The South Cariboo Sportsmen Association is back with its third “Rebuild Our Range” raffle. Two thousand tickets at $10 each went on sale on Feb. 1, and SCSA vice-president Wayne Wawrenuik says 10 per cent of the tickets have already been sold.
“Ticket sales have gone crazy,” he says. “We have a table at the Kamloops Gun Show on April 23. It’s the largest gun show in B.C., and we’re pretty confident that tickets will be sold out by the time that show is over.”
First prize is a Browning X-Bolt 6.5 Creedmoor with a Vortex Diamondback scope. Second prize is a Franchi Over/Under Instinct L 12 gauge shotgun with 28” barrels, and third prize is a CZ 455 Yellow .22 with a Vortex Copperhead scope. All three firearms are courtesy of The Horse Barn in Kamloops.
The first two raffles both sold out, with the funds raised going to support a variety of projects at the SCSA property south of Cache Creek. The association’s facilities were extensively damaged in the 2017 Elephant Hill wildfire, and the first raffle, in 2020, helped the club rebuild the rifle range building, which was the last structure that needed replacing after the fire.
A 45-foot container was purchased and placed on the old concrete pad. Seven gun ports were cut into it, and they were all framed, with wooden shooting platforms. The inside was framed and soundproofed, then finished with perforated metal sheets, to allow sound to penetrate into the soundproofing.
Last year’s raffle funded a number of projects. The directors had a list of 40 items that were required to improve the club to pre-2017 conditions and better, and the raffle enabled them to do some road building, create an overflow parking lot, develop an archery practice range, and build a concrete pistol pad.
Wawrenuik says that the club is now looking to relocate and rebuild the shotgun range, which includes three concrete trap houses that cannot be moved. The range will be rebuilt a hundred yards to the south of the current location below the clubhouse, which will require building three new trap houses and putting new shooting pads in place.
“It’s a big job,” says Wawrenuik. “We have to move all the electrical lines. Only one of the trap houses is currently lit up for night shooting, and we want to light up all three.”
The fact that the facility offers trap-shooting is a big draw for the club, attracting people from as far away as Kamloops. The club’s members come from all over the province, and when hunting season starts people stop by to sight in their rifles. The new, enclosed rifle range building has also extended the shooting season, come rain or snow.
Posters about the raffle have been sent to 75 sporting and shooting clubs, all of the club’s nearly 300 members, and more than 400 previous raffle ticket buyers, and Wawrenuik says the response has been awesome.
“People have been saying ‘We’ve been waiting for this one to come out!’”
Tickets are available at several local locations, including Home Hardware, Quality Glass, NGN Sales and Service, Fields, and Interior Savings Insurance in Ashcroft, as well as at The Horse Barn in Kamloops and Westside Stores in Salmon Arm. Tickets can also be ordered online by sending an e-transfer to southcariboosportsmen@gmail.com (password: cariboo) and providing your mailing address, postal code, and phone number. Anyone wanting to pay by Visa or MasterCard can call Wawrenuik at (604) 861-2454.
The prizes can only be awarded to people who have a current and valid Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL) or Restricted PAL, meaning that if someone without a PAL or RPAL wins, they cannot claim the prize. However, they can purchase tickets in the name of someone they know who does have a PAL or RPAL, who will be able to claim the prize if they have one of the winning tickets. The draw for prizes will take place on Aug. 1, 2022.
Full details of the raffle and prizes are on the South Cariboo Sportsmen Association Facebook page and on the website at www.southcariboosportsmen.com.
editorial@accjournal.ca
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