St Arnaud sighting in area.

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Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings @30.06king and all,
Very, very well said. Continuing tenure of the land that the range is on is the key. There is also a significant amount of land held by Regional Councils that could be considered. In Hawkes Bay we will almost be starting from scratch. We had the excellent Roy's Hill Range during the time when target shooting was big with Deerstalkers so Local NZDA branches never developed their own ranges other than .22RF. I look at the effort that Taupo has put into upgrading the Jack Dillon Range and applaud it but don't see any effective effort to develop a range in HB. Some believe that a change in Government will take things back to the way they were in 2018. To me this is self deception on a grand scale. I wish it wasn't so but that is how I see it.
Regards Grandpamac.

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yes my full bore days in Gisborne late sixties we had 3 ranges all within an hour - Gisborne - Wairoa - and one at Te Karaka - Te Karaka had its own small club many many years ago - Gisborne has been closed for many years the other two probably closed - there was a sight in range at Waikaremoana -it was up the Aniwaniwa road up above Papakarito falls - I used to go up with a scrub bar in 90,s and keep it clear - doubt thats being done now

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Originally Posted by Shearer

Yes. It is quite possible I have a different perception and experience of the NZDA than you. And possibly different expectations.
No reason at all why target shooting shouldn't be part of what the NZDA does.
From my experience, a lot of deer stalkers aren't interested in organized target shooting or spending all day at a range. They simply want to put a couple of rounds through their deer stalking rifle to verify zero and then go deer stalking. My nearest NZDA range is over an hours drive away and is open only for very limited times. I know each local club is different but I just looked on my local clubs calendar for this month and the range is open today from 9-11am and there are two shooting competitions later in the month. No mention of any deer stalking going on.
As far as NZDA spending time on target shooting goes, each to their own, but the opportunity to have numerous small "sighting-in" areas scattered around the country on public land, for public use, is golden.

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I think it's great if DOC do provide a formal range where firearms owners can sight their rifle in, I'm sure this will be dependent on the local DOC office and their views.
The range was present prior to the law changes and it is only due to the people in the local DOC office that it will still be available post these law changes......there are a number of ranges that have ceased to exist post 24th June.

Your original comment come across as you objected to NZDA spending time advocating for anything other than hunting and the only purpose for NZDA was advocating for hunting.
I'm still unsure what NZDA has been doing that leads you to believe they are spending time advocating for target shooting, so please elaborate.

shooting a target = target shooting
any NZDA shooting at a target = NZDA target shooting

doesnt matter fi its not a scored compitition
and NZDA do infact have scored compititions too..always have done.

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

shooting a target = target shooting
any NZDA shooting at a target = NZDA target shooting

doesnt matter fi its not a scored compitition
and NZDA do infact have scored compititions too..always have done.

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Greetings @Micky Duck and All,
Target shooting has been an integral part of NZ Deerstalkers competitions. The J M Wilkinson Cup dates from 1962 or earlier and was shot each year by the Hastings Deerstalkers prior to my joining in the late 1970's. The first shoot I have records for was the Taruarau shot between Hawkes Bay and Taihape Branch NZDA. This was in 1981 and there were 32 shooters. At that time there were 4 annual shoots. Over the years the number of shooters declined with 25 shooting in the 1983 E Richards and just 3 in the last shoot in 2019. Only the Interbranch Taruarau shoot was shot since then.
Regards Grandpamac.

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Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings @Micky Duck and All,
Target shooting has been an integral part of NZ Deerstalkers competitions. The J M Wilkinson Cup dates from 1962 or earlier and was shot each year by the Hastings Deerstalkers prior to my joining in the late 1970's. The first shoot I have records for was the Taruarau shot between Hawkes Bay and Taihape Branch NZDA. This was in 1981 and there were 32 shooters. At that time there were 4 annual shoots. Over the years the number of shooters declined with 25 shooting in the 1983 E Richards and just 3 in the last shoot in 2019. Only the Interbranch Taruarau shoot was shot since then.
Regards Grandpamac.

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personally I think its a good thing that NZDA do target shooting - that way new members can draw on that experience base for valuable information - the more practice new hunters can do on a range the better they will be on animals -really pisses me off when I have made the effort and taking hunters out for a shot and they have not zeroed their rifles and worse simply dont really know where its shooting or worse still dont grasp the concept of how valuable it is

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

shooting a target = target shooting
any NZDA shooting at a target = NZDA target shooting

doesnt matter fi its not a scored compitition
and NZDA do infact have scored compititions too..always have done.

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Goes back a long time. I attended 3 NZDA National shoots in the late 60's. Big events in their time. Don't know how long before that they were run.
1 at Whiteman's Valley, 2 at Ohariu Valley.

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Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings @Micky Duck and All,
Target shooting has been an integral part of NZ Deerstalkers competitions. The J M Wilkinson Cup dates from 1962 or earlier and was shot each year by the Hastings Deerstalkers prior to my joining in the late 1970's. The first shoot I have records for was the Taruarau shot between Hawkes Bay and Taihape Branch NZDA. This was in 1981 and there were 32 shooters. At that time there were 4 annual shoots. Over the years the number of shooters declined with 25 shooting in the 1983 E Richards and just 3 in the last shoot in 2019. Only the Interbranch Taruarau shoot was shot since then.
Regards Grandpamac.

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NZDA South Canterbury shot the JM Wilkinson shoot in the last 6 weeks - still a National event!!!

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

shooting a target = target shooting
any NZDA shooting at a target = NZDA target shooting

doesnt matter fi its not a scored compitition
and NZDA do infact have scored compititions too..always have done.

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Lol yes I understand what target shooting is but that is the act of Target shooting.
I took Shearer's post was inferring NZDA National was spending time advocating for target shooting when he thinks NZDA should be solely advocating for Hunting, not the act of doing target shooting, which is what NZDA members do.
Which is why I've asked him to clarify what he meant, because I haven't seen NZDA advocating for target shooting.

I replied as I did to point out the absurdity of your last sentence ,that you have just written again.

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Originally Posted by 19Badger

Lol yes I understand what target shooting is but that is the act of Target shooting.
I took Shearer's post was inferring NZDA National was spending time advocating for target shooting when he thinks NZDA should be solely advocating for Hunting, not the act of doing target shooting, which is what NZDA members do.
Which is why I've asked him to clarify what he meant, because I haven't seen NZDA advocating for target shooting.

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I think you are reading something into what I have said that isn't there.
Please read the second sentence of my post #30.

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Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings @Micky Duck and All,
Target shooting has been an integral part of NZ Deerstalkers competitions. The J M Wilkinson Cup dates from 1962 or earlier and was shot each year by the Hastings Deerstalkers prior to my joining in the late 1970's. The first shoot I have records for was the Taruarau shot between Hawkes Bay and Taihape Branch NZDA. This was in 1981 and there were 32 shooters. At that time there were 4 annual shoots. Over the years the number of shooters declined with 25 shooting in the 1983 E Richards and just 3 in the last shoot in 2019. Only the Interbranch Taruarau shoot was shot since then.
Regards Grandpamac.

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I would like to find out about the history of the JM Wilkinson and Hawkes Bay Challenge. There are still branches shooting the JM Wilkinson and it is a NZDA National Competition.

Back in the 90's a number of these competitors taught me how to shoot and improved my shooting ability so that the number of animals I missed decreased and I bought more venison home.
This was in the days when you spent 20-30 hrs hunting before you saw an animal and if you missed the one you saw it'd most likely be another 20-30 hrs before you saw another, so developing shooting skills became a necessity, and range shooting helped with that.
Competitive shooting used to be very popular in NZDA, Mike Peacock used to tell me stories of over 200 competitors at the NZDA Scoped Rifle Nationals.

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Originally Posted by Shearer

I think you are reading something into what I have said that isn't there.
Please read the second sentence of my post #30.

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It was post #9, pasted below, where you seemed to think NZDA shouldn't be advocating for target shooting and should concentrate on Deer Stalking and hunter advocacy. This intimates that you think NZDA has been advocating for target shooting, I'm simply asking what they have been doing that gives you reason to think that. I'm not reading anymore into it than what you put in your post, I'm simply trying to understand why you think that.

Post #9
The DA ranges are great but to have this happen on public conservation land is, in my opinion, a huge step forward for hunters. It could leave the NZDA in a position to concentrate more on what their name suggest (and hunter advocacy) rather than target shooting.

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Originally Posted by Shearer

I think you are reading something into what I have said that isn't there.
Please read the second sentence of my post #30.

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Sorry. That should have read second line.

Southland Branch NZDA shot the Wilkinson shield again this year on the Invercargill Rifle Club range here in Invers. All Southland NZDA members have associate membership on the range, but very few of the 400+ shoot there, it's just a change in the way things are - an 1980s Deerstalkers shoot on the same range would have had at least 30 plus shooters (I know cause I won such a shoot in I think 1981 haha).

Likewise the New Zealand Small Game Shooters Assoc had several branches throughout NZ with particularly strong ones in Wellington and Dunedin, and man were those guys good to me! They held regular field matches which attracted quite decent shooter numbers. But as far as I know thats all long since gone. Things change.

If organisation's don't respond to change then usually they die. But it's always good to honor the past ( our range committee have been navigating this with our NRA shooters, whilst trying to respond to new interests e.g. shooting steel) - the fact that NZDA is still supporting target shooting is good, as is any involvement they have had in keeping this informal range going. Whether they did or not I don't know, but even if they did,that doesn't detract from the "local" effort put in. We are all shooters and need to welcome input and ideas from all quarters rather than snipe at each other.

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Originally Posted by 19Badger

It was post #9, pasted below, where you seemed to think NZDA shouldn't be advocating for target shooting and should concentrate on Deer Stalking and hunter advocacy. This intimates that you think NZDA has been advocating for target shooting, I'm simply asking what they have been doing that gives you reason to think that. I'm not reading anymore into it than what you put in your post, I'm simply trying to understand why you think that.

Post #9
The DA ranges are great but to have this happen on public conservation land is, in my opinion, a huge step forward for hunters. It could leave the NZDA in a position to concentrate more on what their name suggest (and hunter advocacy) rather than target shooting.

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I was talking proportions, not one vs the other.
I also said all Branches are different. Perhaps yours organizes more deer stalking related activities than range shooting activities?