Wildside- A girl's first Duck Hunt

Five ducks down

© Zane Mirfin, Wildside Column, Five Ducks Down, Nelson Mail, 21 May 2011

A small girl offers a fresh take on the rituals of the first day of the duck-hunting season.


Bang bang: Rosie Mirfin gets wet on her first duck shoot.

May might mark the onset of winter, but it’s always a great time to get outdoors before the days get really cold and short.

The first day of May this year was a Sunday, and we decided to go beach seining at Delaware Bay. It was a real
family affair, and a tribe of Mirfin kids, adults, and grandparents spent the afternoon on the isolated beach.

Brother Scott and I set the net by oar, and we had a team on each end to haul the warp ropes and net ashore.

We’d had two drags with only a few flounder and sole, when things got more exciting on the third retrieve further
along the beach. As the net came close to shore, the kids started to scream with excitement. Fish splashed the water, the net shuddered and shook with the impact of big objects hitting the net, and we struggled to pull the sheer weight ashore.

The kids loved every minute and didn’t care that we had a net full of stingrays – 16, according to my seven year- old daughter Rosie, and one especially large specimen that was the granddaddy of Tasman Bay.

It was fun as we struggled to release all the rays unharmed and the kids will be talking about it for months to come.

Heading home for a feed of fresh flounder capped off a great day out.

Getting children into the outdoors is always fun, and I especially enjoy encouraging my daughters to participate.

The first Saturday in May is almost a holy day in New Zealand, such is the fervour and excitement generated with the opening of the duck shooting season.

For this year’s opening on May 7, I stayed close to home with good mate John Stewart of Brightwater, although
most serious Nelson duck hunters shoot outside the region on opening where better bags are usually taken.

Our shooting possie was about 10 kilometres from suburban Richmond and a great place to take along a few
kids. John wanted to introduce his grandson Elliot, five, to the sport of duck hunting, and I was keen to take daughter Rosie on her first duck hunt.

Boy did it rain, and we got soaked lying on the ground among the decoys in our layout blinds. The birdlife was amazing, with oystercatchers in their hundreds flying within metres of our face. There were also pied stilts, egrets, plovers and even a few godwits that must have decided to winter over in the estuary, but alas, the ducks weren’t exactly blackening the sky.

Really wet days have never been great duck-shooting days in my experience, as the ducks either sit tight, disappear, or spread out across flooded fields and puddles where you can’t get at them.

Eventually, we packed it in as the rain poured. There would be other and better days.

The rain didn’t stop the children’s regular winter sport, though, and Rosie got wet, cold and muddy three times on Saturday – duck shooting, scoring six goals at soccer, and running a crazy cross-country race which included fording a flooded stream. She had a great time and I was proud of her.

On the Sunday, Rosie wrote a story to take to school on Monday. I’ve typed it up to share because she said it way better than I ever could – and you should never compete with animals or children.

‘‘On Saturday the 7th of May, Dad woke me up at 5am. We got dressed in our duck shooting clothes and hats. Thenwe had beckfest (breakfast) and Milosand kissed Mum goodbye.

We loaded up and then we were off. Bump, bump, bump, along the bumpy road. It was dark it was cold it was very very quiet then we parked the car and walked the rest of the way.

Luckily, we had headlights so we could see. Dad and I sceshed (squelched) across the felid (field) and dad went back two times with me staying with the stuff.

A little while later, dad’s friend, John, arrived. "Sorry I’m late,"he said. "I had a late night last night." "It’s just started," I said, and I was in my layout blind. It was nice and cozy in it.

Bang went a gun. Bang, bang, bang and then a few more went bang and ducks went flying down. Fillery (finally), it was our turn. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang! Five ducks. Cool.  I had earmuffs, so I didn’t have to
listen to the guns.

Dad rang Mum up for me to go home. Dad brang me up to the car park. I was holding two of the biggest
ducks. Then we went to soccer, but that’s another story. I would like to go shooting another day with Dad"