President Reports
April 2017
Hi all
So I was looking forward to meeting some new and for that matter old faces at the AGM yeah right!, Well I am honored to have the old team back together for another year with one new guy Kevin Start on board as well.
So this is the year we hope to get it done so as we have new projects to come ,so I will ask again that you get out and help build your range and if not able send in a donation a cash cheque will be fine
Well hopefully you will have read the new proposed reforms to the Firearms Act or had discussions around it, I would hope that you really think and put pen to paper on this as the changes proposed will have an impact on the firearms you may hold and also amount of ammunition you may have.
Please don’t think this will not worry me, it’s only the E cat class that have a problem , well you are dead wrong, that little 10/22 or the semi auto shotgun you use for duck shooting may have to be re-classed and that going to cost –you and then the possibility of new security.
Ammunition sales will require registration, and the amount recorded who’s going to pay for that, what if you reload, will you have to record the number of rounds, what will this do to the shooting club that you may belong to i.e. Gun Clubs/Pistol clubs they on sell ammo to you??
Well food for thought so please don’t be that typically apathetic kiwi make sure that you have your say and vote accordingly at the election. Contact your local MP and tell them you are unhappy.
I have written to the Minster of Police and asked if she would be able to attend one of our socials to give her views and listen to your feedback so watch this space.
So we held the ANZAC Shoot on 22 April, the turn out from this branch was poor to say the least, we had arranged good sponsors and a had a good feed laid on so what’s the problem , too scared to face the pressure, cost too much $120 bucks (60 rds ammo,$40 entry)for one day of the year and also supporting your branch it can’t be that bad, we even had an open class so you could shoot your hunting rifle, well maybe next year.
The results of the day
Service rifle:
Gold Malcolm Gillice NZDA Rotorua
Silver Rodney M BOPSRA
Bronze Jason Davis Wellington Service Rifle
Sporterised military:
Gold Mark Paulger NZDA Rotorua
Silver Kevin Story Auckland Service Rifle
Bronze Brady Paulger NZDA Rotorua
I would like to use this to thank our sponsors
Outdoorsman Headquarters
Steve’s Wholesale
Hunting and Fishing Rotorua
Bayleys Real Estate
On a final note we have our working bee on the 13th May out at Range see you there
Cheers
Colin
Presidents Report September / October 2016
Hi all,
Well what an intense month this has been for all. We had a proposal on the floor to use some of the investment account to complete the range developments. We had exhausted our current funds and could lose the remaining cheap fill coming to the range. The range developments would have been on hold and this would not have been an ideal position to be in. We had a very robust and honest discussion, which I would like to believe made our committee a more untied team. With the vote being unanimous, we can now move forward and finish the project.
However we will still require the support from members and companies to gain sponsorship etc. as we will need to plant out new berms and borrow equipment to get the work done under budget as we have to return this investment.
Dennis and I have been busy checking up on a donation of material from Super Dooper Signs, who through the good hindsight of Mike Jamieson, donated timber for our range development. We then shot over to the Mount to check up on sheets of corrugated iron, which we will use to cover over the 200m mound. This iron is 15m long so will require to be pre-cut to length. We will need a truck to deliver, lengths to be 7.5m. Can anyone help out with this? If so, please contact myself or Dennis and we can work out a date.
While attending the Sika Show I caught up with Bill O’Leary and I told him of our on-going developments out at our range. He was very positive of the plan and he could see the on-going positives for the Branch and to sport shooting.
We had Neil Philpott attend at our latest social. The social night was also the prize giving and one guy that stood out was young Joshua Lang. He cleaned up most with his Tar head. Well done young fella - the beginning of a future trophy hunter? The night was well supported and Denley will be able to take a decent cheque along to the Sika Foundation. Also in for the night was the President of the Waikato branch and the President of the Easter Bay Branch. Not a bad get together.
I would like to introduce our new editor to the committee John Moreland. Great to have you on board. Should you wish to have articles or photos in the newsletter, his email is editornzdarotorua@gmail.com. Look out for the new newsletter soon.
Finally I had a call from Forest and Bird asking for a donation to save the fairy terns in the Tauranga harbour, as they are extremely rare which is not good. But I kindly pointed out the statement made at the MOU on the Whirinaki Forest Park by one such member, that she would like to see 1080 used to eradicate all the deer as we have no need to hunt them now that meat is available in shops. I suggested to the caller that they drop 1080 around the island and that will eradicate the predator problem. The caller also said that they needed public donations as they get no funding from the Government. I replied they should contact the Minister of DOC as she publicly indorsed the use of 1080 for pest control in the “Battle of the Birds” campaign.
Finally I have crossed off one of the bucket list must do’s - fire a Barrett 50cal. Ken Roundtree from NZAR15 brought one along to the Rapids Comp over the weekend; and kindly gave all competitors a free shot – awesome! I have arranged to get this rifle back as I’m sure that members out there would also like to try this rifle to say they have fired one. I will arrange a shoot with it in the upcoming Junior Swazi shoot.
Cheers
Colin
Presidents Report July/August 2016
Hi all
I must apologise for the no show lately, have been doing shift work and have had family commitments in Auckland, so haven’t been around much.
So I will attempt to bring you up to date with what’s been happening around the traps so to speak.
Firstly it appears that every time I walk into the Outdoorsman there has been a problem out at the range with people either wanting to shoot off the 300 mound and the 200 is in use or the other way round people on the 300 and others waiting to shoot off the 200.
Yes I realise that range use has increased and we are working to separate off these two fields/ranges, so should you rock out there please respect the people shooting first and wait till they have completed their business.
No single range or person has precedent OK?.
Also we have noticed a hell of a lot of shotgun cases lying about which is a concern as we do not really shoot shotgun out at the range unless it is in controlled event or solid slug - of which the cases were not.
So should you wish to pattern test your shotgun please do so down at the 200m berm, and take your empty cases home - we don’t need them !!
So what else has been happening?
Well by now you will have seen large amounts of fill being placed along the edge of the 200. We hope to have a digger out there soon to lift this up and increase the berm height. But the weather hasn’t really been playing the game, we will also be using a large front end loader down from Rotorua Quarries to shift fill over from edge of 300 to complete the height and also to lengthen the berm from to 200 to the 300. So expect some range close ours a different times these will be posted should we require this to happen although we will endeavour to use machinery in conjunction with working bees.
We have held a few working bees lately and the support was awesome even with the inclement weather. A big thanks to those who rocked along to frame up the hut front wall in readiness for the window and the team from CNIGC - Isaac and Bryce - who rocked up and dug out the foundations for the Bio loo, well done boys.
Also last weekend Mark Paulger and Dennis finished off the framing and installed the new slider frame, with Kenny and the boys fitting the glass hardware. So now the job is done and looks real cool
Well done to all that have worked on this
So the last big push will be to finish off the bioloo, paint the soffit etc. and fit the spouting and tank, this we would like to get done ASAP. Stay tuned for the next W/Bee.
At the last social the Graff Boys were there and by all accounts was another good night well done the organisers.
As you may obviously be aware the news letters have been a little sparse in coming, the reason is Elvis is very snowed under not only with work commitments but also with the secretary role so I am putting out a request for someone to step up a have a crack at owning the newsletter, so please if this is you get in touch with Elvis should you require further information.
Also while on the situations vacant page have you /do you know of anyone who may have a large digger, tractor with bucket frontend loader etc. that is sitting around needing some work that we could borrow to save on earthmoving costs etc. we would really appreciate the opportunity to use it out at the range.
Please contact one of the range committee or myself
Well that’s it for now folks however stay tuned to the web site as we will be organising the prize giving night soon, that’s is if you managed to front up with something to measure .
Cheers
Colin
