- Hello, everyone.

Welcome to "Michigan Out-of-Doors," we're so glad you're here this week.

I'm Jenny Ciolek, and we've got a great show headed your way.

I'll take you out on Saginaw Bay out of Kaysville with a group of ladies jigging for lake trout.

You won't wanna miss that story.

We had a blast out there and Jimmy and Jordan have some other excitement in store for us this week.

- Well, that's right Jenny.

We do have a few more things on this week's show.

We're actually gonna kick things off with something quite popular this time of the year, and that is chasing beagles.

We're gonna do a little rabbit hunting on this week's show, and we're also gonna stop in at a really cool kids' archery event.

You won't wanna miss that.

Lots of brand new stuff on this week's show.

You stay tuned.

I'm Jimmy Gretzinger, 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.

♪ Some day 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's in the air ♪ ♪ From the Great Lakes to the quiet stream ♪ ♪ Shining like a sportsman's dream ♪ ♪ It's a love of Michigan ♪ We all share (calm guitar music ends) - [Presenter] "Michigan Out-of-Doors" is presented by, by Country Smoke House, 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.

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(calm bright country music) (bright upbeat funky music) - [Presenter] Jay's Sporting Goods.

Trust the tradition.

(calm guitar music) (calm guitar music continues) - [Jordan] A few weeks back, I was in a very familiar place covering a rabbit hunt in my hometown that I, myself, have participated in many times over the years.

My first time hunting in this tournament was nearly 20 years ago, and it's nice to see that things are still going strong today.

- Jordan asked me to give you a little brief story both about the club and the rabbit hunt.

We tried to go back through our annals and check it, but we believe this is the 50th anniversary of our rabbit hunt.

When we first started this rabbit hunt, Gary Gonnella, Dan McCoy, myself, and Mort Slowinski, were all much younger then, obviously.

And now, we've turned into the old timers, and we went to the board and said we'd like to do a rabbit hunt.

And the old boy said, "Well, if you guys wanna do that, we will have some hot dogs and some chili.

You go ahead and do that."

But it's been a great experience.

We, our emphasis is to try to get youth to hunt and get them involved.

As our parents said and older members of this club, "There's lots worse things than you can do than to teach a youngster to hunt and fish."

- [Jordan] For this hunt.

I'd be tagging along with a good friend of mine and his family, and our main goal today was to make sure that both of our youth hunters had an opportunity at a rabbit.

Something that has always been an important part of this tournament.

(gun bangs) - I think we had today 210 registered hunters, and what we're really excited about, Jordan, is about 65 of those were young boys, and we had some young girls on today.

So with all that being said, we appreciate our involvement in what Mother nature and the good Lord has given us.

I'd also like to put a shout out to the gentleman that who has coordinated and run this project for many years and that would be Dr. Warren Thompson who is also a former president and a current board member.

We're extremely proud of everything that Jordan is an Ionia boy as you probably all know.

And I got a hold of him a little bit before deer season because I know when it comes to deer hunting where he's going to be and he put it on the calendar and true to his word, he came and showed up.

(dog yelping) (gun bangs) (dog yelping) - [Jordan] Good job.

After a few close calls, we finally had a good shot opportunity and Wyatt made the most of it.

- [Perry] Who did the shooting?

- Me, yeah.

You like, you just saw, we walked over there and then, and they kept just going around and then he finally stopped, and I got a shot.

- [Justin] That's great.

- I only rabbit hunt.

They've been there for, heck, ever since I was a little kid.

My grandpa went out there, and my father-in-law's always done a better big part of it, and it just a good group of good old boys and they really do a lot for kids taking 'em hunting and they've had this rabbit hunt.

Like I said, I think they were the first club that had it and I wouldn't be surprised if it was 50 years ago they started it, but I've lived here 42 years, and they've been doing it since I moved out here.

So it's great.

I mean, I've been retired five years now, and I'm just really gonna keep the kids rabbit hunting.

They love to do it, they love their sports, and it's been a lot of fun.

My youngest grandson right there, he shot his first rabbit today, Wyatt, shot one couple years ago and got one today.

So it's been great.

It has been great.

Good pups going and it's just something I want to keep doing, and I think more kids should.

- [Jordan] First rabbit ever?

- Yeah.

- [Justin] He was the first shot this morning.

- [Jordan] Oh, was that him that shot first?

- [Justin] Yeah.

So we had two come up over the hill, and one sat for us and I was a little nervous for Waylon because it was his first bunny, and I accidentally ejected the bullet from the gun, and I had to put a new bullet in.

But we got settled down and Waylon shot his first rabbit, so it was pretty cool, about 30-yard shot.

But it was nice that the rabbit sat for us, and it was pretty far ahead of the dog, so it worked out.

- [Jordan] Off to a good start.

Justin and I used to hunt together just about every year in this tournament back when we were teenagers and to see his two boys now getting into the sport was pretty surreal.

It's great to see another generation of hunters hitting the woods.

(dogs yelping) With a little time left in the tournament, we kept hunting hoping to find a couple more rabbits.

(dogs yelping) (dogs yelping continues) (gun bangs) - Nope, mine now.

- [Jordan] What happened there?

(dogs yelping) - Well, we jumped it up up there and dog circling it around and got a shot on him, so.

- [Jordan] Number four?

- Four for the day.

Yep.

(dogs yelping) (calm guitar music) (gun bangs) - [Jordan] Did you get him?

- [AJ] I couldn't tell.

(calm guitar music continues) (calm guitar music continues) (dogs yelping) (calm guitar music continues) (calm guitar music ends) - [Jordan] We're wrapping up today seeing a lot of rabbits.

We just hunted a couple properties that it was pretty thick, and we didn't get a ton of shooting on those properties, but we did kill five today, so kids had a lot of fun, and we're about ready to head back to the hunting and fishing club.

We're gonna stop at the pool barn, take off our duds, get warmed up a little, and head over there, and check our rabbits in, get our tickets, see if we win anything today.

So overall, it was a lot of fun.

- [Waylon] Yeah.

(engine whirring) - We provide with your entry fee, which is minimal, $10 for an adult, $5 for you.

But that includes a beautiful breakfast, pancakes, sausage, eggs.

Then we have another fellow that comes in, Dennis Sitzer, and he makes a tremendous amount of wonderful Venice and chili that is also free to those people when they come back and check their rabbits in or squirrels, I shouldn't mention that it, we now call it a squabbit hunt because a number of years ago, as you know, they changed the squirrel season and where you could hunt them longer.

So we've incorporated the squirrels in with the rabbits, and that's why we call it a squabbit hunt.

So, and it's our hope that we will continue to be able to do this, but I might add, we can use younger members, and we could use some more help.

So if you're out there and you're interested, I don't think there's an organization that you can belong to anywhere for $25 a year and junior members are free.

(calm guitar music) - [Jordan] Tournaments like this one and others around the state are a great opportunity to get young hunters into the woods and are a lot of fun for adults as well.

If you haven't tried one yet, you just might want to put it on your list.

Special thanks to Perry for inviting me out and to Justin and the crew for letting me tag along on a fun day of rabbit hunting here in central Michigan.

(calm guitar music continues) (calm guitar music continues) (calm guitar music ends) - You know, over the years for me some of my favorite stories are when I get to spend a day in the outdoors with a group of outdoors women.

That's exactly what happened in this next story as we hit Saginaw Bay jigging for lake trout.

- We are up in Kaysville, Michigan, for the weekend, and we are going to, hopefully, be catching some lake trout tomorrow.

So we went out and scoped the ice and fortunately, we had some ice blow in with all the winds coming this way, which is good for us.

But yeah, so we have a big group of girls that's gonna go out fishing tomorrow.

Some people haven't really been ice fishing really before and then a couple people, it's like their first time fishing with other people that like fishing and that are girls.

(Sarah and girls laughing) - [Jenny] How many do we have?

- I think there's nine of us, girls.

VRBO, the host has been great.

Beautiful place right on Sandpoint, so if we don't catch fish at least we're doing it in luxury.

(girls laughing) We did a taco bar.

We were playing card games with everybody last night just getting to know each other 'cause some girls knew each other, some girls didn't really know each other, and just hung out for the evening.

Talked a little bit of fishing, kind of talked about what our game plan was gonna be, what our options were for today 'cause there's a lot of slush under the ice that got pushed with all the wind that we had a couple days ago.

So we all got up bright and early, and we left the VRBO at about 6:30 and all came out in between the two guys on the machines.

They kind of helped us bring all of our gear out and get set up and so now, that we're all set up and fishing, hopefully, we'll see some fish.

(chuckles) - [Icefishing Mom] All right.

- [Jenny] The ladies all started a half-mile journey hauling their gear out to the area where Sarah and her husband typically catch lake trout this time of year.

Sarah has been planning this trip for a while now.

- [Sarah] You're supposed to do the meetup through a non-profit organization and everything kind of fell apart a little bit so, but I already got the VRBO, so we kind of figured we'll do the weekend anyways, so.

- [Jenny] A little bumpy, huh?

- It is a little bumpy.

I think we found a good, smooth spot to set up, which will be nice and just kind of see what happens, I guess.

- [Jenny] So you brought a baby out with you?

- Yeah, we'll see it was a little snug getting in everything, but we made it work.

- [Jenny] Elaine and her husband already have two young boys at home and have started fishing as a family.

Sarah's husband and brother-in-law were helping auger the holes as the ladies got set up out here.

- Ever since I started dating my husband, his family have two cottages right on the lake, and so, we've fished out here with cousins and uncles and stuff before, so it's kind of something that we've tried to come and do at least once or twice a year, and it's always a ton of fun.

So it's different being able to site fish for 'em and figure out all the different baits that have worked over the years.

But, yeah, we try, it's right around like Valentine's Day-ish is usually when it's the best.

Luckily, we've got ice out here.

The water's clear.

Yeah, so I just got girls either that I've fished with before or who like expressed interest in coming on the trip.

- [Jenny] A couple of the ladies who were excited to be fishing today were sisters, Emily Brown and Stephanie Hobbs, both from Midland.

I made my way over to their shanny to check out their setup.

- Hey!

- Hey!

- [Jenny] How's it going in here?

- Good.

- Good.

- [Jenny] Yeah?

Can you see anything?

- We can actually see bottom, but we can't, I haven't seen a fish yet, but we just got started.

- [Jenny] Okay.

Is this your first time fishing with a group like this?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- [Jenny] Oh nice.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- [Jenny] What do you think so far?

- It's been fun.

- It's so much fun.

Yeah.

- [Jenny] What's different about fishing with a group of ladies as opposed to your husbands or your other family members?

- I think just a different atmosphere.

You're just with a bunch of girls, it's, I feel like it's a little less pressure maybe.

(Stephanie chuckles) - [Jenny] What's your strategy?

What's gonna happen when you hook into one?

- We yell.

(all laugh) - We're not sure what to do at that point.

(Emily and Stephanie laugh) - [Jenny] There was suddenly a bunch of noise coming from a shanny a hundred yards away and Sarah had a fish on.

Her husband, Evan, ran over to help out and her sister-in-law, Jessica, saved the day and videoed with her phone while I ran over with my camera.

- [Sarah] Yeah, everybody set up finally and I'm like, okay, I'll just go find a little spot in one of the shannies and sit on my bucket and chit-chatting with my sister-in-law.

And sure enough, I'm like, "Oh my god, there's a big fish.

There's a big fish."

- [Evan] He's right there.

Your leader's right here.

I don't like why it's on the ice like that.

- [Sarah] I don't know.

- [Evan] It's right there.

(water burbling) - It's a big one.

(Sarah laughing) (girls cheering) - I had to tighten it up 'cause I was running outta line.

- [Jenny] Holy moly.

- [Evan] That's a big trout - [Jenny] Sarah.

- Of course, it was me.

- [Jenny] Wow!

- So there's fish here, so, hopefully, we'll see some more throughout the day.

- [Jenny] Tell me how that happened.

- Well, we were just kind of sit chit and chatting and he flew in and I looked at her, I said, "Jessica, that's a big fish."

And I'm like, "Keep jigging."

So, yeah, we had a weight tube down and a rippin rap or that's kinda like our deadly combination.

- [Jenny] So which one did he hit?

- The white tube.

- [Jenny] White tube.

- When he came up, he was like right under the ice.

So I had to like shove the rod down the hole, so it didn't get caught.

- [Jenny] That's It.

Thank you.

Was it a good pin?

- Oh, yeah, I had to tighten my drag just a smidgen because I thought I was gonna run outta line.

- [Jenny] After icing her beast of a lake trout, Sarah headed out to set up another shanny for some of the ladies to try.

So I hopped in with Jessica just moments after she had some excitement in her shanny.

She's also been fishing out here for many years and just loves it.

- I was just sitting here, and I decided I was going eat a little snack, so I pulled up the white tube, and I was just kind of jigging the rippin rap, and the fish cruised through, kind of looked at mine and then wandered on his way.

Ah, it's relaxing.

It's just fun.

Come hang out, catch fish.

Don't catch fish.

Either way, it's a good time.

- [Jenny] Nice.

I asked Sarah why she likes being involved in events like these.

- I'd say like I'm lucky enough to be able to get out and do this kind of thing, but I know like everybody for the most part here, like doesn't really get out super often.

So I think it's fun to see people like do things that they've never done before, or they don't have like the ability to do on their own.

'Cause it's a lot to like come out and put up a shanny and drill holes and like fish and stuff.

So it's kind of hard to do even if you're a guy on your own sometimes.

So teamwork kind of get everybody out here to do something that they wouldn't normally do on their own is probably like the coolest part.

- [Jenny] Sarah had joined Elaine Berlin and Elaine Saberan in their new spot and as we were talking and the two Elaine's fished, Elaine Berlin saw a laker cruise in and swipe at her bait.

I turned on the camera and got a glimpse of the fish before it disappeared.

That one never did return, but later that evening after I had left, Elaine was able to connect with her first lake trout through the ice and it was a dandy.

The crew fished until dark and even though they had a great time out here, they weren't able to connect with another Saginaw Bay lake trout.

When Sarah cleaned her fish that night, she was surprised to find a 15-inch walleye in it stomach.

Thank you to Sarah Adler and all of the ladies here today for showing us what it looks like when fellow sports women band together and help one another in our pursuits.

That's what it's all about here in "Michigan's Out-of-Doors."

- We wrap up this week's show over in East Lansing where I was able to cover a really cool archery tournament taking place at the Denver Center, and that's the Michigan S3DA Indoor Target State Championship.

(bright guitar music) (bright guitar music continues) (bright guitar music continues) - I'm Casey Christman, manager of the Demmer Shooting Facility here at Michigan State University.

This weekend, we're hosting the state of Michigan's S3DA State Championships.

We're blessed to have a large enough venue that we can fit all these kids in here and have, I believe, it's like 147 shooters come through today.

And you know, hopefully, they're gonna all have a great time, and we can expand the sport of archery.

At the Denver Center here, we have the largest shooting facility in the state of Michigan for archery.

We have a couple indoor range spaces, two techno hunt units, a stationary 3D archery range, an Olympic archery range, which extends out to 70 meters.

And we also have a walk-in 3D course and then recently, we added retail.

We carry a lot of major bow line manufacturers, Hoyt, Mathews, Prime, PSE, and all the accessories that you could possibly need for 'em.

(bright guitar music continues) (alarm blaring) (bright guitar music continues) (arrows thuds) (bright guitar music ends) - So we are Michigan S3DA'S Class State 3D Archery.

We are a kids organization.

We have archers here today from six to 18 years old.

They're shooting the Indoor Target State Championship for Michigan and that's on an indoor paper target.

They're either shooting a five spot or a single spot.

They qualified to get here.

We held five regionals earlier in the year throughout the state, and you have to shoot in one of those regionals to be able to shoot in state.

So all these kids have shot in one of those.

If they shoot in the state tournament, they then can go on and shoot in nationals, which is coming up in a couple weeks in Owensboro, Kentucky.

- [Host] With close to 150 shooters competing in this tournament, there were archers of just about every skill level and age on-hand today, which really highlights one of the best parts about competitive archery.

It really is a sport for anyone.

- Like I mentioned, we have a wide range of ages six to 18, we have Junior Eagle that's from eight and under, and then that goes up to Eagle, which is nine to 11.

At today's event, they're shooting 10 yards, so they're closer than the other archers.

The youth and young adults are shooting 20 yards.

At our organization, they're competing as individuals, so a lot of our kids are just trying to improve their scores.

You know, they're competing against the other kids, but it also is about personally improving their scores.

And then also we have a team aspect where they're competing as a team to try to win a team award.

You can start out with just having, you know, you just need a bow.

A lot of our clubs have bows that can be lent out for archers to start and get into it, see if they're interested in it, but it really is a sport that anybody can do.

- [Host] Although we traditionally think about archery from a hunting standpoint, the competitive shooting side of the sport has gained a lot of popularity over the last few years, and it's great to see so many youngsters excited about archery.

- Archery isn't all about bow hunting necessarily.

We obviously have a lot of bow hunters that come through us and seek out our advice and some other information and helping out with their equipment.

But the great part about archery is anyone can do it at any, you know, fitness level, at any age level.

It's fantastic.

It keeps you physically fit.

It gives you something to do.

And when it comes down to like spot target or 3D archery, you know, people are just absolutely fall in love with it.

They spend a lot of time shooting spots, and it's all about how accurate they can actually get their equipment.

And again, it's not always about the bow hunting side of things.

- [Host] Special thanks to everyone involved in making these events possible.

The sport of archery is better off because of you, and good luck to all of the archers competing in the national tournament, which takes place this week in Kentucky.

(bright guitar music continues) (bright guitar music ends) - Thank you so much for joining us this week for "Michigan Out-of-Doors."

Make sure you tune in in the next few weeks.

We'll be focusing our sights on Big Buck Knights East and West.

We'll be sharing that footage with you in upcoming weeks.

And we're also out in the woods and on the hard water, bringing you some more excitement.

If you'd like to see where we are and what we're up to, you can always check us out online.

- Well, that's right, Jenny.

Online is a good way to kinda keep track of us.

You can do that through our website, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, all good ways to see what we're up to.

And we had a great time, just a week or so back at Outdoorama for the Big Buck Night East.

And we have Big Buck Night West coming in Grand Rapids on March the 13th.

If you've never been to one of those shows, you might wanna check it out.

It's a fun time.

You get to hear some big deer hunting stories, and we're gonna be giving away another firearm as well.

Gonna be a great night.

Make sure you stay tuned over the next few weeks to see what we're up to and where we're at, and if we don't see it in the woods or on the water, hopefully, we'll see you right back here next week on your PBS station.

- [Presenter] "Michigan Out-of-Doors" is presented by, - [Announcer] Get away from it all to your own place.

With GreenStone's recreational land loans, we'll help you finance acreage of any size, so you can own your own place in the great outdoors.

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- [Presenter] By SCI.

SCI helps protect, promote, and preserve wildlife through conservation practices, which include hunting.

SCI supports and funds conservation programs in the state of Michigan.

Learn more how you can get involved at a chapter near you (bright guitar music) - [Presenter] By ShowSpan, producing consumer shows that include "The Ultimate Sports Show" in Grand Rapids.

Over 350 exhibitors, outdoor gear, boats, seminars, Lake Ultimate, and Big Buck Night.

"The Ultimate Sports Show" at the Devos Place in Grand Rapids.

- [Presenter] By Network Outdoors, connecting members to share experiences, help grow businesses, and to give back to the outdoor community.

Learn more at one of 10 monthly meetups or online at networkoutdoors.com.

(bright calm music) - [Presenter] Closed captioning, brought to you by Doubled D Ranch Foundation, a nonprofit, 501-C3, foundation working to make hunting and fishing accessible for those with disabilities.

(bright country music) (bright country 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 scenes ♪ ♪ Like rainbow trout in a hidden streams ♪ ♪ The whitetail deer and 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 (bright country music continues) ♪ From the Keweenaw down to St. Joe ♪ ♪ Kalamazoo east to Monroe ♪ Sault St. Marie and back again ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan Man (bright piano music)