Deerstalkers seek new home
Story from Otago Daily Times.
Upper Clutha deerstalkers (from left) Bruce Gillies, Wade Briscoe and president Dan Orbell train at one of the club's former rifle ranges, near Wānaka, in 2013. A decade on, the club is looking for a new home. PHOTO: ODT FILES
The Upper Clutha Deerstalkers Association is on the hunt for a new rifle range — again.
It is the second time in two decades the association secretary Murray Burns has put the call out to rural property owners willing to provide a site where local hunters can safely train and practice their skills under supervision.
It is a delicate situation the deerstalkers have found themselves in, with land use changes in Wanaka’s rural surrounds, Otago Regional Council rules governing potential lead contamination and central Government concerns about supervision and training after the Christchurch mosque murders in 2019.
Mr Burns said the deerstalkers’ original rural site between Lake Hawea and Luggate was lost when the land was developed for dairy farming.
The association’s access to another rural site closer to Albert Town ended in 2022 and since then, the club has been using a commercial range at Cardrona.
Mr Burns said the club was hankering for its own home.
It needed to be remote, with a hill to shoot into to constrain the potential for hazards, and in a place where noise and associated activities were tolerated or could be mitigated.
He explained a rifle range needed more than just permission from the landowner.
They also needed to meet local and regional council rules and regulations around safety and hazard mitigation, and be certified by police and the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association.
Mr Burns said the club had extensive public liability insurance cover, and all shooting activity would be regulated and controlled by rostered, certified, duty range officers.
The Upper Clutha Deerstalkers Association was prepared to negotiate terms of occupation with any landowner to ensure the range site was kept compliant and tidy.
The association had approached the Queenstown Lakes District Council and the Department of Conservation to see if it could access public land, with no luck, he said.
"We are not looking for money, just a new site.
"The consequences of not having a site is we have nowhere to practice or compete or provide a safe training environment for both experienced hunters and junior members new to recreational shooting,” he said.
The old days of shooting from Rob Roy Lane into the Mt Iron hillside were long gone, he said.
"That was in the ’70s and ’80s, when the community was well disposed to firearms and hunting . . . We need to find the perfect spot where there are no residences in proximity."
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