- Hello and happy New Year everybody.

Welcome to "Michigan out of Doors".

We have a very special show in store for you this week.

Jimmy, Jordan and I looked back on 2025 and picked our very favorite stories from last year.

Jordan chose his buck of a lifetime.

He chased after it on camera and was able to harvest that during archery season.

Jimmy picked a walleye fishing adventure from the Keweenaw Peninsula on Loc La Belle that was absolutely amazing.

And I couldn't help but pick my very first Michigan bear harvest.

We're gonna share all of those stories with you this week, so make sure you stay tuned.

I'm Jenny Sullivan and it's time for "Michigan Out of Doors".

♪ From the first spring rains ♪ To the soft summer breeze ♪ Dancing on the pine forest floor ♪ ♪ The Autumn colors catch your eye ♪ ♪ Here come the crystal winter skies ♪ ♪ It's Michigan, Michigan out of doors ♪ - What a beautiful day in the woods.

♪ Some day out children all will see ♪ ♪ This is their finest legacy ♪ Wonder and the love of Michigan ♪ ♪ As the wind comes a stirring through the trees ♪ ♪ The sweet smell of nature's in the air ♪ ♪ From the great lakes to the quite streams ♪ ♪ Shining like a sportsmans dream ♪ ♪ It's the love of Michigan we all share ♪ - "Michigan Out of Doors" is presented by... By Country Smokehouse, a sportsman's destination since 1988, featuring varieties of homemade sausage, jerky, brats, and gourmet entrees.

Holiday gift boxes can be assembled in store or online.

Details at Countrysmokehouse.com.

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- [Jenny] Well, here we are.

It's day three of my bear season.

We had another exciting night last night.

Only saw one bear and I think it was just the way she was shaped.

It felt to me like it was a female bear, just with that shorter body, kind of the rounder rear end, but I believe it was the exact same bear came in again last night just all by herself and stayed for a while and gave me a nice entertaining show.

Something to watch for a while.

Still didn't feel like pulling the trigger on that bear.

I do want a Michigan bear, but I want it to be maybe just a little bit bigger than that.

We've got a few more nights left, so I'm hoping I see something a little bit bigger out there tonight and actually heading out closer to noon today I am gonna attempt to sit in that small archer stand that I've been hunting for, it's gonna be about eight and a half hours by the time it's all said and done.

And Bob gets out there to pick me up after dark.

So, it'll be a long sit, but hopefully it won't be.

If I can get something to come in a little earlier they said there was a nice bigger bear that came into that bait at the stand I was hunting around one o'clock, so I thought I might as well get out there a little bit earlier.

That's what we're here for.

So I'm in for a long sit or hopefully I get to see something before dark that's a little bigger than that bear I been seeing.

Well this little guy wasn't very big, but super cool to see.

It was a fisher, a member of the weasel family who's also related to mink and otters.

Fishers are carnivores and prey on small mammals like squirrels, rabbits, and birds.

A male fisher can weigh up to eight pounds.

Until tonight, I'd never seen one in the wild.

A special treat for sure.

His quick erratic movements made it tough to get much footage of him as I was trying to stay as still as possible on the bear hunting front.

A little after 7:00 PM the fisher left and a bigger bear was making its way in.

It was as still as could be with not a breath of wind.

And I could hear the bear walking towards me.

You'll see the bear entering the screen on the lower right.

My heart rate was about to go crazy once again.

(light music) (light music continues) (gun blasting) I just shot my very first Michigan black bear.

Holy moly.

So exciting.

Oh, that was a bigger bear.

At first I thought it was gonna be the exact same one I'd seen the last two nights.

It's like 7:15.

That one came in so cautious.

All I could do is get the camera rolling.

I couldn't move the camera, I couldn't pick my gun up off my lap or anything.

That's a bigger bear.

He was really cautious and just kinda worked his way in around the bait and I wasn't gonna give him a chance.

For a second there he looked like he might take off to the left of the bait.

I gotta wait till dark now.

Bob's gotta come in and pick up Matt who's hunting, I don't even know on the same property, but he's gonna have to pick him up first and then I'll probably be sitting here for a while in the dark and then we'll go check out, see if we can find some blood.

I think I see some with the broad ax, but I can't wait to get down there.

It's gonna be a long wait, but I can't wait to put my hands on this bear.

- Yeah, this is only our second year with him, but he likes it so he does really good.

- Yeah, he found one last night with no blood, right?

- Yeah, we should find this bear here shortly.

I don't think it'll be very far.

- Matt grabbed the camera for me and got footage while Waylon, Derek and I tracked my bear.

While I was busy following the blood trail, Waylon followed his nose and ran right to my bear.

Hey, know my first Michigan bear.

- Well you got a nice day on.

Alright, how far did he go?

Can you tell on your tracker?

Good job.

Good job.

That was a fat one.

- That's what I mean.

That's a big bear.

Hey Matt, come around here.

I think I can just.

- Pick him up.

- Yeah, pick him up.

It's your bear.

- This is a senior moment.

Gotta put on the readers in order to mark the legs.

Oh God, love it.

Do we know male or female?

Do I have to mark that on the tag?

- No, just the date.

- Okay.

- I believe.

- Isn't that cool?

Michigan Black Bear.

Look at these paws.

It's so cool.

Isn't that cool?

Nice.

Oh well I can't thank you guys enough for all your help and this is my first ever Michigan black bear and I can't be more excited.

Waylon got some good blood work in with us and good tracking I should say.

And I'm a little giddy and a little kinda delirious right now, but I am excited.

This is a beautiful bear.

I was on cloud nine to say the least.

Matt, Derek and Bob's son, Bob Jr.

loaded my bear into the side by side and wrestled their way out of the woods on the muddy two track.

Let's just say there was a lot of winching, a little yelling, and a whole lot of muddy boots by the time we made it back to camp.

This mature bore gave the guys a run for their money and ended up tipping the scales at just over 280 pounds.

A very special thanks to Bob Madurin, Derek Guzzick, Bob Junior, and my husband Matt, for helping make a dream come true here in Michigan's out of doors.

- Beautiful UP Crappy.

We're in the middle of nowhere.

- [Jimmy] Nice fish.

- On this beautiful lake with Connor and these electronics are quite the game changer.

It's really cool to interact with the fish and see them interacting with the bait.

Unbelievable.

- Nice job.

- Super fun.

- [Jimmy] There are quite a few inland lakes up here in the Keweenaw and so I ask Connor what he's looking for when hitting a new lake.

- [Conner] For me, you know, obviously now I have a lot of bank experience on these lakes, but you know, finding fish on new lakes, I always recommend, you know, using your electronics first before you even wet a line.

Side imaging, live scope, anything you have, you know, scan the lake out, know the seasonal patterns of the fish and that'll get you to a, you know, a pretty good starting point there.

- [Jimmy] Well, our starting point was producing some nice fish for sure.

Our plan was to target walleye and then maybe smallies and so far the plan was working pretty well.

- Nice, where you at?

- We got a double.

We got a double.

- Nice job guys.

- Yeah, yeah.

- They're schooled up and fired up.

Lot of fun.

- Super fun, Connor.

Thanks for taking us out here.

- This is great.

- Of course.

- [Jimmy] Now you're gonna chase some Walleye, you think?

- Yep, we're gonna go do some walleye and then after that go fish for small mouth.

So kind of just showing what we have to offer up here.

- That's awesome.

- All right, so we're changing gear to walleyes now and I use a very simple tactic, my favorite tactic for walleyes, just a jig and a crawler.

It's just something I have confidence in.

I know there's plenty of other ways to catch 'em, but that's kind of my all around walleye bait.

It's super versatile.

You can swim it above their heads, jig it on bottom, swim it on bottom.

You can just do a lot of stuff with it and the walleyes really like it.

- [Jimmy] What you got?

- Should be a big walleye.

I'll have to find out though.

Need the net.

It's fighting kind of weird.

Almost fighting like a small one.

Oh, it's a nice walleye.

(Conner chuckling) Potentially.

This isn't even that big one.

- Beautiful.

- Oh, look at that fish.

- Wow, look at how yellow he is.

But it is a nice one.

Beautiful walleye.

- [Jimmy] As we moved around the lake looking for walleye, I had Connor explained what he's actually looking for.

- So really just, we're on a big rock pile right now, kind of just scanning the whole area with our electronics and kind of just fishing for single fish that are either suspended or, you know, schools, little wolf packs of fish.

That one was suspended by itself, so kind of just, I found that those ones that are suspended by themselves up high, eat nine times outta 10.

So that's kind of was the deal on that one.

And the one that we lost earlier, that was the same deal there.

So might be a little bit of a pattern of that today.

So we'll find out it.

I really hope this is a walleye.

- Going around.

- It's coming up this way.

Coming up, coming up.

This way, this way, this way.

Oh my Gosh, what is this?

If this is a walleye, we have something serious here.

You're gonna have me freaking out on camera.

- I just wanna see it.

- I know.

- I just wanna see it in your hand.

- We all just wanna see it.

Easy.

- And that thing is really bending that rod.

Oh my.

(water splashing) (all exclaiming) - Let's go.

I told you guys.

What?!

- I told you.

Oh my gosh.

Oh gosh.

- What?

What?

- That is a pig.

- What do you think?

- I told you guys.

(all laughing) - [Jimmy] Oh, that's one of the bigger walleyes I've seen.

- Yeah, I told you guys.

- [Jimmy] Well, to say we were a little excited at this monster, well, it goes without saying.

It measured just shy of 30 inches and about nine pounds.

To see a fish that big in the UP, wow, this place is pretty special.

- I mean, you know, we have a super condensed season here, so you know, our ice comes out most years, end of April, early May.

And basically, you know, the spring is a shortened season, so you know, those fish will, you know, kind of be in their wintering holes and then all of a sudden just jump up and start doing their spring spawning time thing.

And then the spawn is super condensed and then they'll kind of just be in their summer patterns, you know, till about early to mid-September and then they'll kind of jump into their fall patterns.

So it's kind of a super condensed season.

The fish are always moving, always doing something.

So the fishing on these lakes changes every single day because these fish are always just changing, doing something.

So, it definitely keeps you on your toes.

It definitely keeps things interesting.

Beautiful walleye.

- Nice job young man.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

Beautiful, beautiful walleye.

Seems like a little bit of a, this is like a awesome walleye, but after catching that last one, we're spoiled now.

- [Jimmy] Yes, spoiled for sure.

When you head up to the UP, it's always great to get away from the crowds and of course you hope to find some fish, but to have a night like we were having, well it makes some memories for sure.

Oh my gosh.

(water splashing) - Beauty.

- Oh my gosh.

- This is insane, Conner.

- Okay, we're just gonna do walleye.

- Wow, oh cool.

- Another beautiful walleye.

Like I said, some of these lakes you can go catch eaters, other lakes like we're on today, you catch, you know the numbers are lower but they're all big.

So kind of gotta pick and choose what you want to do.

But that's what we're doing today and we're having a lot of fun.

- [Jimmy] Well, we were having a lot of fun indeed.

And even though Jenny didn't tie into one of these nice big walleye, she was finding some fish on the back of the boat.

Jenny O in the back of the boat.

- [Jenny] Look at species number five, right?

Nice little bass.

- [Jimmy] Nice.

Special thanks to Connor for taking us out.

He has been guiding now for just a few years and I'm sure he'd love to take some new folks out as well.

So if you're looking for a new fishing adventure, head north, then head north some more.

The Keweenaw is waiting for you here at Michigan's out of doors.

(water splashing) Woo.

- [Jordan] I eventually came to the conclusion that he was likely using a small bedding area that I had overlooked, mainly because I assumed he was using the same area as last year.

This change was subtle but important when it came to wind direction.

And it changed my mindset heading in to the next hunt.

(light music) Well back in a familiar spot, but hunting it with a different wind direction tonight.

I'm starting to think that this buck might be bedded in a different area that would've been downwind of this stand the other two times I hunted it.

It's a pretty small spot, but I've seen bucks use it in the past, so we'll see.

I haven't seen him since the third, but I do have some trail camera pictures recently, so I know he's still in the area.

It's also possible that at this point in the season, I'm just starting to overthink everything, so I'll just keep on keeping on and see what happens.

As the light started to fade, I heard a branch break on the backside of the tree and within seconds out stepped the buck I had been chasing all year within bow range for the first time.

Brett?

(arrow whizzing) Oh no.

I think I just killed the biggest buck of my life.

I am not a hundred percent sure, but I thought the shot looked perfect.

I heard a little crash.

That happened out of nowhere.

It can just happen so fast this time of year.

I've hunted that buck so hard.

This a lot of time and effort throughout the year, throughout the season.

Time away from family, time away from my wife.

I just changed, I mean it just happened like that.

I've been so frustrated the last week or two trying to figure this deer out, trying to keep things in perspective, knowing that it is just a deer, but also knowing it's the biggest deer I've ever had the opportunity to hunt.

The deer that we passed up a bunch last year, hoping, you know, that he'd make it another year to get this opportunity and there's so much that goes into it.

I hope the shot was where I thought it was.

That's always a really important part for me.

I can't say much more until I know what happened, but I think I just killed the biggest buck of my life.

I decided to stay in the tree for the rest of the night, making a few phone calls and watching the footage over and over.

By the time we went out to track, I had an entire crew of friends and family there to help.

- You gotta flashlight?

- I know.

Found him!

- Good job, buddy.

Alright, wait for daddy, honey.

- Definitely has to be over here because the blood trails.

- Good job.

All right, keep following them.

- Professional trackers.

- There's a little trail.

- All right, Ellie, get there.

Cora, you wanna go up there?

- There you go.

Go up ahead Lee.

He's up there.

- No, exactly.

I saw the whole.

- Keep following.

Yep, you're doing great, honey.

- I do.

- All right, keep booking.

- I found it.

I found him.

- Oh my God.

- Look at this thing.

Oh my goodness.

(kids chattering) - Thank you, honey.

- Holy geez.

- Here, hold them up.

Look, hold them up so we can see him.

Why does you have it tongue out?

- Thank you.

- Does anybody wanna... - Landon's first track job.

- First track job.

- Yeah, well kind of at a loss for words.

I think we had about 25 people out here for the track.

A lot of people knew that I was chasing this buck and have been chasing him all year.

And just incredibly thankful.

I mean, just, I mean, a once in lifetimer, biggest buck I've ever killed.

Very easily could be the biggest buck I ever kill.

So to get it done with a bow after a whole season of chasing this buck, just, just incredible.

I don't know what else to say and have everybody out here celebrating and the kids tracking the buck.

And this is, you know, feeling very grateful, really incredible buck.

And that's a wrap for my season, so can't beat it.

I'm incredibly thankful to have had the opportunity to hunt this buck.

And even more grateful for the support system around me that allows me to spend so much time in the tree.

Whether you're waiting for that big buck or looking to fill the freezer, I hope all the deer hunters out there enjoy their time in the woods as much as I do.

(light music) - Thank you so much for joining us this week for "Michigan Out of Doors" and once again, happy New Year.

We look forward to all of the adventures we'll be sharing with you in 2026.

Beginning next week, we'll share with you the Winter Michigan elk season that happened.

Jordan and Gabe both had cameras rolling for that.

You won't wanna miss that.

If you'd like to see where we are and what we're up to this year, you can always do that online.

Our website is Michiganoutofdoorstv.com, and we're on the social media platforms at Michigan Out of Doors TV.

If we don't see you on the ice or in the woods, we'll see you right back here next week for "Michigan Out of Doors", - [Announcer] "Michigan Out of Doors" is presented by... - [Narrator] Get Away from it all to your own place.

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By Show Span, producing consumer shows, including the Ultimate Fishing Show, Detroit, January 8th through 11th at Novi Suburban Collection Show Place.

The show features, fishing tackle, trips, boats, and seminars from Top Pros.

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(upbeat music) ♪ When I wander far away ♪ A dream stay with me night and day ♪ ♪ It's the road that leads to my home state ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan man (bright music)