Hunters pleased by bigger limits announced by the NT Government

TOP End hunters are happy to hear magpie geese bag limits will be increased in time for the next hunting season and are keen for seasonal counts to occur

NT Field and Game President Bart Irwin is calling on a dry season count

TOP End hunters are happy to hear magpie geese bag limits will be increased in time for the next hunting season and are keen for seasonal counts to occur.

The announcement was made by the NT Government after it was revealed wild numbers of the birds had increased by about 500,000, despite a poor nesting season.

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Environment Department flora and fauna executive director Alaric Fisher said the increased population was a healthy change from recent years.

“The bag limits and the season length have been relatively small or short for the last two years because of exceptionally low populations revealed by those counts,” Mr Fisher said.

“It would be safe to increase the bag limit and/or the season length to some extent.”

Magpie Geese at Fogg Dam.

NT Field and Game Association spokesman Bart Irwin said he wasn’t surprised to hear magpie geese numbers were on the rise given the rate of eggs surviving to adulthood.

“NT Field and Game is very pleased to hear that the scientists have found more geese,” he said.

“We expected this type of rise in the population following the count of 95,000 nests in 2018.”

Mr Irwin said there was often confusion over how many wild magpie geese there were as often a number of newborn birds weren’t added to the overall tally.

It meant that last October there were actually 1.35 million wild magpie geese, rather than 920,000 as reported by scientists.

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“This is why NT Field and Game regularly calls for a dry season count to show the recruitment and true number of geese in real time prior to the hunting season. It makes for good wildlife management,” Mr Irwin said.

“NTFGA are calling for a return to a 10-goose bag limit and four-month seasons to be consistent for five consecutive years as has been proved to be sustainable under Adaptive Harvest Wildlife management guidelines.”