THERE is controversy as the duck hunting season approaches for 2023 and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFFP) threw its support behind a full legislated season, while Regional Victorians Opposed To Duck Shooting (RVOTDS) is concerned about the potential impacts on the stubble quail.

The Game Management Authority (GMA) hasn’t yet decided on the rules, but considerations for the 2023 duck season were made public on December 20.

The SFFP has outlined its support for a full legislated duck season and bag limit for 2023 arguing that the emotional rhetoric needs to be removed from decision making and decisions should be made on scientific data.

However, on the other hand, the RVOTDS is battling to halt the upcoming recreational quail shoot due to worrying data on the birds’ little numbers, and risks to human health.

The SFFP said that key stakeholders in this process should not be animal rights activists and said it would fight for a ‘true’ representation of the duck population.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), over the past 11 months the average rainfall for Victoria was around 829mm, 35 per cent above average for the state and the highest on record since 1974.

SFFP said that the amount of water has provided exceptional breeding conditions which has impacted waterfowl distribution and movements.

The release from SFFP spoke about the favourable breeding conditions, as well as the predicted wet summer which would further boost duck numbers.

On top of the push for a legislated duck season, SFFP said the duck season should be comfortably predicted and announced in December prior to the year to ensure adequate preparation for hunters and businesses.

This is much earlier than past years with the GMA announcing the beginning of the season last February before it started in March.

These views are not shared by everyone with the RVOTDS disappointed to not see considerations for the shooting of native stubble quail which normally runs for a quarter of the year from April.

A first ever count of the stubble quail was attempted earlier this year but just 101 birds were counted, this was extrapolated up to a figure that was “widely disputed”.

While a great abundance of water is good for breeding, the quail population can suffer due to flooding which has occurred in recent times.

Government harvest data showed an alarming decline in the bird’s numbers with concerns about how limited the overall population is.

RVOTDS representative, Fiona Byrnes also spoke about the concerns she had about the lead that would be pumped into the environment.

Toxic lead ammunition is still legal to use in quail shooting and as a result, up to five tonnes of lead could potentially be added to the environment each season.

“Most shotgun pellets fall into the environment including food producing fields, posing an insidious danger to people as well as other wildlife … flooding can wash it further afield including into our waterways,” Ms Byrnes said.

“It’s time Victoria followed the lead of other states and banned recreational duck and quail shooting.”