Thread: Are you a member of NZDA?

National wil be taking about 60% of the membership fee so about $72

Coast is 80 Bux for the year an do some good trips. Tee up with doc for tahr cull etc

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Yep, North Canty member. Cheaper than Auckland.
Local retailers who sponsor us give various discounts.

Good club, plenty of trips and access to locations wouldn't normally get to or take time go.

yep, lower hutt member,
nice having access to a range and to meet others, also completed their hunts course last year

I think NZDA membership should be compulsory, National office does do a lot of promotion, research and makes a lot of submissions on hunting and access issues plus animal mangement plans, this benefits ALL hunters not just NZDA members. If you are planning on being a member for a number of years and can afford it an endowment membership is good value.
The $40.00 range fee is pretty cheap as well, and while my local branch doesn't have any organised range shooting or even a range that has easy access and no facility for shooting beyond 100m I am still a NZDA member, just at a different branch that caters to my needs. The fees we pay to join NZDA are certainly cheaper than joining a golf club.

Hunter308 I'm surprised there isn't much hunting related stuff at the Tokoroa branch I know a few members and I know they all hunt. From what I understand the complex was built mainly by employees of the mill so I can imagine why it has such a strong target shooting following..........there are also branches of NZDA that are strong on hunting with no target shooting.

I was talking to a new shooter the other day and they were quite surprised that there was no real practical instruction on using firearms or hunting to get their firearms license, it got me thinking about the number of firearm "accidents" that seem to be occuring.........is it because of the lack of this instruction.

To give a comparison of club membership fees, I was talking to a friend in the US a while ago and he mentioned about joining his local rifle club so he could use the range facilities..........the joining fee was something like US$800 and a 2-3 year wait........imagine having that many members that you had to limit the membership.

Im not. I have thought about it a number of times mainly for the range use but often that is weekends only due to logging.

In my limited experience with them they seem to be holding on to some unrealistic dream of NZ as one big trophy herd.

The vast majority of kiwi hunters are happy just to see some animals in the wild, If they want more members move their goals more in line with the majority.

This is just my experience with the local branch. Others may be different.

Hi Mohawk,

What you put in is what you get out, it's the same for any club ... including this forum

Originally Posted by Mohawk660

I had a look at joining my local club. Thinking it would cost around $100 to join and meet like minded individuals. As Im new to hunting I thought it would be a good way to meet other hunters share a few tips , tricks and stories and hopefully tag along on some hunting trips.

Lets Just say I was shocked to find it was going to cost $210:

One of joing fee $50 (No one can tell me why?)
Adult membership $120
Range Fee $40

Grand Total $210 ?!

All things consideer I will probably join, more for the range than anything else as I have no where to sight my rifle in and practice.

But I find it interesting that I can get all the NZDA offers here on this Forum, except insurance and tropheys. ( Not that Im interested in Tropheys,getting some meat to take home is reward enough for me)

So while I will begrudingly join NZDA , I would like to say thank you to you all for your help and advice , stories and those of you that have let me join you on armed walks.

As a new hunter and member its appreciated.

Im not nor ever will be. It has to be one of the most hypocritical and self focused organizations I have seen, especially regarding NZ's game animals.

Kiwishooter yes there are guys who hunt that are members of the Tokoroa NZDA one of them did a thing on aging deer on the graf bros TV show on CH99 and he is one of the good buggers who does make you feel welcome and there are a couple of others there who will stab you in the back at every opportunity they get. At meetings they just do not talk about deer hunting in general there are no organised hunts, no educational courses offered by them they basically exist there to help govern the deer in the tokoroa pines and issue the deer hunting permits, the rest of the time they just talk target shooting and touch a bit on the 1080 issue for me that was a waste of money as when I joined I had never been deer hunting and was hoping to get on a HUNTS course to learn about hunting and bush skills leaving me very disappointed and bitter they would not even advise when other branches close by were running them. Never again will I give NZDA any of my money with the exception of the $2 donation in the honesty box at the Taupo range.

I'm a Member of the Napier branch of the NZDA and $120 is the fee there too.

They are a grat bunch of guys from all wlaks of life who enjoy their Hunting.

I'd gladly pay $50 or more to have use of a range even if it was only on the weekends.

You've got nothing to loose by joining and plenty to gain.

You might even make some new friends with an intrest similar to your own.

Cheers
Pete
Like KiwiJames said, we dont currently have a range in Hawkes bay.

Mate sounds like there are some not so cool Branches around ,,,,our Tauranga branch is all for the members organised hunts ,,,family hunts ,,,branch hunts,,,very proactive with hunts courses ,,,new range etc bloody good bunch of friendly blokes with a common interest,,,,,as said earlier ,,,,ya get out what ya put in and if ya not happy say something

Is the guy up for shooting Cam McD a former member [branch president in fact] of NZDSA or some other deer stalking group?

I think he was president of the Wellington branch. Not that I think it has any direct bearing on the tragedy. He broke a simple but highly important rule that he would most likey have preached to death considering his position. It makes you wonder how it can happen to someone you would expect to have more control and common sense.

Originally Posted by hunter308

Kiwishooter yes there are guys who hunt that are members of the Tokoroa NZDA one of them did a thing on aging deer on the graf bros TV show on CH99 and he is one of the good buggers who does make you feel welcome and there are a couple of others there who will stab you in the back at every opportunity they get. At meetings they just do not talk about deer hunting in general there are no organised hunts, no educational courses offered by them they basically exist there to help govern the deer in the tokoroa pines and issue the deer hunting permits, the rest of the time they just talk target shooting and touch a bit on the 1080 issue for me that was a waste of money as when I joined I had never been deer hunting and was hoping to get on a HUNTS course to learn about hunting and bush skills leaving me very disappointed and bitter they would not even advise when other branches close by were running them. Never again will I give NZDA any of my money with the exception of the $2 donation in the honesty box at the Taupo range.

I learn't a long time ago not to judge everyone in an organisation by the actions of a few. Like life not everyone can get on with everyone, find a branch that offers what you want and join that one.........if NZDA didn't exist would we have what we have?? If you don't like how an organisation works don't expect it to change because you want it too, become one of the decision makers and bring about change.
It's been said once or twice in this post you get out what you put in........in other word if you don't contribute don't expect anything in return.

Now imagine if Taupo NZDA took your attitude and said no one but members can use the range, if you went to the range every weekend for a year you contribute $104.00 that doesn't cover much of what Taupo branch have put into making that facility so that you can use it.

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

Well said.
I did belong in my teenage years but soon got tired of the ones in charge pushing their own agenda. And what other organisation outside of China or Russia does one member get two votes while everyone else gets one (life members of NZDA get two votes).

Interesting........how many life members do NZDA have?? They would need more than 50% of the membership to be life members for their vote to mean more than the general membership.

I like hearing about the good branches, perhaps those that have had bad experiences should have a look at them.......they might meet some people that have similar views and opinions to themselves and be able to help the next generation that comes along. Or perhaps some who find clubs that didn't offer what they wanted should get that from somewhere else and then offer it to the newcomers to the club that didn't offer it.

We need something to encourage the newcomer after all not every newcomer comes from a hunting family

Nar not me.