Duck hunting - family-friendly fun or violence against nature?

The Animal Justice Party New Zealand (AJPNZ) may be calling for an end to the practice of duck shooting, but an estimated 60,000 hunters took part in the opening weekend of this year's season.

AJPNZ executive president Rob McNeil says he'd like to see a conversation around banning the practice in New Zealand.

“There needs to be more of a discussion around . . . hunting, including the involvement of children and we're highlighting those issues."

McNeil says another issue is that protected species live in areas where duck shooting is allowed.

“Recreational shooting is absolutely rampant in a place where there are multiple endangered and threatened native species that are obviously impacted even just by the gunshots that are occurring around them.

“I'm not suggesting people are shooting those native birds, but it's just a total contradiction, and that's something we're definitely concerned about,” says McNeil.

The Animal Justice Party provides an email form calling to call for the end of duck shooting, to send to MPs.

Fish and Game Council deputy chief executive Richie Cosgrove says there are many measures in place to keep duck shooting sustainable, calling it “genius" for family connections.

The council works to help keep the population [of ducks] sustainable, he says.

“We just hammer opening weekend, getting out there and checking that hunters are complying with the rules.

"So, there is a code of conduct. There are all sorts of things, with the use of appropriate shots and things like that, that are regulated and that we check.”

Will Batten goes hunting year-round, and duck shooting every season. He says for him, it’s not just a sport but a way to collect food for his family.

"The same people who don’t want to know where their food is from, they go to the supermarket and get their meat from the supermarket and that much less sustainable."