Updates from the Southern Lakes Branch

May 2024 Newsletter

Next Meeting

MAY

Join online via Zoom

Agenda for the next club night

6.30pm Pot Luck Dinner

7.45pm AGM (voting in new committee)

8.00pm Meeting starts (Shortened tonight)

8.45pm Beer and food refills

9.00pm Meeting attendance prizes drawn

9.15pm Judging & Results of Antler, Tusk & Horn Competition

9.30pm Drinks and Social Catch up

10.30pm End of meeting

CLUB MEETING VENUE

Arrowtown Bowling Club,

6 Hertford Street, (Next to Arrowtown Firestation)

Pot Luck Dinner next meeting

It's cold & dark and so what better to do than bring a dish (doesn't have to be game animal based) and catch up on hunting stories!

The May meeting is our pot luck meal and AGM. This is a great social event to catch up with members you may not have seen for a while.

Bring a dish, your partner or family member for a 6.45pm (ish) dinner before the AGM and prize draws.

Every time you attend a meeting, your name goes in the hat for a prize*:-

$300 worth of Hunting and Fishing vouchers up for grabs
Hunting Items giveaway
Club Shirt

The only rules are that you must be a paid up member and be at the AGM to collect your prize. We have special draws for juniors but due to the lateness of the meeting, they do not have to be there anymore, (we changed that a few years ago) only their family member (parent etc).

Please label your plate if you want it back.

* The ballots we used to offer have dried up (some due to change of station managers and some due to mis-use of the land by hunters - not necessarily our branch)

Anyway we have swapped ballots for prizes

Antler, Horn and Tusk Competition

The annual club competition for antler, horn and tusks is at the next meeting on the 30th May.

This is where we judge trophies against the Douglas Score shot by members over the last 12 months, and any suitable for the national competition are entered in that too.

How to enter

There are no formal entry forms for the local competition night - you just turn up with a clean trophy (no maggots please!) however we try to get these scored in advance so less to do on the night.

Horns don't take to much time to score but fallow and a large set of red antlers do.

You can drop them off at 24 Herries Lane in Lake Hayes Estate with a sheet of paper containing your name, when and where you shot it, (rough area) and your phone number. We are holding a Douglas Score evening at Herries lane on the 28th May if you want to bring yours over.

If you won a trophy or cup last year, could you please arrange to return it in advance so that Alex can get it polished and engraved.

In past years, we have often had no entrants in many categories as everyone thinks theirs is not going to be worth bringing in or score high enough, but it's a great chance to bring in your antlers, horns, tusks etc however big or small and a great chance to recount your story and show them off.

You never know you could win the trophy by default being the only entrant, especially in the goat, tusks and junior categories.

Categories for trophies, (remembering you have to be "in it to win it")

Red Deer
Tahr
Chamois
Fallow
Goat
White Tail deer
Wapiti
Pig Tusks
Best Head overall
Junior Trophy
Ladies Trophy

Friendly remember : Only CLEAN sculls will be accepted.

National Competition
If you want to enter your head into the NZDA national competitions, you will need to download the official National NZDA form on the website and get a member of the committee to sign it for you.

Invitation to visit the new range
operated by NZ Wild Ltd

Open Sunday 19th May 2024 10 am to 3 pm

This new range near Fairlight (Kingston) is now fully certified and open for sporting and hunting rifles and is authorised for the use of:

Bolt action centre fire and rimfire
Shotguns all types
Semi-automatic rimfire
P endorsed firearms with appropriate current endorsement

And has the following distances available:

25m – Rimfire when target board is in place
50m - Rimfire and Centrefire
100m - Centrefire and Rimfire
200m – Centrefire and rimfire

NZDA members are invited along this weekend

Range fees are $10 pp (NZDA members) payable at the range and you need to register with Shaun in advance (text him on 027 442 1605) so that there are enough Range Officers on site

Please ensure you read in advance the
Range Introduction information
and the
Range Standing orders

Save the dates - Club Events

The event calendar is starting to fill out again - prices and registration is not available till July but some dates for the diary

4th - 6th Oct - Club Tahr Hunt in Mt Cook

13th - 15th Sept - Ladies Hunt at Dunston Downs Station

This is a long newsletter .........

If you are reading the newsletter on your phone, be sure to look out for the View Entire Message link at the end so you don't miss out on all the information, links and images.

Permit Reminder

You need to apply for an open hunting permit EVERY 4 months.

You used to be able to just renew your last one but due to data protection worries the Department of Conservation are erring on the side of caution and not storing your data at the moment - hence you have to reapply each time.

Editor/ Secretaries Note

Time to have a holiday?

I really struggle with time to do everything for the NZDA especially to write the newsletters and would LOVE someone to help or step up to be secretary if possible. Happy to give full training etc. Just give me a call and even the smallest help would be amazing

Hence the lack of newsletter recently - sorry about that

Cheers Sharon

LAST NEWSLETTER

Goat Competition

There are some rumours that the successful goat competition ran last year will be happening again this year from August .

The club will look to put on a few goat shoots - so stay tuned

Photo Competition Winners

Last meeting held the annual club photo competition.

Congratulations to the winners - and all images will be available for the next newsletter

RESULTS OF THE CLUB PHOTO COMPETITION

Section A - Trophy Animals (dead)

1st - Katie Dugan

2nd - Katie Dugan

3rd - David Veitch

Section B2 - Game Animals (live)

1st - David Veitch

2nd - Sarah Veitch

3rd - Kerrin Bernnard

Section B - Other Wildlife

1st - Kerrin Bernnard

2nd - Pete Henderson

3rd - Kerrin Bernnard

Section C - Scenic

1st - Katie Dugan

2nd - Kerrin Bernnard

3rd - David Veitch

Section D - Flora

1st - Kerrin Bernnard

2nd - Katie Dugan

3rd - Kerrin Bernnard

Section E - Human Interest

1st - Pete Henderson

2nd - Katie Dugan

3rd - Katie Dugan

If you won a trophy or cup last year, could you please arrange to return it so that Alex can get it engraved.

Stoat Trap Line

Dave Rider looks after the branch trap line co-ordination.

We do the traps for a number of reasons: Mainly because it is a great thing to do and helps eradicate the pests, but also to off-set the $1000 per hut concession fee we would normally have to pay to DOC for each hut. They take into account the conservation work and volunteer hours and give us a reduction on the amount of volunteer conservation work we have done.

The traps have been in the valley for a significant time and we started the maintenance of them in April but we still have a few left to replace.

Dave will be organising the usual Sept working bee to co-incide with hunting in Steele Creek.

If you are keen to be involved check out the event details and register for the working bee event below

Sept Working Bee Greenstone Hut

We will be working hard but we will also be playing hard as well and cater for all ages. This is a great chance to get to know fellow club members over a whisky/beer/wine or juice around the table at night.

These working bees are always a popular and fun event.

The Club has the Steele Creek RHA Ballot from the 20th Sept to the 30th Sept as part of our management agreement with DOC so there is ample opportunity for hunting as well.

No firearms licence?

You are more than welcome to come along too - these are perfect opportunities to learn more in a safe and professional environment in a relaxed learning setting.

Our Huts

We have a number of new members - so want to remind everyone tthat as a benefit of club membership; you have FREE access to stay at either hut in the Caples and Greenstone Valleys. Although hunting is only April - Sept, they are a great place to stay to go fishing or take your family for a hiking trip.

Upper Caples and Mid Greenstone Hut

Membership renewal

We finished the 2023/24 membership year with a record number of 250 members. New membership started 1st March and 178 have renewed to date, thanks for everyone that has done so.

It's been a busy few months so if you haven't renewed, this is a reminder to do it ASAP as you will not be covered for the NZDA benefits.

The membership app (example below) makes it really easy to renew (and see much further down how to download the app for your phone).

If you are paying via electronic banking please help us by using your invoice number in the bank reference.

Benefits of membership

Full benefits at national and branch level
NZ Hunting and Wildlife magazine (digital version)
National newsletter and updates
Branch newsletter and access to club members portal
Eligible to enter national and branch competitions
Eligible to join committees
Includes public liability insurance
Able to stay at our club huts for FREE (Mid Greenstone and Upper Caples)
Access to the club private chat group on Facebook

Cost of renewal

The total cost consists of a breakdown of fees:
National Office & our branch costs $141.50 (NZD) plus the $8.50 levies (Money that goes to the research fund, COLFO and Heritage Trust) where applicable.

Total costs of types of membership (including levies)

Senior (18 - 64 years) $150
Junior (under 18) $50
Family (child or partner) $15
Superannuant (Over 65) $95
Student (apprentice or studying) $65
Affiliate (already a member of another branch) $30

This is also a good time to check your personal details are correct as your membership card will be sent to the postal address on file.

Important information

It is now a legal requirement under the Arms Amendment Act 2022 for our club to record firearms licence details, please add your if we do not have it.

Too complicated ? and want to just pay?

No drama - Just pay the membership fee you believe to be correct to the club bank account

ASB: 12-3405-0071329-00

Occasionally we do get it wrong, so feel free to email or call if something does not look right

Example of what the membership looks like on the Wild Apricot App

HUNTS course

The Hunts instructors are tentatively looking at running a course over the Winter and we should have some dates in the next month.

There is a lot to arrange: areas to hunt, accommodation and teaching venue so watch this space.

If you haven't already mentioned it to the instructors, email them on hunts@southernlakesnzda.org.nz and they can add you to the list.

Cost is around $500 for a course run over 3 weekends

Free online training

The Game Animal Council launched their FREE online hunter training modules at the end of last year.

Great for those wishing to brush up their skills from the comfort of a sofa

Animal Harvest Recording

The Animal Harvest Tally is a branch initative to gather a record of animals our club members have shot to show our contribution to conservation and animal management.
Please take 5 mins to enter your details/ shooting returns.

Thanks

Animal Harvest Tally

Membership Apps for members

We get a few questions about the app (there are two) so have written some more info about it on the website

Our club uses a program to manage our membership and events and it is available as an app. It's really helpful to be able to interact with other members and check out the events online

Download below and then use your email and password to log in – if you don’t know your password – just press forgot password and you will be sent a new one

Instructions on downloading the app