SSAA NSW

4 Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc. From Diana's Desk Showcasing our sport… One of the most important roles that SSAA NSW and our members can play is to build awareness and acceptance of our sport within the general community. A great way to showcase our sport, and show just how safe, fun and unique it is, is by giving people a chance to try shooting. Try Shooting days are a wonderful opportunity to do this and over the years a number of our Branches have held very successful events; there's an article in this edition on Goulburn Branch's most recent event. Charity fundraising events are a good way to attract people wanting to support a good cause. Recently, SSAA NSW and St Marys Indoor Shooting Centre hosted a Charity Try Shooting Day to raise funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation; you can read more about this on page 7. Our Mobile Air Rifle Range provides another great opportunity for the public to try shooting. Over the past years the Range has attended numerous community events including local fares, school fetes, regional and agricultural shows. The Range is also a regular at SHOT Expo and HuntFest. In fact, our colleagues over at SSAA South Australia were so impressed with our Range that they decided to keep it after borrowing it for their agricultural field day last year. This gave us the perfect excuse to build a new and improved Mobile Air Rifle Range – which recently had its very successful debut at the Charity Try Shooting Day. No matter how people try shooting for the first time, more often than not they walk away with a smile on their face and a new understanding of the safe, fun and unique nature of our sport. Even if they never pick up a firearm again, they've experienced shooting and gained a firsthand understanding of the safety and responsibility needed to participate in the shooting sports; and in the majority of cases, they are more likely to be accepting of our sport. Great news for recreational hunters… Finally some positive public acknowledgement for recreational hunters and the valuable role they play in pest animal management. The Natural Resources Commission (NRC) released its report Shared Problem, Shared Solutions which outlined draft recommendations for its state-wide review of pest animal management at the end of March. The report states "recreational hunting is a valid and valued recreational pursuit and is widely used to hunt several pest species" and "recreational hunting does have a place as a control technique when used in combination with tools and techniques which maximise its effectiveness" and further "recreational hunters are knowledgeable regarding the distribution and behaviour of pest animals, and should be actively engaged in the regional pest management planning process". The draft recommendations relating to recreational hunting include: • Actively engage recreational hunting groups in regional pest animal management – identifies that hunters should be utilised in preparation of management plans as well as a resource for programs. • Reduce red tape surrounding recreational hunting on private land – includes the removal of the requirement for a licence to hunt deer on private land and promotes the use of approved hunting organisation membership and programs to link hunters and landholders. It was also great to see that the SSAA Farmer Assist program was highlighted as an example of a community based program that is designed to foster relationships between landholders and hunters. SSAA NSW sees this recognition within the NRC report as a positive step in the right direction. We've long been advocating that volunteer shooters and hunters are an underutilised resource and this is an area where SSAA NSW, and our members can make a greater contribution to pest animal management.

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