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SPORTSMEN CLUB
by Henry Lein
The Rhine-Danube Sportsmen Club was formed on November 20, 1970, at the Sunburst Canning Factory. The first year's Board of Directors were: President, John Muller Vice-president, John Penner; Treasurer, Joe Reffle Secretary, Henry Lein, Entertainment, Jake Dietz, Frank Fittler, Peter Schonherr; Membership, Joe Horvath, Steve Fittler, and Peter Werner. Membership has been between 100-200 members yearly.
The entire membership of the Sportsmen joined the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, and has been members to this day. A number of our members and their families have attended the workshop and camp-outs, held by the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (O.F.A.H.). These members have also contributed quite a number of days of work on various projects, and also have attended most meetings of Zone 6. Also attended were a number of conventions, held in different parts or areas of Zone 6. In 1974 our Club had the opportunity to host the annual Zone 6 Convention at the Rhine-Danube Club. With the Leamington Fair Board's permission, we were able to use the land behind the club for camping, and this turned out to be a lovely weekend.
The Sportsmen consist of Hunters, Fishermen, Golfers, Trap-shooters, and Euchre Players.
Fishing derbys are held annually for children and men. Golfing tournaments for men and mixed (men and ladies) are also annual events. Local rabbit drives are conducted yearly, which suppers the rabbit meat for our annual Rabbit Dinner.
Trap-shooting was started in October 1973, at the farm of Steve Thoman Jr. In 1974 shooting continued at the farm of Frank Schiefer, and Joe Tultz. In the winter of 1975, we built our own club-house in sections in the workshop of Hugo Zimmer. This was done under the supervision of Henry Lein. All the labour to construct this was free of charge. In the spring the building was erected on a piece of land rented on the 7th concession, for trap-shooting and other club activities. In 1976 the building was again taken apart in sections, and moved to the farm of John Willms, were it was put back together, and has remained there to this day.
Some of the activities up-to-date include our annual smelt-fry, for which our sportsmen supply the smelt. In past years, the time to catch and clean the smelt was also included. This is a family outing for all our members. Competition trap-shooting with the Teutonia Sportsmen, and the Carpathia Sportsmen is another annual event. This was started three years ago, with our club taking first place in 1978. Since we are very new in trap-shooting, a number of our shooters have done very well. Quite a number of them have had a perfect score of 25 for several years.
Since the Rhine-Danube Sportsmen are an under-group of the Rhine-Danube Club, we have always tried to participate in the Club activities at picnics, Oktoberfest, etc. We have also had our shooting-gallery booth set up for these events.
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