Thread: St Arnaud sighting in area.

What a fantastic initiative.

Just a quick thank you from me to all involved as well. It’s a fantastic anomaly in this day and age and one I’ve taken advantage of and enjoyed thoroughly over the years and was concerned we would lose with recent changes. Great spot!

Originally Posted by flyingpillock

Just a quick thank you from me to all involved as well. It’s a fantastic anomaly in this day and age and one I’ve taken advantage of and enjoyed thoroughly over the years and was concerned we would lose with recent changes. Great spot!

A lot of effort went into making it happen

Great news .
Unfortunately most people that use it wont be a or know a range officer I would think.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Great news .
Unfortunately most people that use it wont be a or know a range officer I would think.

They become a duty officer by signing the Doc paper work

Becoming a range officer is easy - drop into the Visitor Center, read and accept the range standing orders/conditions.

Originally Posted by gimp

Becoming a range officer is easy - drop into the Visitor Center, read and accept the range standing orders/conditions.

Snap

Unfortunately it's in the legislation but this is a very workable solution.

Originally Posted by Kiwi Greg

They become a duty officer by signing the Doc paper work

At the St Arnaud DoC visitor center.

Originally Posted by Shearer

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.

It seems you have a different perception of NZDA than I do.
Why shouldn't target/range shooting be part of what NZDA does?
Are you inferring NZDA won't need ranges if more ranges are built on DOC land?
Where is NZDA spending time on target shooting instead of "hunter advocacy"

Good news as alot of ranges are getting a hard time by the new regs.

I was a member of da until recently once all the new changes took place. Man the amount of emails I started getting was worse than what I get from spammers

Originally Posted by 19Badger

It seems you have a different perception of NZDA than I do.
Why shouldn't target/range shooting be part of what NZDA does?
Are you inferring NZDA won't need ranges if more ranges are built on DOC land?
Where is NZDA spending time on target shooting instead of "hunter advocacy"

In fact, from what I see via my own NZDA membership is that NZDA has substantially upped it's game to our ( Kiwi hunters ) benefit in recent years. A result of strong refocusing on the core task of hunter advocacy and bringing on board the necessary talent to get the push through. I appluad NZDA for it's new momentum. This is quite aside from any attention given to the ranges to keep them up to speed which I'm sure is quietly ongoing. All the more reason that more Kiwi hunters should be getting into and supporting NZDA, at a greater rate than the memberships current growth rate.
OK, this is getting a bit off-topic, sorry, so in relation to shooting ranges on DOC ( public ) land and re the now certified St. Arnaud range I think this: It's positive, a step forward and hopefully sets a useful precedent for potential future ranges. I believe we need more ranges in NZ than we currently have. One of the reasons many shooters don't use them is simply distance between where they live and ranges are located. Many existing ranges are on private land and I would think under present laws, regulations and circumstances it would be very difficult now to establish a new range from scratch on private land. Just too many hoops for a landowner to bother with for one, particularly farmers I presume. But there is an abundance of DOC ( public ) land around, suitably isolated but conveniently located that could be utilised with, I would guess, fewer obstacles. I think with enough pressure DOC would probably have to come to the party. After all they cater for other user groups like boaties, mountain bikers etc so could hardly justify excluding shooters despite any reservations.

Originally Posted by 30.06king

In fact, from what I see via my own NZDA membership is that NZDA has substantially upped it's game to our ( Kiwi hunters ) benefit in recent years. A result of strong refocusing on the core task of hunter advocacy and bringing on board the necessary talent to get the push through. I appluad NZDA for it's new momentum. This is quite aside from any attention given to the ranges to keep them up to speed which I'm sure is quietly ongoing. All the more reason that more Kiwi hunters should be getting into and supporting NZDA, at a greater rate than the memberships current growth rate.
OK, this is getting a bit off-topic, sorry, so in relation to shooting ranges on DOC ( public ) land and re the now certified St. Arnaud range I think this: It's positive, a step forward and hopefully sets a useful precedent for potential future ranges. I believe we need more ranges in NZ than we currently have. One of the reasons many shooters don't use them is simply distance between where they live and ranges are located. Many existing ranges are on private land and I would think under present laws, regulations and circumstances it would be very difficult now to establish a new range from scratch on private land. Just too many hoops for a landowner to bother with for one, particularly farmers I presume. But there is an abundance of DOC ( public ) land around, suitably isolated but conveniently located that could be utilised with, I would guess, fewer obstacles. I think with enough pressure DOC would probably have to come to the party. After all they cater for other user groups like boaties, mountain bikers etc so could hardly justify excluding shooters despite any reservations.

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.

Originally Posted by 19Badger

It seems you have a different perception of NZDA than I do.
Why shouldn't target/range shooting be part of what NZDA does?
Are you inferring NZDA won't need ranges if more ranges are built on DOC land?
Where is NZDA spending time on target shooting instead of "hunter advocacy"

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.