Hi all,
Annette Cooke posted the following on 16/5/99.
Date sent: Sun, 16 May 1999 08:29:32 +1000
To:
Subject: birding-aus Qld Duck and Quail Harvest Periods
> The ad in Saturday May 15 Qld. Courier-Mail (Monitor p.26) for the above
> is illustrated by a duck that looks suspiciously like a freckled duck.
> Does this mean that a duck with this sort of profile is OK to "harvest",
> for is it just that the people who wrote and approved the ad don't know
> which are endangered ducks?
>
> Annette Cooke
>
I too noted the same advert and was amused at the terminology "
Harvest Periods" and wondered if this was some sort of agreed
terminology between the powers that be and the ducks and quail
involved.
Naturally this could re-start a tiresome thread on the ethics of
hunting, or "Harvesting" as some in the community would prefer.
This is not my intention as I am sure it would bore the pants of
those of you who have been through it all before.
However I checked out the web site noted in the article to see
which ducks and quail had been conned into agreeing to this
scheme without realizing the full implications.
I found that Maned ( wood ) Duck and Pacific Black Duck were
included.Not such a surprise as I can see them on a daily basis
and therefore perhaps not too thin on the ground but again I wonder
if they had been fully informed.
The surprise was to see both the Wandering and Plumed Whistling
Duck included as well.
To date, my birding experience has been limited to a relatively
small area around Brisbane and for all I know the Whistling Ducks
are in plague proportions from one end of the land to the other,
other than in the Brisbane area that is. I will not embarrass myself
in revealing just how rarely I have spotted this later pair but perhaps
some of you could enlighten this poor unfortunate on how common
they are and if they are indeed a ' problem ' in some areas.
This led to the quail and it seems the Stubble and Swamp/Brown
quail have been conned into participating in this wonderful venture.
Again my limited experience causes me some embarrassment as
I've had only rare glimpses of the wee craters and would not dare
to make a claim as to what the fleeting glimpses related to. This
apparently does not cause the experienced hunter any problem as
he is required to take a Quail identification test before he is allowed
out in the field. I can just imagine the sighs of relief from the quails
relatives who may have feared inclusion in this years cull, sorry
harvest.
The site www.env.qld.gov.au is worth a visit and if you follow it
through to the relevant " Harvest Period " page there are a few
chuckles to be had at the tortured logic contained.
For example ( Hunting is only allowed during daylight ) why? Would
it not be more fun if confined to the hours of darkness. I am sure it
would only increase the pleasure of our Charlton clones who would
surely relish the additional challenge involved in carefully
discriminating between all those seemingly identical little feathered
balls and the other fearless hunters.
( Quail live in grassland and are probably more threatened by
agriculture than hunters ) Again the mind boggles. Is this some
sort of official insult on the skills ( ? ) of the hunter, an inducement
for them to redouble their efforts. Or is it, as I see it, an admission
that the birds, far from being a problem are already in trouble and
the hunters are only an irritation than the real threat.
Anyway do these favoured few present any real problems or are
they like everything else covered in feather or fur on this planet
suffering from enough harassment and improvement as it is.
Ron Hughes
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