Thread: Long Range Hunting and F-Class Target Shooting.

Greetings to you all,
A post about a long range shoot in the Clubs Forum reinforced my recent thinking about the close links between longer range hunting (over 300 metres) and F-Class target shooting. It is likely that not that many read that Forum so a post here seemed to be a good idea so here goes.
I had always been interested in hunting and the outdoors since a trip to Makino Hut in 1963. I finally joined NZDA about 1980. The Hastings Deerstalkers Club was located next door to the now defunct Roy's Hill Rifle Range and had a full calendar of shoots with four 4P rifle shoots plus Running Boar shoots each year. Attendance was in the 20 to 40 shooters range to each event including Ladies and Juniors. There were also about three full bore rifle clubs using the Roy's Hill Range shooting out to 900 yards using .308 rifles. These had aperture sights and slings and were shot without rests.
Over time the attendance at club shoots dwindled and the last shoot was held in September 2019 with only 3 shooters attending. The interest in 4P (four position) shooting nationally also seems to have dwindled. This is no doubt due to to most hunters shooting longer ranges with a bipod.
So what is next? So on the one hand we have an increasing number of hunters shooting Deer at longer ranges with a shortage of longer legal rifle ranges for the testing and zeroing required for accurate shooting. On the other hand we have excellent rifle ranges, out to 1,000 yards, complete with some fabulous kit for marking shots and reading down range velocity and legal. Many of the shooters using these latter ranges are often in the senior age groups. It appears that the Club in the post I referred to earlier is making an attempt to bridge this gap as others also have done.
So what is Grandpamac droning on about? If you are in the long range hunting crowd and struggling to find a legal range to test on, have a chat to your local NRA club. They might be just what you need.
Regards Grandpamac.