Bigger bag limits, longer duck shooting season, under Allan’s ‘captain’s call’ but there’s a twist

Duck shooting season in Victoria has been expanded, with hunters able to bag up to nine ducks a day each, but they’ll be forced to undergo Aboriginal cultural awareness training.

A hunter waits for ducks to arrive at a lake in Victoria in a previous shooting season.

Victorian hunters have been given the green light to shoot nine ducks each day as part of an expanded duck hunting season.

In a statement released on Friday afternoon, Outdoor Recreation Minister Steve Dimopoulos announced the 2025 season would run from March 19 until June 9 — 27 days more than last year.

Mr Dimopoulos said the settings had been determined by an Adaptive Harvest Management model and a wounding reduction action plan.

The move to call a full season, with expanded bag limits, has sparked a furious backlash from animal advocates who have been fighting to ban the controversial bloodsport.

Duck hunting is already banned in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia and a Victorian parliament inquiry called for it to be outlawed from this year.

Hunters near Lake Connewarre at the opening of duck hunting season in 2024. Picture: Alison Wynd

A government-established parliamentary inquiry last year recommended that Victoria banned duck hunting, however, Premier Jacinta Allan ignored that recommendation to allow it to continue.

Some of Ms Allan’s own accused her of making a “captain’s call” on the highly contentious issue which has wedged the Labor Party.

This year will be the first season that all new hunters will be required to undergo mandatory online training – including Aboriginal cultural awareness modules – as part of a wounding reduction action plan.

A bag limit of nine ducks will be enforced each day, with the government saying it used the Adaptive Harvest Management model to guide daily limits.

Seven species of ducks can be hunted, but the blue-winged shoveler will be off limits.

Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell said the Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey recently reported that bird populations had dropped almost 50 per cent in the last year.

Ms Purcell said the Adaptive Harvest Management didn’t account for declining bird numbers, the illegal shooting of protected species and broader wounding rates.

Geelong Duck Rescue volunteers near Lake Connewarre at the opening of duck hunting season last year. Picture: Alison Wynd

“Let me be clear – this is an unpopular decision by an unpopular Premier who continuously cowers to the shooting and gun lobby,” she said.

“This year there are half the birds and double the killing. It is a duck shooting season that is as unsustainable as the Allan Labor government’s future.”

Mr Dimopoulos said the government’s wounding reduction action plan will improve animal welfare and ensure recreational hunting can continue sustainably.

“Duck hunting is a legitimate activity that matters to thousands of Victorians and we’re making sure it can continue sustainably and responsibly – backed by science,” he said.