NZDA Branches

Greetings All,
I went along to our local Hastings NZDA Branch meeting last night. We had a deer butchery demo from Jordon from Wild Game Salami's. One of our members had donated a deer carcass, head, skin and all and Jordon guided us through the process of skinning, breaking down and butchering into plate sized bits. Jordon, a hunter himself, also gave us tips on preparing meat for Wild Game Salami's to turn into their excellent small goods. We all got to take home some venison, a real help to us seniors that don't get out as much as we would like.
There are heaps of NZDA branches around NZ. Some have their own rifle ranges and all have members that have long experience in all things about handloading shooting etc. Deerstalkers can be a reticent bunch so don't expect them to show you their favourite hunting spot but a visit to your local branch is well worth the time. My Facebook Secretary showed me some photo's that have been posted if you are interested.
Regards Grandpamac

Yeah. Strange things , humans. The Rotorua and Taupo NZDA Ranges both get very high usage and yet club shoots not so much. Always good social interaction between shooters at the ranges though at any time.

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Originally Posted by Woody

Yeah. Strange things , humans. The Rotorua and Taupo NZDA Ranges both get very high usage and yet club shoots not so much.

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Very similar situation for Hutt Valley @Woody. Very busy range, 700 members, but little by way of comps or club shoots. Kapiti is reasonably active in terms of club shoots.

The two branches I mentioned do have monthly club shoots but not high numbers attending. I think the phenomenon is common with many clubs in all sorts of activities except for national competition events. Lots of things to choose to do in NZ and travel away from local areas is much easier than a couple of decades ago to follow a whim.

EBF, we should get Jan LR to host some 22RF comps at Kaitoki. He started then got canned by C19. I've got plenty of targets and gear we can use.

In the recent NZDA survey, I stated the main reason for joining was for access to the range. That said, I have met many, many really neat guys (and some women). My retired life seems to be busier than ever, so I simply don’t have a lot of time to head into the hills. I did manage a solid 8 pointer in the Sth Island during Easter though.

I've never been a member but will be joining the local branch when I move to my forever home next year. Looking forward to meeting don't like minded people

I'm not a member, did think about it but nearest branch is 2 hours away.

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Originally Posted by Ingrid 51

In the recent NZDA survey, I stated the main reason for joining was for access to the range. That said, I have met many, many really neat guys (and some women). My retired life seems to be busier than ever, so I simply don’t have a lot of time to head into the hills. I did manage a solid 8 pointer in the Sth Island during Easter though.

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We wondered what you had been up to......you need to get some range time in boy....

Auckland Branch meets at Pt Chevalier. Anything up to 80 folk at monthly meetings, cheap bar and sausages, chips, burgers etc. Always a time for newbies to stand up and intro themselves..and for folk to report on their latest hunt, deer, goat, pig or magpie doesn't matter. Lots of humor. Organised member's hunts most months great range facility... Excellent Hunter Training Course, seminar on Sika, similar on field dressing and butchering fresh animals etc etc. Great value for the sub, lots of oldies, plenty of youngsters, and women taking out hunting and trophy prizes etc etc. Excellent value for hunting, social, range.

Have to take my hat off to the local nelson NZDA. They have been very pro active on making club nights interesting and having good hunting opportunities.
They have teamed up with DOC to do wilding pine control, in return members that volunteer get free helicopter rides and drop offs to hunt their way out of areas

Also have hunting opportunties to do goat control and other animal control in private blocks and Doc blocks.
Last club night had six different stations manned with a ""expert"" on different topics so you could freely wander to which station interested you.
IE Hunting stewart island, bush stalking pointers, Light weight gear options, How to measure heads, and infor on a local hunting block . Numbers are increasing to club nights,
younger members getting involved etc.
At a Local level the Nelson NZDA is doing very well on improving value for money and getting more infor out there and better hunting opportunties for members.

Updating websites and facebook pages to keep people informed. Other branches could take note of the good work this branch is doing