Shellducks, called “paradise ducks” by New Zealanders, are among the most beautiful waterfowl in the world.

Strips of burlap draped haphazardly over a barbed-wire fence made up our blind. The dozen or so plywood decoys, battered and torn and missing chips of paint here and there, were silhouettes of no duck I had ever seen or imagined. Then there was the double-barrel shotgun, a 12-gauge Brno of 1940s vintage that looked like it had "been there and back" too many times.

Only minutes before, Adrian Moody had told me they would surely come, and come they did. Before I had time to begin squirming in discomfort on the discarded oil can I was using for a seat, the shelducks began to arrive, first in pairs, then like flocks of hungry starlings. The locals call them paradise ducks for good reason--they thrive in a land so hospitable and so magnificently beautiful it should have been given the same name. Instead, someone decided to call it New Zealand, and anyone who has not paid that country a visit is missing out on one of life's great pleasures.

I had come to New Zealand to hunt red stag and sika deer, and after taking excellent specimens of both I was anxious to get in a bit of wingshooting. I was especially interested in hunting shelducks, mainly because they differ so much in appearance from any other duck I had hunted. A number of different subspecies are found in different parts of the world, including the common, Korean crested, ruddy, Australian Radjah, South African and the paradise duck which calls New Zealand its home and is found nowhere else.

With a wingspan ranging up to four feet, it shares certain characteristics with both ducks and geese--the female quacks like a mallard while the male honks like a goose. The birds commonly nest in trees and cavities in cliffs, but where neither is available, they often lay their eggs in rabbit burrows in the ground. Some are notorious for their aggressive behavior and bad tempers, which indicates to me that the fellow who created the cartoon "Daffy Duck" must have hunted shelducks. With the exception of a bat, all mammals now residing on the two islands of New Zealand are imports, but the Maori people who are native to the country say the "pari" and the kiwi have always been there.

The author got a kick out of hunting over battered old plywood decoys, but they obviously worked on the overpopulated paradise ducks.

Whether feeding on mussels found in lakes and ponds or on grass in some farmer's pasture, paradise ducks of New Zealand decoy quite easily. The homemade plywood decoys we used were worth a good laugh but they brought in the ducks like magnets. Get between where those ducks are and where they want to be, and you don't even need decoys. Resident hunters often use binoculars to spot them from a distance as they feed in green pastures shared by domestic sheep, and then sneak up close for some jump-shooting.

The use of nontoxic shot on waterfowl has yet to be mandated in New Zealand, and I don't mind admitting to the pleasure of stopping ducks dead in the air with lead No. 4s. The shells I used were loaded in New Zealand and of very good quality. The barrels of the borrowed double I hunted with was choked improved-cylinder and modified, a perfect combination.

Bag limits on paradise ducks vary depending on a number of factors such as time of year, the area to be hunted and how loudly a particular farmer is complaining about crop damage, but the average is around twenty per day. I had no interest in seeing how many birds I could bump off, so I stopped long before I had to. I only wanted to shoot just enough to be able to say I have been to paradise and the duck hunting is absolutely out of this world.

When, Where, Getting There
I hunted paradise ducks in early March, which is autumn in New Zealand. While waterfowl season does not officially open until May 1, a government official invited us to participate in a special preseason culling operation that took place in an area where an overpopulation of birds was causing tremendous crop damage. The weather was mild while I was there, although mornings and evenings became quite chilly. Anticipating warmer temperatures, I took the wrong clothing which presented no big problem for me. Hunting is a big thing among New Zealanders and really good outdoor clothing designed for the weather conditions there is made in-country, so I picked up what I needed in the city of Taupo. I seldom needed anything heavier than a long-sleeve shirt, but when I did, a lightweight, rainproof parka was plenty.