Mill Creek Sportsman's Association
Is Located in West Lampeter Township at 1877 Windy Hill Rd {P.O BX 10413} LANCASTER, PA 17605. Their contact number is 717-393-6419
Mill Creek has Numerous outdoor and indoor ranges. They also offer a variety of Different Handgun and Rifle safety courses along with Personal Protection within the Home Courses. They also offer an Archery Range as well as Fishing, Wildlife Observation Booth, and Picnic area.Courses Available- Basic Firearm Safety
- Hunter Safety
- In Home Personal Protection [3 day course also covering concealed carry,as well as developing a basic understanding of the acceptable use of deadly force]
- Private Firearm specific lessons
Please feel free to visit their website at.
THE HISTORY OF MILL CREEK SPORTSMAN’S ASSOC.
It was the opinion among the sportsmen and fishermen of the community (Bird-in-Hand, Bareville, Leola, Leacock, Intercourse, Monterey, Ronks, Smoketown, Soudersburg and Witmer) that the PGC stocking Program was inadequate compared to the number of hunters who went into the field and the number of fishermen (Especially from outside the county) who fished the streams in the community. They realized that if they were to enjoy their sport in the future, they must organize and help themselves.
Experience gained from press reports of the programs of sportsman’s clubs throughout the county, they became enthused and arranged a pre-organization meeting in the Bareville fire hall in September 1936. Allen Wiker was named temporary chairman of this meeting. A committee of twelve men was appointed to act as nominating and By-Laws committee, to meet in Intercourse on October, 6, 1936. At a following meeting in October they adopted their By-Laws and unanimously elected the men as proposed by the committee as follows.
President: Allen Wiker of Bird-in-Hand, Vice-President: Lester Singer of Soudersburg Recording-Secretary: H. E. Harin of Bareville, Financial- Secretary: J. Norman Lieb of Bareville and Treasurer: Harry Showalter of Intercourse.
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Directors were: |
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| Jacob Carpenter of Bird-in-Hand, RD. #1 |
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Leroy Evans of Bareville |
| George Greiner of Leacock |
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Park Horst of Soudersburg |
| James Howard of Lancaster, RD. #5 |
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Lee Larkin of Leola |
| B.F.Neuhauser of Bird-in-Hand |
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L. E. Platt of Witmer |
| A. B. Shopf of Bareville |
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Link Witman of Leola |
| Clayton Wolf of Bird-in-Hand |
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The club during the 30’s until the 80’s had projects that planted over thousands of cover pants, shrubs, flowers , trees consisting of chestnut, olive, evergreen and food bearing plants along the Mill Creek in the three townships ( East-Lampeter, Leacock and Upper Leacock) during this period they also stocked Mill Creek with catfish, suckers, sunfish, blue gills, perch and tadpoles. During the 30’s until the 90’s they also raised and released quail, pheasants, rabbits and ducks (Mallards and Wood) along Mill Creek , local ponds and throughout the three townships. They also held contests and prizes were awarded to members who harvested the heaviest rabbit, pheasant, squirrel and for the largest antlered deer. They also rewarded the member who brought in the most memberships. The club along with local Boy Scouts built duck boxes, bird houses, rabbit traps and game shelters to be used along Mill Creek and game preserves. They took aim at game conservation projects, feeding wildlife and teaching youth.
The club sponsored Boy Scout contests, patrolling and protecting land refuges, making repairs to dams and cleaning up along Mill Creek. During this period the club also worked with the Game Commission, land owners and farmers along the creek to have wildlife refuges and game preserves on private lands and woodlots.
The club found, that by law observance and co-operation with the farmers and land owners that many signs had been removed, numerous shelters built and extensive feeding has been done by club members and farm boys and they also had tons of feed available for emergency feeding, donated and stored by local millers. During these years the Game Commission praised the club for their conservation work. Through the courtesy and sportsman like generosity of owners Mr. Fred Wiker and Mr. W. M. Coventrey, the Yeates school property (later known as the Lancaster Mennonite School) was offered as a game refuge. This tract was over one hundred acres; it consisted of woodlands, stream, and other terrain ideal for the propagation and conservation of fish and wildlife and was developed by the club into what was considered one of the finest retreats in this part of the state. Many permanent shelters, feeders, rabbit hide-outs and other conservation work was accomplished as a W. P. A. project. It was stocked by the club and patrolled during the hunting season even though hunters realized the value of this project and cooperated 100%. To this day the association is actively involved in stream conservation and wildlife management efforts along with promoting sportsmanship, education and safety through HTE courses, and marksmanship and firearms safety through offering firearm’s classes and lessons to youth and adults.
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