Thread: NZDA worth joining.

Originally Posted by Pengy

If they really want to boost membership, the first year should be cheaper, or even free.

As a member of another club, I can state that this method does not do anyone any good. What happens is they join up, turn up for the first months then when the membership fee is due for renewal, most seem to decide it is too much and let it lapse and disappear as they got it cheap to start with.

Our club has done a lot of investing in the ranges and shooter development and spends a lot of time teaching the new members safety, protocol and helping with their shooting before allowing them sole access to the range. We went to a membership fee structure with the join up do cover some of the join up costs, but have dropped some of the other costs related to joining. One of our requirements has always been a number of supervised visits on public nights to ensure that the new members are familiar with the rules and safety protocols in place for everyone and to meet other members before being allowed free rein. This used to be at the members cost as they are not yet members. By making the joining fee include the cost of these visits it is hoped that it will streamline the joining process to mean that rather than limiting the number of times they visit to the minimum needed for membership to be approved, (to keep their cost down), they are welcome to visit as frequently as they want until we are all much safer as a group.

I like to think we are a welcoming bunch and by encouraging frequent visits during the sign up process we like to get to know them and get them to know us as well. I often head out to the range to sight in one rifle and spend hours there helping others solve issues simply because they want the help.


NB I am not a member of deer stalkers. From what I hear Chch was not as bad as all that but I cannot say for sure as I have never actually been there, but I was a member of Blenheim many years ago when I was much younger and they were good then....

I joined the Palmy branch when I was 17 - 52 years ago - I helped put the first coat of paint on the roof when they bought the hall from a church - I spent several years donating meat and processing it for stalls in the Square to raise funds for the hall development - I ended up on the committee - but when I became a serious meat hunter to build my own home - I got the message from the committee that it was not an acceptable practice - so I resigned and got on with it - at that stage I had been on a couple of South Island club trips - a wapiti cull and a west coast tahr/chamois hunt
A year or so back I joined the Tauranga branch as an oldie - I was hoping to get back into regular hunting and club trips - but found it very difficult to break into the old boys groups - not once was I introduced at a meeting as a new member - the only buggar that showed any friendship was Maca49 - after about four meetings I gave up and haven’t renewed my membership
If I can respectfully offer some advice to NZDA - please make some effort to introduce new members at meetings and try to get them involved in club trips or range shoots