Outdoor Wisconsin

We've come back to Pike Lake here in the Kettle Moraine State Forest and there are a few ice fishermen out there trying for panfish. In just a few minutes, Elizabeth Cramer checks a couple items off her Door County bucket list and then we'll join hundreds of kids and their parents at Get Outdoors Day in Ozaukee County. But first, let's head up to Vilas County for a Ruffed Grouse Society Grouse Camp at Trees for Tomorrow in Eagle River. I'm Dan Small and it's time once again for "Outdoor Wisconsin." (peaceful music) Summer to fall, winter to spring From Green Bay to where the St. Croix sings From Kettle Moraine to Superior's shore Outdoor Wisconsin, outdoor Wisconsin This aspen woodlot is good habitat for ruffed grouse and you might find a grouse here and there in the Kettle Moraine, but grouse are far more abundant in northern Wisconsin where there's plenty of good habitat for them. Last fall we joined hunters from across America for a Ruffed Grouse Society Grouse Camp held at Trees for Tomorrow in Eagle River. As RGS Regional Director Dave Johnson explains, the goal of Grouse Camp is to offer newcomers to the sport an opportunity to learn about and hunt grouse and woodcock. (leaves rustling) -

Dave

What we're hoping is that we can infuse the passion in the folks that are here this weekend in the pursuit of the king of game birds, the ruffed grouse and the American woodcock. -

Man

Welcome to Grouse Camp. We have called this event the Grouse Camp Tour. This originally started in 2014. We saw the precipitous decline in small game hunting licenses and decided we need to act. We spent about four months working on the framework of this event and we ran it up the flagpole to our board and our CEO and this is the result of that. We've got about 125 people registered from 16 states. We have volunteers from as far away as Chicago, Milwaukee, Sheboygan, and a variety of other cities that have come to help us teach people the joys of ruffed grouse and woodcock hunting. We know so much that we don't even know we know. (men laughing) Until you go with somebody that's never hunted before, and then it's all new. Tonight it's a little bit of a social several hours. We have registration first of all and then we welcome people to a hospitality area bonfire and basically it's just come down, get together, enjoy the scenery, the bonfire, and the camaraderie of fellow grouse and woodcock hunters. We have four seminars scheduled each day. I like to see all the orange. -

Dave

Those seminars are gonna run concurrently. This talk is gonna be about harnessing technology. It's your responsibility to know where you are on the landscape, so this is showing you pretty much the majority of open access lands in Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula. Grouse are nesting along the edges of big trees. They almost always will put their nest against the base of a big tree. They've got overhead cover from precipitation and also avian predators. We're here to talk about guns today, primarily guns for grouse. I, for the most of my grouse hunting, I use a 20 gauge and the reason is they're lighter, easier to carry. They're faster to maneuver. We train primarily pointing and versatile dogs. Most dogs that we bring in for training for hunting, we train them steady to shot. That means they can't move until the gun goes bang. (gun bangs) That keeps them safe. -

Dave

I appreciate everybody coming, this is awesome. (audience applauding) I'm thrilled that we have this turnout and we hope to recreate this in several areas across the country over the next few years. We're hoping that we can have people come out of here that'll have a passion for grouse and woodcock hunting. All right, we're out for the grouse hunt portion of this wonderful adventure with Brandon Smith and Laine Jewell and their German Shorthairs and three guys from UW-Stevens Point, Samuel, Isaac, and Andrew, and you're the hunt master here, Brandon, so what's the plan? Well, we're gonna let these dogs loose. Hopefully get into some grouse and woodcock. We'll just wait for the dogs to go on point and we can choose who wants to go in and take the first bird. Being that you guys aren't very experienced with hunting in the woods like this, it'll be safer to go in one at a time. Don't approach a point, don't approach a bird with the safety off. Bird up, safety, take your shot and then make for sure that you put it back on safe. Safety is the most important part about hunting cover like this, hunting anywhere but especially this kind of stuff. You can trip, you can fall, a gun can go off, somebody's gonna get shot, shoot yourself, shoot a dog. So we've got Lutes and Gambler, two male German Shorthaired Pointers. Lutes is nine years old so he's our veteran and Gambler's the young up-and-comer. The dogs are gonna go off into the woods while we stay more or less on the trails and our GPS will give a beep when they go on point, so then we'll go in and flush the birds for them and get a shot hopefully. -

Brandon

All right. -

Laine

Get in there, boys, hunt 'em up. Today we're gonna be hunting managed forest. It's private land that's open to the public. This is prime habitat right here. We're gonna start slowing down our pace a little bit to allow the dogs to get in there and cover some ground and I don't doubt we're gonna find some birds in here. (GPS beeping) He's a hundred yards in the woods right now on point. Right now the cover's super thick and so even if the dog's standing right in front of you sometimes it's kind of hard to tell where they are once they've stopped moving and so it's nice to have that pinpointed. It records their speed, distance traveled, the path that they take. There he goes. (gun bangs) Nice woodcock. - I do not think I hit him. No, you didn't, he kept flying. All right, so that was your first time flushing a woodcock. - Yeah. first time seeing a woodcock, first time shooting at a woodcock. They don't have those down in Chicago. No? (laughing) It's definitely fun to get out there and go after them. We have plenty of them around here. -

Isaac

Yeah. Well, it's a little different day here. We've got overcast, little raindrops here and there. Yeah. - Brandon, what's the plan? Well, we're gonna head in a little different type of cover, looks like some red pines, a relatively thick understory, berry brush. Hopefully we can catch the grouse eating and maybe get one. All right. -

Dan

So you think they'd be in this kind of cover feeding? Well, if there's berries in there for eating, I don't see why they wouldn't, you know? Yeah, yeah, what do you got? Ah ha. There's a grouse feather, that's as close as we've come to a grouse so far, now we've gotta find the rest of the bird. (GPS beeping) You got a point? -

Brandon

Yeah, 30 or 40 yards in there. (gun clacking) Let's go see what we got. Find the bird. -

Dan

There it is! (gun banging) Yes! - Did I get him? Yes! - Yeah! (laughing) Let's go. -

Brandon

Dead bird! -

Dan

Well, how does that feel? Freakin' amazing. (Laine laughing) First ever woodcock, I don't know how I hit that. There was so many branches in the way. -

Brandon

(laughs) That's hunting. Well, Isaac, your first woodcock, congratulations. Yes, thank you. -

Dan

It's a strange-looking bird. The beak is long and narrow and it's kind of flexible at the tip, they poke it into soft ground to catch earthworms. And their eyes are mounted high and on the back of their head so that when their nose is in the ground they can actually see what's going on so that they can watch out for predators. It's always a good idea to be looking for predators while you're having breakfast, right? (laughs) -

Isaac

Uh-huh. But you know the most important thing is you've got a bird in the hand. Yes. (laughs) - Congratulations. It's always a good day when you can put a bird in the vest. Absolutely. -

Laine

So you can measure the bill alongside a dollar bill; if it's longer, it's a hen. If it's shorter, it's a male and I think we have a hen here, there you are. Thank you. Well, guys, what do you think of your first taste of woodcock and grouse hunting? Well, it was a lot of fun, I learned a lot out here on the trails and it's something that I'd like to do in the future. It's definitely one of the most difficult forms of hunting I've tried in my brief hunting experience, but it's definitely worth it when that bird goes down. It was a good experience, I'm happy I came with and looking forward to take the skills I learned here back home. And this was a learning experience for these guys and for everybody here at Grouse Camp and thanks so much, Laine and Brandon. You've showed us a good time and your dogs are awesome. Happy we could help. Let's get some more birds. Sounds good. You can see a long way from the tower here on Powder Hill, but not all the way to Door County, which is about 150 miles north of here. Door County's a popular place to visit in any season but especially in summer and last summer Elizabeth Cramer checked a couple items off her Door County bucket list when she took in a Door County fish boil and a goat parade. (gentle music) Door County never disappoints as a vacation spot for Wisconsin locals and tourists alike but what makes Door County unique while still being relatable to so many people? Let's dig deeper into the classic Door County bucket list. So today I am here with Andy Coulson, the longtime owner of the White Gull Inn here in beautiful Door County. We are going to experience an authentic Door County fish boil tonight. How long have you guys been doing them on the property? Well, I personally have been here since 1972. The fish boils started at the White Gull before that, in 1959. So it's one of the first commercial fish boils in Door County, they had been around prior to that but they were more private. -

Elizabeth

And were they always this popular or-- Well, I think that as soon as they were introduced to the public and the White Gull was one of the two restaurants that started them around 1959, 1960, they became very popular very quickly. So they've just been a Door County tradition ever since. -

Elizabeth

Why is Door County always the place people go? Well, I think because it has so many of the attributes of what people love about Wisconsin but a little bit more and a little bit of an East Coast feel perhaps, a little bit of the Cape Cod seacoast feel. Fishing villages, we have the cherry industry. We have the shipbuilding heritage. So there's a lot of things that the rest of Wisconsin doesn't have and yet we have the down-home, Midwestern, family-owned sort of approach to business that people have always loved about Wisconsin. So we wrap all that together and of course it's been an artists' mecca for years, so people come here and just enjoy seeing all of the different arts, both the performing and the fine arts. So put them all together, and it makes it a great, great place to come. -

Elizabeth

The White Gull has been in business since- - 1896. It was probably one of the first hotels in Fish Creek. What do you see for the future? I just see more of the same. When I came in the 1970s there was a sort of an influx of young people moving to the country, back to the nature sort of movement and a lot of young people my age moved in in the '70s. Now we're seeing that again with the next generation, which is really exciting. Now I have to make sure it's gonna get going well so we can cook when the time comes. This will be my fifth year at the White Gull. I did them, I was born and raised here so I learned to do them as a young man. Did them here and there once in a while for fundraisers and things. But when I retired and moved back full time, they needed a fish boiler and I said I think I could do that and they agreed, so. It has to be boiling, has a good steady boil, before we start cooking. After the potatoes have cooked for several, for about 20 minutes, then I'll put this basket in. This basket will have the fish. I think this pan's been around since 1957, the same pan. (audience oohing) Door County fish boils go back to the time when immigrants began to settle this part of Wisconsin and Door County, many of them from Scandinavian countries, and what brought some of them here at least was the water. They loved the fish, some of those same families are still professional fishermen, still fish for a living, and they're the folks who really started this traditional meal. At the end of the a day of fishing, easy way to have a meal, potatoes could already be cooking, chunk the fish up and throw it in the pot and a few minutes later you're eating. They had to source things locally. Fish were abundant in the Great Lakes so they had those and potatoes, even in Door County, you can grow potatoes. Lots of churches had fundraisers, fish boils, for years and years and years. Families still get together for fish boils here occasionally and it was 1957 when the White Gull Inn decided this would be a fun thing to do for their overnight guests here at the Inn but also other visitors to Door County, so they've been doing a fish boil here since then. It's a very simple recipe,

just four ingredients

water, salt, potatoes, and fish. Takes a half hour to cook, potatoes take the full half hour. Fish don't take that long at all, eight to 10 minutes, and the salt seasons the food and in the saltwater things float, so the stuff we don't want on the food is gonna be at the top of the pot and I suppose we could just kind of scoop it off but that's not nearly as much fun as what we're going to do. Here we go! (audience oohing) You take kerosene and throw it on the fire so it's really hot, really fast. Boils over enough just to take that top layer off. (audience applauding) - Yeah. -

Steve

just four ingredients

We're very glad you're here and hope you enjoy your meal, thank you. -

Elizabeth

just four ingredients

In addition to fish boils, Door County is also home to popular orchards, state parks, and light houses that are a hallmark of Lake Michigan's nautical past. (upbeat music) (jazzy music) As well as one of the last remaining outdoor theaters in the Midwest. If you're looking for something a little more out of the box, the goat parade in Sister Bay might have you shouting from a familiar rooftop. (whimsical music) She knows Mom. - You can just hand her to me, my little one. Nana, I love you. (crowd murmuring) What do you call this event? The goat parade, it's-- The goat parade? I don't think there's another one in the world. -

Woman

just four ingredients

Put me in. Hey, let's go, goats, we've got goats! Goats! - We've got goats! Goats! - Whoo, hoo! -

Man

just four ingredients

It's a very homespun, whimsical event that we hold in Sister Bay. It's sort of the first official time when the goats go on the roof at Al's, so what happens is the goats line up down at the end of the street and just take a nice slow walk down the street, people cheer them on, people get really excited. It's just a fun event for families and kids to come out and see. -

Man

just four ingredients

Wave at the goats, everybody. -

Woman

just four ingredients

Come on. Then we also have the finale part which is the goat plops sticker part where all the proceeds go to our local food pantry. So basically $10 will get you a sticker and then we're gonna let you put it on the road today. Usually myself or another gentleman put it on the road just for safety. You might recognize the name, in honor of our good friend Dan Small, we are going to put this out on the road and hope to win a goat plop prize. (whimsical music) That's a lucky spot, I know it. (goat bleats) Dan's sticker didn't attract the winning plop but there's always next year. We've been a family-run business for over 70 years so Al started it when it was like a little IGA grocery store and it's sort of grown and grown and sort of been its sort of own destination. I think it's great to have in Sister Bay, which is just a beautiful city on its own but it's great to be part of Sister Bay in that way. -

Lars

just four ingredients

These buildings were built for us in Scandinavia, then disassembled and shipped by boat to the East Coast and then by truck to here in Wisconsin. This very building? - This very building came from Scandinavia and that year my dad had a very good friend and as a practical joke he decided to put a goat on the roof and since 1973 we've had live goats grazing on this rooftop. Wow, so it just started with a practical joke. It started out with a practical joke. -

Elizabeth

just four ingredients

All jokes aside, Door County certainly doesn't lack variety when it comes to outdoor activities. (audience oohing) And hopefully you have a few ideas to add to your own Door County bucket list. Your bucket list might include those Door County events, but a young outdoors enthusiast's list might have some simpler items, like shooting a rifle or bow or going for an ATV ride. Well, kids of all ages can enjoy those activities and more at the annual Get Outdoors Day held each summer in the town of Grafton in Ozaukee County. We were there last summer and it was clear the attendees were having a blast. (engine rumbling) So we call this event our Get Outdoors Day and we run it through our NWTF North Shore Chapter. We founded this event three years ago and it's blown up ever since. (turkey call blatting) So my wife and I, we really hope that when people and kids and adults and everyone that's never done what we do, that's what this whole event is about is trying to get more people outdoors. Get them off their cell phones and off their laptops and their computers and their PlayStations and everything else and get them outside and doing the stuff that we enjoy to do and that's why we have 60 volunteers here today helping us run this entire event and they believe in the same passion that we do. It's get everyone outside doing everything we can, as much as they can. Okay, always wanna make sure when you turn the bolt up, the firearm always goes on safety, okay? -

Woman

just four ingredients

Okay, so you're all set. You always wanna get in the habit of safe fire. Gently squeeze that trigger. (gun bangs) - Okay. They're shooting at 10 yards here, we're giving them five rounds of ammo. They're shooting different types of actions, getting acclimated with firearms safety. Many people, even the adults who are here, have not shot firearms before, so it's a great experience for them to get out and see what shooting and hunting can be all about before they make a commitment to do it. You ready? - Yep. -

Woman

just four ingredients

Fire when ready. (gun bangs) -

Dominic

just four ingredients

You know firearms are, if you respect the firearm, it'll be a great family adventure. Shooting is a wonderful sport, takes a lot of skill and a lot of time to master, regardless of whether you're hunting or just target shooting. -

Woman

just four ingredients

Look, look right there. See you hit the target with all of them. So that was your first one, your second one. I think actually that was your second one, so that's your best. -

Man

just four ingredients

There you go. -

Woman

just four ingredients

But you hit the target. It's a great time if you do it responsibly. It's safer than any ball sport, it's been proven. It's just a great time, family experiences out in the field, hunting or not, it's a good time. -

Woman

just four ingredients

We go live! -

Man

just four ingredients

What would you tell parents who might be in your situation, have never done this and-- I would definitely say give it a try. The instructors are great, very patient and it was fun, I would definitely say give it a try. -

Man

just four ingredients

So, Austin, you did pretty well there. Have you ever shot a.22 before? No. - So what do you think of it? -

Leeann

just four ingredients

Did you have fun? Uh-huh. Did you meet Baron von Screech? He's an Eastern Screech Owl. He's full grown, he's five. He actually came to us from Virginia. If you can see, which you probably can't 'cause he's facing away, but his right eye, which would be your left, is actually missing. He was hit by a car, which sadly is relatively common with small birds in that they are chasing something at night and the car cannot see him. He didn't see the car. For his own health, his eye was removed. If you see his left eye, see the color? -

Man

just four ingredients

Yeah. Many people think owls all have dark eyes, either very dark brown or black. True nocturnal owls have those color eyes, other owls with this lighter yellow-green or maybe a yellow-orange are, I'm gonna teach you a big, fancy ornithology word, crepuscular, which means they hunt at dawn and dusk and during the day. It's cool when they show these birds because we don't get to see much birds up close. We were here last year and I will say that the kids were so excited about it that we had to come, like we put it on the calendar right away when we found out and got here right away at 10 o'clock, so, very exciting. We've been saying all week, "It's Get Outdoors Day on Saturday." (engine rumbling) This piece of property is something that our father bought back probably in the late '70s, as a place for us to recreate with dirt bikes and things. It was never intended to be investment property or, you know, farm land, to be honest. It was all about having fun, so he passed at an early age of 54, I believe, in 1984, so we've been playing on it ever since. This is an opportunity for us to share the fun with other people, get them outdoors and check out the ATVs, UTVs, and just enjoy what we've been doing for so long. (engines rumbling) -

Mr. Lemon

just four ingredients

It's our third year we've done it. We enjoy it every time. I mean, each year it seems to get bigger-- And funner. - Especially, and more fun? -

Child

just four ingredients

Uh-huh. -

Mr. Lemon

just four ingredients

Yeah, we especially enjoy riding these around the track. (engine rumbling) Let's start out by doing this one. So we're gonna do a yelp of a hen so all I'm gonna have you do is push this little button like this. (lure yelping) Okay? (lure yelping) That's kind of cool, okay, so here's a box call and a box call is gonna start out with a high up here and then there was a low down there. That's the yelp of a hen so if I'm gonna do it with my mouth on a mouth call, do the high (squealing) do that low (yelping) (squealing). It's fun, I mean, little kids are by far the best because they make a sort of a sound of a turkey call and they're like, eyes light up and everything else. It's really cool so hopefully at that young age it'll hold through and they'll get more into the hunting aspect of it or at least getting in the outdoors aspect of it. (lures yelping) There you go, perfect. -

Man

just four ingredients

Pull, pull, pull, shoot, there you go. Let go with your right hand. - Nice. -

Man

just four ingredients

Nicely done. I think the kids that have enjoyed it, have been out here, they get an opportunity to shoot something and actually have a result that they can see, so that's what's unique about these bows. They can see a result from what they're actually doing so it's not a difficult activity where it doesn't get anywhere. I just saw a five-year old shoot and that five-year old was able to hit the target 10 yards away and he was smiling. So with longbows or recurves that we would have used in the past that would have never happened. So it's really helped the attitude of the kids that take a look at archery and that's the whole idea 'cause this is an activity that's founded in Wisconsin and it's something we all participate in in different forms. But it's a way to get involved in a activity that maybe is not a normal norm, part of a school system, so we want them to get involved. That's why this is all a part of it. So we need to get kids outdoors today 'cause there's a lot of millennials that don't have that tendency. (guns banging) -

Woman

just four ingredients

There you go, that was even closer. So I guess our biggest goal for our event here is to hopefully light that spark in those people and it turns into a giant bonfire and then they start doing all this stuff. Then it comes full circle where they're teaching people on what they learned and what they're doing and spreading that spark on to them. (engine rumbling) To learn more about Get Outdoors Day and this week's other features, log onto milwaukeepbs.org and search Local Programs for "Outdoor Wisconsin" or visit the Milwaukee PBS Facebook page. I'll be at the Outdoor Life Field & Stream Expo at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison April 3rd through the 5th, so stop by our booth and say hello. Well, next time I'll take you muskie fishing on Lyman Lake in Douglas County with guide Joe Shead. We'll pay a visit to Elizabeth Cramer's farm in Sheboygan County, and we'll find out what's happening at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Saying goodbye from Pike Lake in the Kettle Moraine State Forest, I'm Dan Small. Join us again next week for "Outdoor Wisconsin." (upbeat music)