All posts by Mason Brubaker

Landowner Meet & Greet

Please join Central PA Pheasants Forever chapter volunteers and our local Pheasants Forever wildlife habitat biologist to learn how they can help install conservation and wildlife habitat practices on your property. Interact with local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Centre County Conservation District staff and receive annual program updates. Penn State will also present. 

Available by in person attendance only – – – – PA Pesticide Credits: 2 core and 2 in Category 1 (Agronomy Crops)

Program is being held on Feb. 22 at the Centre Hall Lions Club. It will start at 9AM and conclude at 12PM. Light breakfast refreshments will be available. No cost to attend, but you must register for the event online or by contacting Ryan Brown, Pheasants Forever Farm Bill Biologist, at rbrown@pheasantsforever.org, or by phone (570)-433-5079. Online registration can be completed through this link.

SGL 333 Habitat in 2023

Diverse grassland habitat on SGL 333. This habitat type provides all of the needs of a nesting hen and her brood, as well as fall and winter cover!
Over time, grasslands are encroached by woody species. Fire is a great way to restart plant succession and keep grasslands grasslands!

2024 Banquet Venue Change

Dear Supporter of the Central PA Chapter of Pheasants Forever,

The Chapter would like to thank you for your continuing support.  This past spring banquet raised the most funds to-date.  As a result, the chapter was able to continue our habitat mission and our outreach to youth hunters this fall on October 7, 2023.  

The Chapter has completed the habitat work on State Game Land 333.  This year, chapter volunteers removed 250 trees and shrubs and sprayed 11 acres to prepare the acreage for planting of switchgrass and pollinators on the acreage.  The work was completed in April and May. We will share photos of the project with you at our banquet on March 23, 2024.

With the success of the 2023 banquet, the chapter realized that in order to grow the banquet we needed a larger venue. The Banquet Committee has decided to move the banquet to Good Shepherd Church.  The facilities at Good Shepherd Church are larger and can comfortably handle 200 attendees plus the tables of prizes. The chapter has contracted with Bonfire Barbecue to serve as our caterer.  We have used Bonfire Barbecue to cater our youth pheasant hunt event.  The feedback on the food was exceptionable.

The move will also enable the Chapter to keep the ticket for the 2024 banquet the same as the 2023 banquet.  Please mark the date of March 23, 2024 on your calendar!

Continuing Work on SGL#333

Habitat Restoration on State Game Land 333

Many of you have noticed the newly planted fields and the restoration signs while hunting this fall at State Game Land 333 in Centre County.  The Central Pennsylvania Chapter, along with the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service completed two upland restoration projects there, and anticipate improved habitat on the Game Land this year.  In late May, the Chapter provided herbicide to the Game Commission who sprayed the plots.  Soon after, the USFWS’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife crew and Central Pennsylvania chapter members mowed the standing dead vegetation including patches of autumn olive and Tartarian honeysuckle.  The Pheasants Forever crew, including chapter volunteers, then planted 13 acres of native grasses and forbs, and another 8 acres of native wildflowers and grasses using the Service’s Truax seed drill.  Following a dry summer, foxtail dominated both stands; however, we anticipate switchgrass, big bluestem and Indian grass next year, along with wildflowers including black-eyed Susans, coneflower, coreopsis and bee balm.  The structure of these stands will provide excellent cover for pheasants, other upland birds, and mammals.  In addition, the increased insect activity in these stands will provide abundant food, while vastly increasing pollinator habitat at the Game Land. 

2022 Youth Pheasant Hunt

On October 1, 2022, eighteen youth participated in the Central Pennsylvania Chapter’s Youth Pheasant Hunt at Pointer Haven in Rebersburg. The day of fun started when the first group of six hunters arrived promptly at 7:30 AM, with safety instruction and clay bird shooting shortly after. Then off to fields of switchgrass and big bluestem they went for real birds – each group of two hunters working with a dog and a handler, plus two mentors. After the hunt, it was time for stories. There was also a presentation about the life cycle of pheasants and the importance of grassland and pollinator habitat and how to restore it. The highlight was an excellent lunch of beef brisket and pulled pork by Bonfire Old-Fashioned BBQ. The second group of hunters followed at 9:30 and the third group at 11:30. A big thank you to all the volunteers that made this happen plus the many sponsors from our spring banquet, and our donors including Big Dawg’s Plumbing and Heating, Mahogany Ridge Game Farm, Bryant and Carson Law Firm, Tom Jeffries, the Penn State Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Millheim Small Engine, and as always, our host, Pointer Haven Lodge.

2022 Chapter 855 Sponsors

Dan Aiello
Henry Beiler
Diane Brown
David Burns
Fred Dailey
Rick Dailey
Doug & Lisa Deibler
Tom Dunlap
Bruce English
Larry John Haag
Rudolph Hersh
Chris Hoffman
Tom and Shirley Jeffries
Pete LeVan
Charles McCole
Kristie Miller
Elizabeth Ottarson
Garin Peck
Dave Putnam
Joe Putnam
Paul Rebarchak
Terry Schneidell-Aument
Chad Seeger
Terrence W. Yoder