Wildside - Join an Outdoor Club

Your club needs you

© Zane Mirfin, Wildside Column, Your club needs you, Nelson Mail, 3 July 2010

There are any number of outdoor clubs and associations you can align yourself with, depending on your interests.’’



Does yours measure up?: Ike Mirfin assists NZDA Nelson secretary Warren Plum.

A recent evening out to the Nelson Branch of New Zealand Deerstalkers Association (NZDA) made me realise the true value of belonging to outdoor clubs and associations.

The annual NZDA head measuring night is eagerly awaited on the local sporting calendar with another great
collection of animal horns, antlers and tusks shot by members in the last calendar year.

It’s great to see the success enjoyed by local members and I don’t think winning or losing really figures in why club members attend the evening – you don’t even need to enter a head to enjoy the night.

Last year, Mirfin thar heads achieved 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the Bob Baigent Cup for horned game, but this year I don’t think the Mirfin brothers had any luck with the few chamois and thar heads we put on the table. It didn’t matter – it was great to look and talk with other members about what they had been up to and what trips they had enjoyed in the past 12 months.

My boy, Ike, came along for the first time, and loved it. I don’t think rabbit shooting will ever be the same for him
again, because he now has his sights set on bigger game.

Rob Shuttleworth had a massive 15-point red-deer head on display which scored 285 on the Douglas Score (DS). He also had some wild ram horns from the remote Clarence River scoring DS 85. Rob comes from
impeccable deerstalking genetics (Jack and Charlie Shuttleworth were iconic Kiwi stalkers and authors in the
golden age of New Zealand hunting), but his red deer trophy at last year’s head night was nothing short of
incredible. Scoring DS 356, it was a massive rack of antlers that dwarfed everything else and went on to win the National NZDA Orbell Trophy for the best head of any species.

Cunningly, the club had its annual meeting on the same night. President Bill O’Leary and secretary-treasurer
Warren Plum retained their long-running positions and it is obvious many clubs and associations rely on one or two key members to keep their organisations afloat.

Warren has always been a hero of mine, and his role in the success of the club over his 36 years of membership is immeasurable.

He is proud of the Nelson branch membership of 400 and climbing, and enjoys the large number of younger men who are motivated by increased opportunities of recent years.

Warren told me a story about local farmer Lloyd Higgins and his granddaughter both entering red stag heads on the same night one year. ‘‘What other sport could you have grandfather and granddaughter competing and enjoying at the same level?’’

Club patron Lester Bowden paid homage to the proud history of the club.

The next day I was able to call another of my hunting heroes, Gordon Max of Brightwater, a foundation
member of the Nelson Deerstalkers way back in 1948, who was very pleased to know that his club was in good heart.

Having been a member of the NZDA since I can remember, I’ve always enjoyed the social camaraderie of our club nights, but an effective club or association is much more. NZDA has 50 branches and about 8000 members. Local membership benefits include the Packer’s Creek rifle range, where rifles can be sighted in
and where local, national and international competitive shooting events are held; Red Deer Lodge, situated at St Arnaud, which houses some of the greatest red deer trophies shot in New Zealand by local men such as Gordon Atkinson, Newton McConochie and Temple Sutherland; hunter training; and national advocacy on behalf of hunters on issues such as gun ownership, access, dogs, poison and bureaucracy.

There are any number of outdoor clubs and associations you can align yourself with, depending on your interests.

I’ve been a keen member of the Nelson Trout Fishing Club for more than 30 years. We have such a great time at our club, although the advancing age of the membership is a concern, with no junior members – I may well be the youngest member at 42.

But the club has been invigorated by the enthusiastic membership of many anglers who speak with English, American, Swiss, German and South African accents. The club was started by Chappie Chapman, a man of great magnetism and personality. Saltwater anglers are possibly the one weak link in New Zealand membership of clubs and associations. Nationwide, there is real concern over the effective lack of representation for recreational anglers because Government and the Ministry of Fisheries don’t know who to engage and negotiate with. The lion’s share of resource allocation goes to commercial and iwi interests, because they are organised and can lobby Government effectively. That’s
another reason to join a club like our Tasfish.

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