stint in Papua New Guinea from 1968 doing the first research into the introduced Rusa deer population.

His work with isolated communities also extended to management of crocodiles, butterflies and birds of paradise.

“I came back in 1976 and worked for the Australian Deer Association as a consultant, which was a difficult job because little work had been done in Australia at that stage,” he said.

“Game managers at the time tended to confuse research into game with game management: game management is the application of knowledge, research is discovering how to do it, and they are distinct activities that require different sorts of people and training.”

Max was also facing a shift away from game within Government. While he was away, the game management section disbanded.

“They changed the name and their objectives changed at the same time; in effect the people in charge were not interested in game and they did wildlife work.

“Under National Parks and Wildlife they were in effect anti-game: game worked stopped, the game reserves were considered little national parks and were managed as little national parks but they had no money to manage them.

“No work was done at Tower Hill for more than five years, there were protests about it.”

The issue is still alive today and Max believes the hunting fraternity can again lay the foundation for significant reform, just as they did in the lead up to the establishment of the State Game Reserve network.

“The most valuable thing hunters can do is attempting to do these things themselves and persuade the department, who will think they can do it better, and take over; if you tell them to do it, they won’t,” he said.

“A really big effort should go into having management of game reserves shift to the Game Management Authority; they are the only ones who will manage them properly.”

Again, Max points to the National Hunting Archive, a joint project of FGA and ADA, as a significant resource for building the case.

A grant under the Victorian Government’s Sustainable Hunting Action Plan will begin the process of consolidating the archive and making it more accessible to the public for research.

Age has caught up with the adventurer who expresses frustration that he can no longer scale the ladders to put archive boxes in the right order.

“We need hunters to take responsibility for it and someone to be the curator in training. If nobody is looking after it, all of this is downgraded from a valuable resource to a collection that is just stored away and preserved,” Max said.

“It would be tremendous to have a small group whose thinking is informed by the archive, whose arguments encompass a broader historical view rather than the issue of the day.

“As well as believing in what you do. you have to have a valid case as well as the numbers; we had that in 1958 but I think now we have the numbers but not the case, and making that case relies on the history and heritage contained in the archive.”

Paul is currently in Norway chasing love and trying to become the first Australian trained paramedic to work there. He’s also enjoying the hunting culture and access to ducks, geese, deer, reindeer, moose, wild Mallards and a range of other waterfowl within a few kilometres of his home overlooking the Oslofjord.

“It is a sportsman’s paradise here,” he said.

“I grew up on a farm near Corowa and my dad was a hunter and we had a lot of relatives around Kerang and of course they hunted ducks, so I’ve been hunting all my life.”

Drawing was something he began young but Paul said he would get frustrated if he couldn’t make something look realistic. Early works would be screwed up and tossed in the bin.

As he grew older, and was less impatient, his art and hunting began to merge.

“It is all self-taught but it developed and evolved from me wanting to get more out of hunting,” he said.

“I spent a lot of time in swamps out of season; I just love watching birds and so I started painting them.”

Fifteen years ago, Paul discovered acrylic paints were the perfect medium.

“I can’t draw a person to save my life but I can draw waterfowl,” he said.

“Acrylic is very good: it is a forgiving medium when you are trying to capture the essence of flight or movement and having it look like something that should be flying.”

Paul is now earning a reputation for his decoys. As a boy, he fashioned a few out of palm fronds that fell in the yard but early last year he decided to get serious.

“When I buy decent decoys I repaint them all and I have always made my own silhouettes but last year I really got a bee in my bonnet,” he said.

Through a decoy forum, he hooked up with American carver Bill Thurman from West Virginia, who gave him advice on equipment and materials.

“He sent me over a bunch of wood, from blocks to half-finished ones, so I could get an idea how to shape them,” Paul said.

The first decoy, a Pink-eared duck, was gifted to Bill as a thank you.

Simon Webster has already collected the second one, a beautifully detailed pacific black duck.

“Paul does this as a hobby but he has great artistic flair: to get a black duck looking that good, it is amazing work and a real work of art, I feel very fortunate to even own one,” Simon said.

Simon would like one of every species, or better, a working set.

“A lot of guys dream about their own set of hand carved gunning decoys to hunt over. It would be great just to sit back at 30 yards and admire them setting on the water,” he said.

Paul agrees, but he also understands the time and effort required.

“I would be happy to make working decoys but it is horrifically expensive; there is so much detailed work and it takes time to build the colours,” he said.

Paul does it for pleasure and will pick up a decoy at night and whittle away or paint for hours.

“I do it for love and to keep occupied,” he said.

It might be six months before he takes up carving again as he tries to settle in Norway but whenever he does, it will be a run of four or five individual works of art.

“None of them will look the same; they are hand cut and hand painted, so there are differences, but I have a bunch of ideas, including doing a freckle duck,” he said.

“The Freckled duck would make a terrific decoy or a cracking display piece for a hunter who is never going to stick one on their wall.”

John Byers makes the popular Poddy Bay Australian Duck Calls and he offers some simple advice on producing the basic quack call.

“The basics of success with duck hunting is first to be where the ducks want to be, the second thing you need is good concealment, the third is a good spread of decoys and the fourth is a good quality duck call,” he said.

“Preferably it will be an Australian call, which is set up to call Australian duck species; there are plenty of good ones around.”

John said beginners should practice in front of a mirror initially and raise the call to their lips as they would a bottle of soft drink (or a beer) by placing it on the bottom lip and rolling it up to the top lip.

John’s advice is to use the word ‘VERT’ as the starting point for making the right sound.

“A common mistake for newbies is blowing from their cheeks; they fill their mouth with air and puff out their cheeks and blow,” he said.

“The air should originate from the diaphragm and be pushed out through your mouth, over your tongue.”

Another tip for beginners is to turn the call around and blow through the exhaust.

“Blowing through the opposite end makes it easier to get the ‘vert, vert’ sound but also to feel the vibration of your lips so you get that raspy sound.

“It is a good way to feel it on your lips so you know you are shaping the right sound.”

Once you are making the right sound, it is time to add some flare to the basic quack.

“If you listen to a duck, it starts off at a low tone and then finishes with a kick up or inflection at the end and you can assist that happening by choking your hand at the start of the call and opening the hand at the end,” John said.

The hand should be curled around the opening and not covering it.

“That creates a high pitch at the end and with a little practice you will quickly master the basic quack call.”

Now you are ready to experiment in the field, John has some advice on calling etiquette.

“There is a term ‘cold calling’, which basically means someone is calling incessantly, which is OK if you are away by yourself, but if you have other hunters around, the best practice is to only call when you are trying to entice birds in,” he said.

“Cold calling can work but it is a bit like singing in the shower, it might not be pleasant for everybody else.”

Competition between calls for the same ducks is all part of the hunting game.

“It is part of the sport: if you can use your call to pull birds off a mate who is 100 m away from you, that is fair game in my view.”

“Especially if you are using a Poddy Bay duck call and he isn’t,” he chuckles.

John recommends any hunter who is not currently using calling as part of their repertoire should try it. Calling adds another dynamic to duck hunting and a sense of satisfaction you do not get from taking passing birds.

“It is a sense of achievement, just as it is when your decoy spread works or the dog you have spent many hours training does a difficult retrieve,” he said.

“When you have a bird heading for parts unknown and you lay into it with a call and it turns on its head and flares into your decoys, it is a great sense of satisfaction and the actual shooting of the bird pales into insignificance; the satisfaction is the craft you have applied to the task.”

John lives and breathes duck hunting: he collects calls, decoys and other paraphernalia and revels in the art form. For him, wading out into a swamp and standing by a tree waiting for birds to fly by is not truly hunting.

“It is more duck shooting and they are a diminishing breed. The true duck hunters are the ones who put together the whole package: scouting, observing and then setting up to attract the birds with decoys and calls,” he said.

The combination ensures birds are brought into the optimal kill zone, reducing wounding, and making retrieval of shot birds easier.

“It is our responsibility to train newcomers so they become duck hunters,” John said.

Learn more about his Australian made duck calls at www.poddybay.com

It has been apparent in recent seasons that retrieving on certain public wetlands has been an issue and one of the causes is the lack of trained gun dogs accompanying some shooters.

Only one act will make us look even worse in the eyes of the majority non-hunter community than unrecovered dead gamebirds floating into the shoreline of a wetland, and that is if these dead birds are protected species.

Through both such misdemeanours access to our recreation is threatened. We are required to sit and pass a Waterfowl Identification Test in order to acquire a gamebird licence. Many of us may have forgotten that one of the possible answers in this test was “not sure, don’t shoot”.

It is imperative we all use this action if there is ANY doubt about the species identity coming into your decoys.

The duck fevered shooters (they can’t be called hunters) who failed to take such care and did shoot without identifying their target species have set back the cause for hunting with incalculable damage. Perhaps the outrageous penalty for shooting a Freckled duck ($30 000) is justified after all, if that is what it takes to curb such activities. If any of you witness such an act please report it or risk the loss of your recreation. Only by some of the miscreants being caught, and made an example of, will this law flouting behaviour cease. Obviously, compliance officers can’t handle this alone and need your help.

Our main platform to justify duck hunting other than for crop protection is that we are out to harvest our own meat and to take out well conditioned birds, leaving better quantities of scarce winter food resources for the survivors. By not recovering shot birds we will be seen to turn this reason for hunting into a lie. The general public has the power to grant or take away our right to hunt so easily, make no mistake about that. All it needs is a media exposure of both these problems and there will be a big public backlash. Government will react in a precautionary manner as a result to control these problems.

So how can we reduce the non-recovery of downed ducks, besides having the aid of a properly trained gun dog? Note I said properly trained dog, since an improperly trained one can be a huge pain to put up with and can be the absolute ruination of a duck hunt.

Firstly, the hunter can recover his/her own ducks by the correct use of swatter loads to quickly dispatch any wounded birds on the water, taking great care to make sure you have a safe background because shot will ricochet off the water surface. I would suggest we refer to the duck hunter booklet issued to all duck game licensees, which proposes the use of number 6 steel shot in 32 gram loads, that is a pellet-dense load compared with say, number 2-4 shot size for aerial shots.

This load, shot at relatively short range at a low angle over the water will provide the most effective killing pattern. If the water is wadeable then all we need to be equipped with is a set of waders properly fitted with a waist belt in case you fall over, to stay dry and go out and collect those birds taking a wading staff to test for swan holes and other sudden dips or sunken logs. You will most likely already have been out there setting a decoy spread.

With deeper water, things become a bit more complex but not unduly so. A bit of forward planning can enable you to have ready a duck punt, canoe or kayak for the recovery task as well as it being able to use it to set decoys.

In some instances, a more novel approach can be taken, and that is by using some form of floating grapple cast on the end of a hand line to scoop up and haul in the dead birds.

Experience has shown that depending on the size of the grapple it can be cast underarm for distances of 20m and more with considerable accuracy with a little practice.

I have personally made three different sized versions of such grapples with folding arms akin to a cloth-less umbrella. The different sized versions have arms of differing length for use in shallow waters where longer arms may snag on the bottom, and having different weights to allow different casting distances according to the terrain being hunted.

I include pictures of these; they can be made with various levels of complexity, varied by the user’s imagination and manufacturing skills. For me they have been designed mainly to recover birds shot over dams but that does not mean their use is limited to such. I have seen versions that embarrassingly sank on first use (not mine either), so do test them out in the laundry tubs or some such.

Materials of floatable timber bodies such as maple and red cedar, or dowels fitted with cylindrical foam net floats as shown are some of my choices. The arms must be able to be folded for carriage and can be made preferably from aluminium or strong plastics, lightweight in either case. Several different materials such as thick aluminium wire from high voltage wire as used on those high towers, angled aluminium struts or TV antenna arms have been my choices. With the larger version, you will note I have included a string web into the arms to improve pick up and added a wooden bead to the casting line to improve grip and casting distance.

When opening up the grapple arms there needs to be some sort of device to hold them open. In the magnum TV aerial arm version, this is achieved by using a sliding wooden disc that in the folded position holds the arms closed by means of a small attached plastic lid into which the arm ends fit. The smaller arms are held open by using some light detonator wire at the bottom, which is twisted tight or loosened slightly to allow for folding.

There is a choice of several line types to haul them in with once the device is thrown past the bird. Heavy nylon fishing line around 25 kg breaking strain is relatively tangle proof, as is an old floating fly-fishing line. The line can either be on a small hand caster or wound around the body of the smaller versions and unwound and spread on the ground, taking care not to become entangled in it yourself as you do so. Otherwise, the grapple will come up short on the line and come hurtling back at you in a very disconcerting manner that could even cost you an eye, so take your time and take care when using it.

The smaller devices can hang off your cartridge belt and the magnum stores in a small bag that can be slung on one’s back when on the move. The market is wide open for the development of commercial versions, probably made of moulded plastics, should someone be enterprising enough to make them. There would obviously be a rather large potential market for such items. It’s suitability for use on rice bays is supreme since the snake risk to gun dogs here is great enough to preclude their use should a suitable alternative be available for duck recovery and the usual size of the rice bays suit its application exactly.

With the expansion of the radio-controlled model boat technology I would guess that it would be reasonably easy to convert such equipment to duck recovery by the more innovative members of our tribe. The sky is the limit, and remember, better downed duck recovery for the coming season is critical.

Gippslanders have it easy in many respects, with so much duck habitat compressed into the one region of Victoria.

Peter Warner has been just about everywhere over the past 50 years but he still puts in the effort to scout wetlands, even the ones he knows like the back of his hand.

“As a group we probably hunt four or five days a week depending on the season,” he said.

“We would go out three times a week scouting: for every three hours we spend in the hide we would have spent one hour just looking about.”

In Gippsland that translates to as little as a 10-minute drive or up to an hour on the road before transferring into a boat.

“We spend a fair proportion of our hunting time just looking; we have an advantage because everything is so close, but I would recommend before opening and during the season to get some intelligence,” he said.

“We don’t advertise what we find from scouting; it might be selfish, but that is the world of duck hunting, just as fisherman don’t tell you where they got a bag of fish.”

Peter’s scouting tools include a pair of binoculars, a powerful spotting scope and a small drone, useful for taking a ‘duck’s’ eye view of the landscape.

Three things are required before a location is even worth scouting: water, ducks and access by either vehicle, foot or boat. Then the more detailed work begins.

“You need to have a look first and see where the birds are roosting, where they are during the day and where they are feeding, look for the flight lanes where they are going to and from and look to position yourself where you will get a shot,” he said.

“It isn’t just a matter of finding a heap of birds in an area; you need to get the local knowledge to get on a flight lane.

“Dowds Morass is an example: it has a lot of heavy cover, you can set up and be 100 m off a flight lane and not get a shot and a hunter only 50 m away will get reasonable shooting.”

Observing bird behaviour, especially if you are new to a hunting area, is critical to success.

“Access is the first thing, whether you can get to where the birds are and where you want to shoot, understanding if you can wade or if you need a boat or a canoe,” Peter said.

“Birds are creatures of habit; if you look in the afternoon you find them resting up and you look for where they are feeding, then you look for where you want to set up to shoot and assess what you need for cover.

“It is very hard to go somewhere blind and be successful, particularly here in Gippsland.”

Sav Mangion chuckles at the Gippsland scouters “not advertising” their prime spots but he adds that he doesn’t ask either.

“Getting willing information from other areas can be difficult; people are protective of their spots, scouting knowledge is the only thing that you have you can keep to yourself,” he said.

Besides, Sav works on the theory that you should believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.

“I generally don’t like asking people for information and my biggest reservation about sharing information is that ducks fly, they move; it is sometimes easier not to share because there are so many variables.”

Like Peter, Sav just needs to know there is water and ducks in a particular area to make a scouting trip worthwhile.

Static information like access, camping areas and boat ramps can be assessed pre-season, and weather and water can be monitored from afar but preparing for a hunt requires observation on the ground.

“Through scouting you can find out if the ducks feed at one place in the morning, rest up during the day, and then feed somewhere else in the evening,” Sav said.

A few hours the day before hunting is time well spent but even if Sav arrives in darkness hours, before hunting starts he will still pick up the binoculars first and the shotgun second.

“Ideally you want to get your head around what it is you are getting into, even if it takes you past the legal start time,” he said.

“I will do some scouting with binoculars from the shore at first light when it is a new place.”

Peter agrees, adding that you can learn a lot in a short period time by observing how birds respond when the shooting starts.

“Scouting goes part of the way, it tells you there’s water and birds there, but often it doesn’t tell you where you should set up, it helps to see birds in a hunting situation, flying around after they’ve been stirred up,” he said.

“By going back to the same area you gain knowledge over time which you can apply.”

Both like the idea of keeping a diary or some sort of record of locations, conditions, and bird behaviour but Peter warns not to keep returning to the same spot expecting the same results.

“The trap a lot of people fall into is they do well somewhere so they go back there again; birds aren’t stupid, and the numbers will drop off with hunting pressure,” he said.

“We harvest, almost farm, birds, by rotating out shooting spots.”

Peter appears to break rule number one (go where the ducks are) by revealing the true secret of scouting — the ability to find out where the birds will be.

“There are plenty of spots we go to where you won’t see a bird but you know it is on a flight lane and if you put the decoys out you will bring them into range,” he said.

“If you go to a spot and don’t do any good go back there but move around and try different areas.”

Weather is another factor, especially in Gippsland where king tides and rainfall can create irresistible feeding areas overnight.

Fog will prevent ducks flying or you seeing them even if they do, and if the wind blows the ducks head to sheltered areas.

“If it is blowing a gale at 4 am when you head off, that’s a disadvantage,” Peter said.

“We look at the weather for the week and plan locations based on the conditions and our scouting on the ground.

“I have about 250 waypoints on my handheld GPS for spots I know birds go to; it is a very handy tool for scouting and particularly good for finding those places again in the dark.

“I like to mark a spot on the shoreline and then the spot where I want to get to in the water; if you have to walk a kilometre it can be very hard in reed-covered areas to find a location without a GPS.”

Both scouters see the chatter on social media about what areas are hunting well but they prefer to go to places where they have gathered their own intelligence.

“The best scouting is to go out and have a look,” Peter said.

“The spotting scope and binoculars are where you really hone in on the birds, you might even put them up and see where they go.

“You have to keep looking because the numbers fluctuate during the season and bird behaviour changes during the season.”

Hunters who can’t spare the time to scout tend to gravitate to the places where the most birds are reported, which generally means it also has a high concentration of hunters.

Peter recommends using general knowledge to scout the day before opening, looking at alternatives nearby.

“Do I want to be where there’s a big bunch of birds and a big bunch of hunters and all the associated issues or should I look for somewhere with less birds and fewer hunters? My preference is definitely the latter,” he said.

“If you are in a region, use the time when you are not hunting to scout and gather knowledge for tomorrow’s hunt or one in the future.

“Don’t waste the opportunity, you might find a spot to come back to.”

Sav Mangion said scouting gives you confidence as a hunter and the more you do the better you get.

“If you do it right then everything else is 10 times easier, you want to be where the ducks want to be, so go and find out where they want to be,” he said.

“Build your knowledge base, whether you keep a diary or keep it in your head; it is something fishermen have been doing it for years, but duck hunters haven’t been in the same habit.”

Last November, the predictable happened: the Greens thrashed Labor in a Victorian by-election in Northcote, caused by the death of the sitting member, Fiona Richardson.

Experts and pundits who, not understanding of the dynamics of the electorate, relied on insider assessments and a ReachTel poll commissioned by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) conducted nine days earlier, predicted that Labor would win the contest.

The poll was never credible and using it to claim that the creation of a new national park in the Central Highlands was not a critical issue for voters in Northcote was a high-risk tactic.

There should have been a focus on the key issues, which always were going to influence the result.

Since the 2014 state election, there has been about a 40 per cent turnover of voters in Northcote. Many of the new residents live in apartments. Few people living in apartments have children. Because of inner suburban property prices, household incomes in Northcote, and especially in suburbs like Alphington and Fairfield, need to be well above the average. At least a quarter of voters have a tertiary qualification.

This description fits the profile of a Greens’ voter.

Secondly, while the personal support for a local member is often exaggerated, there are exceptions.

Fiona Richardson was one of the exceptions. A comparison between federal election results in Northcote booths and state election results suggest her personal support was significant.

Then, the Liberals did not nominate a candidate. In the 2014 state election the Liberal candidate, who preferenced Ms. Richardson, obtained 16.5 per cent of the primary vote.

The Liberal Democrats nominated a candidate for the by-election, presumably at the instigation of Labor which they preferenced but their candidate obtained only a quarter of the 2014 Liberal vote.

For the best part of 70 years, Liberals and Labor have educated their supporters to put the candidate of the other party last on ballot papers.

Without advice to the contrary, it was foreseeable that many Liberal voters would put Labor last, bearing in mind that traditionally, in a by-election, it is easy to vote against the government.

This combination of factors easily explains a swing of 10 per cent against Labor.

However, the CFMEU tactic backfired, enabling the Greens to claim the by-election result is an endorsement of their policy to create another national park.

This result has other ramifications.

It should strengthen the position of those in both Labor and Liberal who argue that their party should focus on issues that are priorities for people living in the outer suburbs and regions, which is where most of the seats that determine governments are located.

During the election campaign, Labor announced a ban on plastic bags to carry groceries, the establishment of a heroin injecting room in Richmond and buttered up to animal liberationists. It did not get them a vote.

Being Green-lite is not the way to beat Greens. Ironically, this is an approach Ms. Richardson vehemently rejected.

Secondly, it has strengthened the argument of those inside Liberal ranks who argue that the simplest way not to waste money acting a siphon for Labor is not to nominate candidates in inner suburban seats.

This way the Liberals leave the Greens and Labor to battle it out without their having to choose between supporting Greens or acting as a prop for Labor.

Preferencing Greens has not helped the Liberals. The instinct of 80 per cent of Green voters is to preference Labor, and, regardless of carrots dangled by Greens’ leaders, their voters would not countenance their entering into alliances with Liberals.

All it has done is to send a message to Liberal voters that voting Green is a valid option.

It seems the Liberals have learnt the lesson. They have said they will not contest inner suburban seats in the Victorian elections next year and not nominate a candidate if David Feeney, the Member for Batman, of which Northcote is a significant part, has to resign, forcing another federal by-election.

Labor’s buttering up to the Animal Justice Party (AJP) to undermine the Greens was pointless.

The AJP claimed Labor secured the Party’s preferences by promising to spend $500 000 of taxpayers’ money on animal liberation issues, create Animal Welfare Victoria, issue an annual report on animal welfare issues, and devise an animal welfare plan.

Labor dismissed the claims, saying the AJP had nominated activities the Government already undertook or had intended undertaking.

Whatever the preference deal was, it was a futile exercise. Of the 773 votes the AJP attracted and the additional 160 votes they accumulated, Labor received only 30 per cent.

While the lessons to learn from the by-election appear to be obvious, it remains to be seen how Labor responds to the Greens’ challenge in the lead-up to Victoria’s state elections next November.

(Authorised by R Light, 65 Anzac Ave, Seymour)

However, I am under no illusion about the job in front of me. Our hunting and shooting privileges are under constant scrutiny and threat, and in order to protect these privileges, FGA is critical in giving the broader hunting and shooting community a voice with regulators, law makers and the general community.

We are your voice and we work for you, the members of FGA.

With more than 17 000 members, we have a broad base that represents all facets of society but draws together people who share a common passion.

It is important we listen to you, the members. With such a diverse base, it is not always going to be possible to meet every demand or implement every idea. That said, it is important to me that you express your opinions and we will always work diligently with you and your representatives, the branches and Board, to implement the best decisions we can.

Some of you will know me but for the many who don’t, here’s a brief round-up of the Light story.

My father’s family settled in the Wimmera (Grass Flat) in the 1800s and we have always maintained a close connection to this beautiful part of the country, where my sister still has her farm.

Major Mitchell reported from his expedition of the naturally occurring swamps and salt lakes of this region and my early duck hunting was on these swamps and lakes around the Wimmera: Natimuk Lake, St Mary’s, Tooan, and the Wimmera River are places I have hunted extensively.

Some of my fondest childhood memories are hunting moments I shared with my dad, family and friends.

A vivid memory of my first shot was shooting at a rabbit with my dad’s Boswell; I didn’t hit anything, but I was hooked. We would go hunting weekly, having access to a large property at Macclesfield. Walking up hill and down dale kept me active and it also developed my powers of observation: I would watch animals and birds intently, noting their behaviour patterns.

Spending time in the bush from such a young age gave me an appreciation of the beauty and importance of conserving and managing our natural resources. I feel strongly that the best policy is to maintain a balance through the management of game species and their environment. It is irrefutable that man has had an impact on our environment and that we will continue to do so.

Focused management of wetlands, the environment and game species will help to maintain these important resources. We have been given stewardship of some important resources and it is our responsibility to manage these for future generations, including future generations of hunters.

I started clay target shooting at the age of 12 and was fortunate to be a pupil of Rupert Henwood at Melbourne Gun Club; who not only taught me the technical aspects of the game but also proper etiquette and sportsmanship.

I have enjoyed competing in every form of clay target shooting, but have had the most success with skeet, both here in Australia and in the US.

I have been lucky, through my work in the oil and gas industry, to live overseas (Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and the US) and to experience hunting and clay target shooting in other countries.

Most recently, I lived in Houston, Texas for 13 years, was a member of Greater Houston Gun Club and shot pigs, deer, doves, ducks and geese around the Lone Star State.

Texas is home to the world-class waterfowling at the Thunderbird Hunting Club, which has more than 10 000 acres (4046ha) under water for migratory ducks and geese. To me, this represents the cutting edge of clay target shooting, game bird conservation and sustainable hunting practices. I hope to integrate some of the good things I have seen there into my role here.

In order to maintain our ‘social licence’ we are held to a high standard by regulators, governments and the general public. To this end I support enforcement of our laws and regulations — for everybody. FGA works diligently to help shape reasonable and effective laws and regulations and we will continue to be your voice to ensure the anti-shooting lobby does not pass unreasonable laws and regulations on law-abiding hunters and shooters.

Our hunting and shooting rights are under threat, by being an FGA member you already demonstrate your passionate commitment to responsible hunting and shooting.

Integrity is about doing the right thing when you think nobody is watching, but the thing with hunting and shooting is that everybody is watching and just waiting for us to slip up. Help others respect opening times, bag limits, species restrictions and to clean up afterwards. We know you set an example but we also need you to ensure others don’t give our opponents the ammunition, opportunity or satisfaction by being an irresponsible hunter.

This year is the 60th anniversary of FGA. It is important we hold events to not only mark the occasion but also publicly celebrate our achievements.

I have always been impressed with the dedication and passion FGA members have for hunting, conservation and clay target shooting. It is through the efforts of our members and dedicated volunteers that we can continue to enjoy our passion and sport. Having worked to run shoots and been on gun club and event committees I have seen first-hand the dedication and effort, mostly unrewarded, that volunteers put into running shoots, protecting wetlands, performing bird counts, working with regulators, etc.

If you have skills, time or funds to protect your passion and help support our activities I urge you to step up. Take the time to thank the volunteers who make your shoot or hunt possible. Such a simple gesture goes a long way.

If you see me at the branch, a shoot, at a meeting, at the swamp or around a campfire, come up to say g’day. There is nothing more I enjoy than talking hunting and shooting. I am always interested to hear your ideas, what’s happening (the members are our eyes and ears so tell us what is going on) and to talk to you about what the FGA office is up to.

It was not good, it was not fair, but it was the right thing to do. We thank Rob for his service as chairman and as a board member of long standing.

The first issue we tackled was the replacement of our CEO with David McNabb leaving the organisation. I would like to thank David for his service over the past three years, a time when FGA has seen many changes. Our new CEO is Richard Light, who comes to us from the oil industry, with more than 20 years’ international experience culminating with his role as vice president for health and safety for Schlumberger North America. Richard was a committee member and shoot marshall for the Gulf Coast SPE Sporting Clays shoot, which attracted 750 shooters, and has competed (successfully) at World Skeet Championships.

Richard has hunted extensively around the world: deer, duck and upland bird hunting in Australia; being a contract shooter for the US Department of National Parks — deer, pig, duck and goose (including at the Thunderbird Hunt Club); upland bird hunting in the US; and numerous trips to Argentina to shoot doves in Cordoba.

He has a strong background in environmental management and was his company’s lead advocate and responsible executive for environmental regulatory compliance.

FGA needs strong and skilled advocates to protect and develop hunting, to secure our shooting grounds, deliver great clay target competitions and ensure we are absolutely on top of environmental issues such as PFAS. Richard brings a broad set of skills and experience to FGA in the areas that are critical to our ongoing success.

Duck Season 2018

Our editor has ‘held the presses’ for me on this column until we had the Minister’s announcement on the 2018 season. The process normally is that FGA and other hunting organisations are invited by the Game Management Authority (GMA) to make a submission to them on what we think the season should be. The GMA then makes its recommendation to the Minister, who then makes her decision as to what the season will be in terms of time, bag limits, species able to be hunted and any other condition she believes relevant for that year. There were two things different this year: firstly, the time between the GMA calling for submissions and the deadline for them was much shorter than in previous years, and also, the government had made clear it wanted changes in the way the Opening was managed in order to avoid a repeat of the bad behaviour of some hunters who let us all down at Karangie last year. Recognising that 2018 was again going to be a season with high numbers of ducks in all areas, FGA’s recommendation was for a full season, full bag limits and the return to the bag of at least two blue-winged shovelers.

The announcement has now been made and the season will be open at 9 am on Saturday, March 17 and close on Monday, June 11. The bag limit is 10 ducks but blue-winged shoveler will be prohibited due to persistent low numbers of the species.

For opening weekend, hunting will commence at 9 am on Saturday and 8 am on Sunday across the whole state as part of a trial of opening the season during daylight hours. For the rest of the season, hunting times will revert to the standard half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset

The GMA will also raise the minimum pass mark for the Waterfowl Identification Test from 75 per cent to 85 per cent for any new game licence applications.

In addition, new regulations will be introduced to formally require hunters to retrieve all ducks shot and include them in their bag and to retain a minimum of at least the breast meat.

We are disappointed with the changes made to the opening weekend times and the continued exclusion of the blue-winged shoveler; when we were informed about various options being canvassed for the conduct of this year’s season, we strongly argued against them. However, that is the season for 2018 and it is up to all of us to abide by the regulations and enjoy our hunting. Be in no doubt — if we are ever to lose the ability to hunt ducks in Victoria, it will not be because of the activity of protesters, it will be because of the bad behaviour of a very few hunters.

Any conversation with politicians regarding duck hunting will see them talk about ‘social licence’.

This concept is based on the fact that the people of Victoria, in trust for future generations, own all Victorian wildlife. The people allow a season of sustainable hunting on the basis it is carried out ethically and respectfully by licensed hunters, skilled in identifying ducks.

This is social licence.

Whenever the terms of the social licence are not complied with, the government will place restrictions on the activity (e.g. change Opening times) and if it senses the social licence has been lost, will shut the activity down. The Australian export beef industry was shut down for months when unethical and cruel behaviour to export cattle in Asian abattoirs was exposed. This bankrupted many Australian farmers who were in no way to blame and nearly destroyed the export beef industry. The social licence had been severely damaged.

It is important that hunters understand that the term ‘social licence’ is being exploited by animal liberationists and extreme environmentalists to attack a range of activities including mining, farming, racing and hunting. Like other concepts, social licence is being applied and interpreted in ways that were never intended when it is was first used by the mining industry to engage with people affected directly by the impact of mining on their lives. As the greyhound industry, graziers and the mining industry have seen, this is a challenge we ignore at our peril.

We must understand and value our social licence to be able to continue hunting ducks. We do not have a god given right to hunt, we do so under a social licence and anyone who puts that licence at risk (by doing the wrong thing on the wetland) is a much greater risk to us than any number of protesters!

Don’t put up with those who do the wrong thing, they are putting your hunting at risk. FGA wants to see prosecutions of those who do the wrong thing and more game officers spread more widely on Opening.

Hunting at Heart Morass

FGA will be selling keys to the WET property at the Heart Morass to members who wish to hunt there again this season. The PFAS contamination of Heart Morass from the RAAF base next door remains a major issue for us and you can read more about where we stand on page 38.

Wherever you hunt this season, as always, it is critical that you do so with respect and within the law. That will ensure you not only have a great season this year, but many more to come.

Mr Young's motion asked that the upper house;

1. acknowledges that duck hunting is an important pastime to many Victorians through which they enjoy time with family and friends, health benefits of an outdoor physical activity and the opportunity to harvest wild sustainable food;
2. notes that the changes to the 2018 duck season arrangements are ill-conceived and unworkable;
3. affirms that the Game Management Authority is best placed to administer, regulate and manage game hunting in Victoria as a statutory authority; and
4. calls on the Minister for Agriculture to

FGA represented members in the formal discussions on potential wetland closures and we have expressed our disappointment with the outcome.

We argued strongly that closures should be a measure of last resort; made only when there is sufficient evidence of large numbers of protected species on a particular wetland. In circumstances where the risk to protected species could be mitigated by on ground management and hunter education we argued for hunter access to continue with appropriate monitoring.

The closure of public wetlands (including the Koorangie and Reedy Lakes complexes) for the 2018 season has been published in the Government Gazette, however FGA is lobbying for these to be monitored and reassessed during the season. A further two wetlands, the western side of Hird Swamp and Lake Martin will be closed only for the opening weekend.

We also argued for timely closure announcements so hunters could plan ahead and not be left stranded as they were at Lake Elizabeth in 2016. On that score this is a slight improvement.

Below are the known protected species counts for wetlands included in the closures.

Linlithgow - 575 Freckled Duck & 961 Blue-billed Duck

Beal Beal - 300+ Freckled Duck & 200+ Blue-billed Duck

Lonsdale - 650+ Freckled Duck

Browns - 72 Freckled Duck

Rushworth - 120+ Freckled Duck

Brickworks - 32 Freckled Duck

Martin - 20 Freckled Duck & 100 Curlew Sandpiper!!!

Bolac - 610 Blue-billed Duck

Muirhead 50 Blue-billed Duck & 40 Brolga

Tower Hill - 120 Blue-billed Duck

Seaward area adjacent to the Spit Wildlife Reserve and Western Treatment Plant - Orange Bellied Parrot

Kow Swamp - Gazetted annually due to it’s status as a sanctuary

Reedy Lake (Kerang) - Gazetted annually due to it’s status as a sanctuary

Details of closures are also available on the GMA website and the Victorian Government Gazette detailing the closures is published below.

23rd February 2018

Dear members,

I am writing to inform you of some disturbing changes in and interpretation of regulations to the Wildlife Act in Victoria and to update you about what we are doing about it.

On Tuesday evening, 20th Feb, the Game Management Authority (GMA) posted a fact sheet on their website (read the detail here) relating to two additional regulations that were inserted by the Wildlife (Game) Amendment Regulations 2018 (Gazetted on the 31st January 2018) with the expressed purpose of regulating the collection of game birds and the retention of game meat:

The regulations are as follows:

51A Downed game birds to be recovered

A person who hunts, takes or destroys a game bird must make all reasonable efforts to recover the downed game bird immediately after the bird is struck.

Penalty: 20 penalty units.

51B Breast meat of game bird to be kept in possession

(1) Subject to subregulation (2), a person who hunts, takes or destroys a game bird must keep the meat of both breasts of the game bird

in the person's possession until —

(a) immediately prior to cooking; or

(b) that game bird has been taken to the person's place of residence.

Field & Game has no qualms with a requirement to make a reasonable effort to recover game birds and to retain at least the breast meat; it is what we do anyway. This is an extract from our own Code of Ethics:

Every hunter’s objective is to achieve the instantaneous death and efficient recovery of every targeted animal or bird. Where possible, and wherever regulations allow, every animal or bird that is taken should be put to good use.

However, the proposed compliance regime, for 51A is an overreach which will be impossible to follow and as such will put our members in the untenable position of breaching the regulation in normal hunting situations.

We are dismayed that the real world experience of FGA and its members was not canvassed in the drafting and interpretation of the fact sheet.

On Wed 21st Feb, I contacted Minister Jaala Pulford’s office and the GMA seeking immediate modification so the regulations are practical, realistic and do not leave members open to criminal prosecutions.

The key concerns for us are that their interpretation of the regulations as stated on the GMA fact sheet is severe over-reach and place our members in an untenable situation in normal hunting scenarios.

I was subsequently contacted by the CEO of the GMA – Greg Hyam, on Wednesday afternoon, to inform me that they have modified their fact sheet as follows:

If a pair of birds present, they can both be taken (a "double") as long as one of the birds has not been downed. However, to minimise the possibility of wounding, it is recommended to focus on one bird only. If one bird is struck, reserve the second shot to immediately dispatch it if wounded.

If my gundog is half-way through a retrieve, can I shoot at passing or decoying birds?

If your dog has retrieved the bird and is on its way back to you, you have made a reasonable effort to recover the downed bird. However, it is recommended that the retrieval be completed and the bird returned to you before taking any further shots.

What if I unintentionally down multiple birds in a single shot?

Avoid shooting into a flock of birds as this increases the chances of wounding multiple birds. Always focus on shooting trailing, side or single birds. If you do strike more than one bird, focus on recovering the easiest bird first and try to make a mental picture of where the other bird went down in order to search for it once you have recovered and dispatched the first bird.

While this addresses the majority of our concerns with the specific fact sheet, the lack of consultation on the interpretation of the regulations is deeply troubling.

The same day, hunters received a GMA letter, outlining the 2018 duck season details and changes. This letter stated that the modified opening times is now a 2 year trial. This was never mentioned in any meetings we had with the Minister or the Government. It is our understanding that the modified opening times were to be evaluated after this season. It was quite a shock to be informed of the 2 year trial for the first time via letter from the GMA.

I am meeting with the Minister’s office on Monday with the express intent to have this unworkable 9am opening trial applied for only the 2018 season.

It is our understanding that the fact sheet and letter from the GMA were not written by the GMA, but by bureaucrats in the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (DEDJTR). A super-department in the Victorian Government, which is one of at least eight departments that has some say about duck hunting.

We have stated repeatedly in all of our conversations with the government and authorities that our members are law abiding hunters and the solution to stop illegal behaviour is the enforcement of the law and prosecution of illegal shooters.

We are also concerned that the regulation designed to keep protestors out of wetlands until after 10am has not been extended in line with the later opening time for hunting, which creates a safety risk.

We are continuing to fight for fair and reasonable regulations relating to duck season but we need your help.

Please call the Minister’s Office, the GMA and your local politician to express you dismay at the continued victimisation of law abiding hunters by having regulations that are impractical, impossible to follow and that make no practical sense, imposed on you.

The Hon. Jaala Pulford

Minister for Agriculture and Regional Development

Ph: (03) 8392 6000

Game Management Authority (GMA)

Ph: 131 186

Yours Sincerely,

Richard Light | Chief Executive Officer

Field & Game Australia

AUSTRALIA’S MOST SURPRISING CONSERVATIONISTS

We'll update this post with more information as it comes to hand.

Frankston Field & Game

When: 5pm, Friday, 2nd March 2018

Where: Frankston Australia Clay Target Club, 123 Rossiter Road, Carrum Downs, Victoria

Contact: Steve Harris 0412 708 371

Cost: $10

Port Phillip Field & Game

When: 7pm, Tuesday, 6th March 2018

Where: Veneto Club, 191 Bulleen Road, Bulleen, Victoria

Contact: Nigel Loughridge 0419 369 842

Cost: Port Phillip members free, all others $5

Bendigo Field & Game

When: 6pm, Wednesday, 7th March 2018

Where: Prince of Wales Showgrounds, Holmes Road, Bendigo, Victoria

Contact: Peter McKenzie 0439 376 951 or Mark Daley 0407 552 809

Cost: Free

Swan Hill Field & Game

When: 7pm, Wednesday 7th March 2018

Where: Murray Downs Golf & Country Club, 100 Murray Downs Dr, Murray Downs NSW

Contact: Dustin 0418 154 503

Cost: Free

Geelong Field & Game

When: 6pm, Thursday, 8th March 2018

Where: Geelong Racing Club, 99 Breakwater Road, Geelong, Victoria

Contact: Jake Hibble 0400 620 455

Cost: $10

Sale Field & Game – Duck Season Info Night

When: 7pm, Thursday, 8th March 2018

Where: Sporting Legends of Sale, 233 York St, Sale, Victoria

Contact: Gary Howard 0427 432 540 or Debbie Meester 0438 433 293

Cost: Free

Bairnsdale Field & Game

When: 6pm, Wednesday, 14th March 2018

Where: Bairnsdale Field & Game, Pattersons Road, Forge Creek, Victoria

Contact: David Young 0427 357 229       

Cost: Free

Notes: Practice ground will be open from 5pm

100 targets over two grounds. This was also the MCC Vs Port Phillip team challenge event.

I am pleased to be able to tell you that we had a very talented and impressive group of people keen to join FGA as our CEO, and the knowledge that our organisation attracts high calibre candidates made the difficult task of choosing just one, less onerous.

Richard comes to us from the oil industry with over 20 years international experience culminating with his role as Vice President for Health and Safety for Schlumberger North America. He has a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering and qualifications in management and crisis management.

During his time with Schlumberger he was responsible for their shooting entertainment budget of us$1m per year and was a committee member and shoot marshall for the Gulf Coast SPE Sporting Clays shoot – which attracted 750 shooters! He has competed (successfully) at World Skeet Championships.

Richard has hunted extensively around the world, being a contract shooter for the Department of National Parks: deer, duck and upland bird hunting in Australia; deer, pig, duck and goose (including at the Thunderbird Hunt Club); upland bird hunting in the US; and numerous trips to Argentina to shoot doves in Cordoba.

He has a strong background in environmental management and was his company’s lead advocate and responsible executive for environmental regulatory compliance.

FGA needs strong and skilled advocates to protect and develop hunting, to secure our shooting grounds, deliver great clay target competitions and ensure that we are absolutely on top of environmental issues such as PFAS.

Richard is well aware of the challenges; we are looking to him to successfully manage and he is up for the challenge!

There has been a lot of discussion on one element of Field & Game Australia’s submission on the 2018 Victorian Duck Season, as Chairman, it is important I set the record straight and provide some context to members.

FGA has included a recommendation for a mid-week (Wednesday) opening, a direct response to serious concerns about compliance.

The Victorian Government is still deliberating on what its response should be to the illegal and unethical practices identified at Koorangie wetlands near Kerang on opening weekend in 2017.

FGA will again meet with Victorian Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford on January 9.

You will recall that the Game Management Authority recorded shooting at Koorangie 30 minutes before opening time and hundreds of dead game birds and some protected species were left in the water unrecovered.

The reputation of the majority of hunters who follow the rules and cherish their duck hunting tradition was tarnished in the process and make no mistake, the seriousness of the offending put very real pressure on the future of duck hunting.

In the aftermath, both the regulator and the Victorian Government made it patently clear that another Koorangie or Box Flat would not be tolerated. We also understood that FGA needed to be a part of the solution.

Let me be clear, Koorangie was a disaster in every sense and change was going to occur, whether it was agreed or imposed.

A minority might inflict the damage but all hunters suffer the consequences. In 2017 that included a prohibition on hunting at Koorangie, which remained in place for the full season, depriving ethical and responsible hunters of access to iconic wetlands.

We need to eliminate the sort of “feverish” anticipation that stems from having too many hunters congregating on a single wetland complex. Hunting game birds is a test of skill and craft; it should never be reduced to an unseemly race between hunters to get their bag.

Bringing the opening of the season forward to the Wednesday before the third Saturday in March would:

• reduce concentration (approximately 43%) of hunters participating in the opening day of the season.

• disperse the hunter pressure over the first two-week period where 31% of the annual harvest occurred during 2017.

• reduce protestor activity that takes the compliance focus away from hunters.

• facilitate improved compliance.

• reduce impact on threatened or protected species.

We continue to argue for effective and well-resourced compliance regime to detect and prosecute wrongdoers who have no right to continue to enjoy the privilege of duck hunting and to eliminate the distraction of anti-hunting protestors who should not be on wetlands.

Whatever the Government does, FGA will continue to do its bit to further hunter education and to spread the messages of RESPECT for wildlife, our wetlands and fellow hunters.

FGA is fighting for our duck hunting tradition and the greatest contribution you can make is to hunt ethically and responsibly at all times and to report those who don’t.

The HHERA has identified potentially elevated risks associated with the home consumption of duck meat and duck liver recreationally hunted from The Heart Morass even at low consumption rates (i.e. 1 serve of duck/month)

The interim assessment is based on currently available data, and makes it clear that further investigation would assist with refining the findings of the current risk assessment (specifically where potentially elevated risks are identified), and the requirement for management measures.

PFAS levels were extremely high in ALL meat, skin and liver samples taken from ducks at Heart Morass - some between 100 and 1000 times the trigger point for Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ).

The conclusion that consumption of duck meat and duck liver recreationally hunted from The Heart Morass even at low consumption rates (i.e. 1 serve of duck/month) is of serious concern to Field & Game Australia.

“We attended a briefing at RAAF East Sale prior to the release of the interim report and made it clear that further scientific study is needed to establish the full extent of the problems at Heart Morass and the impact on dynamic and mobile wild duck populations,” FGA chairman Bill Paterson said.

“There’s an equally serious human element to this, our members hunted and consumed ducks from Heart Morass long before Defence publicly acknowledged the PFAS contamination.”

In October 2017 the Environmental Protection Authority Victoria issued advice not to consume ducks, fish or eels from heart Morass is unchanged but Mr Paterson said the warning raises many questions.

“If I harvest a duck at Heart Morass how do I know it hasn’t just flown in from afar? And if I take a bird from another wetland, how do I know it hasn’t just flown in from Heart Morass?” he said.

“We need a scientific basis for assessing PFAS levels in wild duck populations and not just at Heart Morass.”

“The consumption advice is based on limited data and an offer to investigate human impacts through samples taken from volunteer FGA members was declined.”

There is no clear evidence of human health risks from PFAS but authorities are being extremely cautious because the chemical is persistent in the environment and cumulative when consumed. The interim assessment states:

Based on the assessment, there is concluded to be an elevated risk associated with the home consumption of duck meat and duck liver recreationally hunted from The Heart Morass even at low consumption rates (i.e. 1 serve of duck/month). The identification of potentially elevated risks does not necessarily indicate that there will be adverse effects, but instead that management of risks and/or further investigation/assessment may be warranted.

Mr Paterson said FGA, its charitable Wetlands Environmental Taskforce, volunteer members and partner organisations have worked for more than a decade to restore the Heart Morass as a thriving and important wetland.

“We will continue to care for the Heart Morass but the contamination issue will seriously impact on our ability to fund the necessary annual maintenance and environmental works,” he said.

“We are still selling access keys but the reality is that members will make their own assessment based on the current information and we suspect many will choose to avoid Heart Morass based on the current advice."

You can access the interim report here

The following is an extract from the Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment report:

Conclusions of Duck Consumption Risk Assessment

Based on the assessment, there is concluded to be an elevated risk associated with the home consumption of duck meat and duck liver recreationally hunted from The Heart Morass even at low consumption rates (i.e. 1 serve of duck/month). The identification of potentially elevated risks does not necessarily indicate that there will be adverse effects, but instead that management of risks and/or further investigation/assessment may be warranted.

FGA Chairman Bill Paterson, Development Manager Daryl Snowdon and Heart Morass Committee of Management member Gary Howard were briefed ahead of the public release of the report tomorrow (December 7).

Defence is holding Community Walk-in Sessions to provide information on the detailed environmental investigation tomorrow that will include a presentation on the findings outlined in the Detailed Site Investigation and the Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment.

There will also be an opportunity for the community to ask questions one-on-one about the environmental investigation contracted experts and other key government department representatives in attendance. FGA members are welcome to attend.

Date

Thursday 7 December 2017

Session 1

3.00pm to 5.00pm
(presentation at 3.15 pm)

Session 2

7.00pm to 9.00pm
(presentation at 7.15 pm)

Venue

Sale Baptist Church Hall
Lot 1 Princes Highway
Sale, Vic 3850 (Opposite Cobains Road)

Bill Paterson said today’s briefing was an opportunity for FGA to raise questions about the contamination, further sampling and assessment and the process for dealing with the contamination.

Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of manufactured compounds and DoD has identified contamination at bases across Australia from the use of a fire fighting foam.

PFAS are stable chemical compounds that do not break down in the environment and while current science shows no consistent link to adverse health effects the cumulative nature of PFAS has led to a general health warning to minimise exposure.

On September 28, 2017 the EPA recommended that recreational fish and game hunters do not consume fish, eels or ducks caught at the Heart Morass wetlands until the release of the Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment.

FGA will be in a position to provide updated advice once the final health assessment has been publicly released.

The full EPA advice is available here

You can see the full details of the RAAF Base East Sale PFAS Investigation here

Established over centuries, the drives are set in a serene valley in the Devon countryside that has been the family seat of the Clifford family for more than 400 years.

The current custodians are The Honourable Alexander Clifford and his wife Dr Caitlin Blake-Lane, a Melbourne girl who is also a practicing veterinarian.

The couple met at the Melbourne Cup and as their relationship blossomed the man she knew as Alex said he would eventually have to return to the family business.

Caitlin imagined it might be a fish and chip shop overlooking one of Devon’s sandy beaches, but Alexander is the eldest son of Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, Devon, and Suzanne, Lady Clifford of Chudleigh.

The family business is Ugbrooke Park, considered one of England’s finest country estates.

The house has a history dating back 900 years, which includes periods of stately grandeur and desperate, troughs of disrepair. Requisitioned as a school during World War II, it later served as a refuge for the Polish army and a lowly grain store. The Clifford family rescued the building in 1957 and painstakingly restored the stately home.

There is still a Polish connection, being one of the many pheasant breeds raised and released on the estate.

“We put a lot of birds over each group so the needs of clients and every standard can be catered for,” Alexander said

Devon is renowned for the high pheasant and Polish, English, French and Scandinavian birds are used, as well as the michigan blue and kansas blueback breeds from the United States.

“The really sporting gun wants to have a challenge so if you have hundreds of birds flying over you but all flying differently, I think that is a challenge,” Alexander said.

Caitlin is by admission, at the other end of the spectrum.

“I’m a Melbourne girl, a city girl but I’ve always been a horsey person so I spent a lot of time in the country growing up. I did a bit of pest control on friends’ farms and I had to have a firearms licence for veterinary purposes as a large animal vet in Australia, but that was the extent of it,” she said.

“This was completely new to me and it has been a steep learning curve.

“For people like me who are just getting into shooting, very keen but in need of a little confidence building, that is where our loaders come into it.”

The family tradition is to have gentlemen loaders, people from the community, retirees, and friends of the family who act as loaders through the season in return for a day or two shooting.

“With the changing of the guard, a lot of Alexander’s friends are starting to come in and they will help load the guns but also act as a coach and provide a bit of guidance if needed,” Caitlin said.

“I love having a loader who will give me a bit of encouragement, just to build my confidence up a bit.”

The gentlemen loaders also act as safety officers.

“Between 20 and 40 beaters are out in the woods in front of you and you can’t see them; my first duty is to protect them and also the other guns in the line. I trust the loaders and will back them to the hilt,” Alexander said.

“Other shoots have professional loaders who come in and look after a gun for the day with the expectation of a stonking tip starting at £80 ($135), whereas our gentlemen do not (it is specifically forbidden) get paid, we give them a day or two shooting at the beginning oftheseason.”

Another key ingredient to the success of Ugbrooke Park as a shoot is Alan Easterbrook, who is helping a third generation of the Clifford family and is in his 55th year as gamekeeper.

“We are in a very special position and what’s fabulous about Alan is we haven’t had someone who is stuck in his ways; he’s gone from putting a few pheasant eggs under some broody hens in the early 1970s to a full operation now where we can breed up to 20 000 pheasant,” Alexander said.

“We know we have clients come back year after year because they know what they are getting; in any business, if you have stability it makes everything more relaxed.

“With Alan’s experience, if things go rocky he knows what to do.”

Alan also introduced driven duck to Ugbrooke Park, which adds another dimension to the experience, although Alexander jokes his family has been slow to learn.

“When my Grandfather took him on and we started with Mallards he would say to him, ‘You’re only putting out ducks, where are the drakes? All of our guests would like to see these beautifully coloured drakes.’ He didn’t realise it wasn’t until much later on that they got their colour.

“My father again said the same thing to him and I said exactly the same thing to him again when I first took over,” Alexander said.

“I’m proudly the only Clifford who hasn’t asked that question; as a trained vet, I knew that,” Caitlin chimed in.

Driven duck is only possible due to changes to the grounds commissioned in the mid-18th century.

Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, considered England’s greatest gardener, earned his nickname for telling prospective clients that their property had “capability for improvement”.

At Ugbrooke Park, his improvements included three dams created along a stream that ran through the valley but these days they look like natural lakes formed in the landscape.

Mallard driven from ponds at the top of the valley will fly to one of the lower stretches of water, passing high over the guns at every conceivable angle.

“In the past, driven duck shooting in the United Kingdom has had a bad rap and people generally haven’t liked it because of the style of shooting: it wasn’t really sporting,” Alexander said.

“There’s plenty of duck here but they are testing, coming from all angles and they are high; we have a growing reputation in the UK and some would say they are the best in the world. Caitlin and I both like to say that Capability Brown almost designed it for shooting; we wouldn’t have the edge with the ducks without his work — no Capability Brown, no duck.”

The ninth Lord Clifford started the shoot at Ugbrooke Park when he returned from his travels, which included hunting buffalo in America with General Custer’s expedition. Alexander discovered his great, great, great uncle’s game book from 1896 recording bags and drives around the estate that are still in use today.

The estate caters for large parties who spend a luxurious weekend in the main house and day trippers who just want to join the fray.

“It does vary, there are different types of people: you get the true sportsman who is looking for that challenging bird, variation of birds and a challenge but you also get clients who see red and want to shoot everything in front of them; they are not selecting the birds, which can be disappointing,” Alexander said.

“You also get the social guns who like to shoot a couple of birds, drink a bit of sloe gin, have some good food, have nice claret, and enjoy time with friends.”

Caitlin said the grandeur of the estate doesn’t equate to a lifestyle familiar to viewers of classic period dramas.

“It is hard work,” she said. “It is very different to life in Australia and hard to explain but those who stay here see that it is really a team effort; we live in the house but we don’t live in all of the house all of the time, we don’t need that many bedrooms.”

Caitlin works off the estate as a vet as well as helping with the shoots.

“It hasn’t challenged my values; the birds are bred and raised on site, and they are farmed animals. I obviously like to see them dispatched in a humane manner but I’m not a vegetarian, they are a farmed animal and they are eaten as well.

“I haven’t had to wrestle with my conscience and on the other side I see the livelihoods we support; there are so many people that depend on the shoot for their livelihood and I see those benefits,” she said.

“I’ve really enjoyed becoming a part of the shoot community, through an owner’s point of view, a conservationist point of view and also as a lady gun. There aren’t too many of us girls at the moment but there are more and more getting into it; I’m loving being part of this little uprising of girls with guns.”

For a cohort of sporting guns a driven shoot in the UK is a pilgrimage, something you must experience.

“You can find great shooting all over the UK and we are certainly not saying we are the best shoot but we are the best experience. If you want a true country house experience with all the trimmings, Ugbrooke Park is the shoot,” Alexander said.

It is also the only country estate with a fair dinkum welcome.

“That” it, G’day, how’s it going?” Caitlin laughed.

And perhaps by the time you get there, another Aussie roaming the estate.

“I was on eBay last night looking at kelpie pups,” she said.

You can find out more about Ugbrooke Park at www.ugbrookepark.co.uk

New Member Firearm Insurance

The big outcome from the AGM is the introduction of a new membership firearm insurance package. The firearm indemnity scheme that members have used and enjoyed for the past several years unfortunately has had to be retired, but we have an exciting new package which will provide our members with more cover and better peace of mind.

One major change with the new insurance: you no longer will have to list your firearm with us for it to be covered. The new insurance covers FGA members for every firearm legally registered in their name. Whether you have one firearm or five, whether it’s a shotgun or rifle, whether it’s your firearm that you use every weekend, or one you have registered to teach your son or daughter how to hunt responsibly and safely, there’s no extra charge.

Once the new insurance cover commences (April 1, 2018) we will be removing your firearm details from our systems in the interests of your privacy, confidentiality, and security. In the meantime, we will naturally be honouring legitimate claims as per our old indemnity.

The new insurance, included in your membership, covers for up to $12,000 per claim – a huge increase from our $1,000 cover – and members have the option to increase their cover to $25,000 per claim for an additional yearly fee of just $10.

The new insurance also covers accessories directly related to your firearms. So gunslips, cases, chokes, scopes are covered too – but not your boat, 4x4 or your ammunition. Bulging or burst barrels are also covered – previously we couldn’t provide cover for this, and while there is a small excess of $50 for each claim, this is fixed and won’t change no matter how many claims you put in.

We’re looking forward to rolling out the new insurance offer for our members in 2018.

Branch Awards

The AGM is also FGA’s opportunity to recognise branches who have excelled with regards to conservation, pest animal control, and positive representation of FGA’s goals, objectives and values; as well as giving branches the opportunity to show their gratitude to members who have gone above and beyond the expected contribution to branch projects and events.

This year only two branches submitted nominations for branch and member awards, we would love to see more FGA branches across the network putting their hand up for recognition. Volunteers are vital to FGA branches and to the Association as a whole, and we want to say thankyou for all your hard work. Branches receive awards information packs each year in the lead-up to the AGM, so make sure you check it out next time – and if you haven’t seen one, please give the National Office a call!

Blue Wing Trophy for Conservation Projects

The Blue Wing trophy showcases the volunteer conservation efforts performed by FGA branches throughout the previous 12 months.

This year Sale Field & Game was awarded first place for their continuing conservation efforts, not just at the Heart Morass, but the wider area including Lake Wellington and Dowd’s Morass. (Pictured here is the National Office's Lauri Rowe with John Hirt from Sale FGA.)

Geelong Field & Game was awarded second for their dedication to bringing the Connewarre Wetland Centre to life and engaging with conservation education groups such as Bug Blitz. (Pictured is Trent Leen from Geelong with Lauri.)

Pest and Vermin Control

This was awarded to Sale Field & Game for their increased efforts in removing pest animals. Throughout the 2016-17 financial year Sale members donated an estimated $38,105 in time and expenses to remove over 160 foxes and 200 rabbits from our environment. It may seem expensive, but this is time and money given freely by hunters who have a passion for ensuring our native animals and our primary producers have a reduced threat from introduced pests. (Pictured is John Hirt from Sale branch with the National Office's Rachel Berry.)

Media Award

Geelong Field & Game were awarded the Media Award this year for their community engagement, and promotion of the benefits of hunting through hunter education, game food workshops, and positive representation, as well as their contribution to waterfowl research on a variety of levels. (Pictured is Geelong's Trent Leen with Rachel.)

Dr Hugh Martin Medal

This is the highest honour that a branch may nominate a member for, and was awarded to Ray Phillips of Geelong for his contributions over a period of more than 20 years.

Ray became involved in the early 1990s when he joined the Geelong subcommittee for the shooting ground at Murgeboluc, and took on full responsibility for running the range from 1996 to 2002. Ray has also lent his experience with rebuilding the Geelong clay target shoots after 10 years without a ground.

Ray has served as President and Treasurer on separate occasions, during his 16 years of service on the committee, and typifies the FGA member who makes a difference: he gives selflessly of his time and expertise, participates at all levels and in each facet of FGA.

He has also been a major contributor to the Connewarre Wetland Centre project, devoting countless hours of his time and his knowledge as a builder to this project. While he retired from the Geelong committee earlier this year, Ray has pledged to continue to make the Connewarre Wetland Centre project a reality.

Winchester Australia National Championship

National Champion – High Gun for 150 targets

John Younger 140 OTG

AA-grade

1st Brenton Irons – 140 OTG

2nd Blake Nankervis – 139

3rd Brian Mortensen – 138

A-grade

1st Ricky Crawford – 122 OTG

2nd Kennith Atkin – 122

3rd Anthony Pitt – 120

B-grade

1st Alex Labib – 112 OTG

2nd William Murray – 111

3rd David Charles – 106

C-grade

1st Andrew Portelli – 104 OTG

2nd Grant Middlemiss – 101

3rd Bill Moran – 91

Beretta Australia Ladies National Championship

1st Brooke Tangey – 106 OTG

2nd April Thompson – 105

3rd Felicity Richardson – 100

Beretta Australia Veterans National Championship

1st Roger Kerslake – 122 OTG

2nd Alec Ceccato – 121

3rd Dominic Azzopardi – 118

Raytrade Junior National Championship

1st Billy Cain – 129 OTG

2nd Luke Willemsen – 128

3rd Mark Du Rose – 128

Raytrade Sub-Junior National Championship

1st Nicholas Brighenti – 109 OTG

2nd Brendon O’Brien – 108

3rd Benjamin Studham – 107

Winchester Australia National Handicap

1st Ben Kuschert

2nd John Younger

3rd Andrew Portelli

4th Blake Nankervis

5th Brian Mortensen

6th Grant Middlemiss

7th Brenton Irons

8th Noah Bazzano

9th Lee Berger

10th Bill Zogogiannis

11th Matthew Libbis

12th Jack Gibbs

13th Craig McNeil

14th Mick Keirl

15th Adam Du Rose

16th Con Scalora

17th Alex Labib

18th Adam Bennett

19th Billy Cain

20th Jeremy Kent

21st Wayne Lowan

22nd William Murray

23rd Liam Hill

24th George Pilipasidis

25th Scott McIntyre

26th James Saliba

27th Daniel Lillis

28th Mark Du Rose

29th Luke Willemsen

30th Kennith Atkin

Into Shooting Branch Team Event

1st ABZ SHOOTING TEAM: Frank Cefai, Brent Harbour, Emmanuel Attard, Andrew Portelli

2nd BENDIGO POACHERS: Andrew Campbell, Barry Eastwood, Mark Daley, Matt Davis

3rd PINEGROVE: Adrian Orchard, Brook Nichol, Josh Simms, Molly Nicholson

Into Shooting Junior Team Event

Three-person teams, 150 targets OTG

1st THE FUTURE: Mark Du Rose, Billy Cain, Luke Willemsen

2nd SHEPP YOUNG GUNS: Xavier Russell, Harry Wilkie, Thomas Bilney

3rd O’FITZIDEAN: Riley Fitzgibbon, Kiara Dean, Brendan O’Brien

The decision paid off shooting 129/150 to win by a target from Luke Willemsen and Mark Du Rose.

“It was my first National Carnival so it was really good to win,” he said.

“I’d never shot one but I kept hearing what a big event it was so I wanted to have a go while still a junior.”

Billy was in contention early for the OTG after starting his campaign with 25/25 on ground six, one of only two perfect scores returned from that ground for the entire shoot. The other was Brenton Irons who pushed John Younger I to a shoot off for the National Championship

“I really enjoyed the event, it is a different format to sporting but not too far away,” he said.

“The course was good and the grounds were all tough in their own way, they were all challenging.”

While Billy can’t defend his junior title next year he’s committed to shooting in open competition at Bairnsdale in 2018.

“I will be going back to the Nationals,” he said.

After numerous attempts and a string of minor placings, Brooke Tangey finally won her first national championship at Wodonga-Albury.

“I’m very happy with the outcome,” she said.

“Next year will be 20 years that I’ve been shooting; you are always learning and finally you get to where you want to be.”

Brooke had high praise for the event but admitted 100 targets left her tired at the end of the first day.

“It was really good, it was great to have a ground like that with the space for six grounds,” she said.

“All the grounds had a mixture of targets: the easy soft ones you expect to hit and the difficult ones you never think you can hit but are very excited when you do.”

“There were no two targets that were exactly the same, and shooting targets below you is always good; there’s not a lot of clubs that can do that.”

A member of Moe Field & Game, Brooke is looking forward to 2018.

“I shoot Bairnsdale once or twice a year so I’m familiar with it,” she said.

It also means if Brooke defends her title she won’t have to miss the presentation to start the long drive home.

Statistically, there was little between the six grounds. There were a dozen possibles over the weekend with four on ground three, and three on ground two, which by consensus was considered the easiest of the grounds.

Ground six had two possibles even though it was, according to National Champion John Younger, the most challenging.

“I was a little bit worried about the six grounds, thinking it would be tight with a lot of straightaway birds and then you walk to different scenery and get another couple of them, but no, they had some brilliant tower birds — the mixture of birds was brilliant,” he said.

Last year’s champion Robert Hall also found trouble at ground six.

“I struggled with the last pad, a left to right quartering crosser and another left to right crosser that would have been 50–60 m out,” he said.

“The targets were really good: they are getting better and better every year and the terrain helped with different target presentations.”

Grade by grade the averages per ground were unremarkable, with AA varying between 18.4 (G6) and 20 (G2).

Ground two produced the best average scores across all grades and each grade produced its lowest average scores on ground six with the exception of C-grade who averaged 10.7 birds on both five and six.

Brenton Irons considered it a fair mix with enough tougher targets to separate the top guns.

“I thought they were a little harder than I remembered them and that’s not a bad thing. There were still easier targets there but it was a challenge for the high-level shooters,” he said.

The shift to a 100/50 target format over six grounds was given a strong endorsement.

“On the first night it was really hard to determine who was the outright leader because everybody shot different grounds,” Robert said.

“I think it was a great move; the National Carnival has been getting better and better and it is becoming the premier event.”

“I would say it is the best nationals I’ve shot, period,”  John said.

“You can’t beat six different layouts because nobody goes back to the same target twice and you don’t have to bust a gut to alter birds; the hard work has really paid off for this club.”

Brenton agreed, saying it was “fantastic” and the best Field & Game Carnival he has attended.

What about those who have no family tradition? How do they gain even the basic skills and knowledge to be effective and confident in the field?

The answer may lie in a hunter education program started by Geelong Field & Game. While in its infancy, more than 20 hunters signed up for a full-day course that consisted of classroom and practical exercises covering ethics, safety, different types of waterfowling and how to deploy successful techniques to hunt and retrieve birds.

Blair Findlay and Sav Mangion ran the sessions.

“It is aimed at juniors and people with no experience, although we have a few doing the course who have some hunting experience,” Blair said.

“The catalyst was our experience from conducting waterfowl identification tests; we thought there needed to be more, especially for people who don’t have an experienced mentor.”

Sav Mangion understands the difficulty faced by those who don’t have a family tradition of hunting.

“In terms of the learning curve, this course is designed to flatten it out but arming people with hunting knowledge the first time they go out,” he said.

“The aim is for everyone, regardless of their experience, to go away with new knowledge and an appreciation that the pleasure in duck hunting comes from having to work for it and apply skill and knowledge.”

The classroom sessions delivered a broad range of information but the theoretical was backed by personal and ‘real world’ examples of how the knowledge could be applied in the field.

During breaks, the lectures prompted questions and discussion, which was one of the aims of the training.

“If people leave asking the right questions and seeking out that information, that is a good outcome and we are happy to continue contact with the participants,” Blair said.

Geelong FGA president Trent Leen said participants were being surveyed on the course content and the way it was conducted to further refine the program.

“It was really good from our perspective and the feedback on the day was certainly positive,” he said.

“The Connewarre Wetland Centre was perfect as a venue because we could do practical demonstrations in the wetlands.”

Usually, the first question posted whenever there is an announcement about water for a popular wetland is “will it be full for duck opening?”

In coming months, as members fan out to scout and contribute to annual waterfowl surveys, the same conversation will appear repeatedly on social media. Looks great now, but will it hold water for the 2018 Duck Season?

The reality for so many wetlands is that they are at the whim of Mother Nature and a hot dry summer will leave little to enthuse about come February or March.

We live on an arid continent that has a history of disappointment when it comes to water. Australia has 65 Ramsar wetlands and more than 900 nationally important wetlands.

They are important environmentally, absorbing pollutants (wetlands are far more effective at carbon storage than rain forests) and improving water quality, acting as a buffer in times of flood and supporting a diversity of life that in many cases is found nowhere else.

With water such a precious commodity, we have invested heavily since white settlement in damming, storing or diverting it to support populations, agriculture and industry. Wetlands remain a valuable social and recreational resource, allowing Australians to spend time in the natural landscape.

Water, even if it was available, can no longer flow through the natural landscape.

In Victoria, environmental water has been around since the 1990s but by far the biggest shake up of water occurred with the implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan to rebalance water use across the state by recovering 2750 gigalitres for the environment.

As of July 31, 2109 gigalitres has been recovered through water buybacks, infrastructure projects and gifted water.

Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder David Papps spoke of an adaptive management approach to water across the Basin in an address to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) in 2016. He said the environmental watering program was unmatched in the world for scale and ambition but that it existed in a real-world framework that included a large and prosperous irrigated agricultural community.

“So our ambition is to work within that framework,” he said. “There is no intent on our part to wind back the clock. We’re working in a highly modified system.”

That framework is a little clearer with the announcement of a 605 gigalitre offset target for environmental water delivery.

The Basin states have been arguing that rather than clawing more water back from irrigators, especially through buybacks, the gap could be closed by investing in infrastructure to deliver environmental water more efficiently.

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority has put forward a draft target of 605 gigalitres with a final decision to be made in December.

These new water projects (36 were put forward by the states) use engineering works such as regulators, pipes and pumps to deliver water to wetlands and floodplains and use water more efficiently.

The projects support the health of local rivers and wetlands, protect and restore red gum forests, provide better breeding conditions for waterbirds and improve habitat for fish, turtles and other animals.

“Victoria does not support further buybacks and had pushed for the offsets to be as high as possible, so our communities are protected from further water buybacks,” Victorian Minister for Water Lisa Neville said.

The outcome will inevitably be a more regulated and complex framework and FGA will need to continue to be active at all levels as a voice for wetlands.

Water and habitat are necessary priorities and it isn’t as simple as water equals habitat equals ducks.

FGA has argued for a systems approach to management with the aims of:

• healthy habitat

• mosaic of cover and food sources

• optimised (timing, delivery) to enhance breeding opportunities and vegetation growth

• creation of ‘edge’ and a variety of habitat (banks, shallows, protected areas, deeper areas)

• avoiding creating isolated oases bordered by man-made boundaries that create sanctuary for predators or make it easy for predators to hunt

• availability of nesting structures

• shelter for new broods to successfully hatch and emerge from nests

• active predator management programs to control numbers

• monitoring — ecological health, improved biodiversity, breeding success and predator control.

We contributed to an independent review of how effectively Victoria’s Ramsar wetlands are managed and were pleased when the Victorian Government announced $2 million over three years to be spent on better protecting Ramsar wetlands, through improved monitoring and management.

A further $3.5 million over three years will be spent on recognising the recreational values of waterways and providing better information to users. This followed a submission we made on the Water for Victoria Discussion Paper, where we discussed the recognition of hunting as recreational use, and recommended more frequent and transparent communication.

We are also acting at the regional level and are close to announcing a Memorandum of Understanding with the North Central Catchment Management Authority recognising our common interests and aspirations for the proactive management of State Game Reserve wetlands within the north central region of Victoria, and to describe how the parties will work together to achieve these aspirations.

This is a partnership approach to managing State Game Reserve wetlands through co-ordinated planning and management designed to maximise shared benefits, and preserve and optimise environmental outcomes.

Water has become a multi-layered and complex issue across the Murray-Darling Basin but in the pursuit of healthy wetlands and habitat, we have to remain engaged and ever present.

According to Delta Waterfowl, the USFWS Breeding Population and Habitat Survey reveals that pintails and the pond count “ …were both tremendously high in the mid-1950s, fell in the early 1960s, rose in the mid-1970s and dipped during the horrid 1980s drought.”

Following the drought, the pond count was well above average in the late ‘90s but pintails floundered while other species flourished.

More recently, wet conditions have not helped the pintail, which prefer shallow water, and shifting agricultural practices have also impacted nesting cover. Pintails nest away from water making them vulnerable to predation.

In a special report, Delta Waterfowl outlined wetland protection, availability of habitat, water and predation as the primary drivers of pintail decline and argued a restrictive bag limit was an unnecessary response.

“I think it’s entirely unwarranted,” Dr Frank Rohwer, president and chief scientist of Delta Waterfowl said.

“There’s no data to suggest that hunter harvest is having any effect on the size of the pintail population. A two-pintail daily limit has been tolerated in the past, so unless drought causes a major decline, I think that’s a pretty reasonable number.”

The argument is bolstered by research from University of Nevada-Reno Ph.D. candidate Ben Sedinger that suggests hunting’s impact on duck populations is even lower than previously thought.

“It’s estimated that 35 per cent of pintails die in a given year from all causes, including the approximately one to seven per cent that are shot,” Sedinger told Delta Waterfowl.

“Additionally, if we reduce the number of pintails harvested, roughly 35 per cent of the population will still die in a given year. It’s just that more will die of starvation, disease and getting eaten (by predators). Harvest may be an easy variable to manage, but fine-tuning the daily bag limit from two to one is very likely futile.

“Unless pintails replace that 35 per cent every year (through production on the breeding grounds), the population will still decline.”

Following five years of declines, the 2017 survey shows pintails have increased 10 per cent to 2.89 million, but they remain 27 per cent below the long-term average.

Because an adaptive harvest model is in place the regulator has already responded to the 2017 survey, announcing a bag limit of two pintail per day for 2018–19, a full year before the season.

Delta Waterfowl, Ducks Unlimited and other waterfowl organisations continue to focus on management, habitat, water and promoting breeding success as the best way to make a positive impact on pintail recovery.

“Extensive North American research has shown that continental duck populations are primarily influenced by conditions on the breeding grounds and that regulated harvest is largely compensatory,” Delta Waterfowl CEO Dr Scott Petrie said.

“It is also well known that hunter participation declines when duck numbers decline, thereby making it unnecessary to reduce bag limits. Providing unnecessary bag restrictions serves to reduce participation and can result in declining hunter numbers and our biggest concern in North American is with declining hunter recruitment, because it is hunters that provide the bulk of the conservation dollars necessary to conserve waterfowl and the wetlands that they require.”

My professional life is with the Department of Defence and the involvement of FGA’s Heart Morass wetland in the emerging PFAS contamination investigations around Defence bases nationally raises issues of conflict of interest, hence I have regrettably resigned as chairman and from the FGA and WET Board’s.

FGA is a great organisation I have been proud to serve.

I have invested 22 years of voluntary service in various committees and my branch and I would be willing to do so again when circumstances permit.

One of the things you do in a leadership role is attend a lot of events and in doing so these past years I have seen first-hand the real strength of the organisation, its people and their commitment to do good.

Whether it is an organised shoot, a working bee, a wetland conservation project, pest control or pitching in at a hunting camp, our people are doers. Any grass roots organisation needs people to do things, to organise the firewood for the fire, set up the traps, order and prepare the food for the kitchen, to sweep out the toilets and check for snakes, to check and maintain nest boxes, to fix tracks, to man the nominations hut or to clean up and pack up afterwards.

Many organisations struggle with the basic tasks that keep them operating because too few do the heavy lifting, I am proud to say from personal observation, we don’t suffer that problem.

When I took the chairman’s role I wanted to focus the organisation on supporting and empowering the branch network.

Our branch network needs to be strong to continue to provide a range of events for members, and for our membership to keep growing.

On that path of strengthening FGA’s advocacy voice, it is terrific that we grew by two branches during the past 12 months.

I know the Bill Paterson, who has stepped back into the chairman’s role, and the rest of the board will continue to work on this.

As an organisation FGA punches well above its weight given the resources at our disposal.

FGA will face significant challenges over the next year, ranging from dealing with environmental issues that impact on all Victorian outdoor users, to working with the various departments in the 2018 season arrangements.

Make no mistake that the various agencies involved in game bird hunting will apply the precautionary principle due to past hunter behaviours. This situation will be a bitter pill for the majority of hunters. The hunting community will need to accept some reform in the future particularly as we recruit new hunters. Our efforts need to focus on educating them to make them successful. I congratulate the Geelong Field & Game branch on their initiative in this regard: they ran a very successful education day for new and intermediate waterfowl hunters that you can read about on page 78.

That said, one of the reasons I became involved in our great organisation was to fight for the freedom of choice to be able to hunt. Much to my delight both my children do and I value every one of the hunts I enjoy with Emily and Jack, and I thank them for allowing me the time to play a leadership role with FGA.

I have no doubt that they enjoy a lazy morning sitting over the decoys as much as I enjoyed doing the same with my father.

Our ability to continue our cultural hunting traditions is dependent on us all: our conduct and our respect for hunting is paramount. FGA is the sharp end of the spear for the hunting community, I encourage you to become involved in your branch committee and become local advocates for wetlands and the shooting sports. FGA will be sixty next year and our future is bright, I am proud of FGA’s conservation credentials and the advocacy role it plays.

To the board and staff, thank you for all your efforts and assistance during my time at the helm, particularly Peter Hawker our vice chairman for his support.

I also thank Bill Paterson for stepping up as chairman and wish him well.

My future will involve more field trips fishing and hunting with my children, a return to active participation in my branch at Seymour and whittling away some time catching up on some decoy carving.

To all members, shoot straight, be safe and be proud.

Back then it was called the Bairnsdale Field Sportsman’s Association and field shoots were supplemented with clay target events held initially in a paddock behind Charlie Growcott’s house, a logical choice given he owned the only trap in the district.

Later, the shoots were held on an old shooting ground behind the Bairnsdale Racing Club Hotel before settling at the current Comleys Road site in the 1960s. The first clubhouse was a disused concrete guard house, a remnant of its use as a World War II aerodrome.

A roof was built on the guard house so it could serve as the secretary’s office and canteen, a far cry from the modern facility the members now enjoy.

“When the Shooting Sports Facility grants were advertised we thought it was a good opportunity to access the grant; we had some funds locally through savings, good members and support from businesses to make it happen,” Bairnsdale FGA president Mick Crane said.

“We are very happy with the result; we were a bit slower out of the blocks with construction because we had a big consultation and planning phase with members, but the proof is in the pudding, we got it right.”

The club received $100 000 from the Victorian Government, and with assistance from a long list of donors and in-kind contributors, determined to build something for the future.

“As one of the bigger sporting clubs in East Gippsland we were conscious that we wanted to continue to grow; we have a lot of juniors, and we wanted to leave a legacy for them,” Mick said.

“We are seeing that come to fruition. We had a movie night here last night with our new projector to entertain the kids during the night shoot; we had a vision that we could have a clubhouse that is open every day of the week for people to access and engage with the sport, a bit like a golf club is for its members.”

Another Shooting Sports Facilities grant is building two skeet and DTL layouts to complement the Simulated Field ground and enable new coaching programs and junior shooter development in a broad range of disciplines.

“It has been a very time consuming but enjoyable process and we are very happy with how the branch is positioned,” Mick said.

Bairnsdale will make full use of the new facilities when it hosts the 2018 Field & Game National Carnival.

After finishing his last round another competitor stepped up to shake his hand and offer congratulations but John knew it was premature.

“Some years ago at Shepparton the same thing happened and the bloke congratulating me said Brenton Irons wouldn’t shoot 25 in his last round to force a shoot-off; he did shoot 25 and then smoked me.”

Brenton shot a possible on ground six, statistically the toughest ground, to end the first day in good shape.

Sunday didn’t start as well: he dropped five targets on ground one and needed 25/25 on ground two to force a shoot-off.

The shooter who shook John’s hand this day also suggested Brenton wouldn’t do it. He did and John immediately thought history was about to repeat.

Mind you, he thought he’d blown his chances long before.

“It was a slow start on layout six but I wasn’t really disappointed because of how that layout was. I thought if I could have shot 22 there I’d be happy, and I came in with 21,” he said.

“It was a testing course and a couple of the young lads, Brenton and Billy Cain, shot 25 there, which was absolutely brilliant shooting.”

John got his shoot back on track before striking the curse of the rabbit.

“I had the double barrel rabbit come out and I pulled and it bounced over my shot. I thought, that’s OK, I’ve got another shot at it so I followed it along and pulled the trigger and it bounced over again.

“I still had the pair to go and I got the first bird, which was a pretty tough one, but the rabbit bounced clean over the shot again and the whole squad has gone ‘you’re joking’; we couldn’t believe it, I was gutted.

“I have a guy who comes in and shoots rabbits on my place. I don’t even shoot them. It is just one of those things, I thought that had cost me the shoot.”

After a tough year where he’s often been in contention but hasn’t finished off shoots, John said his fourth title gave him confidence he’s working his way through the problem.

He was also full of praise for his shoot-off opponent.

“The change of format didn’t change my approach; you just have to go and shoot as many as you can and tally them up at the end of the day. Brenton had to shoot 25 to equal me and I knew that; it was a fine effort to get into the shoot off,” he said.

Others, including 2016 champion Robert Hall, were full of praise for the shooter who seems forever young.

“He’s by far the best shooter we’ve had in this country, he’s a machine,” Robert said.

“He seems to be shooting better and better as he gets older, you have to take your hat off to him,” Brenton said.

The runner-up was shooting his first National Carnival since returning from the United States and admitted that in the lead-up, Simulated Field did not feel very familiar.

“I really had to work pretty hard over the last month to get my gun mount back,” he said.

Shooting possibles on ground six and again on ground two to make the shoot-off is a fair indication the muscle memory is returning

“I hadn’t looked at the scoreboard but I’ve been around long enough to know that when a lot of people are watching you can’t miss,” he said.

“It is one target after the next and every target is as important as the last one until they are all broken.”

FGA is seeking to appoint a highly skilled and experienced Chief Executive Officer. The key purpose of the role is to support the Board of Management to successfully deliver their strategic plan and to support and lead a small team whilst ensuring the day to day operational needs of the business are met.

View this job on seek.com or find more information below.

To apply for this exciting opportunity, please forward your resume and cover letter including salary expectation to jobs@hr4business.com.au no later than Friday 1st December, 2017.

• High Gun for 150 targets
  • National Champion – JOHN YOUNGER - 140 OTG
• AA Grade
  • 3rd        BRIAN MORTENSEN
  • 2nd       BLAKE NANKERVIS
  • 1st         BRENTON IRONS
• A Grade
  • 3rd        ANTHONY PITT
  • 2nd       KENNITH ATKIN
  • 1st         RICKY CRAWFORD
• B Grade
  • 3rd        DAVID CHARLES
  • 2nd       WILLIAM MURRAY
  • 1st         ALEX LABIB
• C Grade
  • 3rd        BILL MORAN
  • 2nd       GRANT MIDDLEMISS
  • 1st         ANDREW PORTELLI

• 3rd        FELICITY RICHARDSON
• 2nd       APRIL THOMPSON
• 1st         BROOKE TANGEY – 106 OTG

• 3rd        DOMINIC AZZOPARDI
• 2nd       ALEC CECCATO
• 1st        ROGER KERSLAKE – 122 OTG

• 3rd        MARK DU ROSE
• 2nd       LUKE WILLEMSEN
• 1st         BILLY CAIN – 129 OTG

• 3rd        BENJAMIN STUDHAM
• 2nd       BRENDAN O’BRIEN
• 1st         NICHOLAS BRIGHENTI – 109 OTG

• 30th     Kennith Atkin
• 29th     Luke Willemsen
• 28th     Mark Du Rose
• 27th     Daniel Lillis
• 26th     James Saliba
• 25th     Scott McIntyre
• 24th     George Pilipasidis
• 23rd     Liam Hill
• 22nd    William Murray
• 21st      Wayne Lowan
• 20th     Jeremy Kent
• 19th     Billy Cain
• 18th     Adam Bennett
• 17th     Alex Labib
• 16th     Con Scalora
• 15th     Adam Du Rose
• 14th     Mick Keirl
• 13th     Craig McNeil
• 12th     Jack Gibbs
• 11th     Matthew Libbis
• 10th     Bill Zogogiannis
• 9th        Lee Berger
• 8th        Noah Bazzano
• 7th        Brenton Irons
• 6th        Grant Middlemiss
• 5th        Brian Mortensen
• 4th        Blake Nankervis
• 3rd        Andrew Portelli
• 2nd       John Younger
• 1st         Ben Kuschert

• 3rd        PINEGROVE, Adrian Orchard, Brook Nichol, Josh Simms, Molly Nicholson
• 2nd       BENDIGO POACHERS, Andrew Campbell, Barry Eastwood, Mark Daley, Matt Davis
• 1st        ABZ SHOOTING TEAM, Frank Cefai, Brent Harbour, Emmanuel Attard, Andrew Portelli

Three-person teams, 150 targets OTG

• 3rd        O’FITZIDEAN, Riley Fitzgibbon, Kiara Dean, Brendan O’Brien
• 2nd       SHEPP YOUNG GUNS, Xavier Russell, Harry Wilkie, Thomas Bilney
• 1st        THE FUTURE, Mark Du Rose, Billy Cain, Luke Willemsen

We’re very pleased to announce that next year’s National Carnival will be hosted by the Bairnsdale branch, and we’re hoping to build on the new format we’ve seen this weekend.

Firstly, for myself.

Due to unexpected developments our Chairman, Rob Treble had to stand down last week from all decision making positions with FGA due to a conflict between those positions and his professional career.  I stepped back into the position of Chairman with overall accountability for FGA operations until our AGM in November.

Secondly, David McNabb, our CEO, finished his employment with FGA last Friday and I would like to take this opportunity to thank David for his time with us, which was during a period of significant change.

We will be shortly advertising the position of CEO.

In the interim, our new Board member, Glenn Falla will take up the temporary role of General Manager to ensure that we maintain our extensive operations.

FGA has a busy period coming up and I look to our members for support and understanding during a time of extensive change.

We will get through the next couple of months and I intend that when we do, FGA will be even better able to serve you, our members.

Bill Paterson

Chairman, Field & Game Australia

www.minyipfieldandgame.com.au

EPA STATEMENT

Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) has received results of Department of Defence (Commonwealth) testing for PFAS (per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) on and in the vicinity of its East Sale site.

Preliminary results have indicated elevated levels of PFAS in fish, eels and ducks from the Heart Morass Wetlands located adjacent to the Department of Defence site.

People who have eaten fish, eels or ducks are not considered to be at risk of any adverse health effects.

However, EPA recommends that to reduce and prevent exposure to PFAS, recreational fishers and duck hunters do not consume any animals caught at the wetlands until further assessment can be undertaken by the Department of Defence.

With duck hunting season recently closed, there may be hunters with frozen ducks with PFAS concentrations that should be disposed of.

EPA is waiting for the Department of Defence’s formal assessment of testing results before further advice can be issued.

This precautionary health advice will be reviewed following the completion of the formal assessment, expected to occur by late December.

Background

Department of Defence has commenced a national program to investigate and manage the impacts of PFAS on, and in the vicinity of, some of its bases around Australia.

Victorian sites currently under investigation include the RAAF Base East Sale, HMAS Cerberus and Bandiana Military Area.

Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of chemicals that include perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS).

As they have heat, water and stain repelling properties, PFAS have been widely used in a range of industrial and consumer products both in Australia and internationally, including in fire retardants, water proofing, food preparation, food packaging, furnishings, clothing and recreational equipment.

For further background information see this EPA release

Information regarding the health effects of PFAS and guidelines for PFAS can be found here: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/ohp-pfas.htm

Information about the Department of Defence’s national program to manage the impacts of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on, and in the vicinity of, some of its bases around Australia can be found, here

Warnings were in place earlier this year, alerting people that there may be avian botulism in the area. The warning has been lifted and the lake is now accessible by the public.

DELWP worked closely with DEDJTR, the EPA, GMA, and the Department of Health and Human Services to resolve the issue.

DEDJTR Manager Veterinary Science, Dr Cameron Bell, said "Avian botulism was suspected in affected birds at the lake, as clinical signs that are typical for the disease, namely leg and wing paralysis, were observed in birds."

Alternative disease conditions had been ruled out.

Outbreaks of botulism can occur when environmental conditions are favourable, such as when water temperatures are high, oxygen levels are low, and there are high levels of organic material in the water. Decaying animals and insect carcasses are also ideal breeding conditions for the botulism-producing bacteria.

The outbreak reinforces the importance of healthy wetlands, and for proactive management with environmental watering, and maintaining a good ecological balance in wetland habitats. Since the botulism-producing bacteria are resistant to drying cycles, the other aspects of wetland habitat management are key.

Healthy wetlands remain a priority for FGA, starting in 1958, as healthy wetlands assist with carbon capture, improve water quality, and act as buffers during flooding events. Healthy wetlands provide flourishing biodiversity, providing homes to hundreds of different wetland flora and fauna species, and providing natural habitat where people can connect with nature through hunting, camping, fishing, or simply relaxing outdoors.

North Central CMA Environmental Water Manager Louissa Rogers said last year’s floods caused a bird breeding boom across the region, and this flow is aimed at attracting the birds back during their breeding season and giving them a safe and thriving place to stay.

“Hird Swamp is a significant site in our regional patchwork of wetlands. The swamp has been in a drying phase and, as a result, is booming, and teaming with life," she said.

“This flow will allow water bugs and fish to thrive, providing a perfect storm for birds during breeding season.”

Ms Rogers said the filling of both sides of Hird Swamp will allow water out of the swamp into Pyramid Creek, which, after being dredged in the 1960s, is no longer directly connected to the swamp and cuts it in two.

"In early summer, we will open the valve and send water down the creek," she said.

“By then, the water will be full of carbon, and will be a bonanza for slime on our newly installed snags, with waterbugs creating the perfect dining experience for the native fish that are either travelling through or have started to call the creek home."

"The water levels will not be impacted by any through flows to the creek. We will be providing top ups through the summer and the wetland will hold water into autumn 2018."

The NCCMA Native Fish Recovery Plan has  focussed on re-snagging sections of the creek and providing flows to help with fish migration and breeding.

“Using every drop of water twice is a key aim of our NFRP, and this is a great opportunity to get two flows for the price of one. We will also be providing a top up to the swamp at the same time," Ms Rogers  said.

Four other Loddon Murray Wetlands will also receive flows over the coming weeks, including Richardson’s Lagoon and the Wirra-Lo Wetland Complex.

Richardson’s Lagoon will be topped up with up to 1400ML to support waterbird nesting, resting and feeding, as well as the significant black box trees surrounding the wetlands.

The rehabilitation of bird habitat will be the target of a 300ML flow for the Wirra-Lo Wetland Complex, as well as the wetland’s high diversity of waterbirds.

The flows are part of the Victorian Government’s $222 million investment over the next four years to improve the health of waterways and catchments.

The flows are authorised by the Victorian Environmental Water Holder in line with its Seasonal Watering Plan 2017-18. The VEWH Seasonal Watering Plan 2017-18 is available for download from www.vewh.vic.gov.au, with regular watering updates posted on the North Central CMA website www.nccma.vic.gov.au.

Environmental watering – autumn 2017 summary

Lake Cullen

As you are aware, the North Central CMA delivered environmental water to Lake Cullen in spring 2016 and autumn 2017. It has been consistently supporting a high abundance and diversity of wetland birds. Thousands of waterbirds were observed in our recent monitoring including ducks, cormorants, darters, egrets, herons, pelicans and black swans.

Hird Swamp

Autumn watering at Hird Swamp had demonstrated promising results, most notably at Hird Swamp east, which was watered for the first time in autumn 2017 since the 2011 floods. In our recent monitoring, approximately 400-500 ducks (mainly grey teal) were observed hanging around at Hird Swamp east.

Richardson’s Lagoon

Despite delays due to regulator leakage, autumn watering at Richardson’s Lagoon was successful. A high diversity of waterbirds was consistently observed at Richardson’s Lagoon throughout late autumn and early winter. We have observed that the damaged regulator (eastern end of the link channel) is still leaking despite numerous attempts (applying sandbags and ash) to seal it. The closed regulator acts as a barrier to a pond of nutrient rich water, which is part of the agriculture drainage system. This issue has been flagged with the Victorian Environmental Water Holder (VEWH) and a long term solution will be developed. At this stage, more ash will applied to minimise the leakage prior to our upcoming spring watering in mid-September 2017.

Wirra-Lo Wetland Complex

The North Central CMA delivered environmental water to Duck Creek South and Brolga Swamp at the Wirra-Lo Wetland Complex in autumn 2017. Brolga Swamp is situated on the floodplain of Duck Creek South. Threatened species such as freckled duck and other waterbird species such as black swans, pelicans were observed in the open water environment at Brolga Swamp. Dotterels and lapwings were observed foraging at the edges of the water. Various stiff ground aquatic plants have had positive response to watering.

Upcoming environmental watering events – spring 2017

Environmental water is anticipated to be delivered to Hird Swamp, Richardson’s Lagoon and Wirra-Lo Wetland Complex in September 2017.

Hird Swamp

It is anticipated that we will deliver environmental water to Hird Swamp in mid-September 2017 at 40 ML/day (approximately 1300 ML required). The watering objective is to fill both Hird Swamp east and west to support waterbird breeding, and provide important waterbird habitat. Under the Native Fish Recovery Plan, the CMA has reinstated around 30 complexes of instream woody habitat (snags) in the creek, and has delivered a number of environmental watering events to encourage fish movement through the creek. A series of top ups will be delivered to Hird Swamp as required. During one of these events, water will be delivered through Hird Swamp into Pyramid Creek as a through flow to provide a source of carbon and nutrients as the inputs to the food web (e.g. biofilms on the snags and waterbugs) which in turn provide food for native fish. Fish ecologists from the Arthur Rylah Institute have advised juvenile golden and silver perch will be expected to move actively in summer and may possibly use the creek. Monitoring has shown that some large Murray cods have moved in and are using the newly reinstated snags as their habitat. It is important to note that this through flow will not affect the water levels at Hird Swamp.

Richardson’s Lagoon

Environmental water is anticipated to be delivered to Richardson’s Lagoon in early September 2017 at 30 ML/day (approximately 500 ML required) pumping from the Murray River into the wetland via a link channel. The watering objective is to fill Richardson’s Lagoon and achieve floodplain inundation to support a range of flora and fauna species, and habitat functions including waterbird resting, nesting and feeding.

Wirra-Lo Wetland Complex

Environmental water is anticipated to be delivered to Wirra-Lo Wetland Complex in mid/late September 2017 at 10 ML/day (approximately 100 ML required). The watering objective is to top up Duck Creek South and Brolga Swamp, and fill Duck Creek North to provide refuge habitat and suitable breeding conditions for growling grass frog as well as creating high quality feeding and breeding habitat for waterbirds.

Monitoring

Ecologists from the Arthur Rylah Institute are monitoring the above wetlands to determine the vegetation, waterbird and frog responses to environmental watering under the state Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program (WetMAP). We will keep you up to date on their findings.

There are small mobs of blackies and teal winging around the swamp as we settle in the hide. Rip, my two-year-old black lab, sits beside me and his eyes are immediately on the sky; it makes me smile, his enthusiasm is infectious!

I check the direction he is looking and sure enough, there are a pair of blackies heading our way; they are high and they are motoring. A couple of calls has no effect, or does it?

They appear to have dropped a little bit. In range? Yes, I think they are, so pull out on the lead bird and fire two shots in quick succession. He wobbles and there are feathers, but continues on at the same pace, damn it. I try hard to ensure birds are in range before shooting but it seems my range estimation is off.

I look down at Rip and he is still watching the bird, and rightly so. It’s as if he knows that bird is coming down; it crashes into the water at least 150 m away and is out for the count.

Rip is up on his toes and waiting for the fetch command, but I spot out of the corner of my eye a pair of teal heading straight at the decoys. I quickly reload and tell Rip to sit and watch, the command I use to alert my dogs there are more birds.

He looks in the direction of the gun; the teal spot something that gives us away but they are well in range. One bird drops in the decoys, the other I take over my shoulder and it crashes down 50 m behind us but is wounded. Now I have three birds in the water, with one on the move.

I break Rip’s focus on the bird in the decoys and bring him around on the wounded bird, which has disappeared into a small patch of cumbungi; he hasn’t seen this bird drop and cannot see it now.

I line him up and cue him with the command I use for retrieving unseen game ‘blind’. He takes a pretty good line but ends up 2 m on the wrong side of the breeze and the cumbungi.

A quick whistle and cast puts him straight in the cumbungi; he takes a couple of minutes to find his quarry but that duck had no hope of alluding this dog!

When he returns I congratulate him on his good work but his focus is immediately back on the bird in the decoys. I look out to where that long blackie dropped but it takes me a while to spot him; it had probably been five minutes and he had drifted considerably.

This has to be the next bird collected. I call Rip around with my cue for memory birds: “where is it”. He looks to where the bird has dropped: “good boy — fetch” is the command and he takes off at great pace, heading straight for the spot, smashing through chest-high water.

I believe he got to within metres of where that bird dropped before going into hunt mode, a great effort at such a huge distance. It takes two whistles and casts to get him to that bird, which had drifted probably another 50m, so all up, a retrieve of about 200 m. I could walk out and pick up the last bird myself but I know that when Rip returns, he will hand it over and refocus on that short bird. Sure enough, he can’t get going any quicker.

We don’t get our bag but it doesn’t matter, half-a-dozen birds are enough to restock the fridge.

On return to the car, my hunting mate is waiting. He has had a good shoot, but had relocated from his original spot to a creek bordering the swamp; this time of the year it can be deep, cold and hazardous.

His yellow lab has retrieved hundreds of birds for him over the years, but there were two birds missing to complete his bag, both falling over the creek.

His dog had not seen one fall and the other, she just could not find, so he asks if I will take Rip down to try to recover these birds. I agree, but we need to get a move on as dusk is approaching.

My mate’s dog has had some training, about the equivalent of what is required for Novice level in Retrieving Trials. When we arrive at the creek where the water is fairly high and flowing, I line Rip up on the bird my mate’s dog had not seen come down. He gets out the other side and holds the line. He travels about 50 m before finding the bird; we have that one back in no time.

The second bird proves more difficult, I line him again to the spot where my mate’s dog has been hunting across the creek without success. Rip also starts hunting and probably spends four or five minutes working the area, but then takes off at 45 degrees. With nose down, he works his way through the bush for about 30 m before diving under some branches to pull out a very much alive woodie.

Rip’s ability to track is the result of his training for trials and hunting.

I know some hunters are amazed at this type of dog work but to people who hunt and compete in retrieving trials, this is just what we expect our dogs to do.

The competition and training that goes into trial dogs rewards you with a very capable retriever. The more training you put into your dog means more birds in the bag!

Competing in Retrieving Trials will take your dog to another level again.

  Mark Davis has been a Field & Game member since 1983 and is happy to answer any questions about dog breeds and training methods.  Send any questions for our gun dog team to editor@fieldandgame.com.au and include a photo of you and your dogs if you are already an owner.  You can read more about Mark and Wendy Davis’ breeding operation at www.beereeganlabradors.com and find out more about retrieving competitions and clubs nationally at www.retrieving.org.au or www.fieldandgame.com.au

It was a terrific day, made possible by a long list of FGA members who volunteered their time to set up, coach and converse with the state and federal politicians and their staff.

Thanks also to Riccardo Momasso for the delicious wild food, Matt Fowles for the Fowls Wines, Costa for the fresh produce and Mark Davis (and Rick the Labrador) for amazing the crowd with a retrieving demonstration.

Daniel learned to hunt with his grandfather and most often, they went after rabbits.

As an executive chef in Melbourne he embraces his Italian heritage and braised rabbit remains one of his signature dishes.

“It is a connection to our past in a way, nothing was ever wasted, what we shot was food for the table,” he said.

“A lot of younger people nowadays are appreciating it more, people search for game meat on the menu because you don’t see it there often.”

Daniel’s main tip for rabbit is to cook it either a little or a lot.

“If you are going to braise meat you either get it to where it is just cooked or you go past the point where the meat starts to tighten up again and it then needs an hour or two to slowly break down in the cooking.”

“That is the trick with game meats, there is no middle ground.”

“This recipe is something I’m confident in cooking, I’ve done it for so many years. It is quite a mild flavour in the rabbit because you have the sweet and sour with it.

“The Italian name is agrodolce which translates as sour and sweet, it is hints of vinegar and a little hint of sweetness from some brown sugar and the sultanas you put in.”

Braised Wild Rabbit

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

2 wild rabbits

2 lt water

Juice of 1 lemon

6 thyme sprigs

6 bay leaves

2 sprigs rosemary

½ bunch sage, chopped

½ bunch chopped parsley

2 chillies

100 ml olive oil

Sea salt

Ground pepper

½ cup plain flour

100 ml Extra virgin olive oil for frying

1 leek, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

6 kipfler potatoes cut in ¼

300 ml chicken stock

100 ml white wine

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

3 tablespoons pinenuts

3 tablespoons sultanas

3 tablespoons brown sugar

Method

Begin by breaking down the whole rabbit into pieces and soaking them in the water and lemon juice, preferably over night or at least 2 hours prior. This will help to remove some of the gamey flavour and also helps to tenderise the meat.

In a large bowl mix the herbs, chilli and oil, adding the salt and pepper.

Drain off the rabbit pieces and lightly dust them with the flour.

In a large heavy based saucepan heat half of the oil and fry the rabbit pieces until golden. Return these pieces to the bowl with the herb marinade.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

In an oven proof casserole pot heat the remaining oil and fry the onion, leek and garlic until golden. Add the celery and carrots and stir through for a few minutes. Add the potatoes and shallots and cook for a further couple of minutes to allow some colour.

Finally add the rabbit, with all the marinade, followed by the remaining ingredients. The pieces of rabbit should be slightly submerged in the liquid.

Cover the pot with a lid and bake for 1–1½ hours or until tender.

Matt Fowles wine match

All Saints Estate Marsanne — Family Cellar 2015.

Marsanne is native to France, but has been growing in Victoria since the 1860s.

While it is often blended with Roussanne, the All Saints Family Cellar Marsanne is a great example of what this variety can do all by itself.

From vines that are 50 years old, this wine has great intensity and structure, and is a natural fit with food.

The team at All Saints make a style which has more texture and richness through maturation in oak barrels and through contact with the yeast lees after fermentation. The wine even has a little ‘wild fermentation’ — instead of using commercial yeast as most wineries would, the winemakers take a walk on the wild side and let the yeast present in the winery run the ferment, without controlled inoculation.

The texture and richness that comes from utilising these techniques is important when pairing a wine with game as it offers more ‘roundness’ or ‘lusciousness’ which works well with the dense nature of game meat.

Another critical detail when matching to game is gentle or moderate use of oak barrels — the deft hands of the winemaker really come into play with this wine.

The preparation of this rabbit dish is really clever. While many of the ingredients are what you might expect in terms of a braised rabbit dish, the introduction of sultanas for sweetness and pine nuts for complexity and richness, gives rise to a broader spectrum of flavours to work with when food and wine matching.

In particular, the acid in this wine works well to ‘cut’ through the sweetness of the sultanas and the time in oak and on yeast lees adds a ‘nuttiness’ to the wine that ties in very well with the pine nuts in the dish.

This Marsanne is truly rare and interesting wine, and I think one of the great examples of its kind. It would be well worth taking a Sunday afternoon to harvest some bunnies, cook this clever braised rabbit dish and settle back into a glass of this very special wine. A match made in heaven!

For your chance to win three bottles of this fine wine, email your best traditional recipe to editor@fieldandgame.com.au. It doesn’t have to be rabbit, it just has to be hearty and handed down through the generations.