WRITTEN BY ANNE GABBIANELLI
The question in the Millinocket region is: How do you keep a sportsmen’s club of 75 years alive?
“It’s not easy,” said Bryant Davis, president of the Fin and Feather Club of Maine. “We’re not getting any younger. I think, in general, the public is aware of us and what we do, but getting them motivated is a bigger challenge.”
The club’s founding meeting was held in Millinocket in May 1951. Officers were selected, and the agenda included conducting environmental surveys of lakes and ponds, stocking lakes with fish, stocking fields with pheasants, and preserving wildlife.
Its early business included establishing committees and “getting as large a membership as possible.” A proposal to admit women as members was also brought to a vote. After a “long discussion,” the measure was defeated. The club’s membership has since evolved, and women are now welcomed as members.
Today, the club has 125 life members and about the same number of annual renewals. “About a quarter of our membership is women,” Davis said. He added that while the numbers might be impressive, it is difficult to find volunteers.
Davis said his role with the club came naturally, having grown up in Millinocket.
“My father was a big influence on me, as he was an outdoorsman,” Davis said. “He enjoyed hunting, fishing and camping and took the whole family for rides into Baxter State Park.”
Davis first became involved with the club in the early 1990s.
“First by becoming a member, then a life member, after which I started to help out as a volunteer at different club events,” he said.
Fin and Feather clubs are scattered across the nation with a common purpose: conserving fish, game, and natural resources. Over the years, Millinocket’s club in particular has taken a strong advocacy role and, at times, a political one.
Davis said the club opposed a national park proposal for Maine’s North Woods in an area that is now part of a national monument.
“We’re not against parks,” he said. “In fact, Maine has done a fantastic job and set up a good model for how parks are managed. But working with the federal government, with its regulations and sportsmen’s loss of access to land, can be difficult.”
Club co-secretary Lynn Bernard said advocacy remains an important part of the organization’s work.
“I’m concerned with us being able to harvest food from the woods and waters, and we should be able to access it without government interference,” Bernard said. “We keep an eye on town, state, and national laws for our woods, like bear baiting and gun referendums.”
Grace Trudel and her husband joined the club a year ago.
“I love where I live, I love the outdoors and the club’s mission,” she said.
Her husband, Paul Trudel, said one of his goals as an active club member is to get children outdoors.
“Kids should be outside every day, and Millinocket is a great area for outdoor activities,” he said.
The couple’s 3-year-old daughter is the club’s youngest member.
As part of its continuing effort to introduce young families to the club, the organization hosts an annual fishing derby at Jerry Pond, a kids-only fishery.
“We have been holding fishing derbies for kids for close to 40 years, and about 20 years at Jerry Pond,” Davis said.
At a recent meeting, club members also discussed hosting a children’s day camp at Knife Edge Campground that would provide instruction in hunting, fishing, and foraging skills; hunter safety; snowmobile and ATV safety; and first aid.
Bernard noted that the word “recreation” contains the idea of re-creation — coming more in touch with nature, a goal that reflects the mission of the Fin and Feather Club of Maine.