The 2025 Victorian duck hunting season will last nearly a month longer than usual, and hunters will be permitted to bag nine ducks per day, although the blue-winged shoveller remains off-limits for the whole season.
The Victorian Game Management Authority (GMA) have confirmed the 2025 season will open at 8am on Wednesday, 19 March, and run until 30 minutes after sunset on Monday, 9 June — eight weeks longer than the 2024 season.
Hunting will not be permitted until 8am on any day before Monday, 24 March, but after that it will be allowed from 30 minutes before sunrise.
The species available for taking are:
- Pacific black duck
- mountain duck
- chestnut teal duck
- grey teal duck
- pink-eared duck
- wood duck
- hardhead duck
Licensed hunters may take up to nine ducks each per day, but as with the 2024 season, blue-winged shovellers, which are considered a threatened species, may not be hunted at all in 2025.
Only non-toxic shot (such as steel or bismuth) may be used for duck hunting in Victoria for the 2025 season. There is no longer an exemption from this for duck hunters using older shotguns, such as those with Damascus steel or twist-steel barrels.
Two additional species of gun dog — the wirehaired Slovakian pointer and the Murray River retriever — may now be used for retrieval of downed birds.
Outdoor Recreation Minister Steve Dimopoulos reaffirmed that duck hunting was a legitimate activity and the Victorian Government’s decisions on it were backed by science to ensure the practice could continue safely and sustainably.
“Our wounding reduction action plan will improve animal welfare and is a significant step to make sure recreational hunting can continue sustainably in Victoria,” he said.
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party upper house MP Jeff Bourman described the announcement of a longer 2025 duck hunting season as “a cracker”, and thanked Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan for listening to the science and standing up for responsible hunters as a result.
He also expressed his disgust at anti-hunting groups who had attacked the Premier over the issue.
“The antis have, predictably, been carrying on like children … these ‘progressives’ love having a female Premier, that’s until the Premier makes a decision they don’t like, then they revert to type — activists,” he said.
For more information on the 2025 Victorian Duck Hunting Season, visit: https://www.gma.vic.gov.au/hunting/duck/duck-season-arrangements.
This is not a longer season than usual – that’s the view of anti-hunters. It’s a full length season, running for the legislated period, with a slightly reduced bag limit and the exclusion of blue-winged shovelers.