Wardens: Archery and Firearm Deer | FD Real

[00:00:00]This week on Wardens, a Michigan conservation officer in District 8 checks on deer hunters on the opening day of the archery deer season.

[00:00:08]>> You don't have any licenses?

[00:00:10]>> All right.

[00:00:11]>> A D1 officer is on patrol during the first weekend of the firearm deer season. And a look at conservation organizations and volunteers working together to improve habitat for wildlife in a national forest.

[00:00:25]Wild animals and wild places. They're more than a picture. They're inspiration, excitement, and adventure. Patrolling and protecting these natural resources is a firstass band of peace officers.

[00:00:40]These are the Wardens, dedicated to the preservation of our great outdoors.

[00:00:46][Music] Michigan's deer seasons draw the most hunters to the woods. The state offers a wide variety of white-tailed deer hunting options from midepptember when some special seasons take place for youth and disabled hunters through New Year's Day when deer hunting season in Michigan typically concludes. Along with the variety of weapon options for hunting deer and the variety of weather that can occur during these seasons, Michigan's conservation officers can also encounter a lot of people who are enjoying the outdoors. In the state's district 1, co Jenny Hansen is on the lookout for deer hunters during the first weekend of the state's firearm deer season.

[00:01:32]>> Today we are patrolling in the Porcupine Mountains, which is a state park in Michigan on the far west end of the UP.

[00:01:40]So, we're just going to look for some hunters today. maybe see some successful hunters and spend a beautiful fall day in the park.

[00:01:52]>> Officer Hansen notices a deer hanging from a tree and stops to check it out.

[00:01:56]>> How's it going?

[00:01:57]>> Not bad.

[00:01:58]>> Good. This your dear?

[00:01:59]>> No, it's my nephew.

[00:02:01]>> Okay. I was going to say congratulations.

[00:02:04]Is it yours?

[00:02:05]>> No.

[00:02:06]>> Oh, is nephew here?

[00:02:08]>> No. No, he's out hunting.

[00:02:10]>> He's out hunting. Okay. Why aren't you guys hunting? I'm cooking.

[00:02:13]>> Yeah. Time for lunch. What are you making?

[00:02:15]>> Uh, Elmont, I call it. Hamburger and >> mashed potatoes and corn and >> nice. Got two extra plates for us.

[00:02:22]>> Rip it. Right.

[00:02:24]>> Yeah.

[00:02:24]>> Awesome. Beautiful deer. So, where's your deer?

[00:02:27]>> Out in the woods.

[00:02:28]>> Still running around for next year.

[00:02:31]>> All right.

[00:02:32]>> Yeah.

[00:02:32]>> Awesome.

[00:02:34]When did he get it?

[00:02:36]>> Opening day.

[00:02:37]>> Okay. Here in the park.

[00:02:39]>> Yep.

[00:02:39]>> Yep.

[00:02:39]>> Okay. Cool. Well, you guys have licenses. Mind if I just check them while I'm here?

[00:02:43]>> I do.

[00:02:45]>> Thank you.

[00:02:47]So, you guys going to get out and hunt today? Try and squeeze one more hunt in.

[00:02:50]>> I did this morning. Like I said, I have to cook now. So, >> okay.

[00:02:54]>> My hunt is over.

[00:02:56]>> And you're heading home tomorrow >> in the morning. Yeah.

[00:02:58]>> And where's home for you guys?

[00:03:00]>> Okay. West.

[00:03:02]>> Okay. Sure.

[00:03:02]>> He's from here.

[00:03:04]>> Okay.

[00:03:04]>> Yeah. They got a hike.

[00:03:05]>> Yeah.

[00:03:07]>> Yeah.

[00:03:08]>> You guys hunt at home then? Got land down there? I got >> I have 40 acres of >> Okay.

[00:03:15]>> Yeah. A little guy out.

[00:03:17]>> Okay. Awesome. There you are.

[00:03:19]>> Thank you.

[00:03:19]>> Cool, guys. Well, uh, safe travels back tomorrow.

[00:03:22]>> Yeah. Thank you.

[00:03:24]>> Michigan's archery deer season starts approximately 6 weeks before the firearm opener. More than 500 miles by automobile to the south from where CO Hansen is patrolling, officer Chris Reynolds is working on the opening day of the archery season in the state's District 8.

[00:03:43]It's October 1st, opener archery season.

[00:03:46]Um, just getting fired up this morning.

[00:03:48]Going to go out, check some areas where had sus some suspected uh poaching activity in the past. Uh, listen for some gunshots, possibly catch somebody uh shooting shooting a deer with a firearm this morning. Um, this time of year it's kind of tough to to pick out hunters obviously cuz hunter's orange not required. So, we'll just kind of drive around, check some areas, and uh see what happens.

[00:04:14]>> Co Reynolds sees some parked vehicles that he believes probably belong to hunters. When possible, he's not going to rush to their exact hunting location to disturb their time in the woods without a good reason to do so.

[00:04:26]>> It's basically just grabbing this plate real quick. I'm going to run the vehicle, find out the registered owner.

[00:04:31]Then, I'm going to cross reference that to our sales system and make sure this guy's got a license.

[00:04:40]This should be a 2017 Ford F-150 pickup truck.

[00:04:45]>> Clear. Thank you.

[00:04:48]>> So, just I've got the return on this truck. Uh just running the individual um in our sales system and he bought his combo license the other day. So, he's he's good to go. So, we'll just keep on moving.

[00:05:02]Indiana plate. I can't get higher. I can't get over the beans enough to get the plate.

[00:05:14][Music] grabbing a plate or trying to find the plate on that vehicle. Um, it's a little cool this morning, so the heat off my face and my breath kept fogging on my binoculars. I couldn't couldn't quite make out the plate. It's opening morning. Um, I have really no reason to go in there and walk in and maybe bust that guy's hunt up. So, I'll just keep keep an eye on this guy later in the year and uh make sure he's all squared away.

[00:05:38]>> Officer Reynolds stops to check the license plate of a parked vehicle in an effort to find a hunting license in the state's database that corresponds to the registered owner of the vehicle.

[00:05:58]It looks it looks like a guy's car. It's it comes back to a female that hasn't had any purchases in a couple years, but there's there's men's clothing in there.

[00:06:08]Looks like the guy's jeans, whatever, uh, changed out to hunt this morning.

[00:06:13]So, it could be a relative or somebody that that borrowed the car that that could possibly have a license. I'll run some more more people through our system, see what what I can come up with.

[00:06:26]So, let's talk about what we're actually going to be doing. We have about 2,300 plugs of native wild flowers native to Michigan that would occur in an oak pine barren.

[00:06:36]>> Michigan's Department of Natural Resources strives to improve habitat for wildlife in the state whenever possible.

[00:06:43]Oftent times the best way to do that is to work closely with other statewide and national organizations. One organization the DNR frequently teams up with is the Michigan United Conservation Clubs or MUC.

[00:06:57]MUCC, Michigan United Conservation Clubs, is a grassroots nonprofit organization. We're based out of Lancing, and we are founded in 1937 with the mission to unite citizens to conserve, protect, and enhance Michigan's natural resources and outdoor heritage.

[00:07:13]>> We are a statewide conservation nonprofit. We represent about 40,000 members across the state, including 200 rotten gun clubs, sportsman's organizations, and individual members.

[00:07:21]>> It's my first time working with MUCC.

[00:07:24]I'm really impressed with uh their ability to to recruit volunteers and and get the public out here on the public land to to help us. On the ground or OTG is an important program through which MUCC achieves positive results by planning and executing projects to help outdoor recreational areas and the wildlife and people who utilize them.

[00:07:48]The OTG program has been in place for a decade and its organizers wanted to make their 200th project something unique.

[00:07:56]>> Sometimes um these these tracks like this this oak pine baron system um have gone so long without disturbance through timber harvest or periodic fire u that they sometimes need a little bit of help um putting back some of that diversity.

[00:08:11]So they're coming back in and planting native wild flowers to help assist with that.

[00:08:15]>> You're probably familiar with forest a a habitat with lots of trees. You're probably familiar with prairie, a habitat with few or no trees. And in the middle is something called a savannah, a semi forested habitat. And there are a whole bunch of different kinds of savas.

[00:08:32]There's pine barren, oak savas, oakpine barren. This site here is an oak pine barren. Historically, you know, fires used to go through these and kind of maintain uh barren and savannah type habitat, prairies. um because we do such a good time good job of suppressing wildland fires, you know, we don't get that component. So, you have to either manipulate them through forest management, through um opening creations, mastication, uh or prescribed fires.

[00:09:02]>> The 200th on the ground project is taking place in the Hiron Manasty National Forest. For me, this project is going to be pretty memorable, I think, because it is the 200th project and we're actually on um the national forest. So, usually a lot of our work is done on state land. Um so, it's kind of cool to dip our toes into the national forest land.

[00:09:23]>> So, we've got a wide variety of native wild flowers. Uh there are a few different species of golden rod. There's wild blue loopin, sand coropsis, there are some aers, several different species of milkweed. We really tried to select plants that would flower throughout the year. So some that bloom in the spring, some that bloom in the summer, some that bloom in the late fall.

[00:09:45]>> The benefits of planting these wild flowers are farreaching and impact a wide diversity of wildlife species.

[00:09:52]>> From the National Wild Turkey Federation, um you know, this makes really really good brood habitat for young pts. Um about 90% of a hen's diet going into the breeding season is comprised of insects. Um and it's critically important for young poults, especially within the first two weeks.

[00:10:07]They're they're trying to rapidly grow and develop and and promote that feather growth. So, uh having a variety of wild flowers that are going to attract insects is critically important for turkeys, but it's also beneficial for a ton of other wildlife species as well.

[00:10:21]Most people involved in this project don't think it would be nearly as successful without outstanding cooperation among the many different organizations that are partnering together. Partnerships are what make the magic happen. So working with other organizations today we're out here with Turkey Federation, the Forest Service, and DNR Wildlife Division. Without kind of collaboration, the funding isn't there and the manpower isn't there. So working together helps get the projects done. If you think about like how long it would take to plant 2500 plugs with one or two people um you know from an agency and you think you know you get volunteers and you can do a whole bunch of work in a short period of time. So it's I think it's super important that uh we have programs like MUCC and um you know volunteers get out and want to do some you know on the ground management >> for MUC and their partners. A key component to being productive when there is a lot of labor to do is having volunteers that are willing to work alongside professional biologists.

[00:11:20]Everyone involved is glad to help improve this part of the national forest.

[00:11:25]>> I like spending time on things I care about and I care about wildlife habitat.

[00:11:29]I care about hunting. I care about native species. So, this is kind of all that wrapped into one. Good way to spend a Saturday. I think it's a real good chance to for the public talk to the professionals and some of the leadership and uh have a one-on-one um interaction with them, not just what you might have read somewhere. It's easy to sit back in an armchair and uh be a Sunday afternoon coach or or a quarterback, but getting out here and actually making a difference, that gives you some worth. that gives you some being. It makes you feel like you're doing what you're supposed to be doing.

[00:12:06]Um once you get out here, you're happy you are. Sometimes setting time aside to do it is hard to do, but once you get out here, you really feel good about at the end of the day. It's it's important and and it's fun to do.

[00:12:17]I've got my boys with me here, Braden and Eastston. They're my executive assistants here helping us out today.

[00:12:22]They were really excited about the opportunity to come because they could wear their gloves. They got to play with shovels and plant some flowers. And then uh when Mr. Sean with MUCC told him about pizza. I think it was pretty much a slam dunk for them. So, uh, they're they're excited, having fun.

[00:12:46]Michigan conservation officer Jenny Hansen is working on the first weekend of the state's firearm deer season.

[00:12:52]Although she hasn't yet observed or encountered any people or situations that require enforcement action, she continues to patrol her area to check on hunters that she sees and be prepared for whatever situation may arise.

[00:13:05]>> All right, there you are. Thank you.

[00:13:08]>> You're welcome.

[00:13:08]>> And I'm assuming when you are out hunting, you do have orange with you.

[00:13:11]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:13:12]>> Okay. I see your orange hat in there.

[00:13:14]So, I've got an orange jacket. It's just like this. It's reversible. It's the heavier part.

[00:13:18]>> Okay, good.

[00:13:24]Oh, mind if I check your license? No problem.

[00:13:31]>> All right. Thank you. So, I see you got one buckle ready.

[00:13:34]>> Yep.

[00:13:35]>> Okay.

[00:13:36]>> That's the second day.

[00:13:37]>> Nice. Um, where's that at?

[00:13:41]>> At John's camp.

[00:13:42]>> Okay.

[00:13:42]>> Hang there.

[00:13:43]>> How's um how's the hunting been there? I mean, have other people been successful?

[00:13:47]>> Uh, that was the first year in pole.

[00:13:48]>> Okay. Very cool. Well, I'll let you get back to your walk.

[00:13:54][Music] >> Officer Chris Reynolds is patrolling on the first day of Michigan's archery deer season. He's spotted a parked vehicle adjacent to some hunting grounds. Upon running the license plate, he cannot identify a licensed hunter who is likely related to the registered owner of the car. When someone emerges from the woods, Co Reynolds approaches him.

[00:14:19]How's it going today?

[00:14:23]State conservation officer.

[00:14:27]Having any luck out there this morning?

[00:14:32]>> Well, check your licenses real quick and uh at the house up here. I just come back.

[00:14:37]>> All right. Where you live?

[00:14:39]>> I don't know.

[00:14:40]>> All right. What's your name?

[00:14:43]All right. Do you have licenses?

[00:14:46]>> I was getting ready to go get them. I just went.

[00:14:48]>> You don't have You don't have any licenses?

[00:14:50]>> I didn't.

[00:14:50]>> All right. Do you have your driver's license on you?

[00:14:53]>> Yeah.

[00:14:53]>> Here. You got You got the arrow sticking into your backpack. Is there a broadhead on that?

[00:14:57]>> Yes, sir. You want me to grab it or >> I don't want you to back into your car and uh grab it.

[00:15:02]>> All right. I'm just going to pull it out real quick. All right. We'll set it on your tailgate here. I You got some blood on your hand. What?

[00:15:10]>> On your thumb.

[00:15:12]>> Did you shoot one?

[00:15:13]>> No.

[00:15:14]>> All right.

[00:15:18]My mom's actually right up there in that house if you want to.

[00:15:21]>> All right, sounds good.

[00:15:24]>> How old are you?

[00:15:25]>> 17.

[00:15:26]>> 17. All right.

[00:15:30]So, have you ever bought any hunting licenses in the past?

[00:15:34]>> All right, sounds good. So, you got any other weapons on you? Anything else? All right, so just just leave this here real quick. I'm going to run you real quick and just just hang tight. All right.

[00:15:44]He doesn't have any licenses. Um, he's 17. Um, I'll do some check and run him real quick. See if he's bought licenses in the past.

[00:15:58]He's got some blood on his hand. He claims he cut himself. I'm not sure. He He may have shot a deer, but I'm not I'm going to I'll question him a little more here in a little bit. You have your ID on you? Cuz uh obviously he at 17, he's still a minor. I could petition him in court for charges on this. I'm not going to.

[00:16:13]>> Okay.

[00:16:14]>> But I'm just going to document everything and cut him a break. I tell you what, if you were a year older, you'd be getting a ticket and it'd be a misdemeanor and be a big fine. So, did you shoot a deer or not? Be honest with me. You got blood on your hand?

[00:16:27]>> I I think so. I'm not.

[00:16:28]>> All right. I I've done this job a long time and I'm a hunter as well. Hunters on open morning have blood on their hand. If if if you got a deer down back there, things might change because um what' you shoot?

[00:16:44]>> Uh I took a shot at him.

[00:16:47]>> All right.

[00:16:51]So, basically, uh he lied to me when I when I came up to him to first check him. Uh he obviously doesn't have any licenses. I did see blood on his hand.

[00:16:59]He said he cut himself. I knew it wasn't true. I went back and questioned him in front of his mother. His mother gave me permission to question him. He's only 17. He did shoot a deer this morning. He does not have any licenses. We're going to go back and uh see if we can't recover this deer with him real quick.

[00:17:14]The mother has has given us full consent to go back on the property. So, we're going to get off the road here and go back see if we got this deer.

[00:17:24]>> Michigan conservation officer Chris Reynolds is working on the opening day of the state's archery deer season. He's encountered a hunter who does not have a hunting license and has admitted to shooting an arrow at a deer.

[00:17:36]>> All right, I'll just follow you.

[00:17:38]>> Co Reynolds follows this hunter into the woods so that they can try to locate the deer.

[00:17:43]>> So, why didn't you buy a license, man?

[00:17:46]>> Didn't have time.

[00:17:48]>> You think she's dead?

[00:17:50]>> I don't know. That's my first time.

[00:17:54]>> Yeah, you got pretty good blood.

[00:18:00]So, is that where you found it?

[00:18:03]>> That's where it was sitting. You didn't Did you stick it in the ground?

[00:18:06]>> I stuck it straight up so I could see it. But >> All right.

[00:18:08]>> That's the exact spot it was.

[00:18:10]>> All right.

[00:18:12]So, which way did she run?

[00:18:15]>> That way. Straight up.

[00:18:17]>> All right. That that arrow looks That looks pretty good to me.

[00:18:21]>> Upon first finding blood, Officer Reynolds believes that this deer is probably dead. Yeah, you got good blood.

[00:18:28]Blood.

[00:18:28]>> Yeah, you got good blood. Have you ever tracked a deer before?

[00:18:31]>> Yeah, I helped my dad check.

[00:18:32]>> All right, so I'll let you take the lead. There I can see blood. There's blood up there. I'm not I'm thinking she's dead. She's We'll probably find her here in a little bit. So, a lot of times what you'll see when a deer is mortally hit, they will start zigzagging. They don't they're they're looking for a spot to hide. So, I'm sure that's what she's doing right now.

[00:19:03]You got more. You got right there.

[00:19:06]>> Yeah, right there, too.

[00:19:09]>> Right there. She hit that tree.

[00:19:13]She hit that tree up there. See it?

[00:19:23]There's blood all through here on that path.

[00:19:26]>> Yep. Just keep following that blood.

[00:19:31]>> All right. So, your mother, did she know you were out hunting this morning?

[00:19:35]>> Uh, I think so. Yeah.

[00:19:36]>> All right. So, at this point, um, going to give your mother citation for allowing you to hunt without a license.

[00:19:42]I've got to seize the deer because you you did not legally take that deer. You don't have a tag for it. So, that's that's what we'll do. Okay. So, that's that's what's got to happen. If a deer wasn't involved, then uh I would have just given you a warning personally and then then went on my way.

[00:19:59]All right.

[00:19:59]>> This hunter tells officer Reynolds that he has never fielddressed a deer. In this case for allowing her son, who is a minor, to hunt without a license, this woman plead guilty and paid a court-ordered fine of $230.

[00:20:13]next year at this time. You if if if this was next year, okay, you could get in a lot of trouble for what happened today. Okay? So, I've got young kids. I got kids that are just a couple years older than you. So, don't do it again. All right? Think about it. Live Talk to your mom about it. Talk to your uncle about or grandpa.

[00:20:33]Yeah. Talk to your grandpa about it. All right? Do the right things cuz it next year things get serious. Okay. All right. My mom can't take do anything next year.

[00:20:44]>> Yep. Yep. So, all right. Well, it's nice to meet you.

[00:20:46]>> Nice to meet you.

[00:20:47]>> Make make sure you do the right things.

[00:20:48]And next year, I'm not going to help you got your deer. It's on you.

[00:20:59][Music]