Thread: St Arnaud sighting in area.

Originally Posted by Shearer

Yes. It is quite possible I have a different perception and experience of the NZDA than you. And possibly different expectations.
No reason at all why target shooting shouldn't be part of what the NZDA does.
From my experience, a lot of deer stalkers aren't interested in organized target shooting or spending all day at a range. They simply want to put a couple of rounds through their deer stalking rifle to verify zero and then go deer stalking. My nearest NZDA range is over an hours drive away and is open only for very limited times. I know each local club is different but I just looked on my local clubs calendar for this month and the range is open today from 9-11am and there are two shooting competitions later in the month. No mention of any deer stalking going on.
As far as NZDA spending time on target shooting goes, each to their own, but the opportunity to have numerous small "sighting-in" areas scattered around the country on public land, for public use, is golden.

I think it's great if DOC do provide a formal range where firearms owners can sight their rifle in, I'm sure this will be dependent on the local DOC office and their views.
The range was present prior to the law changes and it is only due to the people in the local DOC office that it will still be available post these law changes......there are a number of ranges that have ceased to exist post 24th June.

Your original comment come across as you objected to NZDA spending time advocating for anything other than hunting and the only purpose for NZDA was advocating for hunting.
I'm still unsure what NZDA has been doing that leads you to believe they are spending time advocating for target shooting, so please elaborate.