New Zealand Huntable Waterfowl Species

Zane Mirfin's New Zealand Waterfowl Grand Slam consists of seven legally huntable species:

NZ Shoveler: Beautiful, is the only way to describe these small, secretive, and fast flying speedsters that are usually shot over larger waterbodies.

Black Swan: The B52 bombers of the waterfowl world are a real prize. With white flashing wings, black body, bright red bill, and over-size neck, these giant birds make a great mount in any trophy room.

Paradise Shelduck: Extremely colourful, with raucous and haunting cries, these gregarious birds decoy well over both pasture and water and are a real highlight with visiting hunters.

Grey Duck: A native duck with a distinctive striped face and green wing speculae, the grey duck offers great wingshooting in tight and overgrown waterways.

Pukeko: Known in NZ as ‘blue pheasants’, pukeko are fast runners, good hiders, and are usually hunted ‘rough’ where hunters walk along creeks, swamps, drains, wetlands, and willow thickets to flush birds within shotgun range. Lots of fun, generous bag limits, and stunningly beautiful birds with bright blue plumage and striking red bill. Best of all, some areas have an 8 month shooting season so we can offer pukeko hunts during summer fly fishing trips as well as the general May – July Duck Season.

Mallard & Canada Geese: Both these species are well known to overseas hunters, having been introduced into New Zealand from North America. The cunning mallard can be hunted everywhere from maize crops to open water lagoons and we have a variety of decoys, calls, hunting strategies and duck blinds.
Canada Geese can be hunted year-round with no licence required. Strike Adventure Ltd has lay-out blinds for field shooting and a selection of quality decoys. Our geese are the giant Canada’s and the cry of incoming wild geese is one of hunting’s finest moments.

Small Game & Upland Birds: As well as waterfowl, there can be other opportunities for small game such as cottontail rabbits, European hares, Australian opossum, feral pigeon, feral geese, and turkeys. Upland bird species are Ringneck Pheasant, California Quail, and Chukar.