Neither shooters nor activists pleased with shortened Victorian duck season

The Victorian duck shooting season has been shortened and bag limits reduced in a decision that has pleased no one.

Hunters say there is no point participating in such a reduced shooting season, while anti-shooting activists say duck hunting should be banned altogether.

This year the duck shooting season will run from May 2nd to June 8th, beginning almost two months later than it did last year.

Shooters are restricted to killing three ducks per day,

Victorian Shooters and Fishers Party MP, Jeff Bourman, said he’s “not overly happy” with the decision.

“I still think a full season and a full bag was sustainable,” he told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell.

“I don’t think there is that much opposition. What we get is these push polls down by the animal liberationists … it’s all so leading and people, really, are fed the answer before the question.”

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But Kerrie Allan, spokeswoman for Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting, says a full ban on duck shooting is needed.

“We can restrict things all we like but it is impossible to monitor all the waterways where duck shooting is allowed to occur, so unless we can monitor these restrictions they’re really moot,” she told 3AW’s Dee Dee.

“Duck shooting is happening, in some cases, less than 30 metres from people’s back doors. It’s not on. It’s unacceptable.

“Obviously the cruelty aspect is important to us … But to us it is more than cruelty, it’s an economic issue for the rural towns that we love and we’re passionate about seeing them survive.”

“It’s about the public amenity, you know, duck shooting is allowed in public areas which, most often, are not signposted. That’s an issue for the growing numbers of people that like to bushwalk or bird watch, or kayak, or fish.”

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