Hunters have by and large heeded directives issued by their organisations not to register for the 2,500 special licences to hunt this spring with only 57 submitting their name by yesterday afternoon.
There are about 10,000 registered hunters and, under regulations issued last week, only a quarter of them will be able to hunt in the six-day period allowed by the government at the end of the month.
The hunters' federation, FKNK, supported by three other hunting organisations warned it would name and shame hunters who applied for the licences - they have until today to register - claiming that a six-day season would be prejudicial to having a longer spring hunting period.
Meanwhile, the controversy shows no signs of abating with the government and the FKNK engaged in a tit for tat over last week's decision.
The federation again accused the Prime Minister of "playing politics" with his decision to ditch the Ornis Committee's recommendations and instead open a six-day season.
"Ornis' recommendations erred against hunters and trappers. Yet, they were workable and much closer to attaining the satisfactory alternative," it said.
Ornis had recommended a hunting season between April 10 - 30 allowing a total of about 33,000 birds to be shot. The shortened season will now take place between April 24 and 30, excluding Sunday, with a bag limit of about 7,000 birds.
The government rebutted the accusation, insisting it did not want to endanger taxpayers' money and risk a fine because no agreement was reached with the European Commission on a longer season.
"The hunting of 13,071 turtle doves and 12,335 quails in spring is sustainable and within the parameters of the Birds' Directive. However, the government responsibly decided to avoid a situation where the country could end up paying fines while continuing with its discussions with the Commission," the government said.
In another reaction to claims by BirdLife Malta that a six-day season was contrary to the judgment of the European Court of Justice, the government insisted it acted in line with the ruling.
The government came under fire from environmental groups for allowing a limited spring hunting season.
"The court findings accept that the opening of a spring hunting season in Malta is in principle justified provided that proportionality is maintained. The rigorous conditions under which the 2010 season was opened respect proportionality as required by the Court," the government said.
Meanwhile, BirdLife stepped up its efforts to curb illegal hunting by transforming its website into an information point for people wanting to file police reports.
The website, birdlifemalta.org, also gives people clues on what to look out for in assessing potentially-illegal activity and details that would be required by the police.
The bird conservation group said 46 volunteers from eight countries joined 15 Maltese volunteers for BirdLife's spring watch camp where teams would record illegalities in the countryside.