- Well hey everyone.

Welcome to "Michigan Out Of Doors."

Thank you so much for joining us this week.

We are ready for Big Buck Night East on this week's show from Outdoorama.

Just a few short weeks ago, lots of big deer, lots of big stories, 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 ♪ - [Jimmy] What a beautiful day in the woods.

♪ Some day our children all will see ♪ ♪ This is their finest legacy ♪ 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 Great Lakes Firearms and Ammunition, a family-owned and operated firearm manufacturer in Sparta, Michigan.

Offering a wide variety of calibers and color, backed by a lifetime warranty.

More information available at glfallc.com.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] By Angler Quest Pontoons, offering fishing pontoons designed by anglers for anglers.

Angler Quest Pontoons are built with a multifunctional layout to support a variety of fishing adventures.

Learn more at anglerquestpontoons.com.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Jay's Sporting Goods, trust the tradition.

(gentle music) - Okay, our first successful hunter here on Big Buck Night East is Rowan Curley.

Her dad Don is here with her.

They were out together in the UP, Luce County, not far from Newberry.

Tell us what happened, do you remember the day it was?

- Thanksgiving.

- Thanksgiving Day buck.

All right.

What was happening up there in the UP?

- So me and my dad were hunting at my papa's cabin.

It was the last day that we were able to hunt too.

So there's like trees, a open path, and then trees again.

So the buck came, I had my gun ready, and like, we both thought I missed, not the shot, but missed my chance because it went behind the trees.

We both thought it was gonna go away, but it circled back around and then it went to go to the bait pile.

And then right before it got to the bait, I just shot it.

- Oh my goodness.

So what was going through your mind?

Your heart must have been pounding.

It's a pretty big buck.

- We really weren't sure if I hit it.

I guess I was kind of like, I kind of knew I did.

I got a perfect shot off it too.

- Okay, so- - I thought she had missed it.

Usually when you shoot a deer, it jumps or hunches up or does something and didn't do anything.

It just took off like it was scared, went away.

We sat there, we sat there for a few minutes.

I said we would wait 10 minutes or so, go down there and look.

Probably waited about 30 seconds.

We were down there.

There was no blood, no hair, no anything.

I had my gun, I picked my gun up and looked in the direction it had ran.

And there it was about 40 yards laying there.

- Oh my goodness.

And just for the record, everybody's aware that you can bait legally in the Upper Peninsula.

Everyone down here kinda gasped when you said that.

- All right, our next lucky hunter, Mike Jasso, this was shot in Tuscola County, scores 166 and 4/8, shot it with a 450.

It's got nine points.

Mike, tell me about the story.

What happened on that?

- Three year history with this buck.

Missed him back in 2022, missed him again on '23.

And then fortunately got him this year.

- [Jimmy] So tell me a little bit about what happened on the hunt.

- Well, I was hunting a different location on the 16th, the day that I got him, got a picture of him for the first time in over a year, and I decided to go switch up blinds that afternoon.

And sure enough, he walked out, and that was about it.

- [Jimmy] How far was the shot and did you get a little nervous?

- [Mike] About a hundred yards.

- And what'd you shoot?

Oh, you shot him with a 450.

And so is this kind of an area that you hunt a lot over the years?

- I mean, he's been around, but this is probably the biggest one I've seen out there.

- Nice.

Well congratulations on a heck of a buck.

Let's give him a round of applause.

(audience applauding) - All right, next up we've got Robert Seggie, his son Archer is just the antler bearer and your good luck charm, right?

You had him with you out in the blind.

Macomb County 12 point with a 450 Bushmaster.

This buck scored 169 and 5/8.

Unbelievable.

So Robert, tell me what happened out there.

What day was it?

- Day after opening day, I'll start with the preface here, my good luck charm.

The last four years I've taken him out, the very first day, we shoot a buck every single time.

So I'm taking him every time we go.

Second day opening day or day after opening day, I'm sorry, took him out.

We sat in a shack that I normally don't sit in because I don't like the view that I have, but I knew we were seeing a lot of deer and a lot of deer movement.

We sat in the shack, the window of the shack kicks out.

So I let him sit in the seat and the window kind of blocks my view of the field.

So we're sitting there and we had seen probably two or three small sixes come in, a couple spikes, quite a few doe.

And I was just enjoying the show with him, actually watching them prance around, chase each other around.

And I decided to take a glance down below the window and he was standing about 160 yards out.

And I started immediately shaking, told him because I had a pretty good sized buck on camera this year.

This was not him.

I've never seen him.

So I grabbed the rifle, grabbed the 450, asked him if he wanted to shoot, and he said, "No, you take the shot."

Put the rifle up, I was shaking so bad, I had to lower the rifle two different times and ask him to tell me to calm down so I could take the shot.

The second time, actually, the buck had turned and started to walk away.

So I had to call him aggressively.

He stopped, we're outside.

I took the shot and dropped him right there.

- Okay.

This is Chris Tyler.

This was shot in Hillsdale County with a compound bow, scored 170 and 3/8, a 19 pointer.

Chris, talk us through the hunt.

What happened?

- So I went down to Hillsdale County for an evening hunt and we hunt 80 acres of private land with a group of guys.

And I went down to the property and got down there around 4:30 and met with the guys and everything.

We were kind of figuring out where we were all gonna sit.

And one of the guys in the group showed me a picture of this buck that we had on game camera that was taken on October 2nd.

And so that was the first time I got to see this buck.

And so we all went out to our tree stands for that evening, and I end up, I was sitting in a section of woods, and I had a bean field behind me and a swamp in front of me.

And I had a seven point come out in front of me, and amongst our group, we don't shoot anything smaller than eight points.

We try to let the bucks get big.

- And this was early October?

- Early, yeah, October 4th.

So this buck went back and the eight point, the seven point went back into the bedding area and jumped this buck.

And this buck ended up coming out and going to my south, my left side.

And he ended up coming into a bean field, which was the neighbor's property behind us.

And he just happened to go back to the bedding, came back into the woods, crossed pathways with me, and I shot him at 15 yards.

You know, he fell right there.

I had a high shot on him, so I had to shoot him one more time.

But he didn't go any further than that.

- That is pretty exciting.

Could you see him coming from quite a ways then, or?

- I seen him from about 60 yards coming towards me.

- So you have time to get nervous?

- A little bit, yeah.

So as he was coming back through like the woods, the heavy tree line, I had enough time to pull back and get ready.

So I was probably in full draw in my compound bow for about a minute and a half because I didn't have any cover in the tree.

- [Jimmy] And have you shot anything like this before?

- [Chris] No, this is one that's gonna be hard to beat.

- Next up we have Caleb Smith, Jackson County, another compound bow buck.

That's amazing.

This is 16 scoreable points on this buck, 178 and 5/8.

And you shot him during archery season.

Tell us how that happened.

- Well this is, it took two times to get him, I missed the first time a week before and got redemption a week later.

Sat in a different tree stand I thought he might be going to, and I guessed right.

And he came in at 20 yards.

I shot him, and he ran 150 yards.

I went too fast to go track him and ended up bumping him.

So I called the canine in.

We went in late at night to go find him and ended up tracking in a different location I thought he went and I had to knock on the neighbor's door at 11:30 at night and he answered the door in his skivvies and gave me permission to keep tracking the deer.

But ended up finding him about a half a mile away down by a swamp and destroyed his liver.

But I thought it was a great hit.

Turns out it went a little bit further than I thought.

But yeah, beautiful buck.

- Beautiful Jackson County buck for sure.

Let's give Caleb Smith a round of applause, congratulations.

(audience applauding) - Paul Whitman is our next successful hunter.

This was shot in Sanilac County, another compound bow, scored 172 and 2/8, 13 pointer.

And just turn that thing around a little bit so people can see the palmation on this.

It's like a little moose.

Tell me what happened.

Did you know this thing was out there?

- No, I did not know it was out there.

I had actually had a really slow start in my bow season.

I was seeing a lot of deer, but nothing that I would consider shooting.

So I backed out for a couple days.

I went back in on October 12th, and at dawn, I was hunting over a little grassy field that had sporadic apple trees spread around.

And I saw him right at dawn.

I put my binoculars up and he picked his up and I said holy you know what.

So I pulled my bow up and drew back and I couldn't see my pins.

So I took the bow down, tried to find the light on it, and I couldn't find the light on the pins.

And I looked up again, he was gone.

About 20 minutes later, I looked through the woods and here he comes.

He's coming on a rope right at me.

I could see the rack coming through the woods.

I got ready, he stepped around the apple tree at 25 yards.

I let the arrow go and heard that thunk, you know, when you hit that chest cavity, went right through him.

I would normally wait about an hour before I tracked the deer.

I couldn't wait 15 minutes on him, I was out there looking at that arrow.

- Could you see the palmation and stuff?

- I saw thick, heavy horns.

But it was first time I had seen him and it was pretty dark.

So I got on him, didn't find blood for quite a while, I was getting a little nervous even though I knew I hit him good.

I went through a couple pine trees and then it was just a trail of a trail of blood three feet wide, he was bleeding out of both sides.

So I immediately backed out, called my wife and my friend Randy because I knew there wasn't gonna be any shrinkage on this one, so I wanted them to be there when we celebrated.

And I couldn't wait for Randy.

He took too long.

My wife and I found him, and yeah, we had a good celebration.

- Did you drive him around at all to show everybody?

- No, I don't want all the neighbors finding out about that.

- Well, they won't see this on TV or anything.

- [Paul] Oh yeah, no.

(laughs) - We've got Chris Danish from Branch County with a 13 point 175 and 1/8 inch buck with his 350 Legend.

This thing's got brow tines for days here.

Tell us what happened out there.

- I did see him opening day.

He walked about 50 yards or 50 feet in front of the farmer's box blind, which was not there, thank God.

I watched him, got about 260 yards and I lost him.

Then a week later hunting a different stand, we call it the no good stand, he popped out across the river on me and bedded down about 145 yards.

I had a clear shot, but he was on the neighbor's property so I had to wait.

So 45 minutes later, he gets up, started heading towards our property.

He dropped down into the river and I lost him.

And next thing I know, I saw him pop up 45 yards out in front of me and he went maybe 30 yards and dropped.

And dragging him out, I dislocated my knee and tore my ACL.

- Gladly probably, right?

- Oh yeah, definitely.

I had my buddy Tim come help me get him out of there and get him loaded up and yeah.

- So the farmer who was not in his blind when this big buck walked by, does he know about this?

- [Chris] Oh yeah, yeah, he knows, I told him about it, and he looked at me, he goes, "You should have shot him."

I'm like, "Well I got him a week later."

- [Jimmy] All right, this is a Washtenaw County buck, scores 176, it's a 14 pointer shot with a 450, Michael Glaza, this thing, how wide is this?

- 21 inches wide.

- On the inside?

- Inside, yes.

Total, I don't remember.

- Any idea how old it was?

- Roughly six years old.

I've been tracking it for about three years and I know other people who have six year history with this deer.

- Six year, so Washtenaw County.

So this was with a gun, so opening day or when was it?

- Last day of gun season.

- Tell us what happened.

- So I was hunting a tree stand that morning, wasn't seeing deer I wanted to see, and then I talked to my cousin who owns a property and he said, "Hey, I'm going to the Pistons game tonight.

Why don't you sit in my spot?"

And I said, "Are you sure, are you sure?"

And he said, "Yes, I'm sure."

- And this was last day of season?

- Last day of gun season.

So then I sent him a picture and swear words were exchanged, and here we are.

(group laughs) - So tell me what happened, you see this thing coming, could you see the width and the mass?

- I knew it was big, but I didn't think it was this big.

- So walk me through the actual hunt, how far, what happened?

- It came out from underneath me and behind me about 30 yards.

And I took the shot, that was it.

- Have you shot big bucks this big before?

- This is my biggest.

- How you gonna top that next year?

- Be here back next year.

- I would buy that guy some more Pistons tickets.

Let's give him a round of applause for a heck of a buck.

- Here we are with Haylee Legault from Berrien County.

Haylee is 16 years old with this beast of a buck that scored 185 and 5/8, a 15 point buck with your 350 Legend.

Haylee said she shot him on November 23rd and recovered him on the 24th.

So there's gotta be a good story here.

- Yeah, I just got home, my dad called me, he said his buddy saw a big buck crossing the street into our woods.

So he told me I better get out there.

And I got out there about like around 3:00 and there wasn't much out there yet.

But soon, some yearlings and a spike came out and I was just texting my dad because it was my first solo hunt, and there was a buck in the back corner with his head down, but I didn't think much of it because there was a lot of small bucks around us.

And I got my binos out to look at him and he picked his head up and I was like, "Holy crap."

And so I texted my dad, I said, "I think he's here."

And then I started shaking and I got set up to shoot him.

- Wait, how far away was he at this point?

- Like 130 yards.

And I calmed myself down, waited for him to give me the shot, and I took the shot and I texted my dad and he instantly called me.

He's like, "What'd you shoot?"

I said, "The buck that we saw on the trail cam," and he knew exactly which one I was talking about.

So he told me to go mark the spot where I found it and I did.

And then when I went out there, I looked in the woods, and I saw him looking back at me and I was like uh-oh.

So I went back to the blind and I called him and he told me to wait for his friend to get there because he was at work and waiting for my mom to get out there.

And so we went out later to look for him, and we only found a little bit of blood, so we decided to wait and not push it.

So the next day we came back with some dogs and found him not less than 130 or 100 yards from where we saw him.

- [Host] Oh my goodness.

Well that was smart of you to see him and back out of there.

It really paid off.

So biggest buck yet, I assume?

- Oh yeah, for sure.

- Jason Cousino is our next hunter, shot this in Monroe County with a compound bow again, it is a 19 point, it scored 200 and 4/8 inches, and we got two racks here.

So I'm just wondering what happened this season?

What a season for you.

- Just wanted to say I'm very blessed that I was able to harvest two incredible animals, especially this Michigan monarch.

But you got 300 inches of horns here and five days apart, both with a compound bow.

Lucky seven, November 7th, right in the middle of the rut.

I was actually on the phone texting a friend of mine who's here, he had just shot a great buck and we were texting him talking about how this was the day- - What property was this on again?

- Yeah, I'll tell you the address later.

Get your phones out, we'll do a pinpoint here.

But yeah, I was texting him, congratulating him.

I told him we were at the taxidermist's that day and I said, "Hey, tonight's our night."

And he shot a heck of a buck and half the rack was busted off, but it would've been a beautiful buck had he had everything.

And I look down and he's standing there at 20 yards, so I have to put my phone in my pocket, grab my bow, he's just looking around.

He gave me a great shot, and I put it behind the shoulder, put it through the boiler room.

I watched him walk off.

He never mule kicked or anything.

I walked 50 yards and I actually seen him go head over heels, and then that's when the shaking started.

I almost come out of the tree.

So safety first, always wear your harness.

- Now when you saw him, were you like, "That's a 200 inch buck," or did you have time to think at all about that?

- I had no time to really think.

I had never got him on camera.

But all the neighbors have been sharing them and they kept saying about this 16 point, well, actually, when we shot him and I came up on it in the dark, we put the light on it, my son-in-law actually said, "You better recount that because there's 19 points on it."

And all I saw was a big main frame, and for some reason this sticker right here was sticking out that I saw that.

I just knew it was deer that I wanted to shoot.

And like I said, he walked off.

I didn't even grab my binoculars.

I just knew he was a big deer and I was gonna be happy.

But obviously I got a little happier when I seen him.

- Okay, we've got Martin Smolek here with his 15 point 203 and 2/8 inch Michigan buck from Shiawassee County shot with an open sight 12 gauge slug gun.

Now you're a crop farmer in the area, right?

So tell me what happened out there.

- Well that morning I didn't even have plans on hunting because it was foggy and we were cleaning up equipment, and we saw what looked like a doe to begin with as the fog was lifting.

And we're moving more stuff around and we saw that it was a buck and I thought, "Meh, maybe a big eight point."

So I went and grabbed the gun and started walking down towards the ditch where he was at and he disappeared.

So I went back out and where I thought he was, I cut straight to the ditch and he kicked up and I just, I'll lob a slug up and see if I can get him.

And I took a back leg out and I says, "Well, I'm committed at this point and I better do another one."

And he made it about another 150 yards to the ditch where I came up on him and finally finished him off and saw what he really was.

- So you had no idea.

You probably see a lot of deer out there while you're farming.

You had no idea this buck was there?

- No idea, about a two days later, the neighbor sent me some shots from his trail cam and he was kind of jealous that he got it, but opening day came around and he never saw it.

- Unbelievable.

So you've got this farmland that just you and your family hunt, do people wanna hunt there?

- [Martin] A lot of people are asking to hunt, and I don't know if I should let them hunt or not, or if I should try keeping them for myself.

- [Jimmy] I don't even know where to start.

Just I guess, did you have any idea this thing was out there, let's start with that.

- I'd seen trail camera pictures of this deer about a mile and a half from where I live, where I hunt.

And I never thought it would come onto my property, so December 6th I decided, well it's a beautiful day, I might as well go out, drop my kid off at school.

And I got up in the blind and I was sitting there about 9:15, I saw some deer and I said, "Well, I'll check that out."

And I looked at my binocular, he's about 150 yards away at that point.

And I saw this right side, it's like, oh my God, I think that's that deer that I saw on trail camera.

And of course, everybody says, "Don't show this picture to anyone, keep it a secret."

Of course everyone in town knew about this deer.

So when he finally showed up, I was like, man, I kind of thought to myself, "Boy, you better make a good shot."

So what turned out, I was able to get on him.

He was, like I said, like 100 yards away at that point.

And I shot and I thought I dropped him.

I thought, man, this is over.

So I'm kind of patting myself on the back and doing my thing while I get down.

I only waited 15 minutes, I walked over, he's not there.

And I was like, "Oh man, I did not mess this shot up."

Well, I did, I sure did.

So I tracked him, he had pretty good blood, and then he went about 100 yards, and it was like 10:15.

I was like, you know what?

I just gotta, I just left, went back to my house and I called a couple friends and I was like, "Yeah, I think I shot that big deer."

And they're like, "Yeah right, sure you did."

So I was like, "You know what, I'm gonna call the dog, I'm gonna call the tracking dog."

So I called a guy named Matt Berger out of Jackson County, one my best friends now.

So he told me, "I can't come out till like 5:00."

He had to work.

So Matt showed up and his dog got on the track pretty quick, but it was a long track, and about a mile into it, we all gathered around a wound bed.

He had bled pretty good, and Matt's like, "This deer's still alive.

He's probably not gonna find him tonight."

Well the guy that was getting all the trail camera pictures of this deer, he was maybe a half mile, less than that, from where we stopped tracking.

So we played a hunch and I called him up and said, "Hey Marty, I think I shot that big deer."

And he's like, "Yeah right."

Same thing.

And then he goes, "Meet me in my son's driveway 7:30 the next morning."

So we did, and it was still a little dark, we waited till 8:00, we went up.

And from that point on, I was like on a guided hunt.

Marty knew his property.

He kept saying, "I know exactly where this buck is.

I've been watching him all October."

I was like, yeah, okay, sure.

Well sure enough, we came up to a little rise and we looked over, we started using binoculars, looking down into this little valley.

And sure enough, Marty's like, "I see him."

I'm like, "No you don't."

He's like, "Dude, he's right there.

He's bedded up, he's still alive."

So I was able to get the kill shot in him, and that was it.

- [Jimmy] Thanks to everyone who made Big Buck Night East so special.

And make sure you stay tuned next week for Big Buck Night West over in Grand Rapids at the Ultimate Sports Show.

- [Announcer] "Michigan Out of Doors" is presented by.

- [Narrator] 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.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] 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.

- [Announcer] 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.

Closed captioning brought to you by DD Ranch Foundation, a non-profit 501C3 foundation working to make hunting and fishing accessible for those with disabilities.

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