(audience applauding) - Hi, good evening everybody.

I'm Bret Amundson, and we are live tonight.

Welcome to "Prairie Sportsman."

I'm Bret Amundson.

I've been saying that for 10 years now, and it never gets old.

For this final episode of the season, we're gonna take a look back at some of my favorite memories over the years from that first live episode to this season, Prairie Sportsman's 17th overall.

I'm proud to continue what Rich Massey and Tim Bakken created at Pioneer PBS many years ago.

(upbeat music) This show has always been about Minnesota's outdoor opportunities and the science, research, and management behind those opportunities.

While I love to hunt and fish, we also have to acknowledge the boots-on-the-ground biologists who get into the weeds around the state.

Without the conservation efforts of so many, we wouldn't be able to do what we love.

While there are many to thank in this effort to preserve and sustain the prairie chicken, one name that comes to mind is field biologist, Dr.

John Toepfer, who sadly passed away in the fall of 2018.

- [Narrator] He was a real strong field biologist.

He spent his career studying these birds.

- We also enjoy our time visiting with conservationists, artists, and other notable residents who spend time outdoors.

One of my favorite moments was meeting photographer Jim Brandenburg, and then pheasant hunting Touch the Sky Prairie near Luverne, Minnesota.

- Part of our culture where it's important experience of hunting, which I grew up with, and it's crucial to our American experience.

and we can share that too.

- [Bret] We were in Luverne for the Governor's Pheasant Hunting Opener and had an invite the next morning to hunt some prime private land owned by Nobles County Pheasants Forever president, Scott Rall.

(dog splashing) (Bret chuckling) Are you gonna try to cross?

- I think I'll just, yeah, try to.

- [Bret] Now as our cameraman, Dylan, gets ready to cross, I reach out to grab the camera and he loses his footing.

It was deep, cold, and hard to see.

From Minnesota's Southwest to the Arrowhead of the Northeast, we traveled to Ely to jump on a dog sled and go lake trout fishing in season 11.

Doesn't get any better.

(laughing) (upbeat rock music) And I've been marking fish this whole time.

Hen, hen, hen.

Oh my gosh, there's a rooster.

A few years back, Dan Amundson joined the crew and was able to capture this amazing elk footage during a hunt near Lancaster, Minnesota, in the Northwest.

(elk bugling) (upbeat music) I missed a nice deer in the Southeast and learned how to fly fish at Whitewater State Park.

Now we don't just hunt and fish, but find other ways to enjoy the outdoors, tell stories, and learn about the history of our state.

- 1732 is when the fort got its beginning.

21 people stayed in the fort for the first three years.

Pretty cool spot.

And you kind of ask yourself, "Why did they pick this spot?"

- Why did they pick it?

- Well, it's kind of unique, in a way, where it was kind of isolated, you know, like Lake of the Woods in this area, just, you know, having a good harbor is important.

- We always find ways to enjoy winter in Minnesota, probably because it can last for a long time.

One unique way that I found that out was by hanging onto a frozen wall of ice near Sandstone.

(playful music) Oops.

Yep, that's me.

You're probably wondering how I got myself into this.

Well, last year while rafting the whitewater of the Kettle River near Sandstone, Tony Vavricka from Hard Water Sports told us about the winter activities in the area.

Just over the banks of the river across from Banning State Park sits in idle sandstone quarry.

That quarry naturally made ice walls where water would run off and freeze on its steep cliffs.

That caught the attention of thrill seekers from the region who would sneak into the area to climb the ice.

(gentle stringed-instrument music) I am Bret Amundson, and today on "Prairie Sportsman," we got another cold weather Minnesota adventure for you.

I've eaten crickets, netted tullibees, dodged flying rough grouse, and learned how to forge a knife.

- In 2011, I had necrotizing pancreatitis, ended up in the hospital for almost 10 months, and I lost more than half my body weight.

And I got down to 140 pounds.

- Hmm.

- They wanted me to go to the gym and work out.

And I had this external drain bag, and I wasn't gonna do that.

And my son sent me a video, and he said, "Hey dad, I think you'd like to do this."

This guy built a forge out of a brake drum, still have the brake drum coal forge, and he uses that.

He said, "I think you might like doing that.

You know, you can just gets some frustration out by beating steel."

And so I did.

And when I first started- - Did the work?

- It worked.

- We highlighted (elegant music) a once in a lifetime event on Lake of the Woods, braved cold temps in a layout boat, hunted doves in an interesting surrounding.

- Get us away from all the nonsense and introduce us to the outdoors and hunting and introduce you to a different kind of lifestyle, a healthy lifestyle versus the city lifestyle, which can be very dangerous.

And as a young guy, as a young man, you can get into a lot of trouble.

But I was able to avoid all that, because my dad took us out of that and introduced us to hunting.

So that was very, very special.

(upbeat music) - [Bret] I've helped search for fawns using a thermal drone.

Oh, there's one walking next to it too.

It looks like something.

- Well, this could be a bird, like a pheasant.

- [Bret] Pretty small.

- Kinda tell in the strut.

- Sure.

Love it.

- Looks pretty small.

We'll have to turn on the camera.

- A skunk.

- A skunk.

- That's perfect.

(Bret laughing) - [Drone Operator] That's the first skunk we've had.

- It wasn't a fawn.

It wasn't a pheasant.

It was the first skunk that they've gotten on camera this morning.

We're still looking.

I was gonna make a joke like, "That stinks," but dad jokes.

- That stinks.

Well, I was just asking Rod.

- Thank you very much.

I'll be here all week.

- Have you guys ever been skunked?

(Bret laughing) - And I was meaning, you know, like not finding fawn in the field.

He's like, "Oh yeah, many times."

And then we run across one that's an actual skunk.

- That would've been a way better joke than the one I came up with.

We've given back to veterans.

- A lot of our younger vets especially are coming back from deployments, really struggling with PTSD.

One of the other gentlemen there stated last night, you know, a lot of people aren't aware, but 22 vets a day commit suicide.

It's just an issue I think that hits home with a lot of us veterans.

And if something like this can prevent just, you know, one of those deaths from happening, I think, to me it means everything.

It's so important.

- I've never, never shared my story about my battle with, my family's battle with childhood cancer.

So I was nine years old, I was diagnosed with leukemia.

We didn't have St.

Jude.

It tore us up, man, like me getting cancer.

It devastated, like the family dynamic was stressful.

Like, "How you gonna pay for this?

How you gonna?"

You're trained to do everything right.

You're conditioned.

Pay your taxes, wash your face, brush your teeth.

You're conditioned, you're brought up to do all these different things.

Drive on the right side of the road.

But one thing you're not taught is how to handle your kid getting diagnosed with cancer.

So, so I saw what it can do to a family without the help of St.

Jude.

And so like that's why St.

Jude is so special to me, 'cause I see them alleviate that pressure.

(gentle guitar music) - And there are a few segments that I'm really proud of, including our upper Midwest Emmy-winning segment on barotrauma.

Today we're in northern Minnesota on a small but deep lake, crappie fishing.

Most of the fish are 30 to 50 feet deep.

If you're gonna target crappie that deep, there's some important things you need to know.

And in this episode, we're gonna tell you what those are.

So what is barotrauma?

Barotrauma in fish is similar to the bends in humans.

When a fish comes up from deep water, it goes through a change in pressure.

This change can cause internal damage to the fish.

Sometimes it's visible, sometimes it's not.

We always try to bring the best cinematography when we can.

(gentle music) While I'm proud of all the shows we've done, my favorite is a little personal.

It featured some buddies with their old hunting partners.

And it was the last hunt, my old lab Mika was ever on, simply called "Old Dogs."

- A dog might be a small part of your world, right?

To them, we are everything, right?

Yeah, for opportunities like that to be able to get out and find birds and do what they love, yeah, like that is what they live for.

Now Corey put a nice shot on that bird.

Annie pointed it.

Corey shot it.

Mika retrieved it.

On behalf of our crew and Pioneer PBS, I want to thank you for watching, thank our supporters, and anyone who's welcomed us into their lives.

The last 10 years have been a blast, and we look forward to the next 10 showcasing Minnesota's great outdoors.