In November, Foster Joseph Sayers Lake changes hands from summer boaters to birds, birders and hunters. The rental boats are gone, the beach schedule ended at Labor Day, and in early November the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers starts lowering the lake. Over the same weeks, loons, grebes and diving ducks stop on the water during migration, a local bird club holds two public walks along the shoreline, and about 4,910 acres of the park open to hunters for deer season.
For anyone living in Howard, Milesburg, Port Matilda, Julian or Wingate, the park you know from July runs on a separate November calendar. Before it starts, Halloween lands on a Saturday this year.
Halloween weekend comes first
On Saturday, Oct. 31, trick-or-treat runs from 6 to 8 p.m. in Howard, Milesburg, Port Matilda, Unionville, Snow Shoe, Snow Shoe Township, Boggs Township and Huston Township, according to the Centre Daily Times' county-wide list. Worth Township has no set time, and the CDT notes that most of the township follows Port Matilda. If you have friends in State College, Ferguson, Patton, Harris or Halfmoon, their trick-or-treat is two days earlier, on Thursday, Oct. 29.
The Milesburg American Legion at 401 High St. hosts a trunk-or-treat that Saturday evening, also 6 to 8 p.m. Within days of the candy running out, the lake starts to drop.
What the drawdown actually changes
Sayers Lake covers 1,730 acres, runs nearly eight miles and has 23 miles of shoreline, per the DCNR boating page for Bald Eagle State Park. It's a flood-control reservoir first. The Corps' master plan for the project lists flood-risk management downstream as its main purpose, covering Bald Eagle Creek and the West Branch Susquehanna below Lock Haven.
The lake's yearly schedule follows from that purpose:
| When | What happens to the lake |
|---|---|
| Early November | USACE begins a five-foot drawdown |
| Mid-February to early March | Water drops another 15 feet to maximum flood protection pool |
| By mid-May, weather permitting | Lake usually back at summer recreational pool |
Boat owners need to know the working range. DCNR says launches and marina access aren't available when the water is below 628 feet or above 632 feet. That's a narrow four-foot band, and a five-foot drawdown can take most of the lake's ramps out of it. Winter Launch is the exception. It sits along the lake north of the beach, works at all water levels, is open 24 hours, and has a fishing pier built for anglers with disabilities. The boat concession at the marina was open only on September and October weekends after Labor Day, so November on the water means bringing your own boat.
The level changes week to week, so check before you hitch the trailer. The DCNR boating page links to the Corps' lake level site.
The birds arrive as the boats leave
The quiet water matters to migrating birds. DCNR's wildlife-watching page says fall brings migrating mergansers, cormorants and buffleheads to the lake, and that ducks use it to rest and refuel during spring and fall migration. The Pennsylvania Game Commission's Bald Eagle State Park viewing guide gives a longer list of autumn possibilities.
- On open water: common loons, horned and pied-billed grebes, red-breasted mergansers, common goldeneye, scaup, bufflehead, ruddy and long-tailed ducks, and American coot
- Along the shoreline: solitary and spotted sandpipers, greater and lesser yellowlegs, pectoral and least sandpipers, killdeer and dunlin
- Overhead and around the lake: gulls, which DCNR describes as common here, with ring-billed, herring and Bonaparte's gulls named by PGC among migration possibilities
The park's name has a resident pair behind it. PGC says Fisherman's Access, at the end of Foster Joseph Sayers Road, looks across the lake at the bald eagle nest, and the lookout above Pavilion 5 on Skyline Drive is another viewing point. The park is also part of Important Bird Area #32, chosen because Bald Eagle Mountain matters to migrating raptors.
Two November dates with the State College Bird Club
You don't have to learn every duck on your own. The State College Bird Club's 2026 fall schedule has two trips at Sayers in the first week of the drawdown, and both are open to non-members.
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The monthly Sunset Bird Count at Sayer's Dam meets at the PFC Foster Joseph Sayers Statue and War Memorial at the northeast end of the park. Trip leader Joe Gyekis plans to stay at the dam if the birding is busy, or walk half a mile to a small wetland nearby if it's slow. Targets include water birds on the lake and a possible robin and blackbird roost near the wetland. The December count moves even earlier, to 4:15 p.m. on Dec. 2, as the days get shorter.
Sunday, Nov. 8, 8 to 11 a.m. Trip leader Bob Snyder meets the group at the Swimming Beach and works around the main park area: the beach, Winter Launch and the Sunken Road Overlook. Possible extra stops include a drive to the top of the dam and a short walk down the service road to view Hunter's Cove and the emergency spillway marsh. Besides waterfowl, the group hopes to find winter birds such as Northern Shrike, Snow Buntings, American Pipits and American Tree Sparrows. The club suggests cold-weather gear, sturdy boots and an orange vest.
The orange vest leads into the park's other November schedule.
The same shoreline is open to hunters
DCNR says hunting is allowed daily during established seasons on about 4,910 acres of Bald Eagle State Park. Migratory game bird hunting is the exception and stays prohibited on Sundays. The Game Commission approved the 2026-27 seasons on April 11, 2026. These dates matter most for anyone walking the park this fall:
- Statewide archery deer: through Nov. 20
- Statewide regular firearms bear: Nov. 21 to 24
- Statewide regular firearms deer: Saturday, Nov. 28, through Dec. 13
Sundays are part of the change from past years. The PGC's 2026-27 hunting and trapping digest says nearly all seasons now include every Sunday, migratory game birds excepted. It also says that outside five southeastern counties, Sunday hunting is open in state parks on all dates PGC authorizes. Centre County isn't one of those five, so the firearms deer season here covers Sundays Nov. 29, Dec. 6 and Dec. 13. The Nov. 8 bird walk falls on a Sunday during archery season, which explains the vest suggestion.
The trails stay open the whole time. DCNR lists 14.5 miles of trail, open year-round from sunrise to sunset, and advises hikers to wear fluorescent orange during hunting seasons because some trails pass through hunting areas. The DCNR hiking page describes a few options:
- Butterfly Trail: an easy 1.5 miles from the beach day-use area to Frog Pond, popular with birders for waterfowl viewing
- Skyline Drive Trail: an easy 2-mile out-and-back
- Swamp Oak Trail: an easy half-mile connector
- Lakeside Trail: a more difficult 5.6-mile loop between the lake and the railroad, from Bald Eagle Launch Access Area toward the Rustic Campground
DCNR also notes that the Woapalanne Path follows the lakeshore and can flood when the water is high. Seasons, bag limits and orange requirements vary by license and location, so check PGC's digest for the rules that apply to you before heading out. This is general information, not legal advice, and PGC and DCNR are the final word on what their rules require.
Why the campground stays open into December
Deer season even sets the park's closing date. The Russell P. Letterman Campground closes in mid-December. Its three camping cottages, deluxe cottage and two yurts close after deer season ends in mid-December, according to DCNR's overnight page. If family is coming for Thanksgiving week and the guest room is full, the cottages and yurts are still in season.
For anglers, Sayers is a warmwater fishery for crappie, yellow perch, tiger muskellunge, channel catfish and largemouth and smallmouth bass, and DCNR designates it a panfish-enhancement waterway with special regulations. The Winter Launch pier is the one fixed spot that keeps working as the water drops. Later, DCNR says about 630 acres are available for ice fishing, and the park doesn't monitor ice thickness.
On the way down from the Port Matilda side, Swanky Beans is the area's first dedicated coffee shop. It's a walk-up and drive-through trailer at 7690 S. Eagle Valley Road in Worth Township, run by Salina and Ethan Swancer. When it opened in August, the Centre Daily Times reported weekend hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, with the shop closed Thursday and Friday. Hours can change with the season, so check before a dawn birding run.
Plenty of Bald Eagle valley homes sit within a short drive of Winter Launch or Fisherman's Access. If you own one of them and want to know what it's worth before winter, the team at Ryen Realty knows these roads and the land around the lake. Request a Free Home Valuation and we'll send you a number based on recent local sales.
