Any person stepping in to the property market will be told the following: ‘’Location, Location, Location’’. These words cannot be emphasized enough when it comes to the construction of a new shooting range. The process in finding a suitable area that would have the potential to offer multiple shooting ranges whilst conforming to certain criteria is a difficult process. Local shooting ranges to Cape Town and it’s suburbs are under constant threat from massive amount of developments that have sprung up over the past few years.
A few sport shooting enthusiasts decided that something needs to be done in order to provide more opportunity and establish a community of shooters close enough to keep the sport alive and thriving. The criteria was simple; no more than 30 minutes’ drive, possibility for multiple shooting ranges for rifle and handgun and a long range rifle area. Finding the suitable spot for such an endeavour would be the tricky part. The search started nearly 3 years ago and lead to a lot of dead-ends and disappointments.
During a training session at the end of August Theunis said that he may have a suitable place between Paarl and Klapmuts. Immediately afterwards Christoff started staring at google maps images and measuring distances between and from points to assess the viability in creating a place that could potentially be a new shooting range. After about a month of planning and measuring and drawing up drafts a proposal was put together and accepted by the farm. Draft layouts were sent through to the NRCS (National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications) SANS 10353 Range Standards to find out if the given area would comply with the specifications and it was accepted that it would be viable.
Now the ball started rolling and truly picking up speed. The goal was to complete the range come December for the inspection of all shooting in the Cape area and time was of the essence. Whilst quotes on the ground works were discussed a team of 10 workers started clearing the thick and overgrown Port Jackson bush. The layout and planning were continuously checked, rechecked, and measured every day as it progressed. The decision was made to initially build a 300m rifle range, that can be used on a regular basis with enough space to host a minimum of 30 shooters on the firing line. The range must be able to be used for shooting competitions or training for the hunting season.
If you live in Paarl you will have a new found respect with the climate outside. Wind between the thick bush was absent and just the ambient noise from the N1 at the back broke the cicadas’ constant buzz. The teams worked in the dust kicked up by the big excavator busy building the backstop and withing a matter of 4 weeks the range was constructed, and all brush cleared from the area. The simple task of completing some finishing touches and chipping some old dead trees was the least of the worries.
Getting a shooting range built was a easy part, picking a name was a process on it’s own. The Cape lost a big icon due to bad conservation practices and overhunting – The Bluebok/Blaauwbok (Hippotragus Leucophaeus) went extinct around 1799. Resembling the colour of a eland but the horns of a sable this animal was hunted to extinction. Blaauwbok Shooting range’s vision is to provide a reminder that life needs balance, you cannot work all day, you need to have some you-time on the shooting range. There is a real need to encourage and grow the next generation in the values and responsibility when it comes to the use of firearms, not just for self defence or sport shooting but in the world of sustainable hunting as well, because without those values and respect, we will loose what we love forever.
Blaauwbok shooting range is perfectly nestled at the bottom of the N1 at Klapmuts, with a 300m shooting range and several other shooting ranges under construction and planning, it is a wonderful place for the novice or expert to go and spend a day making turning bullets in to brass. Membership fees start at R 1200 (Juniors/Pensioners R 500) – Visitors fee R 200. The facilities are basic, but the shaded area directly at the back of the range gives relief to the shooters and offers a wonderful area to sit and watch others shoot while enjoying the company of fellow shooters.
The plan is to build a 900m range next to the existing 300m and expand with a couple of pistol ranges in between.
