Thread: Getting ahead of new range rules

Originally Posted by GWH

I foresee this creating the biggest pain in the arse for the police, DOC and regional councils that look after rivers.

The Hawkes Bay was lacking a range that hunters/shooters could access to sight in/develop loads and practice shooting at. For years there was always continual issues with reports of shooting in river beds etc, this caused the police and the regional council fella that manages the river ways big problems as you could imagine.

The regional council chap that looks after the rivers ended up putting in a casual 400 yd range, with pretty good dirt banks and backstops etc, benches every 100 yrds to 400. A booking system managed by a local sports shop and it all run pretty well. It has become extremely popular and since it has been in existence the issues for the council and police have all but ended.

I can see that under these new regulations we will likely lose this facility, and it will be back to people having no where to go and shoot. People will go back to shooting in river beds and likely will setup makeshift ranges on the edge of public land to sight in before going for a hunt.

Ask yourself, what is safer?

What a total shambles.....but all in the name of progress and making the streets safer. What a joke! Hopefully, commonsense will prevail, but i highly doubt that.

Greetings,
It is exactly this sort of range that is at risk. It is ideally located next to a noisy gravel extraction plant and well away from houses but it will probably be lost unless there is some organisation prepared to take it over and manage it as required by the new legislation. Hawkes Bay lost a real asset when the Roy's Hill Range closed,
Regards Grandpamac.