Submitted by North Thompson Fish and Game Club
The North Thompson Fish & Game Club was founded in January of 2009, and since that time we have encouraged all ages to become involved in hunting and fishing as we teach them the values of the outdoors. It is our hope that they will continue to protect the wildlife habitat, and therefore allow future generations to enjoy these resources.
As a non-profit organization the club runs on volunteers and sponsorships from the community and surrounding areas, this is a vital support to make a successful club and we so appreciate them.
To date, our current shooting membership is 236 and growing. We started looking for a location to build the range in 2010, it would take six years before we reached final approval. Once a site was decided on it took until 2014 to get a lease from the provincial government and approval from the Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD) to build.
During 2015 and 2016 two shooting sheds were built on two separate ranges. A three-bay building was built on the rifle range and a second two-bay building on the pistol and small calibre range. In 2018 a combination outhouse and first aid building were built at the parking lot. Sharing the smallbore range, we also have built a skeet field and five stand range.
On Dec 16, 2016, final approval for the range was received from the Provincial Chief Firearms Officer. As part of that approval, a requirement of the federal government is that every person is “informed of the safety rules” before they use the range for the first time. A Range Orientation session is a result of that requirement. We need to ensure that all club members are familiar with the policies and rules before we allow them to use the range.
Our rifle range reaches out to 700 meters at present with plans to extend to 1,000 and beyond. We successfully held our first Full-Bore, long-range match in early August 2020 with 24 competitors attending. We also host Military Rifle matches, in which only rifles and calibers in use by the military before 1964 are permitted., and you shoot from a trench at steel targets from 100 to 700 meters.
We hosted three sporting clay events in 2020 that utilize the full range property. Each year we have an annual Fishing Derby, Pokerer Run, and a Game Dinner where we encourage our membership, family members, and community members to participate.
Unfortunately, due to COVID, we have not been able to host our normal range of events, but as things are opening up for the club, we have an exciting lineup for 2022 with four Sporting Clay events, four F Class events, four Military Shoots, and Archery to return this year.
Anyone interested in becoming a new member is asked to please reach out to us either through our website: North Thompson Fish and Game Club Society or on Facebook.
We welcome all new and old members.
_______________
Like us on Facebook