Maccauw Clay Target Club

Maccauw Clay Target Club is situated south of Bloemfontein, capital city of the Free State Province. The city is at the geographic centre of South Africa. Bloemfontein means ‘floral fountain’, named for its springs, and is also known as the ‘City of Roses’ because of the annual Rose Festival which has been held since 1976. The city was established in 1846 and has a population in excess of 300,000.

Maccauw Clay Target club, formerly known as Maccauw Gun Club, is one of the oldest clay target clubs in South Africa. Established in 1960 when a well-known trap shooter of the Sandiacres Gun Club in Kimberley convinced a number of “shotgunners” from Bloemfontein that the sport had a future. The twin brothers Van Tonder, founding members of the club, made land available to the north of Bloemfontein on their farm, Tafelkop. There the first DTL range was built and a tradition of shooting trap every Saturday – come rain or shine – was born. Soon membership grew along with the interest in other disciplines and Olympic trap and Olympic skeet ranges were added in the seventies. DTL shooters made up the bulk of the membership and the club became one of the most active trap clubs in the country. The club has produced numerous highly competitive provincial and national shooters in all disciplines over the years. Neels Bornman, who represented South Africa at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games in the Olympic Trap discipline, was from the then Maccauw Gun Club.

In the late 80’s visionary shooting enthusiasts, Basie Human and Jack v.d. Linde managed to persuade the Bloemfontein City Council to develop and fund a shooting centre. The council purchased a property called “Paradys” 20 kilometers south of Bloemfontein and motivated the various shooting clubs to move their ranges to this central point. Disciplines include clay target, practical pistol, olympic pistol, small bore rifle and silhouette. Each individual club has its own clubhouse, as well as a large well-equipped central club building. Situated in the “Highveld” where weather conditions are generally hot and dry with little wind, shooting conditions are ideal. The surrounding countryside is flat and targets are thrown against a uniform background.

Maccauw Clay Target Club has superb facilities that can accommodate large numbers of people. The clubhouse has a large well-equipped kitchen capable of preparing everything from snacks to full meals. Apart from a quaint bar and a huge hall, there are administration offices, ablutions of the highest standard as well as a walk-in safe.

The club’s range facilities include trap ranges, two trench ranges equipped for Universal and Olympic trap, two skeet ranges equipped for American/English Skeet and Olympic Skeet and a variety of Fitasc Sporting ranges. Compak Sporting ranges were introduced approximately eight years ago. More ranges are being developed on a continuous basis, additional clay target machines are being acquired, making it one of the best-equipped clay target clubs in South Africa.

In recent years, Maccauw Clay Target Club has hosted numerous Fitasc Sporting as well as Compak Sporting Grands Prix with great success. The warm hospitality of the people of the Freestate combined with excellent ranges and great target presentations will make for a very enjoyable shooting experience. Maccauw Clay Target Club extends an invitation to all shooters to come and join us in the heart of “big sky country”.