Easiest way to add Hunting to a Sport shooting licence

[HulkFury]

Currently have a Sport shooting firearms licence Cat A only.

If I ever come across the opportunity to go hunting, what is the easiest way to add Hunting to my licence (Cat A+B)?

I don't know anyone with a property. Is the easiest thing to join the SSAA (over an hour's drive to the nearest range ), and attending that twice a year?

Seems silly that I still need to attend a minimum number of times if I've already got my licence for sport shooting, but I guess that's the Australia we live in

Also if I did obtain permission to shoot on a property, does that approval have a expiry? Am I allowed to shoot elsewhere or only on the approved property?

Thanks in advance

[bladeracer]

Currently have a Sport shooting firearms licence Cat A only.

If I ever come across the opportunity to go hunting, what is the easiest way to add Hunting to my licence (Cat A+B)?

I don't know anyone with a property. Is the easiest thing to join the SSAA (over an hour's drive to the nearest range ), and attending that twice a year?

Seems silly that I still need to attend a minimum number of times if I've already got my licence for sport shooting, but I guess that's the Australia we live in

Also if I did obtain permission to shoot on a property, does that approval have a expiry? Am I allowed to shoot elsewhere or only on the approved property?

Thanks in advance

In Victoria you just get an "Expression of Interest to Hunt Pest Animals on Crown Land" from the Game Management mob - $11.00.
SSAA or Field & Game membership should be sufficient, you shouldn't have to actually attend any competitions to hold membership.
Permission restrictions are organised between you and the property owner.
You're only allowed to carry or use firearms on properties you have permission to shoot on. In Victoria you are allowed to enter a property with an unloaded firearm only to approach the owner for permission. Otherwise, trespass with a firearm is fairly serious. Actually firing a firearm on _or across_ a property without permission is even worse.
The owner may also restrict which areas you're allowed to shoot in and what you're allowed to shoot at and what with - it's his property after all.

[bladeracer]

I haven't hunted in NSW yet, but it's fairly involved.
You need to book your visit to a State Forest and you have to carry a GPS (every hunter in your group) with the latest downloaded maps from the website.

[HulkFury]

I haven't hunted in NSW yet, but it's fairly involved..

I'm in NSW

[bigfellascott]

Just ring up the firearms registry, they should be able to advise you of what they need for you to do the addition. I can't remember exactly what I had to do to get target shooting put on the license (shooting clays) but I just rang them and I think the lady sorted it out there and then for me but not 100% sure as it was a few years back.

[ItsMe]

Hunting on any land other than your own requires written permission, not sure if this applies if you are hunting with the land owner.

Hunting on public land, i.e. State Forests or State Parks requires an R licence and an online booking to get your written permission as well as carry a GPS and so on as mentioned above.

[scaredyet]

I actually want to add target shooting on my licensed in NSW. I have hunting and pet control already what do I do

[Gamerancher]

My advice would be to join SSAA. You need to be a member of an "approved" club to add target shooting to a NSW licence. It also requires 4 attendances a year. If it is "too hard" to get to a range and sign in 4 times a year then I don't have an answer for you. SSAA membership gives you a "valid reason" for hunting, target and collecting. It also covers you nationwide for $20 million liability insurance while engaged in "any" shooting activity. Cheapest insurance I can find.

[bigfellascott]

My advice would be to join SSAA. You need to be a member of an "approved" club to add target shooting to a NSW licence. It also requires 4 attendances a year. If it is "too hard" to get to a range and sign in 4 times a year then I don't have an answer for you. SSAA membership gives you a "valid reason" for hunting, target and collecting. It also covers you nationwide for $20 million liability insurance while engaged in "any" shooting activity. Cheapest insurance I can find.

From memory you don't have to do the 4 attendances if you have hunting on your license, I know I never worried about it when I had target shooting on mine because my genuine reason for firearms was hunting/pest control the target side was just an addition, but best to ask those who make the decisions as to whether that is still the case or not (I'm in NSW by the way).

[Gamerancher]

You have to do the attendances if your membership is the only "genuine reason" on your licence.

[bigfellascott]

You have to do the attendances if your membership is the only "genuine reason" on your licence.

Correct Ol mate doesn't have too worry about attendance crap as he has hunting/pest control as his genuine reason.

[Gamerancher]

Just trying to help out, O.P might not be the only one wondering.

[pomemax]

OK I am in in nsw I have Cat A/B first of ring far and ask them they will tell you you need to be a member of a hunting club SSAA or the like = 2 more shoots a year
your cat A I bet you just shoot clay at the moment so you have to shoot= 4 times a year for that
so now you got to shoot 6 times a year .
in NSW its target shooting min 4 times a year hunting 2 times a year
attendance at any ssaa range you call tell them its to be recorded as a hunting or target

[bladeracer]

OK I am in in nsw I have Cat A/B first of ring far and ask them they will tell you you need to be a member of a hunting club SSAA or the like = 2 more shoots a year
your cat A I bet you just shoot clay at the moment so you have to shoot= 4 times a year for that
so now you got to shoot 6 times a year .
in NSW its target shooting min 4 times a year hunting 2 times a year
attendance at any ssaa range you call tell them its to be recorded as a hunting or target

I have no idea what a hunting club would be.
But I just looked at NSW Firearms Licencing:
http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/services/f ... ine_reason
"Recreational Hunting / Vermin Control Genuine Reason
This genuine reason applies to a person who wishes to participate in recreational hunting/vermin control (RHVC) activities as:

A current member of an approved club, or
The owner/occupier of rural land, or
A person who has permission to shoot from an owner/occupier of rural land, or
A person who has permission to shoot from a prescribed government agency, including the Department of Primary Industries."

According to that all you need is a game licence from DPI.
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/hunting

[Gamerancher]

You can tick both boxes on the sign in sheet at the range, hunting and target, on the one attendance. Therefore you only have to do 4 attendances per year to satisfy both, not 6. Trust me on this, I attend ranges all over Australia at least 40 times a year.
Using SSAA as your valid reason for hunting requires no further paperwork and opens up the country to you, they are national after all.
If you only have permission to shoot on a property near Cooma and are pulled up carrying firearms out near Cobar, you'll have some explaining to do.
To add target shooting to a NSW licence requires membership of an approved club. Attendances shouldn't be a problem as that is the whole idea, isn't it?

[bigfellascott]

You can tick both boxes on the sign in sheet at the range, hunting and target, on the one attendance. Therefore you only have to do 4 attendances per year to satisfy both, not 6. Trust me on this, I attend ranges all over Australia at least 40 times a year.
Using SSAA as your valid reason for hunting requires no further paperwork and opens up the country to you, they are national after all.
If you only have permission to shoot on a property near Cooma and are pulled up carrying firearms out near Cobar, you'll have some explaining to do.
To add target shooting to a NSW licence requires membership of an approved club. Attendances shouldn't be a problem as that is the whole idea, isn't it?

I don't know about that last bit mate, I added Target Shooting to my license a few years back when getting into clay target shooting and haven't been shooting for a good 2yrs since and haven't attended a range in that time, no issues so far but my Genuine Reason for CAT A and CAT B is hunting/vermin control so I guess that's all that's needed to satisfy things

When I got my license I had a letter from a landowner with permission to hunt/vermin control which was sent in as part of my application to acquire the license in the first place I also had target shooting on it as I was shooting at the SSAA range but gave that away after a few years as I wasn't shooting at the ranges because I found it a tad boring for my liking and wasn't interested in keeping the SSAA pockets lined anymore.

When I moved to NSW I got the Target shooting part of my license removed as I didn't need it anymore as I had no interest in shooting at the SSAA ever again, I had permission from a property owner so sent that paperwork in with my app for the NSW license, then later on I got interested in Clay Target shooting which required that I have Target shooting on my license so I rang up FAR and got the info on what I needed to do to get it put back on, I think they did it there and then but don't quote me on it (I just can't remember now) but it wasn't hard to sort out, they may have sent some paperwork to fill out but as I said it wasn't a big deal either way.

My advice to the OP is ring the FAR and ask the question, they are generally pretty good to deal with and usually give good advice on what is required to sort this out.

[bladeracer]

You can tick both boxes on the sign in sheet at the range, hunting and target, on the one attendance. Therefore you only have to do 4 attendances per year to satisfy both, not 6. Trust me on this, I attend ranges all over Australia at least 40 times a year.
Using SSAA as your valid reason for hunting requires no further paperwork and opens up the country to you, they are national after all.
If you only have permission to shoot on a property near Cooma and are pulled up carrying firearms out near Cobar, you'll have some explaining to do.
To add target shooting to a NSW licence requires membership of an approved club. Attendances shouldn't be a problem as that is the whole idea, isn't it?

I hate the often pushed "requirement" for new shooters to hand their money over to SSAA before they're allowed to join shooters ranks. I prefer they become a shooter first and see what SSAA is, or is not offering and then decide if they want to support them. Field & Game is the same as SSAA in granting your "legitimate reason" but I'm not aware of any other "hunting clubs" that qualify. Both memberships give you public liability insurance and offer insurance on your firearms, and both will send you several "magazines" full of advertisments.

If you simply get a game licence or permission from a landowner then you don't need the expense or attendances of any club membership. In NSW it seems you require F&G or SSAA membership for an R-class licence to shoot on public land though - can you confirm that Gamerancher?

It is perfectly legal to travel anywhere with your firearms in the hope of finding a property you can shoot on so there would be no explaining to do. Even if you only have a sport licence it is legal to travel with your firearms and shoot at whatever clubs you might come across, isn't it? I'm not aware of any requirement to be directly en-route to a specific range.

[bigfellascott]

You can tick both boxes on the sign in sheet at the range, hunting and target, on the one attendance. Therefore you only have to do 4 attendances per year to satisfy both, not 6. Trust me on this, I attend ranges all over Australia at least 40 times a year.
Using SSAA as your valid reason for hunting requires no further paperwork and opens up the country to you, they are national after all.
If you only have permission to shoot on a property near Cooma and are pulled up carrying firearms out near Cobar, you'll have some explaining to do.
To add target shooting to a NSW licence requires membership of an approved club. Attendances shouldn't be a problem as that is the whole idea, isn't it?

I hate the often pushed "requirement" for new shooters to hand their money over to SSAA before they're allowed to join shooters ranks. I prefer they become a shooter first and see what SSAA is, or is not offering and then decide if they want to support them. Field & Game is the same as SSAA in granting your "legitimate reason" but I'm not aware of any other "hunting clubs" that qualify. Both memberships give you public liability insurance and offer insurance on your firearms, and both will send you several "magazines" full of advertisments.

If you simply get a game licence or permission from a landowner then you don't need the expense or attendances of any club membership. In NSW it seems you require F&G or SSAA membership for an R-class licence to shoot on public land though - can you confirm that Gamerancher?

It is perfectly legal to travel anywhere with your firearms in the hope of finding a property you can shoot on so there would be no explaining to do. Even if you only have a sport licence it is legal to travel with your firearms and shoot at whatever clubs you might come across, isn't it? I'm not aware of any requirement to be directly en-route to a specific range.

Yes I travel anywhere I want with my firearms, I'm not some sort of criminal, if I have my firearms on my I'm usually going hunting and can give the law the contact details of the owner of the property I'm hunting on if they need to call them. I haven't gotten a letter of any landowners property I hunt on other than the original paperwork for when I applied for a license in the first place. If I had to carry a letter from every property I hunt on I would be carting around a A4 ream of paper with me

I'm with you mate I'm not a fan of being forced into the SSAA or any other org just so you can own firearms (they love this new system as it's increased their wealth incredibly over the years) everyone seems to think they have to join the SSAA to acquire a license - I know when I did my license they wanted me to put target shooting down as my Genuine Reason but I said f*** that, my Genuine Reason is hunting not poking paper, I did join them for a year and that was enough of their bulls**t for me, I never renewed my membership after that and have been happy to keep my $$ in my pocket ever since

There is a org called AHNi that you can join and use as a genuine reason to own a firearm (not sure if it's available in all states though) anyway my advice for anyone wanting to get a firearms license is find a property owner who is willing to let you hunt on there, get them to fill out the paperwork (name, contact/address details etc and send that in with your firearms app with cat A and B then you don't have to be beholding to the SSAA or any other org to keep your license genuine.

[bladeracer]

I just Googled AHNi and it turns out I'm already registered on their forum

[Gamerancher]

Gee you lot are a touchy bunch!
Never said anyone HAD to join SSAA. Was just a suggestion to the original question and another follow up question. It is not compulsory.
I don't know your history with SSAA and by the tone of your replies probably wouldn't want to.
I get good use out of my membership as I utilize their facilities a LOT due to my participation in Silhouette shooting.
Are you fella's that hate them so much the type who turns up to a range while there is a competition in progress and whinge about not being able to get out your "loudenboomer" and shoot the s**t out of the place? Had plenty of those conversations.
Oh, by the way, I don't have them down as my only "genuine need" either.

[bladeracer]

Gee you lot are a touchy bunch!
Never said anyone HAD to join SSAA. Was just a suggestion to the original question and another follow up question. It is not compulsory.
I don't know your history with SSAA and by the tone of your replies probably wouldn't want to.
I get good use out of my membership as I utilize their facilities a LOT due to my participation in Silhouette shooting.
Are you fella's that hate them so much the type who turns up to a range while there is a competition in progress and whinge about not being able to get out your "loudenboomer" and shoot the s**t out of the place? Had plenty of those conversations.
Oh, by the way, I don't have them down as my only "genuine need" either.

There is a general perception in my experience that you have to join SSAA to be a firearms owner, which leads to many people paying SSAA fees purely because they've been told they have to, so they're happy to expect nothing in return. If SSAA actually supported their members then they'd be more useful, and justify their fees. To me, currently, SSAA is just an expensive admin system solely focused on their own growth over the future growth of sporting shooting. Field & Game offer the same things as SSAA but I almost never hear them being offered as an alternative to new shooters. As mentioned above, I've never heard of AHNi being offered to shooters in Vic/NSW/Tas as yet another option. The only situation I can imagine that SSAA might actually make a stand against would be if the government tries to remove the requirement to have membership of a hunting club as a genuine reason.

Never been to a SSAA range, but if they support your shooting choices more power to you. Is Silhouette only available at SSAA ranges? Of the hundreds of thousands of licenced shooters, how many shoot at SSAA ranges? I don't know of any recreational or competitive shooters down my way that trek to a SSAA range when there are plenty of non-SSAA ranges around. I guess SSAA's own bottom line is higher on their list of priorities than growing our sport for our future shooters?

[pomemax]

[
According to that all you need is a game licence from DPI.
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/hunting[/quote]
yes i thought of that way too but to get a nsw game licence R you need of be a member of a hunting (keep reading )

[Gamerancher]

So you've never been to a range but have an opinion on what happens there? If you want to know someone who competes, you'll have to go take a look. Yes, there are some snouts in the trough, as there is in any large organisation. I only compete in Rifle Metallic Silhouette, but there are plenty of other disciplines available.
At $85 per year for full access to Australia wide facilities, $20 million liability insurance, support and opportunity to get into representative teams and travel overseas, I reckon I get my moneys worth.
They also have plenty of programs to encourage juniors to get involved in shooting.

[bladeracer]

So you've never been to a range but have an opinion on what happens there? If you want to know someone who competes, you'll have to go take a look. Yes, there are some snouts in the trough, as there is in any large organisation. I only compete in Rifle Metallic Silhouette, but there are plenty of other disciplines available.
At $85 per year for full access to Australia wide facilities, $20 million liability insurance, support and opportunity to get into representative teams and travel overseas, I reckon I get my moneys worth.
They also have plenty of programs to encourage juniors to get involved in shooting.

Where did I say I had any opinion on what happens at an SSAA range?
I'm sure the ranges are just fine.
The SSAA organisation is the problem.
I know people that shoot competitively, I don't know any that shoot at SSAA ranges. From what I can gather there are only two ranges in Victoria? I don't know that two ranges in the whole of Victoria makes them "Australia Wide" unless they expect Victorians from every corner to travel for hours for the pleasure of using their range, while bypassing so many closer non-SSAA ranges.
F&G also include liability insurance as does AHNi.
If you are saying that SSAA pays all the expenses of sending shooters overseas to compete then that's awesome...for that handful of members I guess. I'd always assumed that competitors had to foot most of the travel expenses themselves though?
How do they encourage young shooters, are they getting into the schools and promoting the sport to non-shooters, or merely making it available to young shooters who already know about the sport through their parents? My daughter certainly never brought home anything about shooting courses from her school.

[Gamerancher]

Little River, Springvale, Wodonga, Mildura, Marong and Shepparton, that's .......?

Oh, and 400 clubs spread across ALL states

[HulkFury]

I ended up checking with a nearby (non SSAA) range, and it's a target/hunting club. So it turns out that is the easiest way. I'm already with a Smallbore club, but this has a 100m range as well.

[ColJ]

A little bit off track but, firstly I live in Vic on a rural property. I'm a member of the SSAA for a number of reasons. 1 you get free insurance 2 you're counted, as in they have a full time lobbyist on our behalf in Canberra to fight for our rights 3 A media office to help counter the propergander in print and TV 4 Ranges to compete if that's your thing , I haven't, but I like the fact it's an option 5 A hunting/ vermin control sub branch 6 A Magazine in the cost of membership. Which is well rounded ie hunting stories, reloading, politics, club results, in Vic we get a branch magazine as well.
These are a few reasons that ALL of us should consider being a member.
I believe that the SSAA has good ethics as well.

[Gamerancher]

Thanks for the support ColJ.
I sometimes think that people have one bad encounter and then rag on the association forever.
At somewhere around 180,00 members at the moment, must be doing something right.
Folks need to have a look at the website and see just what they offer nowadays, I think some will be surprised.

[bladeracer]

You guys will be pleased to know that I have taken heed of your comments and renewed my SSAA membership

[ColJ]

You guys will be pleased to know that I have taken heed of your comments and renewed my SSAA membership

back!! Also think it's great that everyone has expressed their views well