- Hello, everyone.

Welcome to "Michigan Out Of Doors."

We're so glad you're here this week because we have a brand new show.

We're gonna take a look at what the first couple of days of firearm deer season looked like here in my neck of the woods, down in the southeast part of the lower peninsula.

Matt and I actually hosted Deer Camp.

We had a bunch of friends and family over for the night before the opener, and then we headed out and hunted.

And a couple of people in our group were actually able to put tags on some bucks.

You won't wanna miss that.

And speaking of buck stories, we're gonna head to the Buck Pole in Richmond to hear some more successful hunter stories.

You won't wanna miss it, so make sure you stay tuned.

I'm Jenny Ciolek 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 eyes ♪ ♪ Here come the crystal winter skies ♪ ♪ It's Michigan, "Michigan Out Of Doors" ♪ - [Hunter] What a beautiful day in the woods.

♪ Someday our children all will see ♪ ♪ This is their finest legacy ♪ The wonder and the love of Michigan ♪ ♪ As the wind comes whispering through the trees ♪ ♪ The sweet smell of nature Is in the air ♪ ♪ From the Great Lakes to the quiet stream ♪ ♪ Shine like a sportsman's dream ♪ ♪ It's a love of Michigan we all share ♪ - [Narrator 1] "Michigan Out Of Doors" is presented by By Country Smoke House, a sportsman's destination since 1988.

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(upbeat music) (people chattering) - [Jenny] While there are still plenty of hunters who head north to Deer Camp every year, there are more and more camps that look like ours here in the southern part of the state.

Matt and I hosted a deer season party at our place on Friday night, including our daughter-in-law and our cute little grandson.

On Saturday morning, we'd be hunting some farmland we lease from friends.

Joining us for the hunt would be my stepson, Miles, his good friend Mitch Despins and Mitch's girlfriend Sydney Thompson.

It seems that parties on November 14th and early, which is a good thing.

Our crew woke up at 5:00 a.m.

to get to the hunting land by oh dark 30 as Bob Garner would say.

We split up into four different blinds and waited for daybreak with high hopes.

Well, good morning and happy opening day 2025.

It's November 15th and it is about 6:15.

We still have about a half hour till shooting light.

I'm gonna video myself today.

We're out here on a farm.

I'm looking over, mostly a cut bean field, and then I've got woods right next to me too.

We've got four of us out here, four different blinds on this farm today.

Hopefully, at least one of us gets a crack at something, so we'll keep you posted as we go.

But I'm excited.

The excitement started right off the bat.

Once there was enough light to glass the field, I could make out two deer way up by the road in a backyard.

It appeared to be a buck tending a doe, but at 700 yards it was difficult to see antlers.

My rangefinder doesn't even measure that far, but out of curiosity, I used the onX Hunt app and figured it out.

With no other movement for the first couple of hours, those two deer would entertain me for quite a while.

They would eventually run across the road.

Moments later I heard a gunshot and figured somebody else got a closer look at that buck.

The only other deer I saw that morning was an exhausted doe seeking shelter in the woods near me.

I never did see a buck chasing her though.

Matt had some better luck in the woods.

Well, it's 8:35 a.m.

and my husband Matt, is hunting through the woods right there.

He's sitting in an Archer tree stand.

He's about 200 yards away and he just shot, and he texted and said he's down.

So I'm not sure what he's got yet.

I don't know if I should go out and help him recover it and get some footage or what, I'm waiting to hear back from him.

But that's exciting, at least one of four of us got a shot off so far.

After glassing the area, I could actually make out Matt's buck laying just beyond some down trees.

Miles and I headed over.

Okay, well as you can see, this is the blind I was hunting in over here.

And about 200 yards through the woods is where Matt was hunting.

I've got my stepson Miles running the camera right now.

Mitch and Sydney, who were also hunting with us, went to get the four wheeler, Miles and I are gonna go join Matt, and he doesn't have to look for his buck because he could see it from his tree stand.

So we're just gonna go help him check it out and put a tag on it and get it outta the woods.

So at least one of us was lucky.

One out of four isn't bad, I suppose.

So we're gonna go check it out.

- Well, there was some does out in the field.

I seen deer out in the field and then I had one down there earlier, so I figured I'd try a couple grunts or whatever to see.

Couldn't tell.

I saw there was a good sized deer on the edge and then nothing, nothing, nothing.

And all of a sudden, about 15 minutes later, he just walked outta some thick stuff here and saw him right here at about 50 yards and I shot him at 40.

He was just walking through with his head down.

- He didn't go anywhere.

- Yeah, he went 22 inches from standing to not.

That was about it.

So.

- Well.

- Heck yeah.

- Nothing for you today.

- It's all right.

Someone got one and glad it was him so.

- [Jenny] You could see those same two deer I was watching, I think in that field up by the barn.

- Yeah, yeah.

They laid there for, pretty much the whole morning, then got up and then just took right off.

So went straight north and never got a chance at 'em so.

- That was it.

And then that doe.

- One little crazy doe running through and didn't know which way to go, but it came right toward your stand and then just took off.

- [Jenny] All right, well.

Oh, that's a nice buck.

- [Matt] Yeah, I think this might be the one we've been seeing back here back and forth.

- [Jenny] He's a perfect eight, right?

- [Matt] Nice deer.

Came from behind.

He cleared one tree and I had the one shot, so I just stuck it on him and let it fly.

- [Jenny] Beautiful.

It was good to have a buck down for our crew and it was fun to have Sydney in camp with us as she experienced her very first deer hunt as an observer.

Unfortunately, Miles, Mitch and Sydney had to leave and weren't able to stay for the afternoon hunt.

But Matt and I planned to head back out again.

We had heard that our good friend, Gayle Doss, had dropped a buck this morning too.

So we headed to her house to hear the story.

You may remember Gayle, from our opening day in 2020 when she shot a nice buck on camera at the family farm here in St.

Clair County.

Gayle, congrats.

- Thanks.

- [Jenny] So what time this morning, did you get it?

- Around 9:00 a.m.

- Yeah, opening morning.

Now, it's your husband's birthday and you got the buck.

- I did.

I thought it was going his direction, but it ended up coming right directly at me.

- [Jenny] How far away was it when you shot?

- 115 yards.

- Whoa.

What kind of gun?

- .450.

- .450.

- Yep.

- And just dropped it.

- Dropped him right there.

- [Jenny] Oh my gosh.

Was your heart pumping?

- Yes.

- [Jenny] How many years do you think you've been deer hunting?

- Oh gosh, you gotta be on that one.

A long time.

Probably, it's been probably a good 20 years.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

And your heart still pumps.

- Oh yes, definitely.

Yeah, it was nice to see 'em.

I seen another four point earlier, but I was looking for something a little bit bigger and kind of surprised me when this one popped out.

- [Jenny] Nice.

Oh, very cool.

So what's your plan with it?

He's going up to the Buck Pole at Huvaere's in Richmond.

- [Jenny] Okay.

Yeah, we usually don't have a lot of ladies in the ladies division, so you have a good chance.

- Let's hope.

- Winning something.

- Let's hope.

- Cool.

Well, congratulations.

- Thank you.

- For the afternoon hunt, I headed back to the same blind I'd hunted this morning.

We'd been hearing from a lot of our friends who hunt the same part of the state, and we all agreed that it seemed like a slow opening day, judging by the number of shots we heard, which wasn't many at all.

The only deer I saw on the afternoon hunt were a small buck chasing a doe that came past me at 50 yards before heading through the fence row into the property behind me.

I had no other activity until the afternoon on November 16th.

I decided to leave the big camera and tripod home and just had the small GoPro camera attached to my .450 Bushmaster.

The GoPro is a wide angle camera and doesn't zoom in really at all.

So when a buck came through the woods at a hundred yards, the camera didn't do a great job of capturing it.

I had just a few quick seconds to get a range on this nice eight point, get the gun up and pull the trigger.

As you'll see, the buck is just a small figure in the camera view, not optimal for TV, but I wasn't passing him up.

(gun fires) I just shot a nice buck about a hundred yards away through the woods.

But I'm hoping I put a good shot on him.

It happened super fast.

There's like two different shooting lanes out in the woods here, and I saw him come through the one shooting lane, didn't even have time to put binocs up.

I just grabbed my rangefinder and kind of guessed as he was heading towards the second shooting lane.

I just kinda guessed how far away he'd be.

It was right about a hundred yards.

So I just left my scope, dialed right where it was and let him.

When he got there, he stopped for half a second and I let one fly.

So today all I brought out was the GoPro.

So I had the GoPro clamped to my gun.

So I recorded, but I have no idea how good it is or if I even got the shot, but if I'd have had the regular camera on the tripod, I don't think I would've been able to get footage and get a shot off.

So I'm happy with my decision.

Hopefully I'm happy with a buck in my hands.

We'll see what happens out there.

Luckily, Matt was sitting in a pop-up blind in the middle of those woods and the buck actually went past him probably a hundred yards out and he was able to see him.

So thankfully for Matt, because I couldn't find any blood at the spot he was standing when I shot him.

But we went to where Matt last saw him and he didn't make it far.

Matt got that nice one yesterday morning and this is the evening of the 16th and I was able to put a tag on one, I think it's been, well, since 2020 when I got to hunt by myself on the 16th.

Well, actually Matt was running the camera for me and I was able to tag an eight point buck that day.

So November 16th is a good day for me.

I'm truly grateful and excited to have had the opportunity to harvest a buck here on the land that Matt and I lease.

This is our third year hunting here and the first season that each of us was able to take a buck off of this land.

Now, let's back up to the evening of November 15th where we headed from the woods to the Buck Pole in Richmond.

I caught up with Kim Jugowicz who helped start this Buck Pole event 15 years ago.

- We're right at the witching hour for everybody to come rolling in with the truck.

So we're getting excited.

So the grand prize this year is a nice little duffel bag full of goodies donated from all of our sponsors that have been with us for years.

So gift certificates, free mounts, free processing, gift cards for a product, I mean, all kinds of stuff.

Because we only did one day event this year, we started it a little bit early, so it was kind of nice because all day we've had this nice flow.

I don't think I've ever seen so many baby strollers in my life.

They're in and out, in and out, and we got lots of stuff for the kids.

They're doing face painting.

We got new this year, we got a s'more station.

So everybody's stopping for s'mores.

They're decorating pumpkins.

It's amazing.

It's been really busy all day.

So that's what we were hoping for.

- [Jenny] There were plenty of families, dogs and hunters enjoying the activities here in Richmond.

Speaking of hunters, Gregg Altimore from Columbus Township was here with his beautiful opening day buck.

- I just got lucky as can be.

I was sitting in my blind and looking out over my food plot, and staring in front of me nothing all day.

And all of a sudden I lean forward, just to kind of stretch.

I look out a little hole in my door, and he's standing in the trail that I walk up to my blind in.

- Wow.

- And then I just pulled up my .450 Bushmaster and put it right out the door.

He looked right at me, quartered away, took the shot through a bush and dropped him right on the trail.

- [Jenny] Oh wow, nice.

Not very far away then.

- 30 yards.

- Oh my goodness.

- He was about to wind me too, if he would've walked up a little bit farther so.

- A little breezy today.

- Oh yeah.

Tomorrow's even gonna be worse.

- Is this your biggest buck?

- I think so.

I would've liked it if it had one more point.

It's a nine point, but I got a 10 before, but it wasn't, this one is a little bit bigger.

- Nice.

- So I'm a lucky guy.

- [Jenny] Well, congratulations.

- Next up were Jeremy Schmults and his son Jeremy with an eight point.

- Some friends of ours, gracious enough to let us hunt at their property outside of Armada.

And we set up a tent blind.

And luckily, enough about noon, this bruiser walked in.

- Like 10 or 20 minutes before we were packing up to leave, I did a call and then when we were getting ready to leave, he went to go get his gun and then he looked up in the, this big buck looking straight at us.

- [Jenny] Whoa.

Who saw it first?

- Him.

- Okay.

- And he got ready to shoot it and there was a bunch of weeds in his head.

You couldn't see his head.

It was behind all the weeds.

He took a shot and we went trailing, and we was looking for him, and then we followed the blood and we saw, and he was nose down into like a swamp.

- In a big swamp you said?

- Yeah, a swamp.

Like a little creek slash swamp.

- Whoa, cool.

- Got a leg full of mud and a boot full of water, but he's happy, so yep.

- How far away was it?

- About, like, 50 yards.

- Yep, probably about 35 to 50 yards, yep.

- [Jenny] Now is this your first time seeing your dad shoot a buck?

- Yeah, this was also my first time hunting.

- [Jenny] The next successful hunter was Antonio Carrizales from Armada who tagged this great looking eight point on opening morning.

- My dad shot one probably 7:20 in the morning and we waited till probably 9:30 to go look for it.

We didn't know if it dropped yet, so I went to a field behind me, looked to see if it was in there and so I came back to the front of the blind.

I started going around it to go help my dad and I seen a doe and I was like, oh, I gotta pause.

And then I seen this buck, so I put my back against the blind and then, it was in line with my dad and I was like, okay, not shooting my dad.

So let the deer move.

And then I yelled at it stopped and I shot it.

And then, I aim for behind the shoulder, but I shot the neck.

It dropped though in his place.

- [Jenny] All right, well it all worked out for you.

Is this your biggest buck?

- Yeah.

This is my second one too.

- Second buck ever?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

That's a unique one, isn't it?

Congratulations.

- Thank you.

- [Jenny] What kind of gun were you using?

- Ruger .450.

- Okay, nice.

Michael Simons from Marine City got his big 10 point at 7:40 on opening morning.

- I was watching some does and they were acting kind of funny and they jumped to the other side of my shooting lane, and all of a sudden he walked out, and started walking straight away from me.

And I watched him for about five minutes, just standing there doing nothing, and finally he turned broadside to me, and I shot him with my .450.

- [Jenny] Oh, how far away was he then?

- Oh, 70 yards.

- Okay.

In the woods you said?

- Field woods.

- Okay.

- Yep.

- Yeah, wow.

Had you seen him before?

- Nope, never seen him before.

Actually, the first time I've hunted this year.

- Oh.

- I never even got a chance to bow hunt.

- Is this your biggest buck?

- Yes, to date, yes.

- [Jenny] Wow.

How many points are we looking at?

- [Michael] He's a 10.

He's got a broke one.

He's got a couple little nubs on here, but.

- Yeah, beautiful.

- Thank you.

- [Jenny] Did you talk to the neighbors?

Any idea if anyone else has seen him?

- Nope, I haven't talked to none of the neighbors, no.

It's probably on some of their trail cameras.

- [Jenny] Yeah.

10-year-old, Miles Sutton, bagged his very first buck, a nice six point on opening day.

So Miles, how old are you?

- I'm 10 years old.

- 10 years old.

And is this your first buck?

- Uh-huh.

- Tell me what happened.

What time did you get him, where were you, who was with you?

- Around five ish and I- - Who was sitting with you?

- Oh, well my papa right there.

- Okay.

- And it was fun.

- [Jenny] Tell me how he came in.

How did you see him coming?

- Like, he walked around some trees, came in and we shot him.

- [Jenny] How far away was he when you shot him?

- Like, 20 yards.

- Okay, cool.

Nice.

So how did you feel after you shot him?

- Great.

- Did you have buck fever?

- No.

- No, you were cool and calm.

- Mm-hmm.

- All right.

Awesome.

Well, very cool.

And you're gonna hang him on the Buck Pole and hope for a prize.

Well, congratulations.

Good job, Miles.

Sam Parnell from Columbus, Michigan tagged his big buck on opening morning.

- So first thing this morning, I didn't even get to sit down yet, and there was a buck and a doe running past me.

I'm not a hundred percent sure if it was this one, but they went towards my left, and then I waited about 25 minutes, and then it had just hit seven o'clock.

And this deer came out about 250 yards from the same direction.

He presented me with a broadside shot, and I pulled the trigger, and he ran about 150 yards, and he fell over in the field.

- [Jenny] Whoa, you got to watch the whole thing.

- Yeah, I got to watch the whole thing go down.

It was awesome.

- [Jenny] What were you shooting?

- I was shooting a .450 Bushmaster.

- [Jenny] Okay, cool.

So were you hunting over a field?

- Yeah, it was hunting the edge of a field where it corners off.

So I had about 500 yards south of me and about another 500 yards east of me.

So I had a lot of field view.

- [Jenny] Yeah.

So did you, were you done hunting after that or did you stay, or did you hunt again tonight?

- Everybody that was out hunting, 'cause it's a big farm, everybody was really wanting to see it.

So I got down pretty quick and I was pretty antsy to get up and go see him too so.

- Is this your biggest buck?

- No, but he is pretty close.

- [Jenny] Did you know he was out there?

- [Sam] I have hunted this property twice this year.

I haven't really put a lot of time in there.

I've been hunting more up in the thumb.

- Okay.

- So.

- [Jenny] So no, you didn't know about him.

- [Sam] Yeah, I've never seen him before.

- [Jenny] He came out on opening day.

That's awesome.

- Yeah.

- [Jenny] Marcus Gaffney had an incredible opening day with two bucks on the pole, an eight point and a nine point.

What's the world happen at opening day for you?

- Well, first of all, I gotta give glory to God, man.

I got another year I was able to tag out, not only tag out with two nice bucks, but on opening day gun season.

So about 8:30 this morning, this guy came through, he was coming behind a younger buck and a couple of does, and I ended up being able to drop 'em right where I stood, right where he stood.

And like I said, 8:30 this morning and this guy came out a little bit about five o'clock tonight, and told myself opening day.

I said, it's either this guy or his dad out there that we've seen running around.

And like I said, right after five o'clock, here he came out and again, thankful again to get another good shot on him and drop him right where he stood again.

So, said two bucks down in the same field, same blind, opposite windows.

- Oh my goodness.

- So morning and night.

- [Jenny] So maybe next year I need to sit with you with the camera.

- Maybe.

Hey, I got a nice heated blind with the office chairs in it.

It six by eight.

You should come sit with me.

- I'm gonna sign myself up.

- Sounds good.

- Congratulations, Marcus.

- Thank you very much.

- [Jenny] 13-year-old Milo Pool from Armada.

Got his unique looking 11 point on the afternoon hunt.

Milo, what in the world?

How old are you?

- I'm 13.

- [Jenny] 13 years old.

This has to be your biggest buck.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Tell me how it all happened.

What time was it?

- I shot it at five o'clock and he was 111 yards away.

- [Jenny] Wow, what were you using?

- I was using a .350.

- A .350.

All right, cool.

So tell me how it happened.

When did you first see him?

- We saw him coming through the brush, and he like popped out, and I shot him, kind of by the thicket.

- What was he doing, following anybody?

- No, he was all by himself.

- [Jenny] All right, cool.

You didn't have to grunt or anything?

- Nope.

He just stopped for a second, looked around and I shot him.

- And who was with you?

- My grandpa.

- [Jenny] Okay.

So was your heart pounding like crazy?

- Oh yeah.

- [Jenny] So you know what buck fever is?

- Mm-hmm.

- Is this your first buck?

- No, it's my second.

I shot a nine point at Youth Hunt this year.

- [Jenny] Oh, nice.

You're having a good year.

- Yes, it's my second buck this year.

- [Jenny] Very cool.

So what happened after you shot him?

Tell me.

- We waited about like I think, like, 30 minutes and we went down there to check for blood and there was no blood, so I didn't think I got him.

And then my grandpa saw him laying in the woods and we picked him up, yeah.

- [Jenny] It was a long 30 minutes, I bet.

- Yeah.

- How cool.

So what are you gonna do with this buck?

- I'm gonna get it mounted for sure.

- [Jenny] All right, cool.

Well, congratulations.

- Thank you so much.

- [Jenny] The deadline to register dear in the contest ended at 8:30 and once the guys from Commemorative Bucks of Michigan had scored all of the bucks, it was time to announce the winners.

Our friend Gayle Doss won the ladies division with her eight point that taped out at 92 and 6/8 inches.

And Vince Perry won both the men's and overall categories with his 143 and 2/8 inch buck.

Milo Pool ended up winning the youth category with his 141 inch, 11 point bruiser.

Congrats to all of the successful hunters and good luck to those still hunting that elusive buck out there in Michigan's out of doors.

- Well, hey everybody, thank you so much for watching "Michigan Out Of Doors" this week.

Now, the plan for next week is to show you my opening day footage along with another buck pole, but it is Thanksgiving, so we gotta do a little checking on that.

But either way, we're gonna have some great deer hunting on next week's show, and it is a great time of the year to be a sportsman.

So get out and enjoy it.

And if we don't see it in the woods or in the water, hopefully, we'll see you right back here next week on your PBS station.

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(bright music) (bright music continues) ♪ When I wander far away ♪ A dream stays with me night and day ♪ ♪ It's the road that leads to my home state, ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan man ♪ Changing seasons paint the scene ♪ ♪ Like rainbow trout in an hidden streams ♪ ♪ The white tail deer in the tall pine trees ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan man ♪ I am, I am, a Michigan man ♪ Ask where I'm from and I'll show you my hands ♪ ♪ Lord above, I love this land ♪ I am a Michigan man ♪ From the Keweenaw down St.

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