HUNDREDS of duck shooters have camped at Boort district wetlands over the past week for the opening days of the 2025 season.
Game Management Authority and police patrolled Lake Boort and Lake Marmal where there were reports of a small group of protesters ahead of the season’s first shots at 8am Wednesday.
An estimated 500 were at Lake Marmal and 200 at Boort, according to Loddon Mayor and hunter Dan Straub.
Among them was first-time shooter Omar Huseyin who camped with 30-year Boort veteran Huseyin Sonuc, an official of the Australian Cypriot Sport Shooting Association.
“All we want is two birds to eat tonight,” Huseyin said.
On the opposite side of Lake Boort was a group of more than 20 shooters from the Goulburn Valley.
For Gary Baldwin, it was continuing a family tradition. Son Matthew and grandsons Kobe and Hunter part of the group that had arrived ready for the season opening and spent the weekend camped beside the lake. “There are enough birds in the area. We will roast some for dinner tonight,” he said on Saturday.
Fellow camper Grant Sandfield said numbers this season were moderate. And while some shooters may not have had their daily bag “the size of a shooter’s bag is governed by the number of birds in an area.”
Rick Bilney, another of the Goulburn Valley Field and Game Club members at the campsite, said hunting prospects would improve with earlier pre-sunrise start to shooting allowed after the season’s opening days.
He said the initial later start made hunting more difficult.
“Once a year shooters can (use those days) to get in the groove and have time to watch and identify birds,” said Grant.
The trio of shooters said compliance and training among shooters was high but, according to Gary, authorities “keep putting up hurdles ... each time there is a change a certain percentage of shoots will drop off”.
Grant said: “We try and get the birds to come to us so that we are shooting from a responsible distance”.
Game Management Authority director of compliance and intelligence, Zac Powell said: “The GMA and other agencies are patrolling wetlands across the state, including those in the Boort district, to ensure all hunting and public safety laws are followed. These laws are in place to provide a safe environment for all land users.
“The 2025 duck season compliance data will be available following the end of the season” The season closes on June 9.