During the year of 1941 a group of our forefathers got together and decided the time was right to develop a sportsman’s club. Their main mission was to preserve our wildlife and to protect our waterways from pollution. Annabessacook Lake with its great brook trout population was turning green with algae and they vowed this would not happen to any of our other bodies of water.

The records show that Romie Marsans Jr was the first elected president. Mr. Marsans was then the principal of Monmouth Academy.

One of the club’s first projects was skeining Wilson Pond to rid the water of white perch; the following year, 1943, brown trout were introduced. The price for membership was $1.00 a year and World War II was ending, and the membership grew quickly.

On June 30th, 1949 in the presence of the presiding Judge Herbert E. Foster of Winthrop, the club became Monmouth Fish and Game Association, Inc. The names of those signing the corporation papers were as follows: Wendall H. Hartford (President), Roy C. Foster (Secretary), Beverly A. Slauenwhite; F.G. Greenleaf, C. Wilbur Anderson, Francis Mann, William Whitman, William Holloway, Frank Gatchell, Cyrille Chrietien, Joseph M. Bergeron.

The first Executive Committee was then formed, and the names were Beverly A. Slauenwhite, Joseph M. Bergeron, William E. Holloway, Reginald P. Foster, Frank G. Greenleaf, Leslie Morse, Frank H. Gatchell, Romie Marsans Jr, William Whitman, Wilbur Anderson.

The first order of business for the new executive committee was to raise the dues to $1.50 per year. The group consisted of many rifle and shotgun shooters and their first Field Day was held on the shore of Bob Brook at Wilson Pond. A 4x4x4 hole was dug in the ground and various members would take turns throwing clay targets with a hand thrower. 12 shots for 50 cents which included targets and shells. This was the starting of the first trap shooting at Monmouth.

Route 202 had recently been redesigned from Highmoor Farm in Monmouth to Winthrop and there was approximately 50 acres of land for sale on the south side of the Curtis Corner Road and the new Route 202, with the financial help from a great sportsman, Dr. James A. Shippee, the land became the property of the Monmouth Fish & Game Association, Inc. The club began to prosper very quickly with their shooting events and during the summer of 1950 the first trap field was built and the following year a battery-operated sheet field was erected.
I remember my dad being a very active member and I recall I learned the duties of a trap boy at a very young age, and in 1952 I became an adult member of the club. During the 1950s the club acquired many parcels of land abutting the main property and the last lot was willed to the association by one the members (B. A. Slaunwhite), and today the club holds deeds to approximately 265 acres stretching from Route 202 west to the Leeds town line and from the Curtis Corner Road South to the Peterson property and also a small parcel on the North side of the Curtis Corner Road.

The first meeting places were the Monmouth Grange Hall, the Winthrop American Legion, the Jacque Cartier Club in Sabattus and Curly’s Restaurant. The Executive Committee would meet at various member’s homes.

Trap shooting became very strong and this was their main source of income. The members and guests would shoot two or three nights-each week and Sunday was an all-day affair. Registered trap shoots were first sanctioned with the A.T.F. and the M.T.A. and like today shooters came from all directions. In 1955 the State Trap Shoot was held at Monmouth.

The Association was very active in the State Fish Stocking Programs and their voice was heard at many legislative sessions concerning fish and wildlife matters.

During the 1960’s the association was involved in a pheasant raising program with the State Fish & Wildlife Department and the first pen was located at the home of Dan Emerson and then later moved to the Edward & Sally Slaunwhite Property. The club would raise from 100-150 birds each year and the State Fish & Game Department would match this amount equally, thus giving our area a good amount of pheasant hunting. The State Fish & Game Department could never figure out how the Monmouth club could raise such big birds compared to theirs, but never did they know that our birds were fed a high protein poultry grain donated or snitched from the Bob Pettengill poultry farm.

Also, during the 1960’s the Annual Ice Fishing Derby was started, and this has been a winter event ever since. At the Annual Meeting in April of 1968 the members voted to have the pond built and this project was completed in August. The pond has added beauty to the grounds and has been home to various wildlife.

The 1970’s were upon us and this was probably one of the greatest decades in the history of our club. Trapshooting had grown to the extent that the second trap field had to be built. The 1974 annual meeting saw a vote of 52 yeh and 14 neas to build a clubhouse under the Presidency of Wallace Bubier and the watchful eye of contractor and member Bill Pollard and the general membership. The new home brought the members closer together and many different events were enjoyed.

The Bean-Hole-Bean Suppers were started as a laugher, but Roland and Shirley Wing took this project and turned thousands of dollars into the Treasury. The new building was soon wanted by other interested groups.