They are actually proud of it: Australian Ducks and Quail shot in Victoria 2025
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“As thousands upon thousands of native animals die in the fires or are shot as they leave their once sanctuary homes, as temperatures soar and climate change bites hard on Victoria’s wetlands, including Ramsar sites, as bird populations plummet”. Peter Hylands
Context: Birdlife in Victoria
In 2024 the Victorian government (recreation and Authorities to Control Wildlife) enabled (sometimes promoting) the killing of an estimated 891,607 birds across 54 protected Australian species, condemning these birds to a cruel and pointless death.
Duck shooting in Victoria is widespread in the geographical sense, the Victorian Government describes its scale, in 2024 there were 199 State Game Reserves comprising of over 75,000 hectares of public land. If all the wetlands in the State Game Reserve system were at full level, it would equate to 47,786 hectares of surface water and approximately 40,000 hectares of public waters. There are 18 Ramsar listed (components) wetlands of international importance in the current State Game Reserve system. These sites contain representative, rare or unique wetlands, or wetlands that are important for conserving biological diversity.
Beyond the state’s Game Reserves and in total, based on land classification, approximately 3.5 million hectares of public land is available for duck shooting in Victoria. According to the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, this includes about 285,000 hectares of primary hunting locations near waterways, of which as described above, 75,000 hectares are state game reserves.
Stubble Quail, a native quail species, is shot in large numbers in 16 of these State Game Reserves as well as numerous other locations.
Duck shooting
Seven Duck species were targeted in 2025, seven duck species are being targeted in 2026. Six duck species were targeted in 2024.
The total number of ‘protected’ Australian ducks shot in 2025 was estimated (Victorian Government) at 487,800 ducks, that is 46 per cent greater than the estimated long-term average of 334,200 and 25 per cent greater than the estimated 391,900 ducks shot in Victoria in 2024.
Species that suffered the most were:
- Pacific Black Duck: 36 per cent of the kill
- Grey Teal: 29 per cent of the kill
- Wood Duck: 24 per cent of the kill
- Chestnut Teal: 5 per cent of the kill
- Pink-eared Duck: 3 per cent of the kill
- Mountain Duck: 2 per cent of the kill
- Hardhead: 1 per cent of the kill
Bad actors
The Victorian Government estimates show that 37 per cent of the Pink-eared Duck population was killed for ‘recreation in 2025. It remains as a target in 2026.
The Blue-winged Shoveler cannot be hunted and despite efforts to the contrary the species was listed as threatened under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 in 2021.
The Hardhead was removed from Victoria’s threatened species list under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 in June 2024 after requests by shooters who claimed the species had not reached the criteria for listing.
In Victoria, West Gippsland, North Central, and Goulburn Broken are the regions with the highest duck kill, main shooting towns were Sale, Boort, Kerang, Shepparton and Horsham.
Stubble Quail shooting
The total number of ‘protected’ Stubble Quail shot in 2025 was estimated (Victorian Government) at 48,000, that is just 28 per cent of the estimated long-term average of 170,300 and just 10.5 per cent of the estimated 457,400 Quail shot in Victoria in 2024.
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