MIDDLE CREEK TO HOST WILDFOWL SHOW SEPT. 15-16;
2) PYMATUNING WATERFOWL EXPO SCHEDULED FOR SEPT. 15-16
MIDDLE CREEK TO HOST WILDFOWL SHOW SEPT. 15-16 HARRISBURG - The Pennsylvania Game Commission's Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area will host its 21st Annual Middle Creek Wildfowl Show on Sept. 15-16.   The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Admission is free, but donations are graciously accepted and benefit the Wildlands Preservation Fund to preserve wild lands. Middle Creek is along Hopeland Road, two miles south of Kleinfeltersville, on the Lebanon-Lancaster county line.
The show features wildfowl carvings and carving supplies, artwork, collectibles, dog training supplies and hunting items from more than 60 vendors.
Retriever demonstrations will be at 10 a.m. and noon on Saturday, Sept. 15, and at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 16. Two different retriever clubs will display their dogs' abilities, both with water retrievals and upland retrievals. Demonstrations on Saturday will be performed by the Keystone Retriever Club, and on Sunday, by the Northern Piedmont Retriever Club.
Decoy competitions will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and winners will be announced at 4 p.m. Carvers may enter their creations into different categories to include decorative, working and shorebird gunning rigs. Each year, a different duck is chosen for the decorative competition. This year, the gadwall was selected.
Pennsylvania State Duck and Goose Calling Championships will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday. The winner of the duck calling competition will likely go to the world duck calling championship in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and the winner of the goose calling competition will likely go to the world goose calling championship in Easton, Maryland.   In 2006, Darvin Gebhart, of Hanover, won the Pennsylvania goose calling competition, and Jeremy Finan, from Milton, won the Pennsylvania duck calling competition.
Food vendors will be selling throughout the show. For further information or directions, call 717-733-1512.
Since its inception in 1973, the Wildlands Conservancy's Wildlands Preservation Fund has helped to preserve more than 46,000 acres in an 18-county area in eastern Pennsylvania, including more than 1,200 acres at Middle Creek.
Facts about the Pennsylvania Game Commission: In April of 1965, then Governor William W. Scranton gave the Game Commission final approval to purchase 2,900-acre Middle Creek Waterfowl Project in Lebanon and Lancaster counties. On April 1, 1973, the Game Commission officially opened the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area to the public.
PYMATUNING WATERFOWL EXPO SCHEDULED FOR SEPT. 15-16 The Pennsylvania Game Commission's Pymatuning Wildlife Learning Center is gearing up for the 2007 Pymatuning Ducks Unlimited Waterfowl Expo on Sept. 15-16, in and around Linesville, Crawford County. A highlight of the two-day event is the selection of the 26th Annual Pennsylvania Waterfowl Management Stamp from entries by many of the Commonwealth's most accomplished wildlife artists, which will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15, at the Linesville High School, 302 West School Drive.
At 10 a.m., on Sept. 15, the Game Commission will conduct its annual public drawing to select those who will be afforded an opportunity to use one of the blinds for waterfowl hunting at Pymatuning. The drawing will be held at the Game Commission's Pymatuning Administration Building, 9552 Hartstown Rd.
At 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 15, Kevin Jacobs, Game Commission waterfowl biologist, will hold a waterfowl information and banding program, with the opportunity for children to assist in the release of wild ducks, at the Learning Center, 12590 Hartstown Road. The Learning Center also will be open on Saturday and Sunday for visitors.
Following conclusion of the Expo, the Learning Center will close for this year's visitor season. However, the nature trail will remain open.
Facts about the Pennsylvania Game Commission: In 1935, the Game Commission established Pymatuning Dam as the first migratory waterfowl refuge in the state. On Oct. 15, 1938, the Game Commission officially dedicated the Pymatuning Museum, which presently is the Pymatuning Wildlife Learning Center.
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