Thread: St Arnaud sighting in area.

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.