Chapter News Update - November 2022

The Minnesota pheasant hunting opener season is nearly over this year. My how fall goes quickly. Remember starting December 1 you can now have a 3-bird daily possession limit. Hope you find your limit on one of the many public WMAs in Brown County. We have nearly 30 of them in the county for all to enjoy.

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

More Recent Activities …

We have a date for the 2023 BCPF Annual Banquet. It is March 18, 2023 and will be held this year at the Sleepy Eye Event Center. Additionally, one of our main raffles to raise money the “Hunters Dream” raffle tickets are now available for purchase.

The DNRs Adopt-a-Wildlife Program we are a key partner in helping to better our public lands and encourage youth habitat programs on them. Updates on this program are listed below.

We continue to improve and expand our youth and hunter recruitment programs. In the past 5 years, we have supported youth & high school shooting programs in Sleepy Eye, New Ulm and Springfield.

We continue to provide corn to feed pheasants but, encourage food plots and winter thermal cover plantings as a permanent solution to our winter weather. 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 two decades ago.

We hope to see some new faces at our meetings held quarterly in Sleepy Eye or New Ulm. Meetings usually begin at 8:00 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.

As we enter the holiday season, may you and your family have a wonderful and joyous season.

High School Trap Team Support: BCPF donates money to many of the schools that have trap shooting teams. These teams as well are supported by other conservation or shooting club organizations in the county. Additionally, we get access to a special program for the schools to acquire shotgun shells right from Federal Ammunitions in a joint program by Pheasants Forever and Federal Ammunitions. Any coach that wants to learn more about this program should contact one of the BCPF Board Members for more details.

Hunters Education & Safety: Students ages 11 and older may take their classroom training online. Students age 14 and older may also complete a virtual field day instead of the traditional in-person field day by signing up for and completing the online hunter safety course (link is external). Students ages 12 and 13 who want to hunt this fall but are unable to complete their in-person field day are encouraged to use the apprentice hunter validation. Please note the one-year expiration date for online hunter safety course vouchers (which are required for students to attend a field day) has been extended. See … https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/safety/index.html .

Our local Isaak Walton League will be hosting yet this year a hunter’s education & safety class. Please reach out to them at https://www.minnesotaikes.org/chapters/New_Ulm.html .

CRP Updates: The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is accepting offers for specific conservation practices under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Continuous Signup.

In exchange for a yearly rental payment, farmers enrolled in the program agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and to plant species that will improve environmental health and quality. The program’s long-term goal is to re-establish valuable land cover to improve water quality, prevent soil erosion, and reduce loss of wildlife habitat. Contracts for land enrolled in CRP are 10-15 years in length.

Under continuous CRP signup, environmentally sensitive land devoted to certain conservation practices can be enrolled in CRP at any time. Offers for continuous enrollment are not subject to competitive bidding during specific periods. Instead they are automatically accepted provided the land and producer meet certain eligibility requirements and the enrollment levels do not exceed the statutory cap.

For more information, including a list of acceptable practices, contact your USDA Service Center at visit fsa.usda.gov/crp.

RIM Wetlands: Landowners have a new option to restore their environmentally sensitive cropland with the reintroduction of the Reinvest In Minnesota Wetlands Program (RIM Wetlands). Signup for RIM Wetlands begins September 30, 2022. Funding decisions will be made via quarterly batching periods while funds are available, with the first round of decisions slated to begin in late November.

Landowners accepted into the RIM Wetlands Program place their land into a permanent conservation easement through the state’s Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) easement program. Private ownership continues, and the land is permanently restored and enhanced for water quality and habitat benefits. This program is different than CREP. There is a potential to enroll land currently in CRP or land that does not have crop history. For further questions and to start the application process, please reach out to the Brown Soil and Water Office at (507) 794-2553.

Pollinator Grants: Pheasants Forever has active Pollinator Grants for participating organizations or landowners who wish to do an educational activity that creates or enhances pollinator habitat. Last year, BCPF partnered with a student organization from Sleepy Eye schools and used this grant to restore some land near the Sleepy Eye golf course. These grants have a lot of flexibility and must have an educational aspect. If you are interested in applying for one of these grants reach out to Nate Fore, our local PF Biologist for assistance in completing the forms for the grant.

Ditch Mowing: We have recently had a few inquiries on ditch mowing and what is the law regarding it. Currently, the law in MN statute 160.231 says that any MN Department of Transportation Road must obey this statute and NOT mow ditches other than up to the first eight feet from the road from Spring until Aug. 1 of the year. Also, mowing requires a permit to be allowed to mow. This is fine for Interstates and Highways. What about township or county roads?

This is where is gets a little murky on what and who enforces the law in the county. To make this simple, assume the county will maintain or is responsible for mowing and enforcing on county paved roads. All gravel roads for the most part, this law does Not apply.

For habitats sake it is wise Not-to-Mow any ditch from spring until August 1 of the year. After August 1 it is fine to mow the ditch for haying purposes. The MN DNR has some excellent overviews on this. See https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/roadsidesforwildlife/index.html and also review https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/assistance/nrplanning/community/roadsidesforwildlife/roadsidesbrochure2008.pdf

Mowing Thistle: If you own CRP land, mowing thistles during the primary nesting season is allowed, but you must first visit the local FSA office and notify staff. Mow in areas that are the densest with thistle, not the entire field. Timely mowing of thistles right as they start to bloom only reduces the spread of seed. Thistles should be treated with herbicide in early fall to effectively kill existing plants. Reach out to Nate Fore our local PF Biologist for assistance with managing invasive weeds in grasslands.

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 food plot. 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.

What is R3? It stands for: RECRUIT, RETAIN and REACTIVATE. This is all about getting folks interested in hunting and the outdoors. See … https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/r3/index.html for a great overview and how you can help. We at BCPF have a few things we are doing in this effort to get folks into the outdoors.

We have available for local shooting clubs Learn to Shoot Grants. These are monies focused on getting new adults into understanding how to use a gun. These are aimed at trap shooting type events.

Pheasants Forever has partnered with ALPS OutdoorZ in an effort to engage current hunters by challenging them to pledge to preserve our outdoor lifestyle by taking a new or lapsed hunter afield this upcoming year. Join the club and “Take the Pledge” to mentor a new hunter. See https://www.pheasantsforever.org/Hunting/Hunter-Mentor-Pledge.aspx for more details and how to “Take the Pledge”.

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’s not coaching a hockey or baseball team, he can be found following his golden retriever, Keeva, through the prairies.

November 26, 2022 – MN Muzzleloader Deer Opener

December 15, 2022 – Brown County PF Meeting, Servicemen’s Club Sleepy Eye, MN

January 1, 2023 – MN Pheasant Season Closes

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