Goose Season In The NT Was A Bust!

I had been planning it for a year. Twelve months of thinking, packing, and preparing. The road stretched out before me, long and flat, the Gold Coast slipping away behind. I was headed to Darwin. I stopped at Tambo for the popular Chicken Race and even placed a bet - no luck there...

Life On The Road In Out Back Australia

I arrived a week after the magpie geese and ducks had opened their season. I was ready. I drove out to the wetland in the quiet of the morning, the air thick with the smell of earth and salt. But there were very few birds. No geese, no ducks, nothing.

Friday evening passed with a couple of shots fired. Saturday morning I met up with local good mate Andrew and his son and the company was welcomed. It was a beautiful breezy morning perfect morning but not a shot fired at my end or by our group spread out and only a dozen or so elsewhere.

The hunters were few, and those that were out looked broken to. The birds weren’t here the talk was around the traps.

They said there had been no rain. The floodplains around Kakadu carried most of the birds and they weren't moving until rains come. Even the mango farms were quiet.

I waited a few more days. Nothing changed.

So, I packed up and headed back to the Gold Coast. The birds weren’t ready. The season wasn’t mine. But I had made the trip, and that was something.

The rains will come eventually, but a week or more has passed since I left and still no birds on Harrison Dam. If I get the chance before I fly to Texas USA I will fly back when the birds finally move in... I suspect I will run out of time this time round unfortunately.

Friday Evening NT 2025 Magpie & Duck Season