a bit confused

jake10

hi guys im a bit bewilderd about the local game clubs attitude to new members im new to the area (3 yrs) and have joined my local club,on handing over my fees i offered my services in helping with all the hard graft involved in rearing, releasing and maintaining pheasants, i was told there is enough lads helping out at the moment so i probably wouldnt be needed,after a bit of a conversation i asked where the club birds would be released and was told to wait until the preseason meeting.So a month later without any more contact with the club i went along to the meeting during which another new member asked where do we or dont we have permission to shoot and he was fobbed off without any real answer at the end of the meeting i got talking to a board member and again offered my help with any work the club needed doing and asked about the location of club birds and again i was was given a very vague answer wit a few names of people and places that i didnt know so here i am one week before the season starts and A)i dont know the where abouts of club birds and B)dont know what land i do or dont have permission to shoot on, is this normal in irish clubs and do i just have to stick it out for a few years till i get to know other members

endasmail

thats sounds all very hush hush
maybe a quiet word on the side ,asking for a explanation to the secrecy

deeksofdoom

Welcome to Gun Club bureaucracy. The same in our club we had a couple of fellahs who made it their business to release birds every year. I blew the lid off that last year when I was tasked with sourcing the birds as I had a contact in the UK, I then proceeded to invite everyone in the club to come and take birds to release them when they arrived over from the UK, they brought their kids and everything and had a great day.

At one of our meetings last year a few of the newer members enquired as to whether there was a map of where they could go shooting or what farmers they could ask. We agreed we would make a map to list out the farmers they could ask permission from, but a few of the older senior members didn't want to hear about it saying it would only cause trouble with the farmers and we'ld actually loose more land by fellahs canvassing farmers for permission. But it was just load of bollocks coz they didn't want anyone finding out where their spots were.

If I were you I'ld bring it up at the next meeting, your a new member, you pay your subs the same as everyone else, your entitled to be involved in the club activities the same as the rest of the members. If your money is good enough for the club then your help should be aswell. Try and be as nice about it as possible but some committee members think that the club is there solely for their benefit and nobody else's.

Its all down to greed and its endemic in Gun Clubs. All I'll say id don't lie down and take it, demand value for your membership fee.

arrowloopboy

Its not confined to gun clubs either,a couple of fishing clubs i'm trying to get into are the same,most of the members are either dead or decripid ,but their still not "Renewing" the spaces as the old boys expire .
Greed Greed and more greed.

dicky82

i approached my local gunclub before getting my licence, they told me they wouldnt let me join until i had my licence. thats fair enough.

when i got my licence they allowed me join and took my insurance fee plus 'subs' to join the club, i assumed this was for birds and maybe some admin, was hoping there would clay shhot days and some people offering me tips and maybe show me the ropes as it where.

week before the season started i rang the guy id been dealing with to ask what land we could shoot, if there were other members going out and where some of the birds had been released.

the responce i got was, there was no birds, no land and that id be lucky if anyone would offer to take me out. so i asked what was the point in me joining, he said that it was to get the insurance and it was only a club by name.

quite miffed by this i shrugged my sholders and said fair enough. i didnt rejoin this year and have since found out that they do have land and have release pens for about 50 to 60 birds.

where do you go from there??

homerhop

dicky82 wrote: »

i approached my local gunclub before getting my licence, they told me they wouldnt let me join until i had my licence. thats fair enough.

when i got my licence they allowed me join and took my insurance fee plus 'subs' to join the club, i assumed this was for birds and maybe some admin, was hoping there would clay shhot days and some people offering me tips and maybe show me the ropes as it where.

week before the season started i rang the guy id been dealing with to ask what land we could shoot, if there were other members going out and where some of the birds had been released.

the responce i got was, there was no birds, no land and that id be lucky if anyone would offer to take me out. so i asked what was the point in me joining, he said that it was to get the insurance and it was only a club by name.

quite miffed by this i shrugged my sholders and said fair enough. i didnt rejoin this year and have since found out that they do have land and have release pens for about 50 to 60 birds.

where do you go from there??

you contact the nargc and let them know

deeksofdoom

homerhop wrote: »

you contact the nargc and let them know

What will the NARGC do?

homerhop

deeksofdoom wrote: »

What will the NARGC do?

It will hilight that this kind of activity is going on with that club if it is affiliated with them, what would you prefer people do, sweep it under the carpet as if nothing happened and let them keep getting handy money?

Feidhlim Dignan

i think you should find your own spots, i started shooting 4 years ago when i was sixteen and i have built up a good knowlage of were the good spots for a cock or good drain for duck, just by covering the ground myself. When i joined the gun club i didnt didnt go asking fellas were i could shoot a big cock on the 1st of Nov, because why should they tell me thats their sport they found it.

jake10

for the most part i agree with you but im not lookin for the lads best shooting spots getting out wit the dog and finding your own spots is half the fun but as a new club member (and blow in to the area )i would like some kind of direction as in where we have or more importantly dont have permission to shoot the last thing i want is to be confronted by an angry land owner for trespassing on his land with my dog and gun after that im well capable of getting out and covering the ground myself

dicky82

Feidhlim Dignan wrote: »

i think you should find your own spots, i started shooting 4 years ago when i was sixteen and i have built up a good knowlage of were the good spots for a cock or good drain for duck, just by covering the ground myself. When i joined the gun club i didnt didnt go asking fellas were i could shoot a big cock on the 1st of Nov, because why should they tell me thats their sport they found it.

thats a fair point but why take money off someone and then play dumb with them. im more than happy to walk the fields with the dog and find nothing but in the same respect why should an 'elite' few have all the spoils.

cavan shooter

for the third time I'll try to offer a response..
I have been living in the area where I am for the last 6 years and to be honest bar a few farmers local to me I still wouldnt go shooting "club lands" in other areas because Im not known. I would have to agree with FD in his post, go chat with local Farmers and get to know them and some spots, also find some friends in the club. I am assuming you go to meetings etc, I know you said you volunteered.

Now as for not been told about where birds are released etc, unfortunately thats how some clubs operate "the inner sanctum", :mad:Another way of doing it if you dont have a common pen(s) is for any man intersted to raise birds for release to build a pen and the club subs the birds 50/50.

You probabally think that the club should give the birds for nothing, but from my experience if you give something for nothing lads dont look after them. Youll get bitchin and moaning on that one too and the on the common pen where the same lads will tend to do the work, when that happens people get territorial:(.

The where abouts birds are released is the cause of many a row in a pub on the run in to the season. Best way to stop that is to release the birds well in an advance in the middle of the grounds and dog them to break them up and make them wiley.

Donalmit

Hi JAKE10,

Not the friendliest of clubs you have joined there...Normally the "top" table are very eager to get new lads to help out with bird rearing/feeding as a fair proportion of the membership will be dodging these duties and it also shows how interested the newbie is. Much of the gun club lands should be posted as this deters outsiders from shooting the clubs grounds and you should be free to shoot this land. As you shoot through the season on different club grounds you will come across the release pens and feeders and eventually bumping into other members/farmers you can get to know them better and they will be more forthcoming in the middle of a field than in a meeting room. It does take some time to integrate into most clubs but topping up feeders and generally helping out will break the ice much quicker. There will always be the few who will never be too friendly but in fairness, they dont have many true friends anyway and thats their loss. Dont give up too easily; there does exist a bond between hunters of the same mindset and there could be good friend in the next field....

Happy hunting...

Mitch.

ssl

Had similar prob when i joined mine. what i did was get the ordinance servey map of the area with the most detail, i then showed it to a board member at a clay shoot. he pointed the boundary out. i was happy then.
Walking the land and approaching farmers is how i got to know the good spots.
All the farmers i approached were out on the land. there were happy to chat and told me of some good spots:)