Thread: Urgent Message For All Lake Lyndon Target Shooters

There are bugger all ranges that will allow you to shoot past 2 or 300 metres. So if you don't know anyone with a farm you can use for long range shooting you are buggered. There is nothing wrong with doing this on public land if you are sensible. Maybe the area is just too public or needs to be policed better. Anyway, I think that there should be junk bits of land with low hunting and sight seeing value set aside as public recreation areas. The land I mentioned before has been the playground for our town for decades. Hunters, target shooters and off roaders have shared it for years without any major incidents I have heard of. Yea, people dump rubbish and shit there, but that's no different to anywhere else in the area where you can get a vehicle. It is great to be able to drive to an open space in your ute with your guns and do some shooting in the wilderness and not be bothered or bother anyone else.

Originally Posted by Beavis

There are bugger all ranges that will allow you to shoot past 2 or 300 metres. So if you don't know anyone with a farm you can use for long range shooting you are buggered. There is nothing wrong with doing this on public land if you are sensible. Maybe the area is just too public or needs to be policed better. Anyway, I think that there should be junk bits of land with low hunting and sight seeing value set aside as public recreation areas. The land I mentioned before has been the playground for our town for decades. Hunters, target shooters and off roaders have shared it for years without any major incidents I have heard of. Yea, people dump rubbish and shit there, but that's no different to anywhere else in the area where you can get a vehicle. It is great to be able to drive to an open space in your ute with your guns and do some shooting in the wilderness and not be bothered or bother anyone else.

My sentiment exactly. I am a member at a club and I'm most grateful for it though I don't always see myself using it for every shoot. Some of us want a bit of a non threatening challenge

Originally Posted by Beavis

There are bugger all ranges that will allow you to shoot past 2 or 300 metres.

Which is why when you have access to such a range you make bloody sure you look after said range and access. I know I do

Originally Posted by Beavis

So if you don't know anyone with a farm you can use for long range shooting you are buggered.

Pretty much

Originally Posted by Beavis

There is nothing wrong with doing this on public land if you are sensible.

And thats the problem, other people also like to use the same public areas for hunting, tramping, mountain biking etc and since "common sense" has died and people will drive, walk, bike and generally fuck around on a range, , (with total disregard to any one actually using it for shooting at the time), it would need to be fenced including the Fallout/ Safety Zone and that means a club or business and rules.Not too mention shooters shoot "crap" and leave it there. Its sad but thats the way it is

Originally Posted by CBrom97

I know that's why they're cracking down on it. I just stated that first hand. I'm just unfuriated at the absence of options for those who do not wish to hunt and want to sharpen up on their marksmanship. If you don't know a farmer with land nearby, there's no where else to shoot past 100 metres (e.g away from a club range)

It's ashame really with all the open space of the vast Canterbury region and they kick up a stink on a small area. It's pathetic. I hope now they could at least edit their permits to include a no go on deliberate target shooting in the area. It's pretty cloudy and not all that clear on the 'yay' or 'nays' In fact, if you go further inland I doubt you'd get any more hassle if anyone still did it. It's the hikers and fires from tracer they're most worried about which is fair I guess, not so much the unlawfulness of shooting targets which by the way isn't any more dangerous than shooting animals. Saying it's not listed on a permit isn't really good enough for saying it's wrong because to my knowledge, there is no mention at all. It's a grey area.

I still believe the situation is handled very poorly in not offering a just solution to the hundreds of responsible shooters that attend and enjoy the outdoors there.

It is what it is at the end of the day.

please explain the cloudy/grey area

It's not even that bad up there or wasn't when I was last up there.

If you are trying to hunt in that valley you are in the wrong spot. Plenty of animals shot in close proximity to the area but no need to go hunting in this exact spot.

Pretty disappointing as I don't have anywhere else to shoot out to reasonable distance in a semi controlled environment

More people will probably end up setting up in river flats now which is certainly less than ideal in terms of safety.

If someone could let me know where all these Canterbury ranges are that allow you to shoot from 100-1000m+ on regular occasion I'm all ears

Cheers

Originally Posted by PerazziSC3

It's not even that bad up there or wasn't when I was last up there.

If you are trying to hunt in that valley you are in the wrong spot. Plenty of animals shot in close proximity to the area but no need to go hunting in this exact spot.

Pretty disappointing as I don't have anywhere else to shoot out to reasonable distance in a semi controlled environment

More people will probably end up setting up in river flats now which is certainly less than ideal in terms of safety.

If someone could let me know where all these Canterbury ranges are that allow you to shoot from 100-1000m+ on regular occasion I'm all ears

Cheers

Perhaps talk to the guys at the Ashburton Fullbore Club?? They used to have mounds out to 600, however they have just got their range back up and going as far a i am aware after issues with public safety due to someone building a mountain bike track behind the butts

Yeah that was the only one I knew of but it was closed down when I last enquired

Originally Posted by PerazziSC3

Yeah that was the only one I knew of but it was closed down when I last enquired

https://www.facebook.com/AshburtonRifle/

Originally Posted by PerazziSC3

Yeah that was the only one I knew of but it was closed down when I last enquired

https://www.facebook.com/MalvernRifleClub/

The Lake Lyndon issue has been brewing for quite some time. And it doesn't help that some 4WDer's, some bike riders, and some shooters give all of us a bad name. Unfortunately your hunting permit is for hunting, target practice etc is not covered in the legislation for hunting permits, so yes DoC are within their rights to stop you target shooting.......unfortunately. DoC has had discussions with the ChCh NZDA and both were in agreement that it was unacceptable. Why the hell both of them didn't put their heads together and agree there is a need, and create an area, I dont know. I see it as yet another opportunity for DoC to further their anti hunting agenda. As for ChCh NZDA, they need to push for a designated long range area for everybody, it is definitely needed in the area.

I spent 3 weeks in Colorado last year, and went to the local range on a couple of occasions. The local council, Fish and Wildlife, Safari Club, and several local shooting groups identified a need for an area where people could sight in their firearms, have a play, etc. They got together and utilised a piece of public land and built a 100 metre rifle range with 4 or 5 concrete benches, a pistol range with target frames from 15-100 metres, and a clay bird range with 4 clay bird throwers. It allows people to sight in their firearms in a semi controlled environment with proper targets etc and keeps most of them from driving down the river bed, or on to public land to do it. It is self policing, the rubbish was cleaned up. There are a group of older guys that volunteer to turn up on occasions to provide guidance and renew the targets etc. I never saw it abused, and there was over 40 people turned up to use it in the few hours I was there. Toilets were on sight. Paper targets were free, staple guns were provided. All they asked was a donation for the upkeep, and I saw probably 20 people put 20-30 bucks each for their group in the honesty box.

Yes, I know it wasn't long range. But the point is the local community identified a need to make it safer for everybody, and worked together to satisfy that need. A lot of us dont want to go to the local full bore range, the perception is they are a bunch of old cronies, and you are limited to certain days, and they dont like your rifle cos its black, or its a semi, or its a 223, or you want to shoot steel etc. But a lot of us just like a few hours out plinking, maybe steel, maybe at long range.

If DoC are hell bent on fencing off an area so we cant go there, then theres no buy in from whatever group you belong to, be it 4WD, or bike, or shooting, and the fences will eventually get trashed anyways. And there is no legislation to allow DoC to stop you taking a vehicle on public land, except in a National Park, so long as you dont cause wilful damage. They restrict you from public land simply by bluff.

There are millions of hectares of public land out there, nearly all of it % wise that is unavailable to 4WD's or motorbikes or shooters simply because of topography. Is it not ok to ask that a tiny bit of it, maybe 500-1000 hectares close to a big urban area is set aside so that shooters can shoot safely, fenced off, signposted? And I'd bet you would find that it would be self policing. Trampers can tramp bloody near anywhere, let them miss out on a small piece of our land just so we can all work together safely.

It needs DoC to take some initiative to get the ball rolling, it needs the likes of the DA and Safari Club and any other interested group to all come together. And it needs to be utilised by responsible people so that we can keep out the bad bastards - is it too much to ask?

Lets be realistic about the area....
1 - Its not a designated range, its public DoC controlled land in an area that is highly utilised for many recreational activities
2 - Its open to anyone and as such people tend to go anywhere/everywhere
3 - It's been trashed and abused by fuckwits for a very long time
4 - it does't put hunters in a very good light when non hunters go up there and see the damage and rubbish everywhere
5 - its fucking dangerous as hell
6 - just because its a public area of land doesn't mean you can do what you want there

Basically if you want some LR target shooting practice, join a club and use their ranges. Learn to hit the targets correctly concentrating on good groupings. Learn to dial and/or hold over at the distances at the club ranges so when/if you decide to do a LR target comp or whatever, you can shoot with confidence.

DON'T GO OUT AND BOMB UP A VERY ACCESSIBLE PUBLIC AREA!

Yes, a purpose built area would be ideal, but when has any govt dept/agency done anything like that for anyone here? Unless is paid for by the private user or commercial entity it won't happen.

Originally Posted by CBrom97

I don't think 'Dicking about' is the greatest term for it. If I was randomly shooting to the hills then yes. It is concentrated fire at a small target in a safe direction. I don't 'dick about' with firearms. Clubs don't offer much past 100 metres?

The hill you were shooting into has trampers and mtb tracks that people walk on top of it....

Originally Posted by paddygonebush

The hill you were shooting into has trampers and mtb tracks that people walk on top of it....

Really? The only "tracks" I know of are not really all that close to where the shooting happens.

Ive got a bit of a boot in all camps here. I have used the lake lyndon area a few times to sight in a rifle, am a hunter (well used to be) and also a member of a rifle club that shoots out to fairly long range. I have always felt more afraid of getting shot by a hunter than someone sighting in their rifle, which is why I usually hunted outside the roar in areas unlikely to have many hunters and prefered to hunt in winter when there are less hunters around. There are a lot of stories of hunters getting shot by their hunting mate, I dont remember anyone ever getting shot by someone sighting in their rifle (please correct me if I am wrong).

You really need to have sighted your rifle in before shooting at some of the long range clubs, the shortest distance they shoot is often 300 yards, so it can be a bit difficult finding your target at that range.

Originally Posted by Husky1600

As for ChCh NZDA, they need to push for a designated long range area for everybody, it is definitely needed in the area

Maybe you should pop along to the next meeting, join, and point this out to them? Or do you expect to sit back and let organisations that you don’t belong to provide facilities for you? Any club is only as good as its members, and if everyone whinging about needing a range got themselves organised, joined an organisation, you could get somewhere... some of these guys sound like boy racers - “we should have things laid on for us, because we’re special...”