As the new year began, a new season of Prairie Sportsman did as well. We’re two episodes in now, with a third airing tomorrow. The two shows so far have been a couple of my favorites that we’ve ever done.
We started with a veterans event in western Minnesota put on by Lance Peterson of Warriors and Walleyes. We filmed with Lance a couple years back on Lake of the Woods during a vets event he does at Arnesen’s Rocky Point.
When Lance called me about filming this cast and blast event in 2023 featuring Purple Heart recipients, I couldn’t say no. Most vets were from Vietnam and we heard some amazing stories. I filmed the “blast” portion, following a group of hunters walking the prairie grass at cattails for roosters. Dan Amundson jumped in the boat with another vet for the “cast” and heard an incredible story. From what I gathered, Dan turned on the camera and sat back and listened for the next 15-20 minutes without saying a word. We couldn’t thank these vets fast enough for their service.
In the second segment, we learned about the early settlers and Native Americans who inhabited western Minnesota:
The next episode was a major accomplishment personally. I had wanted to get a Minnesota elk hunt captured on film for a number of years, but tracking down one of the few lucky tag recipients wasn’t easy. Or they didn’t want a guy with a camera following them around. Fortunately for us, Scott Moon’s aunt Ruby was listening to Sporting Journal Radio one weekend and heard us put out a call for hunters. Scott drew a cow tag that year and called me while I was driving north in Alberta on my way to Tazin Lake Lodge for the summer. In between dead zones and dropped calls in the rural Canada, Scott agreed to let us tag along and film him.
During the hunt, we learned about another local hunter, Evan Bernstrom who had a special mission behind his elk hunt. This episode was a fun one and turned out to be more emotional than we had expected:
Sunday night at 7:30 a new episode of Prairie Sportsman airs on our flagship station, Pioneer PBS. It will also air on a number of other PBS stations across the upper midwest. The show is available on their websites and the Prairie Sportsman YouTube channel as well.
The next Prairie Sportsman features fishing on the St. Croix with a seasoned angler and the fishing guide he mentored, and battling invasive carp on the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers. “Hooked on the St. Croix” airs on Pioneer PBS on Sunday, February 4 at 7:30 p.m. Check local listings for air dates and times on other PBS stations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Wyoming. Starting on Sunday, the episode will also be available online at www.pioneer.org/prairiesportsman and www.youtube.com/@PrairieSportsman.
https://player.pbs.org/viralplayer/3088149860
We’d like to thank our sponsors/underwriters for the show and if you’re interested in being a sponsor of Prairie Sportsman, let me know.
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