The revised shooting exercises for hunting came into effect on 16 January 2014. Among the most important changes is the consolidation of general shooting rules in the document – Universal rules for shooting exercises. These rules must always be read in conjunction with the Universal rules for shooting exercises.
Awards for shooting achievements
1) Shooting badges for individual shooting exercises – Read the rules for individual Hunting Derived Shooting Exercises for more information on score allocation, qualifying scores and examples of targets for every shooting exercise. Shooting badges are available in bronze, silver and gold for all shooting exercises to acknowledge and encourage shooting skill development. Branches keep records of shooting results and members can enquire at the branch, which will order the badges from the national office. Many shottists proudly wear their cloth shooting badges on their shirts or jackets.
Only the first attempt of a shooting exercise qualifies for a shooting badge. It is not permissible to use a sub-calibre for the first exercise and then later on the same day, use a proper calibre in a qualifying shooting exercise, e.g. shoot with a 308 Win in the practice round followed by a heavy calibre in the qualifying round for the Big Bore shooting badge.
2) SAHGCA’s Big 5 shooting exercise is based on the hunting derived shooting exercises. The shooting test for Dedicated Hunter Status which indicate `competent’ or `not yet competent’, does not qualify for the Big 5 award. The Big 5 Award is made when a member qualifies for a gold award in five or more of the qualifying shooting exercises. The score card for the Big 5 Award can be ordered from Branches. The Range officer in atttendance must certify the scores for every shooting exercise in which the member qualify for a gold award. Once the member qualified for gold on five or more of the shooting exercises, the branch chairperson must sign the score card and submit it to the Training Department at Inyathi Park to issue the “Big 5” badge to the member.
Applying for the Big 5 badge involves an administration fee of R75-00 to cover costs of processing and the badge. Members, who apply for this award, also declare that the scores submitted are a true reflection of points obtained for the shooting exercise with the first attempt for each exercise in accordance with the SAHGCA rules and in the spirit of the specific shooting exercises.
3) Shottists can qualify for the Platinum Award during the President Shooting Competition. Distinction is being made between the Platinum Award achieved at regional level and the one at national level. The Plains shooting exercise and the Bushveld shooting exercise are used in the President Shooting Competition. The minimum requirement to achieve the Platinum badge/award is a 460 points (85%) out of a possible 540 points for the two exercises combined. Furthermore, shottists must achieve at least 220 points (80%) out of a possible 270 points for every shooting exercise individually. Also read Rules for regional and national shooting exercises.
