Duck shooting season starts today, with about 60,000 hunters expected to take part over the next two to three months.
In the lead up to the season, Fish and Game officers take to the skies to tally bird numbers.
1News joined Matt Kavermann and Ami Coughlan on a helicopter survey to count ducks along a 28-kilometre stretch of the Manawatū River from Opiki to Shannon.
The chopper flies low along the river as the pilot tries to flush out the ducks sitting along the banks among the willows.
As they burst from the banks, the officers quickly jot down their count on clipboards.
It’s impossible to tally up every bird, so they break them into larger groups.
"We tend to count the legs and divide by two and that gives us a pretty accurate measure of how many birds are out there," said Kavermann.
The survey helps Fish & Game set quotas for duck hunting season.
Back on the ground, the officers swap notes.
Kavermann thinks he counted about 1000 ducks - Coughlan said she will have less.
“I had less viability but that's why we have two people out there counting so we can make sure we've got similar numbers,” she said.
It’s fewer than they have seen in previous years, but not necessarily a bad sign for the season.
"I think the hunters are going to have a great season in the lower North Island. While the birds may not have been on the river this year, it would suggest they would be parked up somewhere else like some of those smaller ponds that are found around the region," said Kavermann.
In the lower North Island region, hunters will be able to shoot 12 ducks a day.
"The whole thing is sustainable harvesting, sustainable population, making sure that we are doing the right thing for the right people at the right time,” said Coughlan.
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Drone technology is being trailed in other regions for future counts.
But for now, the human eye and clipboards work just fine.
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