Allegations shooters have exceeded bag limits and inhumanely dispatched birds during the first week of the Victorian duck season have been reported to authorities.
Coalition Against Duck Shooting member Craig Davey told ABC Central Victoria that animal rescuers found a pit of 23 dead whole birds buried at Lake Bael Bael, north-west of Kerang.
Under Victorian law, shot birds must be harvested and taken away.
"The Game Management Authority (GMA) was onsite, so all this has happened in front of the Game Management Authority on one wetland."
Investigations underway
Mr Davey said the Coalition Against Duck Shooting had reported several illegal activities to the GMA over many years.
GMA chief executive Graham Ford said the authority had already issued "a number of infringement notices" since the beginning of the duck hunting season on March 16.
"We are investigating a number of briefs, interviewing a number of hunters and protesters who have breached some of the public safety laws," Mr Ford said.
"We are making a number of inquiries around a range of matters."
Alleged inhumane killings
Animal activist and Trentham resident Helen Round called into ABC Central Victoria Breakfast and said she had reported a hunter exceeded the bag limit and swung a duck around their head to the GMA during the first weekend of the season.
"This is a vile and disgusting sport," Ms Round said.
"I was there on Wednesday, and I was there for the opening weekend, and what I saw has left me traumatised.
Mr Ford said while the actions of some shooters may seem inhumane, they may not be against the law.
"What looks like an offence on a wetland may not be an offence in a court of law," he said.
"[Swinging a duck in the air by the neck is] not our recommendation. But then whether that breaches the threshold of being a cruelty offence is a different matter."
Ms Round said when she radioed the incidents into the GMA, she was told they would not be conducting further investigations and she needed to move or risk being fined.
Mr Ford said if Ms Round was within 10 metres of the shooter, then she was at risk of a fine.
But he could not comment on individual incidents.
Future seasons in the hands of hunters
Police from Gannawarra said in supporting the GMA, officers had issued two people with infringements for entering a hunting area without a permit and issued ban notices for the rest of the season.
The unit also said a hunter received an infringement for shooting a protected species and had his firearm confiscated.
Mr Ford said the GMA would follow up every report it received but had no reason to recommend the duck hunting season be shut down.
"Our role is not to manage areas that are designated for hunting," he said.
"We will recommend where we have a role to play where we see congregations of threatened species and that they need to be protected that we will recommend closing that down.
Victoria's duck hunting season will end on June 13.
