FFS, this went from sane to insanity.
$15 - letter of intent form GMA (allowed to target shoot and hunt, but not deer)
$50’ish - deer permit (allowed to target shoot and hunt, inc. deer)
$free - letter from neighbour (allowed to target shoot and hunt, but not deer*).
Seriously, there is no need to overcomplicate this stuff.
*NFI how it works with deer permit/lack of on private property.
This only satisfies the Hunting reason right? How do you get the sport reason on then without joining a club?
I don’t need sport on my licence to shoot targets, I can go to the range if want or shoot targets on private property ( much more convenient for me) with a hunting endorsed license.
I’m not sure if you can hunt with a target licence, but it’s easy to ring lrd and have hunting updated on your licence with the proof of any of the above options.
I believe you can shoot deer on private property in Victoria without a game licence, I may be wrong though so check it out instead of taking my word for it.
The State you live in has a big BIG relevance on the type of license you need to do the differing things. This was all about Victoria at least the info I gave was for Vic only. What Gun-DMC has said is Vic related. NSW and QLD have some strange requirements and we wont even go to WA
@Tempestman - not right. In Vic you just need one.
You can provide (and should) both reasons, target shooting and hunting. However a stalking permit or letter of intent is fine. Joining a club or an association, unless you actually want to or need to compete (e.g. handguns) is absolutely not required.
You’re Victorian right?
Going off a document the local DFO gave me when I did the safety course, they said that the hunting genuine reason doesn’t allow you to shoot targets on private property?
.@juststarting
Are there other ways to provide a genuine reason for sport then, other than join the SSAA, who are starting to sound unpopular?
Correct, on private property you’d need target shooting on your license, but that can be amended later. That’s what I did. That comes comes much later.
I know some bumpkins here would disagree, but we are city dwellers, so we go to the range a lot more than the paddock. I wouldn’t worry about it to start with.
Look, SSAA are c**ts. Organisational governance speaking. However they provide insurance for an extra $20 and discount range access. Operationally, in Vic at least, there’s financial benefit. And ranges are great, well, that’s what I think anyway.
Alternatively, you can look at the Shooters Union. That would be more of an ethical decision, than financial.
Or both.
In your situation, right now, since I’m familiar with it, I’d:
pay SSAA, because you’d make that money back from going to the range; if you don’t have $80-$100 or just under afaik to spare, $15 letter of intent is the way to go.
I was just wondering if I made a bad move in forking out for the 5 year membership. Discount range access does sound nice though.
HAHA and I thought that our rules sucked, well they do but at renewal time you just go to the post office or do it online no need for letters etc. Just like renewing your drivers license.
Nah, it’ll pay for itself.
Thanks mate, that is news to me and possibly new.
So can anyone tell me if shooters union is an approved club in Victoria?
Really in Vic the only time I would suggest you put Target or sport as a genuine reason is if they could get no other reason. As shooting at a Range is allowed with any other category why complicate things.
I am one of those bumpkins that would disagree about shooting Targets on Private property. I have seen that document @Tempestman has attached. There are also another two I think in the Act and the Regulations that show differently and there is wording about being 200 m from a neighbors house and 150 from the road and having a good backstop not more than 5 people not more than 3 hours continuous something like that without having to notify your local cop if you want to do more notify them. So it is not even saying you cant do it, just notify them.
Best Reason is the hunting you can do everything, second best probably primary production and lastly would be sport.
In NSW however you have to have the Sport just to go to the range in addition to anything and everything else.
@sungazer think you muddied the water here a little. The document @Tempestman uploaded, by the way not the first time I am seeing is, is correct. Well, as correct as vaguely written policies are.
Again, hunting will cover 99% of shooting in his case.
Private property plinking however, requires ‘target shooting’ as a reason. For example, I have both on my licence.
I may have muddied the waters however that document has some errors on it. Is it the 2008 draft? On page 2 it talks about what a primary producer can do. ie shoot at a shooting range yet on page 3 it then switches to clay target shooting which it says the primary producer can not do. That is wrong.
From the ACT Part 12 Schedule 2 1.3
The holder is authorised to carry or use a longarm,
the carriage or use of which is authorised by the
licence, on an approved shooting range.
Longarm applies to rifles and shotguns
This is my interpretation. Really I think the Sport or Target Shooting category was made primarily for handguns. Even so going strictly by the book
(5) If one of the reasons for the licence is sport or
target shooting, the holder must be a member of
an approved club.
Why do I make my statement of Sport = Handguns if you look in Part 6A for approved clubs it only talks about Handgun clubs and then latter collectors clubs nothing about Longarm Clubs
Anyway as @juststarting would say I am not a lawyer or judge this is just my opinion.
The general disclaimer of nothing you read on this website or any other forum should be taken as fact
I have just been trolling through the Vic Pol website and as you say there is no mention of shooting clubs for sports shooting outside of handgun clubs.
I have just emailed LRD to ask if Shooters Union is an approved club for target endorsement on my Cat A/B Licence.
might actually go back now and ask if I need sport on my licence to shoot targets on private property.
It is a bit of a mess. I am not a member of the Australian Deer Hunters but I have a pretty close association with them with joint competition days as a couple of our members are on there committee. Anyway apparently membership of the ADHA is also considered as proof of or a genuine reason. It is a murky area that I bet the police dont really ever want to test. Remember the rules as written are only ever as good until they are tested in a court. Then all hell breaks loose. Sometime I think the police like to keep the rules as written as a big stick but when going for a prosecution default back to a known safe charge.
On that website I am sure there were a couple more spread sheets of what could be done but I cant find them now.
I have just sent this inquiry to LRD.
G’day
Do I need target shooting on my cat A/B licence to be able to shoot targets on private property?
Activities would include: shooting targets for fun, sighting in rifles, load development and informal clay shooting.
Thank you
I’ll post their reply when it comes and then we will know for sure.
Well, I’m confused. I’m in Vic and only have “hunting” on my license. Does that mean I can’t legally shoot targets on a farm?
Not 100% sure right now, but we’ll know soon enough. One way or another.
