Ontario newbie by way of Rhodesia and South Africa

[Joncanland]

Hey everyone,

Was introduced to the forum by a friend who has been a member for a good few years.
I'm originally from Rhodesia, then lived in South Africa for many years, and am now a permanent resident of Canada in Oakville ON, with my wife and kids.
I'm an avid sports shooter (primarily IDPA, with some 3 gun as well) and a hunting hobbyist. I was fortunate enough to be the chairman of our local gun club in SA and thoroughly enjoyed establishing and growing that. Good times!

Any advice on getting back into IDPA or IPSC would be much appreciated.

Jonathan

[Magellann]

Welcome Aboard!

[phillyblt]

Welcome to CGN

[Bittereinder]

Hello and welcome!

I'm not sure from your intro, but if you haven't already, first step is to sign up for the Canadian Firearms Safety Course and the Restricted course and apply for an RPAL (Restricted firearms license, which you'll need to own pistols).

I'm not into any competitive shooting but in general I can say just find a range/club and sign up for the courses that allow you to participate (Black Badge or whatever it's called). I've heard that the competitions and leagues are very welcoming.

[CLW .45]

Welcome

[Joncanland]

Thanks for the welcomes everyone!
Good to be here.

[Joncanland]

Hey @Bittereinder,
Thanks for the info - I've done my Pal and Rpal and added some first purchases to the collection :-)
Next stop Hunting License.
Your handle reminded me of my favourite Afrikaans song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udE5jpHGCoc
Have a great day man.

[Bittereinder]

Hey @Bittereinder,
Thanks for the info - I've done my Pal and Rpal and added some first purchases to the collection :-)
Next stop Hunting License.
Your handle reminded me of my favourite Afrikaans song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udE5jpHGCoc
Have a great day man.

Ok, good to hear you've got that well underway...

Thanks for that link, great song. "Tot die bitter end." I only understand a little Afrikaans but I love it. I worked in Welkom for a while in 90s. I got the idea for the handle from Bittereinder statue at the Anglo Boer War Museum in Bloemfontein. I don't have a digital copy of my own photo of it, but here's one I found online (by someone named Danie de Jager to give credit).



I went hunting in Namibia last year and it was interesting to see how Afrikaans is still a kind of Lingua Franca there. When I passed through in the 90s, hardly anyone spoke English. Now almost everyone speaks English, but when I was out in the hunting areas and neigbouring farms, black Namibians from different tribes defaulted to speaking with each other in Afrikaans. It certainly wasn't for my benefit.

[Blackcats]

Hello Jonathan and Welcome from NE Ont. !

[Joncanland]

Thanks for sharing the context and the story. Namibia is such a beautiful country. I did some travels through there and my all time favourite river trip was down the orange river in Namibia - wild and untouched with desert just past the greenery at the water's edge.
I had a friend who went hunting in Namibia. First night he was there they invited him for a hunt "op die lang plaas" (on the long farm), he was confused as they kept talking about the long-farm. Turns out it was the road :-). So much wildlife and the warmth of the road at night provided some rather easy 'hunting'.

Bittereinder has some deep history and meaning in SA. If you enjoy reading different books I'd really recommend 'Commando by Deneys Reitz' - it will provide a huge amount of context to the term 'bittereinder' and that statue.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4095139-commando
It's a fascinating war book as well - a genre I thoroughly enjoy.