- Hello, everyone.

Welcome to "Michigan Out of Doors."

I'm Jenny Ciolek, and we've got an exciting show headed your way this week.

We'll get an update from Jordan and Gabe on what's been happening out in their necks of the woods here in this last part of early archery season before we get to Sunday's firearm deer season opener here in Michigan.

Speaking of which, we will also bring you our traditional "Palace in the Popples" poem to get you ready for camp this year.

And Jimmy's got some more hunting adventures in store for us this week.

- Well, that's right.

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

And even though we are in the heart of the deer season right now, there is a lot of other good hunting happening around the state.

Last week we took you to a squirrel camp, and this week we're gonna do a little layout duck hunting on Houghton Lake.

You won't want to miss that.

Make sure you stay tuned.

I'm Jimmy Gretzinger.

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.

♪ Someday 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: - [Announcer] 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 colors backed by a lifetime warranty.

More information available at glfallc.com.

- [Announcer] By B&T Logging, forestry management is about protecting your forest for the future while maximizing timber value.

Through sustainable practices, B&T Logging works to improve forest health, wildlife habitat, and the long-term value of your land.

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(dramatic music) (gun fires) (energetic music) (detritus crunching) (twangy music) (birds chirping) (twangy music continues) - Well, back in the tree this morning.

Hard to believe it's the end of October already.

It's been an interesting bow season so far.

I've actually spent a lot of time in the tree stand, but almost all of it has been following other hunters and most of it's been on public land.

So it's been a little bit of a change to what I'm used to.

You know, last year I chased the one buck around the entire season.

That's pretty much all I did.

So this year's been different, and that was kind of the goal going in.

So really enjoyed October and seeing some different parts of the state and hunting some public myself and just doing something a little different.

But as we come into the best couple weeks of the year here, I'm gonna be sticking it out around home.

There has been two bucks kind of around here this year that I'm keeping an eye on.

One primary buck that I've got pictures of all summer, and he was in here a lot in early and mid-October, not so much lately, but he's still around.

I had pictures of him a couple days ago.

And the other buck is one of these deer that I have quite a few pictures of, but they're all in the middle of the night.

I don't think he lives particularly close to where I'm at, but he's pretty regular.

So those are the kind of deer that a lot of times during the rut will move in for a day or two, and you'll have a chance at him.

So, I'm keeping an eye on him as well.

But those are kind of the two for this year.

But regardless of what deer are around, this is the best time of year to be in the stand, and things are starting to pick up.

Lots of scrape activity, a little bit of bumping, little bit of chasing, and just happy to be back in the tree.

(birds chirping) (detritus crunching) (birds chirping) (detritus crunching continues) (birds chirping continues) (birds chirping) (detritus crunching) (birds chirping continues) (detritus crunching continues) (birds chirping continues) Man, what a great encounter.

I've got a ton of pictures of that buck.

That's my first time actually seeing him in person.

His frame is incredible.

I mean, he's like got to be pushing 20 inches wide on the inside.

I just think he's a pretty young deer.

He kind of acts young.

He's got a real small body on him.

Just not a deer I'm looking to shoot this year anyway, but really beautiful buck.

I mean, you don't see them that wide very often, so cool to see him in person.

I had him and another smaller eight point around me for probably an hour, and they were going back and forth, making scrapes, grunting, snort wheezing.

I mean, I don't think you can probably hear any of that on the camera, but I mean, I bet you I heard 100 grunts between those two bucks this morning, so really cool.

Haven't seen the buck I'm after, but man, cruising, chasing, making scrapes.

It has been a beautiful morning.

You know, it's 60 degrees out, or pushing 60 degrees out now.

Not ideal for deer hunting, but once you get into November, it just doesn't matter as much.

This morning was, you know, a prime example of that.

It's sometimes easy to look at the forecast and say, "Oh, it's too warm," or "It's rainy."

Once the does start coming into (indistinct), it just doesn't matter You got to be in the woods, so.

It's about 10 o'clock now.

I'm gonna sit for a while, see if anything else moves towards the middle of the day here, but thankful for another morning in the tree stand.

Thankful for the start of another November.

Even when there's not a lot of big deer around or not one specific buck you're chasing, it's just really hard to beat November in Michigan.

So, soaking it up.

(gentle music) (detritus crunching) The hunting the first couple of days of November was incredible.

Lots of bucks cruising through, just not the one I was looking for.

As the season progressed, the buck that had previously been nocturnal started to show himself a bit more.

And with the corn coming down, I was hopeful that I would be able to put eyes on him for the first time all season.

(gentle music continues) (birds chirping) (gentle music softens) (birds chirping) (gentle music continues) Well, just put eyes on the buck I was hoping to see.

Although it was briefly, I had a doe right underneath me, so I kind of got the camera in position, and then I was trying to get my binoculars on him, but he was gone in about 30, 40 seconds.

Looked pretty good from what I could see, but got some pictures of that deer.

I just really want to get a good look at him, but it looked pretty nice.

So it's pretty early.

It's a beautiful morning.

We'll see what happens here.

The big buck never did resurface that morning, and as we close in on the last few days of bow season, he's remained elusive.

While I've been busy chasing him around, things have started to pick up for Gabe over in Shiawassee County.

(country music) - While the season may have started off a little slow for me, but like Gene Wensel's book, "Come November," things have really started to heat up.

(country music) (country music continues) (detritus crunching) (country music continues) - It's bow season, and I hope a deer will come out, and I can shoot it with my compound bow.

- [Gabe] Yeah?

- Yeah.

(country music continues) A deer just walked out and Dad was like, "Get up slowly, slowly, get up and grab your bow."

And I grabbed it and I was hoping it would just come a little bit more into range, but it went into the corner.

I'm shaking right now.

- [Gabe] Why are you shaking?

- Because I was so excited.

- [Gabe] Of course, when a deer finally did get within range, it came directly behind us.

Finley got around and was just waiting for the buck to take a couple more steps, but it wasn't meant to be.

- And this big old buck came out and was like sitting there.

And I could have gotten in a shot, but I couldn't pull back because he was looking at us.

(country music continues) (country music fades) (detritus crunching) - It was so close.

(sniffs) He was well within range.

And had I not had a camera, I could have shot around this side of the tree, but being that I had a camera, I had to shoot over here instead of over here.

I don't really know what happened.

I don't know.

He may have seen the glint of a lens.

I've got a couple different cameras up here.

I don't know if he saw that or what.

That's the exact buck I set this tree stand for.

With the corn coming down and the rut winding up, the last week has really improved.

I was finally starting to see some better bucks fairly regularly and more within my short range.

(gentle music) (detritus crunching) There was an eight point, short (indistinct), you know, not very wide.

Looked to be a year old buck, maybe two.

But either way, he was, I mean, right here at 10 yards.

I mean, right like you'd want a big buck to do.

(twangy music) (birds chirping) Just a pile of deer he pushed in here, and then he bred that doe at like 35 yards.

Again, with a compound, my trophy room would look a whole lot different, but it would mean so much to kill that buck with a trad bow.

Only a few short days left of my favorite time of the year.

To all the firearm hunters hitting the woods, good luck and be safe here in Michigan's out of doors.

- Well, special thanks to Jordan and Gabe for letting us see what they've been up to in the deer woods.

And like I said earlier, there is a lot of other hunting going on around the state right now other than deer hunting.

This week we're gonna take you to a layout duck hunt on Houghton Lake with some really great guys.

(light rock music) (light rock music intensifies) So what's the strategy here today if somebody's not familiar with the layout hunting?

- Kill ducks.

- [Jimmy] That's the plan.

- That's the plan.

So we're gonna head to the other side of the lake, wait till the blue-bills take off, and when they do, probably set up right there and hope they come back.

- [Jimmy] So they're already rafted up out there then?

- [Kevin] They are already rafted.

Redheads and blue-bills actually.

So we'll see what we run into.

We'll just go until we see them fly.

- Well, I really didn't know what to expect when Kevin said till we see them fly, but I was astounded just how many birds were on Houghton Lake.

I have seen rafts of ducks similar on Lake Erie, but was not expecting that site as we set up.

- [Kevin] So we came out, found the raft, let the raft fly up, try not to push it away.

You know, we kind of came in, slowed down, let them get up in the air and then tuck in where they were.

And you want to put the wind to your back because the ducks will land into the wind down our runway that we put out here.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

- [Kevin] That's the hope anyways.

When they're decoying nice, they will circle us and they'll come right down the runway, land right in our face and then you take them.

- [Jimmy] That's a lot of work though, getting those things all set up and not tangling.

That's pretty amazing.

- I'm still out of breath, I'm pretty sure.

(Jimmy laughs) Normally this is when we lose half our hunting clothes because we're still sweating from setup, but... - [Jimmy] How many years you been doing this?

- [Kevin] I've been doing it for probably 25.

- [Jimmy] Wow.

As you can see, layout hunting takes a lot of effort and a fair amount of equipment.

We were in one of the layout boats, and the rest of the guys would go and anchor away from the layout boats, but still close enough to come and get downed birds.

But so far, they didn't have much to do.

- [Kevin] Oh, apparently the ducks think we're ugly because- - [Jimmy] It's got to be the camera's fault.

- [Kevin] They keep buzzing the tower and- - [Jimmy] They're just out of range.

- Yeah, 60 yards and they're banking hard.

So either it's Jimmy's fault... - [Jimmy] (chuckles) Let's go with that.

It can't be you guys.

- [Kevin] It can't be.

(gun fires) Or they're getting used to us being here, and they're just checking us out.

(guns firing) Yeah.

(guns firing) Yeah!

- [Speaker] Nice one on that last one.

- [Jimmy] We ended up with a handful of birds for the evening hunt, and picked up the decoys and headed to camp where a great meal awaited our motley crew of hunters who have been doing this for decades.

- We've got this legacy that we're so proud of here.

And our dads, you know, kind of, they made all the mistakes so that we could learn from them.

(chuckles) In fact, I think they motored out in layout boats.

So we graduated to tender boats now that you've seen.

And so we grew up doing this, and we've been layout hunting.

Every single year we come to Houghton Lake.

Of course, we've called ourselves the Houghton Lake Layout Boys.

And so we've got a long legacy.

We figured, you know, we've been doing this over 40 years.

- [Jimmy] Wow.

- So now our kids are up here hunting in the boats.

So it was a kind of changing of the guard, you know, to see our dads kind of pass that on to us and now we set the spread and now we set up the boats and put our kids in them and enjoy watching them get birds.

You know, it's just being out here is amazing just to see the sunsets and, you know, stuff you would never see if you didn't like- - [Jimmy] Oh my.

- Like these birds right here.

It's awesome.

- [Speaker] Look at that.

- [Andy] Isn't that amazing?

- [Jimmy] It is pretty hard to have any idea just how many birds were in the air at any given time.

There would be times like this where you literally were looking at thousands and thousands of birds.

But other times when there was none flying.

But lots of birds in the air does not mean lots of shooting.

- Yeah, so we've got three layout boats set up.

We kind of create a big runway right down the middle, and we put decoys on both sides so we can distract the ducks as they're coming in.

And then we line ourselves up to put our back at the wind, and then those ducks will come right on into the wind so that they can put landing gears down and land.

(guns firing) - [Speaker] Nice.

- [Andy] And we're waiting for them when they come in.

They definitely come into their type of duck.

They come in, the white ducks come in on the white side, and the redheads come to the redheads and blue-bills come into the blue-bills.

So when you're setting your spread, you know, you kind of look at that and you kind of determine like which ducks are going to come on which side.

Generally, that's how it works.

So we've got three boats out, I think two one-mans and one two-man.

Definitely the one-man are less easy for the ducks to see.

And the two-man, of course, it's always fun to hunt with somebody, but a little bit easier for the ducks to see.

So we've got the MOJOs to kind of distract them, get their attention away from the boats so that we can get some good shooting.

(guns firing) - [Speaker] They got it.

- Noah hit him.

- [Driver] Oh, we got one in front of us.

- See what we go.

All right, nice little head.

Oh, actually, no, this looks like a... Pretty sure it's a head.

- [Speaker] Buffle?

- Bufflehead, yep.

- [Jimmy] So the boys had put a few birds down this morning, and we came in to pick them up.

Lots of effort, tons of birds, but only a little bit of shooting.

- Another little, oh, it's a Scoter, female Scoter.

You can see the patches on her cheek, that nice dark body, a little bit white underneath.

- [Jimmy] Nice.

- Yeah, that's cool.

Got that little short beak.

- [Jimmy] The views on Houghton Lake were amazing.

The guys at this camp were great to spend time with.

It is very cool to see a family duck camp and to see the legacy of those that went before being honored year after year.

Thanks to all the guys for letting me tag along.

I think we will leave you with a little video that Andy put together of our time on the water.

You stay classy, Houghton Lake Layout Boys.

(energetic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music intensifies) (dramatic music continues) (dramatic music crescendos) - Thank you for joining us this week for "Michigan Out of Doors."

Good luck to everybody hitting the woods this Sunday on November 15th for the firearm deer season opener.

We will be across the Lower Peninsula.

We'll have four different cameras rolling, and we'll show you how we did on those hunts over the next few weeks here.

If you'd like to see a real-time update on how we're doing, you can always do that online.

- Well, that's right.

Online is a good way to see what we're up to, and even with the opener just a couple of days away, you can check in on Facebook and Instagram and see how we're doing in the woods with cameras rolling.

And make sure you are joining us over the next several weeks.

Should be lots of good deer hunting stories, we hope, from around the state of Michigan.

And make sure you get out and enjoy everything our state has to offer.

And here we go our annual tradition to get you ready for the upcoming deer season, "Palace in the Popples."

- [Narrator] It's a smoky, raunchy boar's nest with an unswept drafty floor with pillow ticking curtains and knife scars in the door.

The smell of a pine knot fire from a stove pipe that's come loose mingles sweetly with the boot grease and the Copenhagen snoose.

There are work-worn 30-30s with scratched and battered stocks and drying lines of long johns and steaming pungent socks.

There's a table for the bloody four and their game of two-card draw.

There's deep and dreamless sleeping on bunk ticks stuffed with straw.

Frank's been drafted for cook again and is peeling some spuds for stew while Bruce wanders by in baggy drawers reciting dangerous Dan McGrew.

Nowhere on earth is fire so warm, or coffee so infernal, or whiskers so stiff, jokes so rich, or where hope blooms so eternal.

A guy could live for a solid week in the same old underbritches and walk like a man and spit where he wants and scratch himself where it itches.

I tell you boys, there is no place else I'd rather be come fall where I eat like a bear and sing like a wolf and feel like I'm bull pine tall.

In that raunchy cabin up in the north in the land of the deer and the loon with a tracking snow lying new to the ground at the end of the rutting moon.

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

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(upbeat music) ♪ When I wander far away ♪ ♪ A dream stays with me night and day ♪ ♪ The road that leads to my home state ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan man ♪ (gentle music)