DUCK hunting may soon turn extinct in Victoria as enthusiasts fear growing calls for the sport to be banned statewide will inevitably come to fruition.

There has been no mention yet of duck season going ahead in March and prominent organisations against the sport have been vocal in criticism of its legality since January.

The Australian Veterinary Association last week joined “mounting calls” for the State Government to outlaw recreational duck hunting – in line with other states and territories.

AVA president, Dr Bronwyn Orr said the practice was inhumane.

“Hunting ducks with shotguns often results in non-fatal injuries, where the birds are hit with the outer cluster of pellets, but not retrieved,” she said.

“This results in an ethical animal welfare problem, as the bird may live for a number of weeks with a crippling injury, receiving no veterinary treatment.”

The sport is banned in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, while Victoria maintains an open season where some species of waterfowl can be shot for sport.

When conditions permit, duck season runs from the third Saturday in March – after the birds have finished fledging and moulting – until the second Monday in June as breeding begins.

For Strathdownie local and avid hunter, Terry Houlihan, the end of duck hunting is inevitable under the mounting pressure.

“I think our sport is in its last days, on its last legs,” he said.

“This will be the last year, if not second-last year, if it even goes ahead this year.”

Mr Houlihan has been shooting for 50 years – usually on private trips along the Glenelg River – and said he “never lost interest” in the sport.

“I also love eating wild ducks,” he said.

He said he made sure to take care with his shooting, as did most hunters.

“There’s the odd cowboy that shoots a swan but they’d be in the minority,” he said.

Mr Houlihan also made sure to keep within other set restrictions such as bag limits on how many birds can be shot in a day, which has fluctuated each season but stood at four in 2022.

He said although he believed a higher bag limit would work, four was still an improvement on a previous limit of two.

“Who’s going to drive 500 miles to shoot two birds?” he said.

“There’s no reason it couldn’t be eight or 10.”

One common argument against the sport is the claimed decline of species due to the activity, but Mr Houlihan said heavy wet conditions late last year would have left plenty of habitat for waterfowl species.

“(Ducks would) be everywhere,” he said.

“I don’t think there’s more or less than there ever was.”

Concerns have long been raised about potential animal cruelty and the threat posed to endangered species.

The AVA said a study in Victoria had reported up to 33 per cent of hunted birds were wounded but not retrieved and suffered injuries such as wing, bill and leg fractures – however the source given for the figure dates back to a 1981 research paper which examined recovery rates for select duck species in Victoria between 1953 and 1977.

In Victoria, heavy penalties apply for shooting species other than the eight listed game duck species.

They include fines, seizure of firearms or equipment, loss of game licence and, in some instances, jail sentences.

To obtain a game licence to hunt ducks, hunters must pass the Game Management Authority’s Waterfowl Identification Test to demonstrate their ability to identify game and non-game waterfowl.

Hunters are also permitted to use shotguns no greater than 12 gauge, must use only non-toxic shot and must also keep a fully feathered wing on ducks taken to ensure it can be easily identified before it is cooked or taken home.