I don’t think I’ve been this excited about an opening day in quite a long time.  There just seems to be an electricity associated with this year that I haven’t felt in quite a few years.  I don’t know if it’s the weather, the fact that there are acorns falling like crazy on the ridge near my stand, or if it’s because I’m encouraged by all the recent happenings in SimplyOutdoors land.  But whatever it is, I love that it feels this way.

Of course, the fact that our new episode of SimplyOutdoors TV is filled with early season success, could also be contributing to my season anticipation.  This episode is filled with success:  Robert Jenks, one of our new pro staffers shoots a nice, healthy doe during Michigan’s early antlerless season, and two of Jeff’s kids shoot a doe as well.

The rest of this week we’ll be dreaming of the season to come.  And then, come Friday night, we’ll all be gathering around a bonfire, and celebrating the start of a great season.

While we do that, all of you should sit back and watch SOTV Episode 10.  We hope it’s just the start of the things to come.

This episode promptly displays how successful stalking the corn can be; it highlights a very humbling experience for Jeff and his teenage son, Tyler; and it provides you with an excellent how-to segment for river smallies.

Enjoy.

Jeff decided to go with the early hunt this year, so their hunt starts tomorrow and runs for two weeks, while my hunt and my wife’s hunt doesn’t get underway until May 2nd.

We’re cautiously optimistic that the property, which did so well for us last year, will be just as good to us this year.

Let the turkey season begin; and may Trever take his crossbow and shoot straight with it.

Note: While you’re waiting to hear about the results of this year’s turkey season, you can check out our newest episode of SimplyOutdoors TV.  It has some pretty unique hog hunting footage, and is definitely worth a watch.

But the thing that was generating the most buzz, from blog readers and family alike, was my post from last week that mentioned Abby’s “fish calling” technique.  And since so many wanted to see her calling technique in action, I decided to provide a little taste of it below.

The video is just under two minutes long, but I promise you it’ll be worth the time spent; it’s great stuff, and it’s something my wife and I will never forget.  And maybe, just maybe, the rest of the video will be featured in an upcoming SimplyOutdoors TV episode.  Enjoy!

(It will load, I promise.  You just might have to be a little patient.)

We hope you all enjoy.

It’s our best episode yet, and features some very special footage of Jeff’s brother-in-law trying to put some venison in the freezer while he’s home on leave from Afghanistan.  Does he fill the freezer?  If you haven’t read the previous post about it, I guess you’ll just have to watch.

Why?

Because Jeff – after learning a little more about the whole video creation process, and after acquiring a few sponsors – decided to revamp the videos a little; he decided to create 15 minute – hopefully bi-weekly – episodes of the SimplyOutdoors’ crew’s outdoor exploits.

We’re happy to announce that our first 15 minute episode is available now.  If you would like to check it out, please click here 0r click on the picture within this post.

This first episode features Jeff’s son and stepson as they take to the woods in pursuit of some Michigan whitetails during Michigan’s Youth Hunt.

Enjoy!

Everyone had a great time, and, of course, Jeff landed the biggest fish of the day.  And because he didn’t want to stop there, he also managed a double – landing two fish on one rod.

Such luck!

For those of you who can view East Lansing’s WKAR, channel 23, the fishing footage will be aired this Thursday night at 8pm on MOOD-TV.  The show also airs at various times on all Michigan PBS stations, as well as stations in Northern Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

If you’re not familiar with the show, though, or if you’d like to watch before tomorrow night, you can do so on their website; it’s the September 23rd show, and it’s already posted for everyone’s viewing enjoyment.

I’m sure that Jeff is very grateful to Steve for letting him tag along.  And, as you can see at the end of the segment, everyone on the boat eventually wised up and didn’t let Jeff fish anymore.

Pick your poison: You can watch kids catching night crawlers, and then a father/son duo using those worms to catch some nice bluegills.  Or you can watch Jeff and his buddy, Luke, trying to put a gobbler on the ground with a bow.

Whichever one you choose, I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

Have a great weekend everyone!