- Well, hey, everybody.

Welcome to "Michigan Out Of Doors," and if you're watching Thursday night, Merry Christmas from all of us here at "Michigan Out Of Doors" television.

We are excited to bring you a really cool show this week.

We're gonna look back month by month at all the different variety our great state has to offer.

So much to see, so much to do, make sure you stay tuned.

I'm Jimmy Gretzinge 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 ♪ - [Jimmy] 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 ♪ - [Announcer] "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.

Details at CountrySmokeHouse.com.

- [Announcer] By DR Trailer Sales.

From job sites to weekend adventures, we've got you covered.

With locations in Milan and White Pigeon Michigan, we carry PJ, Big Tex, Diamond C, and more.

More information is available at DRTrailer.net.

(machine banging) (shells clunking) - [Announcer] At Boss Shotshells, we make all our shot shells right here in Michigan and deliver them direct to your door.

(happy upbeat music) (snow and ice whirring) (upbeat music) (water gurgling) - [Announcer] Jay's Sporting Goods.

Trust the tradition.

- I was strictly playing with the territory stuff.

We threw a howl out there.

Hey, I'm over here.

Anybody want to come out?

And that coyote never made a sound, never made a sound the whole time we were out here.

So back to the same tip from earlier.

Just because you don't hear 'em does not mean they're not here.

Sometimes they just don't wanna talk.

That's probably a transient male coyote, I'm guessing.

- Looked pretty good size.

- He looks like a pretty good sized coyote.

- Yeah.

- All right.

- Oh, that's awesome.

- I know.

- That's awesome.

- Good job.

- So we got one down out there.

Nate did a great job calling.

- Thank, sir.

- FOXPRO did a great job with the sounds on that one and MFK, so we tried a couple more things.

We tried a little bit of rabbit after that and nothing came out so we're gonna grab this one.

We're gonna go to another spot.

We're gonna put Jenny on the gun, see if she can get a coyote.

- [Jenny] Oh, boy.

(hunters laugh) - Male.

- Oh, a male.

- Well, called that one, huh?

- That's what you said.

- [Mike] Well, he might not be running through the brush or the dense.

He's not a young dog.

- [Nate] But look how healthy he is.

Look at the teeth on him.

Beautiful canines, nice and clean.

- Yeah.

- That's a healthy dog.

- [Mike] Yeah, he's a couple year old dog.

- Okay, so with a .243 rifle, you don't see an exit hole in this coyote.

- [Mike] Both bullets hit.

- [Nate] Both bullets hit.

There's no exit hole.

It's just, you have to have the right bullet.

- [Mike] The right speed.

- The right speed, and you don't blow the coyotes up.

You can't even tell where this coyote's hit.

There's no blood.

- [Jenny] The small bullet holes will make this coyote's hide a lot nicer for a fur collector.

We hit the next farm and called for a half hour or so without any action, so we called it a night.

There is so much more that goes into planning a successful hunt, and Mike and Nate shared a wealth of knowledge with me tonight.

We don't have time to touch on all of it here, but we will spend more time with them down the road here in "Michigan's Out Of Doors."

(water splashing) - Yeah.

- Yeah.

- [Angler] Nice job.

- There we go.

- [Angler] It's a pretty fish.

(gentle acoustic guitar music) - Not bad at all.

- [Angler] Walked right by it, just boom.

- [Angler] I think we said as we're kind of counting here right now, I think we had about 15 flags, which really isn't a bad number, but it was a good amount of time in between each one.

We didn't have firing popping off all at once.

It almost felt like one every hour.

- It was about a flag per hour, yep.

- And I think we ended up with a total of four keepers on the ice today between everybody.

A couple, one was, what, was it 32?

- 32 was the biggest fish.

- 32 and we got a 29, so a couple nice fat fish.

- And then lost a decent fish on our last flag, but it was kind of a slow day today on Pier Marquette Lake, for sure.

- So we definitely had a mixed bag.

We had some small pike and we had some good size ones too, so it was a good day.

- Yeah.

- It was a good day, and with the wind that was forecasted and we were able to get here in this cove area and get the block of the wind and had the sun out and actually temperatures weren't bad, so it actually was a pretty great day.

- [Angler] For sure.

Great day.

- [Jimmy] We spent almost the entire day on the ice and I'm not sure if there was ever a dull moment.

When you combine good friends, good fishing, and good weather, it's pretty tough to beat.

Special thanks to Tristan, Chris, and the rest of the crew for inviting me out for a fun day of ice fishing here in West Michigan.

- [Angler] Whoa, I might have you beat, Debo.

(angler laughing) - [Angler] That's yours from earlier.

- [Angler] You better put that on a hook and use it as bait.

- [Angler] No doubt.

- [Angler] Put that in your fish tank.

(laughing) - [Angler] Quick, get the gaff.

(motor rumbling) - We provide, with your entry fee, which is minimal, $10 for an adult, $5 for youth, 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 venison chili, that is also free to those people when they come back and check their rabbits in, or squirrels.

I should mention that we now call it a squabbit hunt because a number of years ago, as you know, they changed the squirrel season, or you could hunt them longer, so we've incorporated the squirrels in with the rabbits and that's why we call it a squabit hunt.

And it's our hope that we'll 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.

- [Jimmy] 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.

(gentle acoustic guitar music) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) - And they're diminutive, small.

They just react to these blades sometimes when they won't anything else.

I fish a blade bait, kinda like you might fish a jerkbait, as far as pause time.

The colder it is, the longer pause you want.

So what I'm doing, or generally having people do, is just get that bait on the bottom and just pulling it up a little bit at this temperature, a little (vocalizing) and back, (vocalizing) and back.

You gotta make sure you're getting that, you know, there's no wobble in it or everything so you're being efficient and you're just kind of almost envisioning that the hook's kind of settling into that sand grass just a little bit, not enough to get hooked up, but making contact with that sand grass and pulling free a little bit, kicking up a little silt at the same time.

Any fish that sees that happen, just can't resist it.

- Well, I tell you what, we found 'em today.

It's a nice lake.

Good, healthy fish.

Hard to argue with this day.

- [Angler] After you get those, you know, a lot of the fish, even on the bigger lakes now, and the bay, are still kind of a post-winter thing.

They haven't really went to the pre-spawn yet, so once you get a few of those sunny days where it warms up a little bit, where that water goes from that 33, 34, and jumps up to the 40 range, that kind of triggers them, especially on these inland lakes, and what I generally do, like the smaller inland lakes, which is what we're on here, they of course, will heat up a little bit quicker so they can be one cycle ahead of even the bigger lakes, whether it be the bay or some of the giant inland lakes we have up here.

- Well, we're having a great day on the water today.

Captain Tony's getting us on the fish.

We're fortunate enough to have 'em run into our bait a couple times.

It's been a perfect day.

- It's been a great day.

- [Angler] Fish on.

- [Angler] Oh, that man.

- [Angler] Woo-hoo-hoo.

- [Angler] Oh.

(angler speaking faintly) (anglers speaking faintly) - [Angler] There's another one on right now.

- [Jenny] The bite was ramping up and the guys were enjoying some great action.

Brandon says there's a particular type of structure that's key to trolling like this.

- [Brandon] What we do is we find flats off the channel, and they'll come up the feed in them flats at night, rather, you know, all these males are down in the channel during the day, everybody's jiggin' 'em.

Well, at night they'll come up into that three foot of water, chase the minnows, that kind of stuff, and that's what we're targeting right now.

Anywhere we can find a flat off the channel that we can get in in three-to-five, three-to-seven-foot of water is what we're targeting.

- [Jenny] It was a perfect night on the Detroit River and Jim and Matt were keeping Theron busy at the back of the boat with a steady stream of fish on and a couple of doubles coming in.

As we talked about wrapping up for the night, the guys insisted that I reel one in.

That's when we were finally able to see how other walleyes will chase the bait that's already got a fish on.

- [Angler] All right, swing that fish.

Oh, as they soon as they- - [Jenny] Yeah!

- [Angler] Where's the other one?

Wow, it's cool.

(motor rumbling) - [Angler] There we go.

(water splashing) Swing it in.

- Nice.

- Woo-hoo!

- [Angler] Hey.

You got him.

- Wow, and there was one following it, one or two.

I couldn't tell, that was crazy.

Thanks, guys.

- Oh, for sure.

- That might be fun.

- It made it a sudden flash or something.

- Yeah, that was cool.

- Thank you, Brandon.

Always fun hanging out on Captain Brandon's boat.

(Brandon laughing) And thank you, Theron.

Theron's the camera guy now.

(anglers laughing) What a great ending to a perfect night on the Detroit River.

Thanks to Theron Hoffman and Brandon Stanton for showing us a fun way to fish those amazing Detroit River walleyes.

It's just one more way to enjoy our tasty renewable resources here in Michigan's out of doors.

(boat clattering) (water sloshing) - [Keith] 27 1/4.

- [Jimmy] Just over.

So as we caught big fish after big fish, the crowds started to form.

You really couldn't ask for much more.

(wind gusting) It's a giant, man.

(wind gusting continues) - Another sore arm.

(laughs) (gentle acoustic guitar music) Another big strong one.

(gentle acoustic guitar music continues) (music drowns out anglers speaking) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) (music drowns out anglers speaking) - [Keith] 28.

- [Jimmy] Another master angler.

(gentle acoustic guitar music continues) - There it is.

(reel buzzing) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) - [Jimmy] Now, some of you may ask, "Why target sheephead?"

Well, I guess I would say, "Why target bass?"

At the end of the day, if you're throwing the fish back, you may wanna try your hand at these hard-fighting fish.

You can use rods you probably already have, you can catch 'em off the piers, and you don't need a boat.

Thanks to Keith for showing us just how much diversity we have right here in Michigan's out of doors.

- [Angler] Well, there's more to catch us than anything.

(angler laughing) Look at that.

- Wow.

Thanks.

- Beautiful.

- Here we go.

All right.

- There we go.

Yeah, it's like an old troller.

- Trout number two of the day.

- [Jenny] Get in there with her, Captain.

- Absolutely.

- [Jimmy] Nice job, guys.

- [Jenny] As Jane brought in the last fish of the evening, Jimmy shared thoughts on this beautiful place.

- [Jimmy] Superior is kind of a unique bird in that it's so much bigger and deeper and that's why I'm excited to kinda learn from Travis tonight too 'cause we don't get out on Superior as many times as we'd like, so should be a fun night.

Little steelhead?

- Exactly, a little steelhead, yeah.

(anglers laughing) Okay, that's a little steelhead.

(water splashing) Let's see if he's not too messed, ooh, he's kind of messed up.

We'll probably end up having to eat this one.

That's okay.

Beautiful fish.

- [Jane] Oh, yeah.

- [Travis] Yeah.

- [Jimmy] Okay, we are just getting off the water here.

Beautiful Lac La Belle.

What'd you think of the fishing experience tonight?

- It was really fun.

Parts of it were like harder work than I expected, like reeling in did use a lot of upper body strength and I wasn't expecting that, but it was really great, and I think just kind of, it's fun to be focusing on the fishing, but also just enjoying the company and talking and learning, it was great.

- For sure.

And Travis does such a nice job, him and his wife Jane.

If you come out to this part of the state and you're looking for somebody to take you fishing, he is the guy to take, so yeah, super fun.

I think we ended up with six or seven fish, all lake trouts, except the last one was a little steelhead, so you got a little bit of variety, and you got some good fish to take home.

- Oh yeah, absolutely, I'm looking forward to it, and Travis was such a wealth of knowledge.

It was really great to learn so much from him, so Jimmy, this was awesome, thank you.

- Oh, well, thank you so much, and it was super nice to see you in person, and not just on TV and hopefully we can do this down the road more often.

- Definitely, I'd love that.

- Thank you.

- Thanks.

- [Jenny] Lake trout like to make a pass or two before committing to striking a bait, and sometimes they'll inadvertently catch a hook in the body on the way by.

This fish was handled quickly and carefully and sent back into the water right away.

These guys make it look easy, but there's a lot more to it than you may think.

- [Erich] I think the hardest thing about doing the lake trout jigging is putting in the time to find spots, so I think that aspect of it, people just gotta be patient and use their electronics.

It's key to have a good 2D sonar.

You can see those fish down in a couple hundred feet of water.

The other aspect of it is, I think where I see people making mistakes is they're not active enough with their bait, or don't work a bait right, so lake trout are kind of aggressive and they like to chase things, so if you keep that bait moving, especially if you're dialed in, whether you're using 2D, or you're using a Garmin LiveScope, you can drop that bait on those fish and keep that bait moving.

They like to chase it and you keep it reeling and all of a sudden they'll, I mean, sometimes you can be reeling at full speed and they'll just about rip the rod outta your hand.

- I did it.

I hooked one.

Had a lot of coaching by Erich.

We switched from the hair jig to the tube, and this guy, we watched him on the screen and he came up and took it.

They fight like crazy.

This is a blast.

If you haven't tried it, you gotta come out and give this a whirl.

Lake Huron outta Alpena, and we are jigging for lake trout.

Thanks again, Erich.

- You bet, Jen, anytime.

- [Jenny] Thanks to Erich Carlson of Reel Effect Charters, and to his wife Amy and son Brady for making this a trip to remember, and for showing us one more way to enjoy fishing the Great Lakes here in Michigan's out of doors.

- [Jimmy] I seen the white patch on this one's chest as soon as it came around the corner and that got my heart racing like crazy.

Told Jordan right away, I said, "I'm shooting that bear."

Didn't really hear a peep out of him.

- [Hunter] Jordan was already ready.

- (laughing) But we had plenty of time anyway 'cause then we probably watched it for at least two, if not three minutes for it to possibly turn to the right position, actually kind of stand up, giving me the shot I wanted.

Held my breath, (rifle fire banging) squeezed, didn't pull, went through everything in my head, and here we are.

Ah, my dad bought me this knife when I was 14.

He did it on a mail order 'cause of course there was no internet then.

It used to have my name it, but it's got so much use on it that the name is gone, but it's a Frost blade.

It's seen a lot of game.

If it could talk, well, it's pretty surreal to be using it right now on this experience.

I would like to think that if it happens that way, that my dad is looking down, smiling.

A special bear in a special place.

This bear weighed in at over 300 pounds and Eric and the guys made the most of it, keeping all of the meat, along with the heart, liver, and fat.

Thanks to Eric for inviting me up to be a part of this hunt.

It's one I'll never forget.

It was a very memorable couple of days here on Drummond Island.

(gentle acoustic guitar music) - To watch that buck come all the way through this area, he's eating on hickory nuts all the way through.

He checked a scrape right down there just about 15 yards away.

I thought about shooting him right there, and I thought, "No, don't rush it.

He's just gonna come right here."

I think I might've just killed my, the coolest buck I've ever killed.

I've been watching him all year.

Got pictures of him in velvet.

I got pictures of him with velvet falling off.

I got pictures of him in hard horn.

Boy, I hope he's down right back there.

Oh, that was a hunt to remember right there.

About 30 yards away, I see a white belly.

Look at the body on that buck.

(leaves crunching) Oh.

(laughing) Oh, my goodness.

Look at that neck.

Oh, my gosh.

Unbelievable.

(gentle acoustic guitar music) The buck that I was after, I could sit here for an hour or two, just soaking it all in.

I mean, I need to get 'em out of here, but I'm definitely not in any hurry to do that.

What a day.

What a day.

(gentle acoustic guitar music continues) - [Jimmy] You couldn't ask for a better early season bow hunt here in Michigan's outdoors.

(gentle acoustic guitar ends) - [Hunter] Whoo!

- [Hunter] Landed!

(Jenny laughing) - [Hunter] We're movie stars now.

- [Ken] Hank.

(wind gusting) - [Jenny] Hank was doing a stellar job retrieving birds this morning.

It's clear that his owner, Ken Bennett, has worked to train him well.

Every hunter had some success already this morning and they were ready for more action.

What's happening at this end of the blind?

- A lot of- - A lot of killin'.

- A lot of shootin'.

A lot of shootin'.

Great day so far.

- [Jenny] Oh, yeah.

Nice.

So tell me your name.

- Ken Opaleski.

- [Jenny] Okay.

- And Chris Stemmer.

- [Jenny] Okay.

- Brian Klein.

- [Jenny] Brian Klein?

- Klein, yeah.

- Okay.

- Avery Klein.

- [Jenny] Avery Klein.

- Jen Cook.

- [Jenny] Jen Cook, and Tyler Cook, right?

- Yep.

- Just make sure you pick up your trash, right?

Go pick up your shotgun shells, pick up your wads, pick any trash, food, drinks, everything like that.

We wanna be respectful for these land owners 'cause you know, if people start not respecting 'em, then everybody loses access and we wanna keep having this access that we have.

It's a great opportunity for outdoorsmen in the state of Michigan.

All right, it's about 9:30 in the morning.

We had a great shoot this morning.

I think we're about three shy from our nine-man limit.

We're gonna call it, go get the birds piled up and head on home and clean some birds.

- [Jenny] What do you like making out of 'em?

- [Hunter] Oh, my favorite is snack sticks.

Nice smoke stick with cheddar, but the hot dogs that we're starting to get are really, really good too, so yeah, that's my favorite thing.

- [Jenny] Well, with the pile of geese the crew had today, there will be plenty of tasty hot dogs, jerky, snacks sticks, and much more.

Congratulations to Brandon and the gang from Reaching Limits Outdoors for an incredible morning.

Their hard work and dedication to waterfowling is keeping our outdoor heritage alive and well here in our great state.

(duck call quacking) (hunter vocalizing) (rifle fire banging) (hunters cheering and laughing) - Ladies!

- Woo-hoo!

- [Hunter] Good work, yeah, that was your first one.

- [Hunter] Awesome.

- [Jenny] Nice dog.

- [Hunter] That's a beautiful group.

- [Hunter] Yeah, it is a beauty.

- Awesome dog.

- Was that the first one or second one?

- [Hunter] That was the first one.

(hunters chattering) - [Hunter] That'll be good.

- [Hunter] All right.

(hunters chattering) - First time.

- First duck.

- [Hunter] First time, yep, first time ever.

- Beautiful.

- And he's a beauty.

- Perfect.

- Yes, yes, yes, yes.

- [Jenny] Nice shooting.

That was so perfect.

- This is awesome.

Look how pretty.

- Amazing.

- You guys tag team that one?

- Yeah.

- I think so.

- I think so.

- So, you've shot ducks before, right?

- Yep, once, yeah.

- Okay, have you?

- Once for me.

- [Jenny] Okay, cool.

(duck call quacking) - [Hunter] Get ready.

Get ready.

Shoot 'em.

- Shoot 'em.

- [Hunter] Shoot 'em.

- [Hunter] Kill it!

- [Jenny] What do you ladies think so far first day?

- It's amazing.

I wanna do this every year.

- It's been so fun.

Yeah, just a great day.

Good to get outside, meet new people, shoot the guns, go after some birds.

It's been a riot.

- Amazing, yes.

- [Jenny] And that's what events like this are all about, introducing women to the details of hunting and shooting sports in a fun, judgment-free atmosphere where they can learn, laugh, and maybe even drop a few birds from the sky.

Thank you to Joe Robison, Waterfowl USA, Bay Creek Hunting Club, and all of the volunteers who are helping to pass along this time-honored heritage here in Michigan's out of doors.

- Well, hey, everybody, thank you so much for watching "Michigan Out Of Doors" this week, and again, Merry Christmas from all of us here at "Michigan Out Of Doors" Television.

We sure do appreciate you watching, and make sure you are getting out and enjoying everything our great state has to offer, 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.

- [Announcer] "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.

GreenStone.

- [Announcer] By Great Lakes Firearms and Ammunition, a family-owned and operated firearm manufacturer in Sparta, Michigan, offering a wide variety of calibers and colors, backed by a lifetime warranty.

More information available at GLFAllc.com.

By Saab, providing defense and civil security products and services for over 85 years, and now part of the Grayling community with our new advanced munitions facility.

Career opportunities are available.

More information at SaabInc.com.

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

The show features fishing tackle, trips, boats, and seminars from top pros.

The Ultimate Fishing Show, Novi.

- [Announcer] Closed Captioning brought to you by Double D Ranch Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) foundation, working to make hunting and fishing accessible for those with disabilities.

(gentle upbeat acoustic guitar music) (gentle upbeat acoustic guitar 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 a hidden stream ♪ ♪ Whitetail deer in the tall pine trees ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan man ♪ I am, I am a Michigan man ♪ That's 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 to St.

Joe ♪ ♪ Kalamazoo east to Monroe ♪ Sault Ste.

Marie and back again ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan Man ♪ I am, I am (gentle music)