Starting a gun club

Remmie 223

I am looking for some advice on starting a gun club. I live in an area with no gun club & the two nearest gun clubs are not receptive to new members " from outside the area". There was a gun cub in this area about 20 years ago or so I am told, but a few of the old guys passed away & it was let go. I know of 3 or 4 lads interested. I think if I was to advertise the fact I was thinking of starting one,I am sure I could get a few more. Any advice welcome.
Cheers

One shot on kill

id prob be looking into the land i could get before to many people were told anything just incase

snipe02

the nargc have a booklet on how to start and run a gun club think i might have one ill try find it

blackstairsboy

Here's a thread on the topic a while back. Ezridix lined out what you need to do pretty well and in good detail.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=68424002

Monet.

we started up second club in our parish as some of the members thought that the old club was gone sh"t. the two are still going now and we are bought hunting the same ground. we are with country side alliance they have been very good to us.......... if want any info contact us at http://www.rathcormacgunclub.ie/contactform.html

Remmie 223

How should we advertise the fact that we want to start a gun club in the area. I have my own permissions of about 100 acres but these are my own agreements with farmers and not for a gun club. I have my insurance with countryside alliance

terminator2

Monet. wrote: »

we started up second club in our parish as some of the members thought that the old club was gone sh"t. the two are still going now and we are bought hunting the same ground. we are with country side alliance they have been very good to us.......... if want any info contact us at http://www.rathcormacgunclub.ie/contactform.html

do ye still talk to the other rathcormac lads or do ye spit at each other

Cass

Remmie 223 wrote: »

How should we advertise the fact that we want to start a gun club in the area.

We contacted people in the area we kew were involved in clubs further away or not involved in a club at all. We put up posters in the local pub, community centre, and sent out flyers (delivered by hand) to houses of people we thought or knew would be interested.

Word of mouth done the rest for us.

I have my own permissions of about 100 acres but these are my own agreements with farmers and not for a gun club. I have my insurance with countryside alliance

Do not fall into the trap of assuming anything. Such as its a simple case of combining all individual permissions from various lads in the area. Its best to go to land owners, with someone that has individual permission on those lands, and explain what you intend to do. Once the land owner sees that a lad he knows, and has given permission to already is involved they are usually more inclined to agree to let a new club use their lands.

Plus if you can commit to help with menial jobs during the off season such as fence repairs, new locks on gates, keeping some lands as santuaries, etc it puts their mind at ease that you do not intend to "abuse" the lands and give nothing in return.

If you get a few land owners, and then go to the next ones showing these ones have already agreed then it gets easier. As in a land owner will give permission for the club if he sees "Pat, Joe, John" down the road with adjoining land has given permission.

Not to put you off, but it is not an overnight job to set it up. It can and does take a lot of leg work, dertermination, etc. Keep at it though. Well worth it to see what you have achieved in the end.

Monet.

terminator2 wrote: »

do ye still talk to the other rathcormac lads or do ye spit at each other

we still talk but but we both do our own thing.......... we held a clayshoot between the two the clubs not too long ago it went well...

LB6

http://www.nargc.ie/spotlight-container/forming-club.aspx

http://d52so9qkre3k8.cloudfront.net/sites/nargc/en/Upload/A%20Guide%20to%20Forming%20a%20Gun%20Club.pdf

From the NARGC new site - should give you the basics

Remmie 223

LB6 wrote: »

http://www.nargc.ie/spotlight-container/forming-club.aspx

http://d52so9qkre3k8.cloudfront.net/sites/nargc/en/Upload/A%20Guide%20to%20Forming%20a%20Gun%20Club.pdf

From the NARGC new site - should give you the basics

Thanks for the links & advice lads. We are still at the early stages of starting up the gun club again. I am thinking about talking to the gards to see if they would have any interested in having any involvement in it. We advertised locally & we have had a lot of interested from people of Poor repute . By this I mean one individual who was found guilty of breaking an entry , but still holds a gun (fun) license . How can we vet this?

cavan shooter

if you go the NARGC route the RGC will more than likely give you a hand..best of luck

terminator2

Monet. wrote: »

we started up second club in our parish as some of the members thought that the old club was gone sh"t. the two are still going now and we are bought hunting the same ground. we are with country side alliance they have been very good to us.......... if want any info contact us at http://www.rathcormacgunclub.ie/contactform.html

do you still talk to the members of the NARGC club in your area or is there bad blood........and how are ye both able to shoot the same ground........

terminator2

Remmie 223 wrote: »

Thanks for the links & advice lads. We are still at the early stages of starting up the gun club again. I am thinking about talking to the gards to see if they would have any interested in having any involvement in it. We advertised locally & we have had a lot of interested from people of Poor repute . By this I mean one individual who was found guilty of breaking an entry , but still holds a gun (fun) license . How can we vet this?

ide be very cautious , if your reputation is damaged so early on you could be shooting yourself in the foot

deeksofdoom

Remmie 223 wrote: »

Thanks for the links & advice lads. We are still at the early stages of starting up the gun club again. I am thinking about talking to the gards to see if they would have any interested in having any involvement in it. We advertised locally & we have had a lot of interested from people of Poor repute . By this I mean one individual who was found guilty of breaking an entry , but still holds a gun (fun) license . How can we vet this?

Why not just form your committee now and hold your initial meetings with just those members you trust, then get out and canvas the farmers for permissions. Then contact the NARGC or whoever you wish to be affiliated with and collect your money from members to cover whatever expenses you expect to encounter in the next year and your affiliation fees and insurance.

Once you have the club up and running you can decide who you want to leave in after that.

cavan shooter

terminator2 wrote: »

ide be very cautious , if your reputation is damaged so early on you could be shooting yourself in the foot

Agree 100% in the above.

All clubs face this at some time.

You simply don't let him in, its like any club, you choose your members and they choose you. Someone proposes, someone seconds (the man that proposes should be able to vouch for the chap as should the man the seconds him) it is discussed then a vote is held as to if he is in or not.

Remmie 223

Thanks for all the advise lads,

We have formed our committee, written up and signed our Constitution, got quite a few permissions, registered our intent with county games council, got nearly all of our neighboring clubs to sign on the dotted line that they have no objections to our maps. The rest of which we expect to follow this week.

Our next step is to join the nargc. We have organised a clay shoot in a near by shooting ground in a few weeks to have a chat with potential members. All new members are on a years probation. We have decided on €75 membership, while we would like to charge a bit more, to get some money in to the club, we feel that the amount of interest we have from young lads it would not be fair to charge anymore.

What we need now is €€€€ we would like to release a few pheasants, trap some mink & show the local community that it is not our intent to exterminate all the wildlife in the locality.

Any ideas ?

Cass

Our club was lucky in that we had a breeding programme well established by a few lads before we formed the club. No help to yourself i know, but the fact was even with this "headstart" we still ran at a "loss" for the first few years. We spent once, and right the first time. Pens, hatcheries, chicks, etc.

We then tried holding a few shoots, race nights, and raffles. Some were successful, others not so much. The key is finding a balance. If you are constantly knocking on people's doors looking for ticket money, donations, sponsorship, etc then they will tire of it, and quickly.

Try some of these events. The clay shoot is easy enough. Get a good open piece of land, and inform the landowner you will hold a shoot there is he has no objections. I know you have permission for the club, but it's still polite to give them a heads up. Contact the NARGC and ask for the form to cover everyone attending. This form details, approx. amount of people, area, etc.

Set out the areas for the shoot well, signs, tape, etc. Mark out the shooting points well, and designate a good few lads as safety officers/stewards. It's not hard, and usually draws a decent crowd. Keep prices reasonable. Enough to cover traps, clays, etc, but also to put a few quid in the club coffers.

Leave it for a few months, and do a race night in the local. Everyone, whether a shooter or not enjoys them. Then the ticket idea once a year. You will find things had for a few years, but eventually you will come out even, and start the third year with a little left over from year two. It will build from there. It's also no harm to see whats on offer for free. Feeders can be made from free drums, pens from donated fencing, etc. Alot of the lads in my club were builders so we had good contacts for all this.

Unfortunately there is no "easy" answer. Just keep good records of the club monies, know where every penny is going, and try not to overspend and hope to make it back later. It usually doesn't happen.

djflawless

our gun club only started 2 seasons ago..only advice i could give that would be something worth remembering is...
BE PREPARED FOR HARDSHIP!!!
ours had fierce bother starting up..just people who didnt want a gun club in the parish because they knew a few farmers would pull out the land to give to our club...and make sure you think through the funds thoroughly because if its not done right you'll end up receiveng a very large bill thru your door

best of luck and keep us posted on progress

browning 12 bore

well fellas my own opioion on this as i was a chairman of a gun club my self i pulled out as we held a clay shoot but no extra money came in the funds were not handled right also there was another club i was trying to get in to for years they reared pheasnt partrige and ducks and even some relations of mine in there as well but no way could i get in so i got p***** off and headed off for a whole week to farmer here and there and to this day i have appprox 4000 acres myself so now the insurance i went to country side alliance and got a few lads off here to come with me group insurance its called only roughly 30 euro for the whole year no need for clubs at all in my eyes, for example if some lad went in on club ground that does somehthing stupid then that land is gone from the club and there name tarnished

blackstairsboy

browning 12 bore wrote: »

well fellas my own opioion on this as i was a chairman of a gun club my self i pulled out as we held a clay shoot but no extra money came in the funds were not handled right also there was another club i was trying to get in to for years they reared pheasnt partrige and ducks and even some relations of mine in there as well but no way could i get in so i got p***** off and headed off for a whole week to farmer here and there and to this day i have appprox 4000 acres myself so now the insurance i went to country side alliance and got a few lads off here to come with me group insurance its called only roughly 30 euro for the whole year no need for clubs at all in my eyes, for example if some lad went in on club ground that does somehthing stupid then that land is gone from the club and there name tarnished

That might work out for you but some people myself included like to be part of a club with like minded people with similar objectives and goals. We enjoy working together and make new friends and isn't that what it is all about in the end. I know it can be frustrating at times to get everybody on the right track but at the back of it all we are all friends and we are all trying to achieve the same thing.

Congrats Remmie on getting your club up and running hope it all works out for you. :cool:

deeksofdoom

Your not going to be able to do a whole lot by just collecting €75 a head off each member of the club, especially if your going to be affiliated with the NARGC.

I'ld say go back to the members with this or organise a raffle, the 'young lads' as you call them won't be long getting pissed off with your club if there are no activities in the club due to lack of funds.

browning 12 bore

yes it works very well for me thats why i have so much no hassle land you try get that much land for a club they will look at you side ways and yes i meet loads of lads going shooting only the ones that want to shoot for example some lads out of clubs no more want to go shooting than the man in the moon just want there club name over there head in my expereince any way
but i my self am not a greedy lad far from it there black stairs as i have often got lads off here to come with me as well all very sound lads as well even bring loads of lads pigeon shooting as well,
as you see in the photo here fella :):)

terminator2

set up a website and try to get everyone to get some sponsorship in return for advertising on your website

blackstairsboy

browning 12 bore wrote: »

yes it works very well for me thats why i have so much no hassle land you try get that much land for a club they will look at you side ways and yes i meet loads of lads going shooting only the ones that want to shoot for example some lads out of clubs no more want to go shooting than the man in the moon just want there club name over there head in my expereince any way
but i my self am not a greedy lad far from it there black stairs as i have often got lads off here to come with me as well all very sound lads as well even bring loads of lads pigeon shooting as well,
as you see in the photo here fella :):)

I think you may of misunderstood me I never suggested that you were greedy or that you had nobody to shoot with. I merely stated that a lot of shooters like to be part of a club the same way as lots of other types of sports and hobbies have clubs. Like minded people getting together to enjoy doing what they do best.
There is nothing wrong with doing what your doing it is just not for me or apparently for the other 25000 or so NARGC members who are part of various types of clubs. Live and let live if your happy sure that's the main thing.

browning 12 bore

oh so sorry miunderstood or what there lad very sorry again yea i am very happy with my situation as i have tried the whole club sene but didnt like it at all just meeting in a bloody pub now and then just talking bout the last meeting doing nothing bout it and then maybe once in a blue moon and i mean a blue moon we would have a clay shoot after me i had to go and organise it my self and litteraly force lads to come any way thats my opionion bout clubs other clubs differ but that was my sso called club

blackstairsboy

Ya ye get clubs like that unfortunately, we call them insurance brokers lads are in them for the insurance and not a whole lot else. On the other hand there is some really great clubs out there and I hope remmies turns out to be one of them!:cool:

browning 12 bore

yea i wish you the very best of luck there remmie hope all goes well