Chapter News Update - January 2023

The Minnesota pheasant hunting season is over. We hope your season was fruitful and fun for you, friends, and family. We are blessed in Brown County with ample (over 30 WMA/WPAs) public land and many farmers and friends who participate in hunting conservation.

This newsletter will update you on the many activities we are doing with the Brown County Pheasants Forever (BCPF) organization. We would love your help if you were willing to give any of your time to be part of this great organization. We will find something of interest you can be part of.

More Recent Activities …

The 2023 BCPF Annual Banquet is March 18, 2023 and will be held at the Sleepy Eye Event Center. Additionally, tickets for one of our main raffles to raise money, “The Hunters Dream,” are still available for purchase. We don’t have many of these tickets left, so you may want to reach out now before they are all sold out. Reminder, all dollars raised stay in the chapter and are used locally. More details are in the “Event & Fund-Raising Focus” section below.

We have started providing emergency feeding for pheasants but encourage food plots and winter thermal cover plantings as a permanent solution to our winter weather. We have detailed this more fully in the “Habitat Update” section below. As you can see, your investment in Brown County Pheasants Forever has a large and lasting impact.

In Summary …

We hope you are pleased with what you’ve accomplished as a member of Brown County Pheasants Forever. It is important to remember our goals and what we are really working for when we attend the banquet. We do our best to assure you a good time while at the same time raising money to accomplish these objectives. BCPF has invested over $4 million in Brown County since our founding over three decades ago.

We hope to see some new faces at our meetings held quarterly in Sleepy Eye. Meetings usually begin at 7:00 pm to accommodate travel for members from all over the county and are posted to Facebook or on the website: http://www.browncountypf.org or simply clink the icons below.

2023 Banquet & Family Fun Night

The 2023 banquet will be March 18, 2023. Formal planning and execution have been well underway. If you want to help in this event, please come to our February 9th meeting at the Servicemen’s Club, Sleepy Eye or contact Tim Kraskey directly.

Tickets for the event can be purchased now online at https://pfqf.myeventscenter.com/event/2023-Brown-County-Pheasants-Forever-Banquet-69434 . We have several ticket packages available. We encourage folks to buy online prior to showing up at the door and waiting in line.

One item we would like to point out is the pre-event special for Rooster Bucks’ For $100 is cash you will get $140 in Rooster Bucks to spend at the event. You will get more for your money buying early. This deal goes away the week prior to the event, so get them early while you can.

Timing of the Banquet: The doors will open at 4:30 pm sharp. Our goal is to have the event completed by 9:30 pm. Dinner will start at approximately 6:30-7:00 pm.

Banquet Emcee: This year’s emcee will be Ron Leathers. Ron is Pheasants Forever (PF) and Quail Forever’s (QF) Chief Conservation Officer. In his role, Ron oversees the organization’s mission-delivery partnerships with PF and QF chapters and state and federal agencies. Ron’s team includes the state coordinators, Farm Bill Biologists, Habitat Specialists, Outreach Coordinators, and any other employees directly working to deliver the PF and QF mission.

Originally a Wyoming native, Ron has spent 20 years with the Habitat Organization. He began his PF & QF career in South Dakota as one of the organization’s first Farm Bill Biologists before moving to PF’s home office in White Bear Lake to administer the organization’s grants program. Ron was promoted to Public Finance Director in 2008 and began a career as the organization’s first--ever Chief Conservation Officer in January of 2021.

Ron lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and 2 busy kids. When he is not coaching a hockey or baseball team, he can be found following his golden retriever, Keeva, through the prairies.

Hunter Dream Raffle: Tickets are still available but are going fast. At this point we estimate they will be sold-out in about 2-weeks. This year’s prize is a nice collection of Savage/Stevens guns and a $500 gift card for a safe to hold them. Tickets are $25.00 each and we will select the winner at the 2023 banquet in March. You can’t win if you don’t buy a ticket. These tickets do sell out. Get your tickets early from any board member.

Banquet Games/Raffle: We have several games like Plnko; Shot Shell; General and Women’s Only Game/Raffle. As usual, we will have a separate kids/youth game/raffle. One lucky attendee will win a MN Lifetime Small Game License. We have over 25 guns that will be won by lucky participants. We have a few new twists in game/raffles we hope you enjoy, but we will leave these for you to see when you attend the event.

Auctions: We again will have both a Live/Silent Auction at the event. We have some nice items to be auctioned off. Some of these include: Western MN Pheasant Hunt (Ivanhoe Hunt); PF Print-of-the-Year; Pheasant Print on Canvas; Solo Stove; Automatic Clay Thrower; The Hat Auction; and many more items.

Should I Feed the Pheasants in the Winter?

During normal winters providing feed like corn; sorghum; sun flowers seeds; etc. is not needed. Let me repeat. “You don’t have to feed wild pheasants for the most part”. But if you still want to feed pheasants, please follow this outline so you provide the best possible returns on your investment of time and money.

Food Plots – The best thing you to help pheasants is plant a food plot of at least 3-5 acres. It should as well be somewhat close to pheasant wintering cover like cattails or willow patches. The wintering cover should ideally be more than 5 acres. You don’t want the birds to travel too far. Additionally, plant food that can help in providing cover and not get blown in and buried by snow. Such as sorghums and milo or blends for food plots like the “Signature Series or Food Plot Seeds”. See https://www.pfhabitatstore.com/store/items/FP/ for more details.
Build the Right Feeder – You need to provide the right type of feeder to feed pheasants and not deer. Follow these steps and see the following articles on building a feed. See https://www.mnquailforever.org/post/2019/03/06/build-a-simple-winter-feeder-for-quail-pheasants-that-won-t-feed-the-deer and https://www.carvercountypheasantsforever.org/community-tips/feeding-pheasants/ .

Feeders need to be placed near or within a short distance of wintering cover. It is key so the pheasants can feed and then get out of danger when done. Do not place the feeder close to a road. Also, given snow and other consideration like how to I keep the feeder filled? Do not just put feed on the ground. Build a proper feeder to get the feed off the ground and out of the snow. The best feed is whole kernel corn or whole grains. Cracked corn holds moisture often in feeders and not the best for feeders.
Feeders attract predators. Your feeder needs to keep out coyotes and a means of escape for the pheasants. More pheasants are lost to predators than die of winter weather.
You need to build a feeder to keep out the deer (Note: deer should be fed hay and not corn in the winter) and other animals as best as possible. Therefore, we like the plans in the above links to help in this area. One other way is to use cattle fencing. “Cattle-Panel“ fencing comes in 16 feet long by 4 feet section. The panels have holes in them about 6 x 8 inches on the lower part of the panel. Upper part of the panel has narrower holes. Holes are big enough for a pheasant to crawl through, but a coyote or deer can’t get through easily. Note: If you are in a CWD region, even more reason to keep the deer out of the feeder as well. Two panels are all you need to surround a feeder. You build a square or triangle with the panels.

Once You Start, You Can’t Stop – Repeat …. “Once You Start, You Can’t Stop” feeding. If you do plan on feeding pheasants, you should only start around February 1st or so. Pheasants will survive well until that time, unless unusual winter. They have ways of finding food sources. After you start feeding you need to continue until the ground is exposed from snow. If you stop at any time prior to this, you will create a real problem for the pheasants. Many will die and not survive. The birds will become dependent on your food. Check your feeder at least every third day. Note: Do not throw feed near roads. If you do the outcomes are usually bad for pheasants. Several of the pheasants will be killed by cars.

Criteria for Receiving Emergency Feed:

Be a current Pheasants Forever Member.
Willing to feed from now until the fields are turning black (March) so Pheasants can find natural food.
Build a proper feeder. We will assist in getting you started and help you acquire certain material. Not feed pheasants on roads.
Not feed the deer with the feed provided. It is not healthy to feed deer what we are feeding pheasants. It's better to feed them hay.

If you can meet the above criteria, or help in working to that goal, anyone interested in feeding pheasants or what we are calling “Emergency Feeding”, please reach out to Tim Kraskey directly at tim@kraskey.com .

The key to saving pheasants in the winter is good habitat from the start. We recommend food plots over feeding. Provides both cover and food.

Adopt-a-WMA Update:

Mark your calendars on April 22, 2022, Saturday (Earth Day) BCPF will host its Adopt-A-WMA Day. Some of the activities will be planting new shrubs; posting and changing signs; creating parking areas; removing barb wire; removing noxious shrubs/weeds; etc. Come out and enjoy the fresh air and help us with these activities.

Calling on all FFA, 4-H and Classrooms or the younger crowd to come out and assist. We know that many high school students as well need to have volunteer hours and we will help you in this effort to fulfil some of these hours. Please join us on this day to show your support for our local lands we manage and you as taxpayers own. More details to come on this as we get closer to the date.

BCPF and the DNR have been replacing several of the yellow WMA signs and added new parking areas in several the WMAs. Bashaw; Riecks Slough; Albin; Terry; Meadowlark; Winding Creek; and William Groebner WMAs.

In 2023 we will be planting of the Bashaw WMA food plot. This is part of building better habitat, so we won’t have to do “Emergency Feeding”. This is a large nearly 25-acre food source for deer, pheasants, turkeys, and other wildlife. Last year we got into this late. While we did plant 10 acres, we will try and get planted the whole 25 acres with a variety of food sources. We are working with the DNR to help the other 3-4 food plots in Brown County. We have identified 3-4 other WMAs that might be good candidates for food plots in the 3-5 acres in size.

February 9, 2023 - BCPF Meeting, Sleepy Eye Servicemen's Club

February 18, 2023 - MN Spring Light Goose Season Opens

March 18, 2023 – Brown County PF Banquet

April 12 - May 31, 2023 - MN Spring Turkey Season(s)

April 22, 2023 – Earth Day & Adopt-a-WMA Habitat Day

July 15, 2023 – Youth Day Nicollet County Pheasants Forever (Tentative)

September 1, 2023 – MN Dove Season Opens (Tentative)

September 2-17, 2023 - MN Goose Season

September 2-6, 2023 - MN Teal Season

September 9-10, 2023 - MN Youth Waterfowl Season

September 23, 2023 - MN Waterfowl Season Opens

September 30 - October 29, 2023 - MN Fall Turkey Season

October 14, 2023 – MN Pheasant Opener (Tentative)

October 19-22, 2023 - MN Youth Deer Season

November 4-12, 2023 - MN Deer Firearm Season

November 25, 2023 – MN Muzzleloader Deer Opener

January 1, 2024 – MN Pheasant Season Closes

The monies we receive through donations, fund raising, and membership are critical to us enhancing or purchasing lands for all the public to enjoy. We encourage everyone to renew their membership to Pheasants Forever or upgrade their membership to a Lifetime membership.

Pheasants Forever is the only national organization with a model of chapters keeping 100% of the funds they raise. While belonging to a larger national organization that has a voice on federal and state conservation policies, chapters are tasked with finding projects for their funds. Minnesota takes full advantage of this model using funds raised for projects locally as well as other areas in the state of Minnesota.

Go to https://www.pheasantsforever.org/Participate/Why-Participate.aspx

andhttps://www.pheasantsforever.org/getdoc/91f8dfad-47ad-46d6-af54-5649db42671f/Membership.aspx help us grow!

BROWN COUNTY PHEASANT’S FOREVER ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
FOUNDED 32 YEARS AGO and SPENT OVER $4 MILLION in Brown County for HABITAT.
OVER 300 HABITAT PROJECTS benefiting OVER 3000 ACRES on PRIVATE land.
PRESERVED OVER 2500 ACRES for PUBLIC ENJOYMENT & HUNTING. Brown County has OVER 28 WMA/WPAs encompassing OVER 4600 ACRES.
PARTICPATED in OVER 2000 ACRES in Brown County land ACQUISITIONS that are now WMA/WPAs.
HOSTS AND PARTICIPATES IN ANNUAL MENTORED YOUTH HUNTS with more than 50 KIDS PARTIPATING
SUPPORT our LOCAL TRAP SHOOTING TEAMS.
PARTICIPATE in MN DNR Adopt-a-WMA program