The State of Minnesota, has over 10,000 lakes, but that’s not all the state has to offer for outdoor enthusiasts like myself.

I recently attended the 12^th annual Governor’s Pheasant Hunt near Sleepy Eye Minnesota and was pleasantly surprised to find out that Minnesota not only has an abundance of water, the state also has 482,721 acres of wildlife habitat.

Sleepy Eye resides in Brown, County, which is the, home of 25 Wildlife Manage Areas, while we were there, we attended the dedication of the Dennis and Mary Hoffrogge Tract, a habitat project where numerous state & national organizations worked together on the project.

I’ve attended several of the Governor’s hunts, and pleased to see more habitat showing each year.

Our #4 team, consisted of Brian Pell (Guide), Teresa Woody (Guide), Doug Johnson (KOWZ-TV), another hunter from the Twin Cities and myself.

The land we’d hunt included a good stand of CRP grasses, Switchgrass, Wild rye, Sideoats Grama and Big Bluestem, providing cover and nourishment for numerous grassland birds, small mammals and other wildlife species with a net increase of 9,800 additional habitat acres this year.

The city of Sleepy Eye is an amazing city, with a 255-acre renovated lake, Sleepy Eye Depot Museum, several new businesses, including the Sleepy Eye Brewing company that created a special brew for the hunt, which I found quite enjoyable.

There’s also the Sleepy Eye ballpark where, over 100 years ago, Babe Ruth hit 2 home runs on a visit to Sleepy Eye.  

At the Dyckman Free Library you’ll see a PEANUTS Linus statue.

 Charles Schulz of PEANUTS fame, was friends with Linus Maurer of Sleepy Eye, naming his PEANUTS character after Maurer.

These are but a few of things you’ll find in the Sleepy Eye area, and once you’ve been there, you’ll want to go there again!