Local restaurants are waiting for  successful hunters to bring in the pheasants, swans, and geese they’ve shot.  Their chefs want to make the birds into great dishes and serve them back to the hunters.
But thus far, nobody has taken up the offer which is part of Fish&Game NZ’s Gamebird Food Festival.  
It is natural,  free range, and good eating, say Fish & Game NZ. The festival, which began with the opening of the game bird season, continues until early July.
Fish and Game’s plan is that lucky hunters, when they’ve cleaned their catch, should take it to the restaurant of their choice,  have the chefs work their magic,  enjoy it in the restaurant, and even save a little money on what they might pay for a similar menu dish.
Restaurants are taking part in Wellington are  Brava, Le Canard, and Shed 5.
Although the season for shooting game birds has well under way, there have been no takers yet.     
Pravda’s head chef, Joseph Lewis says “Nobody has taken up the offer yet although we’ve had a few inquiries”.
 “I like to see the birds 48 hours before the dinner date so that I can check they’re in great condition and have time to properly prepare them.”
Lewis says he’d possibly confit (poach) the legs in duck fat, while he’d do the breasts sous vide which means they’d be put in a special plastic bag in hot water to cook for a long time at a carefully controlled temperature to cook in their own juices.. This also preserves the appearance of the meat.
He would serve the game maybe as a ragout with baby beetroot and wild onion on a little polenta. , All the other involved this year, agree they’re very happy to cook the catch exactly the way the customer likes.  
At Shed 5, Geoff Ngan, who’s recently returned to the restaurant after a few years away, says nobody has brought a pheasant or a duck in yet but he’s ready and waiting. He also mentions that if anyone happens to catch a beautiful fish or favourite sea creature, they’d enjoy  making a dish the fisher could be proud of.
Pascale Bodel, the head chef at Le Canard has one group who bring their catch to him every year.  He says they were cautious at first, but liked what he cooked so much they keep coming back.
Bodel says he’s cooked pheasants, ducks, black swan, and rabbits for lucky hunters in the past.  
 “I really enjoy chatting with hunters about how and where they got their birds, what conditions were like and how much game is around,” he says,  “while they seem to like hearing about how I made a dish out of what they brought in.”
Sean Clouston of Logan Brown, says they are not cooking customer shot game for the meantime.
“We tried it with some guys from Otago first.  It was a huge success. They brought up some beautiful ducks and the whole thing worked really well”.
“But after that birds came in which were badly shot up or ill prepared,  and either the quality wasn’t good enough or they needed far too much preparation time to make into good dishes, so we decided not to do it.”
Clouston is not averse to trying again sometime, but thinks the restaurant would need to apply pretty strict quality standards
Tom Hutchison of Capitol said he knew nothing of the gamebird festival, but thought it a great idea.