- Well, hey everyone.

Welcome to "Michigan Out of Doors."

Thank you so much for joining us this week.

We have a brand new show for ya and we're gonna kick things off and pretty much stay in the Northeast part of the lower peninsula on this week's show.

And we're gonna be covering the elk season here in the great state of Michigan.

Gabe VanWormer and Jordan Browne were up there with cameras rolling, hoping to capture the sight and the sounds of everything that is the Michigan Elk Cut.

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" - [Hunter] What a beautiful day in the woods.

♪ Some 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 ♪ (duck quacking) ♪ This 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.

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

- [Hunter] 150 yards there.

(upbeat music) - [Hunter[ Last month, Gabe and I were in the Northeast part of the state to cover the annual late season elk hunt here in Michigan.

I made it up on Friday afternoon just in time to do a little scouting, and I was excited to hit the woods with a friend of mine the next morning who was lucky enough to draw the coveted Michigan bull elk tag.

Well, John, how are we feeling this morning?

- I'm feeling pretty good, feeling excited, nervous.

It's a beautiful morning.

It's great to be in Michigan, that's for sure.

Being able to chase elk, it's a opportunity that not everyone gets and I couldn't be happier with that luck was on my side to this point and maybe it'll continue.

- [Hunter[ Early in the morning, we cut a fresh bull track and headed into the timber.

It was cold and windy, making for tough tracking conditions, but ideal weather to stalk.

John was enjoying the start of his once in a lifetime hunt, and as we made our way along, he told me a little bit about what it was like to finally draw that tag.

- I started applying many years ago at the encouragement of my brother.

He said, "Hey, you should start putting in for Michigan elk tags."

He did as well.

We've been on a couple of hunts to Montana together and always thought it'd be fantastic to be able to hunt here in our home state of Michigan.

I saw on Facebook some people that were not successful.

I think it was, I wanna say it was a Monday, maybe it was a Tuesday, posting out I didn't draw my out tag this year.

And to be honest, I didn't even think to go look to see if I did.

And I got home that that day and in the mailbox there was something from the DNR, I thought it was a random survey that they send out and as it turns out it wasn't a survey, it was an elk tag and then, you know, for a bull cow or a calf.

And at that point I realized I'd hit the Michigan elk lottery.

Go and get the back of my neck.

This elk's very elusive.

He apparently likes to walk.

I'm glad we're taking a little break so I can catch my breath for a minute.

- [Kevin] Tell me when I need to stop.

(elk caller blowing) We've been on this bowl for about, I guess three hours.

We finally caught up with him and bumped him before he bumped or saw before.

- The guy's 100 yards.

- Before we could get on him.

I knew we'd be able to get on one more time pretty quick and we did, but it was too thick.

All we could see was his legs in the thick pines.

So then he's moved out.

We've been tracking him now and we just found where he bedded, it just real thick in here.

I knew he'd probably lay down in here.

He either smelt us or saw and (indistinct) him out here.

It's too thick for us to be able to see him, Now we're just gonna stay on his tracks.

He's headed towards like a road where we've got somebody watching to see if he cuts that track and when he crosses the trail there.

So we'll just keep staying on him.

Got lots of daylight.

- [Hunter] We spent the rest of the day chasing that bull and put about eight miles on our feet and countless miles on the truck trying to catch up to him to no avail.

Meanwhile to the East, Gabe and his crew were having a little more luck.

(soft music) (bullets clicking) (gun clicking) - Oh, we're getting ready to go out opening morning.

Big day today for us guys.

- You got a bull tag.

- I do have a bull tag.

Very lucky.

Very thankful.

- [Hunter] As with many Michigan late season elk hunts, Guide Joe Ferguson had some animal scouted so on opening morning we took off on some fresh tracks to try and catch up with the herd.

This group had mostly cows and some young bulls, so Mike would be first up with his cow tag.

It wasn't long before we were seeing wildlife.

- Yeah, we got some cows.

We're gonna track here a minute and get up, see if we can catch up to him.

Get a shot.

Right here, right here, right, get on your six.

- [Hunter] Right there, right in front of you.

- [Hunter] Get on your six, hey, get on your six.

- [Hunter] Is it coming?

(indistinct) - Oh, there both bulls.

(elk caller blowing) Raghorn.

Raghorn.

Oh, we just walked upon some bulls, so.

(hunter speaking indistinctly) - Yeah, I think they were just randoms.

They weren't the same ones we were on, so we'll see if we can stand these cows.

There's a cow left though I think.

We're gonna have to jump I think.

Let's step forward a little more.

- [Hunter] We were seeing some gorgeous north country and plenty of wildlife, although the temps were in the single digits, we kept warm by trying to catch up to the herd of elk.

(soft music continues) - We've got a nice buck up on behind the ridge in the clear cut so.

He's starting to walk off a little bit, but... Well, we've been on some cows since first thing this morning.

We're still on 'em, so we're hoping that we can catch up to 'em here in a little bit.

Get a good shot.

Mike, get over here.

Right there.

- While sneaking along the tracks in the snow we spotted a big cow looking down on our back trail.

Mike got his gun up for a shot.

Shoot in the neck if you can.

(gun fires) It dropped?

- It dropped.

Oh, God.

Oh.

- Oh, we got one.

- Oh my God.

- Nice job.

- She's still kicking.

- Yeah, Mike.

- That all worth it?

- Oh, yeah.

This is better than anything I've ever walked out West.

Sundance, Wyoming, we go every year.

This is, to do it in my home state.

(Mike sighing and crying) Need to do it with this 41 Great Lakes.

- [Hunter] I don't think you could do it in a prettier spot.

- I could not.

- [Hunter] There's a river right there behind us.

- Could not.

- This is gorgeous.

- Yeah, that was good.

Good shot.

- Thank you so much.

I mean, what a- - I think we'll go up and check it out.

- What a dream of a lifetime.

38 years.

I am just truly blessed.

So had very small window and shot it in the neck, and we just dream of a lifetime.

I mean, I can't be more grateful.

Thank you so much to everybody here helping.

This is truly amazing.

God's blessing.

(soft music) (zip tie clicking) - [Hunter] Watch him, just go down.

(indistinct) - [Hunter] After some much appreciated help getting Mike's big cow out of the woods, we grabbed a bite to eat and warmed up a little bit before heading out again.

In no time, Joe had a bull spotted in some thick woods.

- I think we're gonna pass on him, but I'd like to see the other one that must be with him.

- We got one bull, maybe two, deciding if he's big enough for day one.

- [Hunter] There were more elk in these woods as evidenced by the tracks.

We decided to slip down through the woods and sure enough, it wasn't long before Joe spotted a shooter bull.

- [Hunter] It is?

(hunter whistling) - [Hunter] The bull eventually moved over the hill and passed another hunter with a tag in his pocket.

(gun fires) - Nice job.

- What's up, buddy?

- [Hunter] What happened?

- Yeah.

Well, we were, Joe called us.

He had one that he spooked this way.

We came down here, parked over there, and then we got out on the sticks.

two came out over here on the road.

Couldn't tell which one was bigger.

They worked their way to us.

And then Travis said, "Take the second one.

He's the biggest one."

He come, he turned and a hammer, and then he kept going.

He went down here, I hit him again and then he just fell down there.

- That's awesome.

- Thanks my, man.

- Nice job.

- Thanks.

- That's awesome.

- It is unbelievably awesome.

There he is.

My Michigan elk.

Oh man, what a beast.

God, I love it.

Look at him.

Oh, what a trophy.

I got a wall with your name on it, my man.

You'll live forever.

I know you're with me, Dad.

I know you're with me.

Man, this is such a thrill of a lifetime.

I cannot believe what this means to me.

(hunter sniffling) Thank you, Lord.

Thank you.

What a trophy.

What a trophy.

- [Hunter] Perhaps one of the coolest Northern Michigan traditions are the two elk poles during opening weekend of the late season elk hunt, I stopped by the Atlanta elk pole on opening night.

- Yeah, so I applied for a bull tag or elk tag for the 19th season and finally got drawn this year.

Got a hold of someone that became my guide this year and this year came up December 13th.

Opening day.

We ended up seeing four bulls in one group.

This was the largest bull that we saw.

I had a hard time kind of deciding which one was the largest.

I'm a big deer hunter, not so much an elk hunter because this is my first time doing it.

My guide said, "Hey, that's the big one.

Make sure that's the one you shoot."

I was like, "All right, I'm gonna trust his judgment."

He kind of talked to me about where I should kind of position to make the shot.

Had some trees, some branches, pretty thick, but 100 hundred yards away, I was using a seven millimeter mag and made a pretty good quartering-away shot.

Went about 40 to 50 yards and piled up.

- [Hunter] Despite the frigid temps, everyone would gather around as each successful elk hunter pulled in.

Grant Sadler drew a once in a lifetime bull tag and punched it on opening evening.

- It took me 20 years to peel a tag.

(crowd laughing) Came home and had it in the box.

(laughing) Couldn't believe it.

So then I called a friend of mine, Brian, and he guides up here.

"Sure, we'll we'll get her going," he says, so anticipation.

And it came down to the real thing, you know?

I came up Monday and the hunt was awesome.

This morning we caught up on a bull first thing, just didn't have a good shot, didn't take it.

We run, we tracked him for five miles.

He jumped into his private property and so then we just kind of this tonight we was just trying to put something together for the go in the morning and we're driving down by some clear cuts and I spotted four cows and this bull standing out in a clearcut.

We stopped and kind of looked him over and I said, "I think I can do it."

And he turned around.

I'm like 180 and I put the pin right on the mar or in the engine room, let rip.

And I heard it hit, and it took about four bounds into the woods and the cows came back out.

So we went up in there anyways and he was laying there 30 yards.

It's just a hunt of a lifetime.

- [Hunter] It's neat to see everyone congratulating the hunters on their late season elk.

The party was still going on when I had to leave.

Brian Reitsma still had a bull tag.

So we started before daybreak, checking for tracks.

It wasn't long before we spotted a fresh group of bull tracks crossing the road.

We took off on foot to see if we could get a look at 'em.

(hunter panting) - [Hunter] Oh, look it.

Look through here.

Let's shoot 'er.

(soft music) Get him right there.

(hunter speaking faintly) - [Hunter] Yeah, 'cause the winds aren't that way.

We'll get him to go this way.

Oh, there's another one.

That one's not very big.

Raghorn.

- I can get a shot.

- I don't know if we can go over here maybe, stay in this valley.

Let's do that.

Come on.

- [Hunter] One, two, three, four, five.

- [Hunter] Shoot in front of him.

- [Hunter] He's a six point.

He just shook his head.

You see him?

- [Hunter] Yeah.

You see that big log in front of him?

- [Hunter] Yeah.

He's stepping to the right.

Wait.

Oh, yeah.

That's cool.

- First one or second?

- I don't know yet.

- [Hunter] Yet we finally got around to where we could see several bulls.

Two bulls were sparring down in the valley and both looked to be shooters.

- One on the right.

- Just a minute.

Don't shoot.

- Yep.

Second one, second one.

- [Hunter] The one on the left's probably bigger?

- [Hunter] Yes.

I'm on his mane.

One step to the right.

- Hang on.

- Right there.

(gun fires) (gun clicking) - Get him again.

He's right up.

You got him.

Shoot him again.

(gun firing) (gun clicking) - [Hunter] Shoot him again, take a breath.

(gun firing) You got him that time for sure.

- Shoot him again.

(hunter speaking indistinctly) (group chattering faintly) - [Hunter] He's down.

- Down.

Get him.

- No.

- Dunno if that's it.

(hunter speaking indistinctly) - [Hunter] That's why I said don't shoot.

Huh?

- [Hunter] Well, we came up on some bulls, and Brian here was able get a good shot on one.

So we're gonna go check it out here in a minute.

- [Hunter] Nice.

You think?

- It's awesome so far, but we're not there yet.

We gotta go find this thing.

If we find him soon we'll be back on and talk.

I'm just excited to see where we're at.

- [Hunter] Nice job.

- Yeah, he is not moving here.

Yeah, he's laying there.

- He's laying there?

- Yeah.

(soft music) (feet crunching) - There he is.

(hunter laughing) - Hey, we came up on him.

We hit him.

We got him.

But I'm gonna thank Joe right now, man.

- Good job, Joe.

(hunter laughing) Good job.

- And the cameraman, Gabe.

He's a stud, man.

Let's go see him.

Oh, baby.

Check out that bad boy.

We did it.

We did it.

- Congrats.

- [Hunter] After years of applying, Brian had what most other hunters will only dream about, a Michigan bull elk.

- Look at that baby.

That's a chocolate.

Just what we were looking for.

Oh, it's a beauty, guys.

It's a beauty.

- [Hunter] Any ground shrinkage or that's a good 'un.

- That's a good 'un.

That's a good 'un.

- Well, we got on these bulls this morning, knew they were here and then we went basically drove part wind here and then we had to walk a little ways and figured they'd be in the cutting and they were.

And we were able to get on this one.

He made a good shot and we got him, so.

- [Hunter] Sparring down there in the bottom, huh?

- Oh my god.

What an experience.

You see two bull elk truly sparring in front of you for the first time.

Another, once in a lifetime.

It's awesome.

Absolutely awesome.

- [Hunter] Pretty neat to see 'em in their wild habitat.

- [Hunter] Yes.

Habitat, everything was crazy.

Just like you see on TV, guys.

- [Hunter] Calls were made so that family and friends could come in and enjoy the excitement.

It's not every day you get to see a Michigan elk up close.

And luckily we were in a spot where Joe could get a snowmobile in and drag the bull straight out to the road.

Not a bad ending to an awesome hunt.

Meanwhile, a little ways west of us, Jordan and his hunter, were looking to fill their own bull tag.

- Little different style so far today.

Yesterday was traipsing through the woods.

Sweating like a butcher, but a little different style today.

But we got one in this section that we're gonna see if we can get eyes on it to get a look to evaluate something I wanna take on day two or if we'll keep moving on, but very, very excited.

No snow today, about nine degrees.

Sun's up.

Let's go.

- We got Austin in here.

He just saw some bulls so we dropped him off.

He's gonna see if he can push 'em out to us.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

You can't make him do what they don't wanna do.

So hopefully we can get 'em to cross this old pipeline here.

We're getting John ready right now and I also came across a do it yourselfer cow hunter.

So I told him he might as well watch too, just in case there's any cows in there with him, which is highly unlikely, but if he's not ready, there will be.

(soft music) Oh, there he goes.

(elk caller blowing) - He's not- - No, he's not.

- [Hunter] Let's do those two.

- [Hunter] They're okay.

Middle one was the best one.

I don't think that's what we want though.

(John laughing) - Saw (indistinct) - Yeah, it was very exciting.

- Huh?

- Yeah, that was nice.

That was nice.

- [Hunter] They weren't big enough for us.

- [Hunter] That last one.

- Still got the heart pumping.

- [Hunter] What was it?

- [Hunter] A little bachelor group.

Very exciting.

- [Hunter] After passing on these bulls, we started to cover ground looking for something a little bit bigger.

(upbeat music) - [Hunter] Just walked in, that one did.

- [Hunter] Despite our best efforts, day two would come and go without a shot opportunity.

Even when the bulls don't cooperate, getting to be a part of this hunt is pretty special and having a bunch of fresh snow made it even more fun.

Unfortunately, I had to hit the road after that opening weekend, but John would eventually catch up with a very nice bull on the eighth day of the hunt and get to notch that once in a lifetime Michigan Elk tag.

(gun firing) Congratulations to all of the successful elk hunters out there.

And good luck to all of the hunters out there, who like me, will be applying once again this year, hoping for the best.

- Thank you so much for joining us this week for "Michigan Out of Doors."

Make sure you come back in the next few weeks because we've got a lot of great things planned for you.

We'll take you out on a late season January doe hunt, we'll check out a ladies pheasant hunt and we'll show you how to officially score that big buck rack that's hanging on your wall.

If you'd like to see us on a more daily basis or check out a little bit more detail about the show, you can always do that online.

Our website is michiganoutofdoorstv.com, and we're on all the social media platforms @MichiganOutofDoorsTV.

If we don't see you online, we'll see you right back here next week for "Michigan Out of Doors."

- [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.

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(upbeat music) - [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 lifetime warranty.

More information available at gfallc.com.

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Career opportunities are available.

More information as saabinc.com.

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The show features tackle, trips, boats, outfitters, the trout pond, and of course, Big Buck Night.

That's Outdoorama and Novi.

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

(upbeat music) ♪ When I want a 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 rain trout and a hidden stream ♪ ♪ Whitetail deer in the tall pine trees ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan man (bright music)