- Hello everyone, welcome to "Michigan Out-of-Doors."

We're so glad you're here this week.

I'm Jenny Silek, and we've got an exciting show headed your way that's focused on the youth.

I'll take you out on a turkey hunt with a young man and his grandpa.

They had an exciting time out there.

There were birds in the trees while there were birds gobbling out in the decoys in front of us.

All sorts of crazy stuff happens.

You won't want to miss that story.

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 actually.

I was able to spend some time with two different schools recently to learn more about an archery club that's happening in the Coopersville area, and a really cool salmon in the classroom program that was going on at Ravenna Middle School.

You won't want to miss those stories, and if that wasn't enough, got a really cool venison and turkey jambalaya recipe for you on this week's show.

Lots of good stuff.

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 ♪ - [Announcer] Michigan out of doors is presented by.

By Country Smokehouse.

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Featuring varieties of homemade sausage, jerky, brats, and gourmet entrees.

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Offering a wide variety of calibers and colors.

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(dramatic piano music) (electronic vocals) (rhythmic drumming) - Well this year's turkey season has been a little challenging for us here at the show to say the least.

My husband and I have been out several times.

We've had a couple of close calls.

We saw some nice toms that were out of range.

We saw some impressive bearded hens that actually called a tom away from our decoys before we could get a shot off.

All kinds of craziness happening.

We still haven't filled a tag yet with time ticking on the season ending here in May.

But in the meantime, we wanted to share with you a story that happened a while back where I was able to join a young man named Carter and his grandpa Jim out on a successful turkey hunt that was unbelievable.

(gentle acoustic music) - We're out here by Grout, Michigan.

My grandson Carter with us.

It's his first time in the turkey woods.

He's been pretty successful on deer hunts, so we're gonna see if we can't get him a nice time this morning.

- [Jenny] All right, cool.

Are you after your first turkey?

- Yeah.

- [Jenny] Sweet, okay, we better get out there.

- [Jim] This is around 30 acres of cut cornfield.

It's been tilled under, but there's been quite a few birds around, so we're hoping they're still here.

The weather, rain's holding off for now, so hopefully Mother Nature's good to us.

- [Jenny] All right, we're sitting in a blind, right?

- [Jim] Yeah, we're sitting in a popup blind that I stuck out here a few days ago.

So hopefully it works out.

So this piece of property, it's not too far from my actual home.

I've been seeing a lot of birds out here.

I stopped and talked to the landowner about hunting, and he'd never really let anyone hunt.

You know, I told him it was for my grandson.

So he said that would be fine for him to come out here and shoot a bird.

So I threw up a popup blind, not really sure where these birds were roosting at.

And we got to the blind this morning and we kind of found out they were roosted above us and all around us.

There was 30, 40 birds in the area.

So it was a lot of fun, first thing right off the bat.

(rain falling) (turkeys gobbling) It was pretty exciting as it started getting light.

And we started hearing those toms wake up.

It was a great morning.

(turkeys gobbling) So the birds were pretty late getting out of the tree this morning.

It's kind of rainy out here.

Finally, we didn't really hear the birds fly down, but there was two birds showed up to our right.

And they were only 50, 60 yards out of the decoys.

And they just come walking right in.

These two were not with hens, so I think that helped that they would come right to the decoys.

(whispers) Is he coming?

- [Jenny] (whispers) Yeah.

(indistinct) - [Jim] Yeah, okay.

- [Carter] I see them.

- [Jim] You see them?

- [Carter] Yeah.

I might shoot.

(indistinct whispering) I might shoot.

(indistinct whispering) - [Jenny] I don't know which one it is.

(turkeys gobbling) - [Carter VO] I was kind of scared because I didn't want to miss because it's so smaller than a deer, but now that it was BBs, I figured out that they actually expand, so.

It kind of got my confidence up.

- [Jim VO] The two birds came into the decoys and they were right, tight together.

He couldn't get a shot at first, so Carter was patient.

We got him to wait for a few minutes until they separated to take a safe shot.

- [Carter] Okay, ready?

- [Jenny] Wait, you got that hen in front of him too, so just be careful.

- [Carter] Can I shoot?

- [Jenny] They're too close to each other.

The one on the right.

Yeah.

- [Carter] Okay.

- [Jenny] Keep going.

- [Jim] Okay, just shoot whenever you're ready.

- [Carter] Okay.

(gun firing) - [Jenny] You got him.

- Let's go.

- [Jenny] Carter.

- Nice job, bud.

- [Jenny] That's your first bird ever?

Good job!

- Nice shot, buddy.

- I'm shaking.

- You dropped him.

- [Jenny] They're still out there too.

- Yeah, there's a bunch of 'em still out there.

- Once it started to get a little light we heard them gobbling, but then we didn't really see 'em come down.

And then they came down, and then they kind of were all in a big group together when they flew down.

But then a couple of 'em got separated and then I shot 'em.

- That was great.

- [Jenny] That was exciting.

- Yeah.

- That's a nice bird.

That was cool hearing them gobble.

- Yeah.

- We had quite a few birds still in the roost actually when he shot his bird.

They never even flew.

We could see them out there, a hundred yards or so.

There had to be, I don't know, 25, 30 birds out there, a couple big toms that we got to sit and watch after Carter had taken his bird.

And another big tom after he shot came across the field and started attacking his bird.

I love hunting with him.

You know, I like teaching any youth.

You know, I actually enjoy that more than hunting myself these days.

You know, helping other people.

You know, teaching them the sport.

Teaching 'em the right way to do it.

You know, I get a lot of enjoyment out of that, and yeah, I love spending time in the woods with them and, you know, teaching them the right way to do it, so.

- [Jenny VO] Well Carter had just about all he could stand watching his very first gobbler getting attacked, and we got out of the blind so he could finally put his hands on his turkey.

This might be his first gobbler, but he's got a few years of deer hunting under his belt already.

- [Carter] I've been hunting for about, like.

I don't know.

- Nice job.

- [Carter] Couple years now.

- [Jenny] Yeah?

- [Carter] Five maybe.

- [Jenny] What do you like about it?

- [Carter] Um, it's just fun when, like, you wait, and then once you see a deer you just shoot it, and then you get to eat it.

- [Jenny VO] It's always interesting to hear the impressions of someone after their first turkey hunt, and Carter had some great observations.

- [Carter] I never knew that their beard came out of their stomach.

And that it actually does.

But then the other thing is they actually like sleep in the trees, which was really surprising.

- [Jenny] And what do you like about hunting with Jim?

- [Carter] Um, it's fun.

I mean I enjoy it 'cause, like, I get to eat it with him.

- [Jenny] Does he teach you a lot?

What kinds of things has he taught you?

- [Carter] Um, how to properly use a gun.

I mean he's taught me everything that I kind of need to know about a gun.

- [Jenny] Awesome.

Well cool, you think you'll turkey hunt again?

- [Carter] Yeah, for sure.

- [Jenny VO] With kids like Carter out here in the woods, the future of our hunting heritage is looking bright.

He's a smart, kind, and patient young man who loves the outdoors, and even took the time to shake the landowner's hand and thank him for the opportunity.

Special thanks to Jim Fortner and Frank's Great Outdoors for keeping the sport alive right here in Michigan's out-of-doors.

- Well as you can see, they had a lot of fun on that hunt.

To kind of stay with that idea of youth and getting youth more involved in the out-of-doors, I was able to spend some time with two different schools recently.

One, the Coopersville area, has a really cool archery club going on that I want to learn more about.

And then we're gonna after that head a little north to Ravenna and check out Salmon in the Classroom and what goes on at the Ravenna Middle School about teaching kids more about our fishery.

(lively acoustic music) - [Jimmy VO] Grand Valley Sporting Goods in Allendale is quite a shop.

They do have a full line of fishing products, but they are really known for their archery side of the business.

And I was here today to learn about an archery club for kids in one of the nearby high schools.

- So these guys, these are our advanced group, so these guys have been here since the first year.

This is our third year running.

And what's awesome about them is their instruction ability, teachability, their enthusiasm, their passion showing up every week.

So our guy Mario right here on the end, last year we actually raised enough money that we got two bows donated to us.

So both these bows, Mario got one of 'em, and then one of our other girls, Jacoba, she got one.

And so again, they got it because they showed up every week.

They're coachable, they want to learn, passionate.

So these guys got full bow setups courtesy of Long Range Artery, they hooked us up.

And so now they're back again, both of them are shooting this year, and they're just loving it.

All is good.

- [Jimmy] And how long has this been going on?

- [AJ] So three years.

- [Jimmy] And where are these kids from?

- [AJ] So these are all kids from Coopersville High School.

- [Jimmy] Coopersville High School.

- [AJ] Yes, sir.

- [Jimmy] Okay, and how'd you get this thing started?

- So honestly, it was just one of those things that... Well I'm gonna give a shout to some of these guys.

I've been shooting with both of these guys.

We used to call it Bower Bow League back in the day.

We've been shooting together since we were like 18, 19 years old.

And we used to go shoot at a greenhouse together, one of our friend's greenhouses.

So we'd shoot indoors, had relay races all night, so I honestly had so much fun with that upbringing, so I wanted to bring something similar to these guys at the school.

And I wanted to do more at the school.

'Cause everybody does athletics, sports, coaching, that sense, but that's not really my wheelhouse, but hunting and archery is, and so it kind of was just an idea.

I plugged it around at school a little bit, see if anybody would be interested, and next thing you know, I got 28 kids this year and on average I've had 30 to 40 kids on a waiting list every year.

To get into this program, and so first come, first serve.

It's just been absolutely phenomenal.

And so what's cool about it is all these kids, they don't pay a dime.

Everything is community funded, community raised.

They pay absolutely nothing.

And so they come out, have a good time, shoot bows, learn archery, and so we have a next group coming up, our new guys, our new beginners, and just learning basics, and these guys are really fine tuning stuff, so this has been an awesome year.

- [Jimmy VO] You could really tell the kids were having a ton of fun, and it didn't really matter whether you were an advanced shooter or a first timer.

They were all welcome.

- [Jimmy] How'd you get hooked up with this archery league here?

- Um, through school.

Hanging out with this guy unfortunately.

(AJ laughs) So yeah, I'd seen the posting on the wall at school and I decided hey, I have a bow, I might as well try it out.

Three years later, here we are still doing it, so it's been great, so.

- [Jimmy] Awesome.

- So this is Andy, this is Andy Matthews, guys.

This kid has been here since day one.

He actually started the high school archery program as an eighth grader because he was just so talented and good.

We wanted him in here, but no, Andy's been phenomenal.

He's been shooting here.

You've been shooting bows for how long now?

- Probably three, four years.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

- Started right before the program.

- [Jimmy] And what do you like about it?

- Oh, just, it's a chance where you can come, you get to use a nice indoor range so you're not losing any arrows or anything.

You get to just come see, talk to some people you know, and get a chance to hang out and shoot.

- [Jimmy] That's awesome.

And what do you like about this guy?

- [AJ] Oh no, that's a loaded question.

- He's super kind, always asks me how my day's going and everything at school.

And he's a really nice person to talk to and a great person to be running the program.

- [Jimmy] Awesome.

Does he know how to shoot a bow or no?

- [Andy] I don't know about that one.

(Jimmy and AJ laugh) - No, I appreciate it, man.

No, like, Andy, you truly have been an inspiration for everybody here, dude.

Like other kids, kids coming up.

I mean dude, you're defying the odds.

And correct me if I'm wrong, the doctors told you you really wouldn't be able to shoot a bow or hunt all, right?

- [Andy] Yeah.

- [AJ] And now here you are just frickin' killing it.

- [Andy] Yep.

- Just killing it.

- Nice.

- [AJ] He's a great hockey player, he's doing this, he's got all the good things going for him.

- [Jimmy] That's awesome.

- [AJ] Yeah.

Proud of you, dude.

- [Jimmy] Well thanks for being here.

- [Andy] Yeah, thank you for having me.

- [Jimmy VO] It is really cool to see sportsmen and women giving back to try to encourage the next generation to do the same.

- I kind of want to give back more.

I don't know, it kind of sounds cliche, but honestly I want to shoot my bow more too, and so if I could have an excuse to shoot with these guys, and then my wife not yell at me for being gone more than what I already am, that gives me more opportunity to shoot with these guys too.

So honestly, I want to shoot my bow, I want to expand it and see if anybody else, if they wanna do archery or not, so it worked out well.

- Well I would say it worked out pretty well.

Special thanks to AJ and the folks at the Grand Valley Sporting Goods shop.

I tell you what, they do a great job there.

It was fun to see those kids out there shooting some archery and learning more about archery and hunting as well.

What we're gonna do now is head a little further north to the town of Ravenna and check in with the middle school there.

And learn more about Salmon in the Classroom, and what goes into that program, and what those kids learn about our fishery.

- So today is our annual salmon release.

This is our fourth year.

We're gonna be taking our salmon, and a group of students are going to release them down at Thatcher Park in Ravenna.

- [Jimmy] And how old are these fish, and when did you guys get 'em, and all that good stuff?

- [Dan] We got them in mid-November, so that puts them about five and a half months old.

- [Jimmy] Okay, and why do you guys do this program?

- [Dan] We try to build the excitement in the kids.

We have a lot of people in the area who like to hunt and fish.

So we are just trying to create that interest and excitement in the fishing program.

- [Jimmy] And what do they learn about the salmon through this project?

- [Dan] Basically they just watched the lifecycle, and they watch them hatch, and then develop into the parr stage that they're in now.

- [Jimmy] Okay, and you guys have been doing this how many years?

- [Dan] This is our fourth.

- [Jimmy] Okay, and how many of these fish will, I mean I know we don't know exactly, but how many will make it to an adult stage?

- Ah, that's a great question.

We hope for about 10%.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

- [Dan] So we have 120, so we're hoping about 12 to survive to maturity to come back and reproduce.

- [Jimmy VO] The Michigan DNR's Salmon in the Classroom program helps hundreds of third through 12th grade classrooms across the state raise and learn about, and then release, young Chinook salmon in approved waterways.

Over 30,000 learn to appreciate these great natural resources each year.

And once again, sportsmen from this area made this happen today.

- [Jimmy] So tell me, how is the conservation club involved in this today?

- Mr. Ike reached out to us a few years ago when they had trouble with the water at the school.

And the conservation club donated some money to help get the filtration system and oviously whatever else they need for putting us on.

It was quite an event, it was a lot of fun, so happy to be involved in it.

Very happy for all the sponsors and donors to the conservation club.

This is the stuff we do.

You gotta put it back, you gotta pay it forward.

- [Jimmy] Nice, and how long have you guys been doing this?

- [Fred] Don't quote me, but it's been at least three years I know.

The first couple years, like I said, was kind of a struggle, but this year, from what I'm hearing and watching on the live stream on our website, yeah, the biggest fish and the least amount of fall off from fish dying in the classroom.

So they're getting it dialed in.

It's pretty fun.

- You're going to release!

On the count of three, two, one!

Open the bags and let 'em go!

Oh, there goes one.

Don't step, guys.

Don't step on 'em.

- [Jimmy VO] The Salmon in the Classroom program is really pretty cool to see.

The kids get these fertilized eggs from the D&R, get to see them mature and learn about not only our stocking program here in Michigan, but our salmon fishery as well.

But what sticks out to me on days like today are the sportsmen and women who make these things happen.

The archery club story from earlier took someone to spearhead that and to get kids excited about archery and hopefully hunting as well.

And here today, standing in Crockery Creek, kids got to slowly acclimate the fish before releasing them and watching them work their way in the river.

Will some lifetime anglers look back and point to this day that spurred them on to love fishing even more?

Well, maybe.

Will some of these fish make it to Lake Michigan, grow up, and then make their way back up this river to spawn and continue the cycle of life?

Well, maybe.

You never know.

Our time was about done, and what do you do after releasing 125-ish salmon?

Well you have an ice cream sandwich, of course.

It was a great day on the banks of the river right here in Michigan's out-of-doors.

(gentle acoustic music) - Well we're here once again in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.

Wood Shop Social, Jim Wood, chef extraordinaire.

- Thanks.

- It is the turkey season, Jim, so we got a little bird action going on here.

What are we doing today?

- So we're gonna do a turkey jambalaya.

- Ooh, good.

Okay.

- And we're actually gonna put some venison cajun sausage.

As, you know, traditionally you use andouille.

This is as close as you can get.

What's good about jambalaya is you can put whatever you want in it.

There's a few basic components that you need to have, but after that it's kind of up to you.

- Now what's the difference between a jambalaya and gumbo?

Is it the rice for the... - Well, so a gumbo...

I don't want to upset too many people when I say this, but so a gumbo is separate from the rice.

- Okay.

- Where you put the gumbo on top of the rice.

- Okay.

- So it's almost like a soup that has a rice element on top.

Almost like a gravy, if you will.

Where jambalaya is all one cohesive.

- Oh.

- Cohesive unit.

- Nice.

- Yeah.

- I've always wondered the difference.

- Well now you kinda know, and I probably butchered it to be perfectly honest with you.

- Well that's all right.

So how do we get this thing started here?

We got a big pot.

- We got a big pot, so we're gonna start with some oil.

- Which oil do you tend to use?

- So I like to use a neutral flavored oil.

So something that's not gonna overpower it.

I'm just using a vegetable oil here.

- Okay.

- And then we've got what's known as the holy trinity which is onion, celery, and bell pepper.

(pot sizzling) - [Jimmy] Nice.

- [Jim] And we're gonna sweat that down.

You know.

Five to seven minutes probably.

You're just trying to release as much water from this as you can.

- Okay.

Is this a dish you guys do here at the restaurant or a similar version of it?

- We do a jambalaya that we actually serve with our salmon dish which is probably one of if not our most popular entree.

- Huh.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

And we are using a new burner this week.

- This is an induction burner.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- And that means what?

- I don't really know.

(Jimmy laughs) But.

- It works good.

- Yeah, it does, and I'm not gonna say it's cool to the touch, but you can take the pan off.

And it's not gonna burn your hand.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

It heats up pretty fast.

- Yeah, it's only - so you have to use stainless steel on it.

It won't work for any anything else.

You can't use aluminum on it or anything like that, but.

- So if you were gonna use this on the tailgate of a truck you'd need to plug it in somewhere.

- You'd need a power source which most vehicles come with those these days, or if you have a generator or a genny.

- Okay.

So kinda walk me through the different stages of what we're gonna do here today.

- So we cooked the first part of the trinity down, the vegetables.

Once those have sweat down, emitted most of their water, then we're gonna add tomatoes.

Which is a very important dish or component to the dish.

- Okay.

They have a lot of water in them, don't they?

- They do have a lot of water in 'em which is what's gonna help cook the rice too, so you're gonna absorb a lot of that tomato flavor.

And then we're gonna add our Cajun sausage.

Our rice, our turkey.

I just have chicken stock here.

If you happen to have, you know, turkey stock, if you made stock with your turkey, good for you.

- [Jimmy] Okay, what kind of rice?

- [Jim] This is just a long grain rice.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

- [Jim] Nothing crazy.

You can use other rices that have a lot more starch like a short grain arborio or something like that.

Which is gonna give it a more creamy element, if you will.

- [Jimmy] And where is the spice gonna come from then?

Or is there not much spice to it?

- [Jim] So depending on if you made your own sausage, or if you buy it, like this stuff happens to be really spicy.

- [Jimmy] Oh, okay.

- [Jim] And then we add, we've got some Cajun seasoning in here.

But what's nice about this dish is you can use any game meat you want.

- Okay, Jim, everything's done here now?

How long should we cook that for?

- Takes about 25 minutes.

- Okay.

- So the rice has absorbed the majority of the liquid.

- [Jimmy] So once your rice is done?

- [Jim] Yeah, you don't want it to be soupy, but you don't want it to be super thick.

So you can kind of see how it easily falls off the spoon there.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

- [Jim] So turn that off.

- [Jimmy] And the actual title of this dish would be... - [Jim] Turkey and venison jambalaya.

- [Jimmy] Ooh.

The rice is good.

- Yep, good texture.

- That sausage is really good.

- Hits at the end.

- Nice job.

That's great.

(upbeat rock music) - Thank you so much for joining us this week for "Michigan Out-of-Doors."

Make sure you come back in upcoming weeks as we transition from spring to summer months here on the show.

We've got all sorts of great things planned for you.

We'll be doing some fishing with both hook and line up in the Keweenaw Peninsula, and on Saginaw Bay with archery equipment.

If you'd like to see where we are, what we're up to, and a little bit of history about "Michigan Out-of-Doors," you can always do that online.

- Well that's right, Jenny.

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

Probably Instagram and Facebook are the best ways to see what we're up to on a day-to-day basis.

And I tell you what, there is a lot going on in our state right now, so get out and enjoy it.

And if we don't see you 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.

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GreenMark provides sales and services to farmers, commercial businesses, large property owners and homeowners.

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(gentle acoustic music) (accordion music) ♪ 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 ♪ ♪ White tailed 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 (gentle piano jingle)