Join our hunting club

The short answer is this – In order to gain a NSW firearms licence with our club membership, you will be required to hold a valid NSW R-licence – as issued by the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI). The NSW R-licence allows hunting on designated public lands, and includes a $25 million dollar public liability insurance component. When applying for your NSW firearms licence you will be required to list a “genuine reason” for firearms ownership. You must select “Hunting / Vermin control” as your genuine reason, and use your NSW R-licence as your primary (main) proof of this genuine reason. Your Oz Fish and Game club membership card must also be uploaded to your application. However, this should be added as secondary (or supporting) evidence for your application. One advantage of holding a firearms licence through this approach is that you will not be required to attend a shooting range for mandatory attendances each year, as you would with other clubs.

Points to consider:

• If your membership with us expires, your NSW R-licence will no longer remain valid. The NSW Police force will consider this as a breach of your firearms licence conditions, and your firearms licence will be suspended. Compliance checks are held regularly at registered shooting ranges, and in state forests.
• Oz Fish and Game are not registered with the NSW Police force as a hunting or target shooting club (we’re only listed with the NSW DPI), therefore you will not be able to use our club membership to apply for a firearms licence using those genuine reasons.

For more information on the firearms licence application process, check out the links below.

How to get your firearms licence in NSW.

Firearms licence FAQS

If transferring your membership over from another club, you will be required to change your firearms ‘genuine reason’ to a NSW R-licence. 
For a simple guide on the transfer process, check out the article – How to: Transfer your club membership

Your club membership expiry date can be found on the lower section of your membership certificate (or our newer membership cards). In order to streamline our administration requirements, all future club membership applications (or renewals) will have their expiry date shifted to the end of the next financial year (i.e. 30 June, 2025). This will allow us to focus solely on renewals during this time period, and will ensure that each club member receives a reminder email 30 days prior to expiry.

Please note – All NSW R-licence holders must be a member of an approved hunting organisation (AHO) in order to meet their legal requirements. It is up to each individual club member to ensure their membership remains current and fit for their chosen purpose.

Like all approved hunting organisations (AHO’s) which are approved by the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI), our club membership does not include public liability insurance. All members are expected to have, or be willing obtain a NSW R-licence which contains this insurance.

We believe that environmental conservation extends beyond our role as hunters in the control of pest animals. It also requires us to make sensible decisions when it comes to the production of products and waste as part of the club’s operations. That’s why we have decided to provide our members with a digital (PDF) copy of their membership card, as opposed to a plastic one.

This way our members will enjoy the convenience of always having their membership card on them without it taking up space in their wallet – and more importantly, without it taking up space in a landfill site after reaching the expiry date.