National Board Reports February 2026

NZDA 2025-26 National Board, photographed at the 77th Conference and AGM in July 2025, Invercargill. (Absent S. Langslow, and W. Iglesias)

Dear members,

We are at membership renewal time and you would have or will shortly receive you annual membership invoice. While this has great benefits for you its is also the main source of funding for the NZDA National Office and branches. At a national level it affords us to advocate for you at the highest level and continue to serve the membership with member discounts, insurance and representation when we face issues such as firearms reform access issues and much more. The portion that goes to your branch keeps the lights on and contributes to branch led initiatives in your communities and for branch members.

With the roar just around the corner, I would like to stress the importance of safety, no meat is better than no mate, even if the meat has antlers attached! Identify your target beyond all doubt and ensure you are taking the animal you want. I hope you all get a chance to get out and experience our New Zealand back country at this exciting time of year. It is a part of our hunting heritage and culture to take part in some form of roar hunting, this time of year creates lasting memories with friends and family, good luck and stay safe out there.

Unexpectedly, we have had two of our board members choose to step down from the national board. This sudden action has resulted in some swift decision making by the board. As per clause 19 in our National Constitution, the board has resolved to appoint Ash Foley, a current secondment to the board, as our interim South Island representative, and Willy Iglesias (also currently seconded) as our interim North Island representative. I would like to thank our outgoing board members for their work on the NZDA board and wish them all the best in their future endeavours.

Mark Elliotte has opted to spend more time with his family and see’s the NZDA board work streams as not the best use of his time. I understand this well as the governance work can be quite demanding and take its toll, especially when our operations team has been performing above expectations. Resulting in the board having to engage in more governance oversight and decision making on a range of issues. Trevor Gratton has cited issues with the direction of the board not aligning with his personal values and has opted to support the NZDA in more of a grass roots role at branch level that suits his skill set.

I look forward to the continued support from Willy and Ash, their professional and quality governance advice, complements the board well. The board and association is in a very strong position at present. Coming from an annual budget of around 300k when I first was elected to the board 6.5 years ago to a trading budget of 2 million this year (subject to accounting adjustments) speaks volumes. 

December 2025 saw John Taylor step down as national secretary after two years, a solid contribution to the board, I would like to thank John for his commitment and top notch delivery of the secretarial and officer role during this time. The board is pleased to announce Daniel Friedman has returned to the secretary seat and as an officer of the association. NZDA national secretary is not a foreign concept to Dan, he has served in this position from 2019 to 2023. I am happy to see him back, his skill set is exactly what the board needs to continue functioning at a high level.

NZDA has some exciting initiatives to be rolled out this year - keep your eyes peeled for our national raffle, the biggest and best prize yet, or re joining prize pack and much more.

Hot barrels and happy hunting.

Hi Members,

The past month has been a busy one at both Branch and National levels. The NSC continues to chip away at the ongoing work around competitive shooting, and at our most recent meeting two of our new discipline reps gave a great overview of their focus areas and priorities.

In late January, I had the privilege of attending the Bench Rest North Island Champs. The core North Island group went all-out — they set up a full Bench Rest race gun and on-site reloading setup so I could get the full experience. It truly was something special, and I’m very grateful to the five BR shooters who welcomed me into the fold.

This past weekend, I competed at the Northern Regional Champs hosted by the North Auckland Range. It was a fantastic event, with 35 competitors from four eligible branches taking part. Among them were four of our Volunteer National Board Members, including our National President. A big thank‑you to the North Auckland crew for running such a smooth event, and to the Whangarei Branch and Nightvision NZ for sponsoring $1,000 worth of spot prizes.

We’re fast approaching Wilkinson Postal Shoot season, so dust off those deer silhouettes and give them a tune‑up. Two branches reached out to me on Sunday for advice during their pre‑shoot briefing, and based on the results I’ve already seen, the bar is set high for 2026. This year, I’d like all participating Branches to send in your total shooter numbers along with your top three scorecards. This will help us build a clearer picture of nationwide participation.

That’s all from me for now. As always, feel free to email me anytime if there’s anything I can help with.

Keep your powder dry, and hot barrels, everyone.

The year is off to a strong start. Thank you to everyone who made a submission on the Arms Bill. It’s important that all hunting and shooting groups and clubs support one another and avoid infighting as we navigate these turbulent times for firearms ownership. A special thank you to Gwyn for all your work on NZDA’s submission.

Our first board meeting of the year is now in the books, and I’m optimistic that we’ll achieve some significant goals in the months ahead. Planning for this year’s conference is well underway, and it’s shaping up to be another excellent event. I hope to see as many of you there as possible.

The roar is fast approaching, so I hope everyone is making preparations and getting their gear sorted in the hopes of securing that trophy of a lifetime. My own training to be #roarfit is a bit behind schedule thanks to some illness and injuries, so I’ll need to pull my finger out and get back into it especially with another big trip on the horizon.

Make sure to get along to your local club night and thank the committee as from experience NZDA is like a iceberg, you only see a little bit of what is happening and some of the biggest wins are never seen.

Good luck for the next few months and hot barrels.