This week on Kentucky Afield.

We're in the stand and looking to fill our 2022 buck tag and the freezer.

Next, we'll break out the fly rods and join an expert at the creek.

He's teaching us a thing or two about catching trout.

Then we're grabbing a chainsaw and jumping in the boat with biologists as they set out to create some habitat.

It's all next on Kentucky Afield.

Hello and welcome to Kentucky Afield.

I'm your host, Chad Miles.

Join us as we journey the Commonwealth in search of outdoor adventure.

2022 was a good deer season for me.

But it all came together early in the gun season when a buck came in and put on a show.

Well, after about an hour lunch, getting back into the woods this morning, you know, we saw several bucks.

And most of the time, they showed up 15, 20 minutes after rattling one of those bucks crossed the field chasing a doe was a buck I've been seeing over and over for the last couple of years.

Never in range with a bow and it wasn't in range today with the rifle.

But it's working our area and it's chasing does.

So I'm going to get back in the stand and hopefully we get a chance and that deer comes back because I sure would like an opportunity to take that deer let█s see what happens now that is a fresh scrape.

It's about 80 yards from my stand.

Almost looks like that buck is taken a garden rake and just pulling all that grass and piled it up and you can literally smell the buck in this area.

It's been hitting this pretty regularly.

So the spot where I'm at is the same spot I muzzleloader hunted and in the same spot I was at this morning.

Now I have bow hunted here a few other times and on two different occasions I've seen a pretty good buck right on this wood line both times.

It was later in the evening.

So we have a wind that is blowing straight this way, right the way I walked in.

Not getting near that little patch of woods that buck is hanging out I know is used in this area because I can smell it in here and there's some scrapes in this area as well.

So hopefully we can get him to come and investigate this little field because if he gets in, this field should be an easy shot with a high powered rifle.

This property, even though it's farmed by the same farmer.

It's actually two different landowners there are some hunters over on the right hand side and they've got permission to be over there.

And this is just, you know, I deal with the same exact things that everyone else deals with when it comes to gun hunting.

You got to share the woods.

You got to be respectful of other hunters.

So we have a couple other people that are out here as well on the right, legally.

Hopefully we can get him in here We've had him twice, both times had a bow in my hand.

Couldn't make it happen.

Well, it's about 3:30 been in here for a little while.

No action just yet.

You know, it's getting dark, really dark by 6:00.

So I'll start doing some light calling.

And hopefully if we have a deer that is in this patch of woods right here, we can make him make a move.

This direction.

Deer.

There's a small buck.

Listen, listen.

You can hear him grunt.

Here comes a doe.

He's coming to check her out.

That was really cool.

That little buck showed up.

Probably couldn█t hear it but I could hear it, light grunts, walking around, not interested, in feeding at all, just smelling and then this doe showed up.

And soon as she hit that field, boy he saw it and was behind us She saw that it was a buck.

She knew, alright he█s going to pester the heck out of me and she took off.

Now she's right.

He's going to pester her.

We could█ve filled my two remaining tags right there.

We've got another deer looks like a doe about 80 yards.

It's about 20 yards into the woods.

Hey you see how these bucks are reacting to these does the more Does keep her out your stand just feeding around.

It increases your chances, I love seeing these does.

Oh here comes a buck.

Here comes a buck.

Here comes a good buck.

Looks like about a eight pointer.

I can█t tell.

Let█s let it get out in the field and see what happens.

Hold on, he█s rubbing.

He's actually a pretty nice nine pointer.

I've been sitting here all day watching that rub this morning, and now pretty cool to see a buck come and actually rub on it I'm going to get a little better look.

I've got weeds and stuff between me and the vitals.

This could be the same buck that made the scrape we saw on the way in Here comes another deer.

It is... a doe.

I'm going to waiting and see what happens, but I'm not going to let that deer get to where I'm not shooting into the woods.

This looks like a pretty mature buck.

Look how much bigger the body is than the other deer we've seen.

I still think we█re going to see that buck again.

He█s chasing that small buck.

Here they come, get ready.

He's coming.

He's coming back right here.

He█s coming right back.

Here comes a doe at the corner of the field.

She's about to pop out.

He█s coming.

Here he comes.

I█ve got him right now.

Here he comes.

Here he comes.

Are you on him?

Yeah, I'm good.

I don't like taking running shots, but that was only about 60 yards So I felt really confident with taking that shot.

He's down.

He's right there.

I'm pretty fired up about it.

Really cool.

This time of year getting out here, you know, as normally a bow hunter, I don't get in the woods too much during gun season.

To see the deer really in full rut.

You know, rounding those does up, keeping an eye on them.

Making his, making his rub.

He was pulling, pulling soil awa from the bottom of that tree.

I mean he's going through all the phases of rut.

That's really cool to get to see all that.

I've had a great season I've got a freezer full of venison.

Was able to take deer with my bow.

Deer with my muzzleloader, and now a deer with a rifle.

I can't ask for much more.

It's all about opportunities and I've had some chances and I'm really happy with how this season has turned out.

Get ready, get ready.

Here█s a doe.

She's about to pop out.

I've got one tag left.

The one on the right.

You on it?

Yeah.

I█m sitting here in my stand and I have one tag left.

I know i█m going to be processing deer because I've got a buck down.

I figured, you know what?

I could wrap it all up and end it right here today and make it such a perfect season.

Filled all my tags.

Burned my buck tag, couldn't worked out any better.

We said we parked out here.

We came in, there's another truck.

We know there's a hunter because we, we know this truck.

We know they're hunters that have permission hunt here.

And they're hunting somewhere right over there.

Both of these deer went straight down.

I█m going to be a courteous neighbor hunter here.

And we're just going to wait these out and see what pops out and not mess up their hunt.

There█s that other buck.

That's a different buck.

because my buck Our spike went over here.

I saw this buck this morning.

People think when they shoot a deer, they ruin their chances for the rest of the night for a buck to show up.

We've seen way more deer after two shots have been taken than before.

That deer was shot right here.

And I think he circled right here somewhere.

Don't really need to do any blood trailing.

We know it's right here.

Yeah, right here he is.

Wow, he is in that brier bush.

Look at that, neck.

Look at that.

I█m going try to drag him out here and see what we got.

He is buried in here.

Well, you know what?

This is a perfect, perfect close to this deer season.

You know, this is just a really nice, mature buck.

I'm super happy with it.

I think back about how the season progressed, literally five or six hundred yards on the other side of this cornfield is where I started bow hunting this year, had some really cool encounters, saw a couple decent bucks down there.

But I kept seeing the deer up on this end.

Right before muzzleloader season, moved up here and realized that these deer just loading in this little valley I'm in right now.

Came up here was able to take a couple of with my muzzleloader, saw buck or two, nothing I really wanted.

Got into the firearm season which you know a lot of times I don't have a buck tag come firearms season.

Still had a buck tag and thought, you know what, it█s getting too late in the year to pass up a mature buck like this.

So to be able to take this and to fill my last tag with that doe.

Just caps it off.

It was just a perfect, perfect year, so I couldn't be happier.

It's the reason you deer hunt.

You want the meat, but you want the experiences.

And even if I wouldn't have got a buck this year, I would have still had a great year about the time and the deer stand.

Enjoying all the things you see and just being a part of wildlife and Mother Nature.

Just a beautiful, beautiful year and what a nice buck to finish it up with.

Kentucky has several species of fish that are considered coldwater species, including the rainbow trout.

And if you go online, you can find out they're being stocked right now.

Well Bill, we're here today at Round Stone Creek.

And what county are we in?

Hart, are calling it right?

I think so.

We're right here on the edge.

We're doing one of your passions today, and it's something that I actually really enjoy to do.

But I'm I can't say I'm real proficient at it and that's trout fishing.

Okay.

What type of trout are we, are we likely to catch today?

Probably more likely to get rainbows, but, you know, we might pick up a brown.

Okay, so it'd be awesome.

This is an area that they actually put both there are rainbows and browns in here.

Some of them, you know, are recently stocked this year.

Some of them may have been stocked last year or the year before.

So what you've got rigged up today, these are both your fly rods.

You've got you've got two different rigs here.

The one you're holding is a nymph rig.

Okay.

It's a little longer rod and a lighter rod because you might get a gigantic fish on here and you don't want to break the line.

So you want that rod to really give.

So this is the three weight rod, right?

Yes, three weight rod.

And this is a very common you got two different two different flys.

We got one at the bottom, one about 12, 13 inches up.

And then up here we have a strike indicator.

The strike indicator is just a fly fisherman's fancy way of saying a bober.

Yeah, okay.

I know you're really passionate about outdoors in the state of Kentucky.

I am.

I know you.

We.

You and I have bow hunted together.

We have.

I really enjoyed getting out with someone that I know is and as passionate as you are.

Thank you.

Outdoors.

Thank you.

And I hope we catch a fish.

It'd be embarrassing if we didn't.

You know what?

That would just be bonus though catching a fish.

So which way you want to start?

You want to upstream or downstream?

We're going to go upstream today if we can weigh.

The waters a little bit higher today.

You know, hopefully if you see my hat floating down the river, you'll know what you want to happen.

So let's go.

I'm we'll follow you.

You take me wherever you want to get started and we'll see what we can't make happen.

Okay, let's go.

All right.

Okay.

So let me give you a little casting lesson with this one.

If you ever if you've ever watched A River runs through the movie with Brad Pitt.

In the movie, Norman McClain calls it the Presbyterian method of fly casting.

Yes.

So his father was a Presbyterian minister.

So anyway, it's four count rhythm.

Okay.

You know, if you're doing your typical back cast and forward cast, it's a four count rhythm and two of those counts are pauses, and you got to pause at the back.

And the reason he pauses to let that line load up in the back, then you can just flick it forward.

And every time you go forward, you let some line out.

Now, this time, roll it.

Kind of out toward the middle a little more.

All right, you can.

Good.

Excellent.

And then you're a pro.

It's something I have a lot of interest in.

It's just something I was not exposed to a whole lot, too, which is crazy, because a lot of people don't think of Kentucky as a fly fishing state and a lot of opportunities for fly fishing in Kentucky isn█t there?

Kentuckys such a resource.

I'm looking for a fly.

It's called a mop fly.

You know those mops that you wash your car with those mitts, you just take a piece of that and put it on a a little jig hook.

I'm surprised we haven't had any bites, to be honest with you.

I think maybe we should go back down close to the bridge and give it a give it a try there.

We think that'll work, man.

Okay, I got one Chad.

All right.

That's a rainbow, huh?

Yeah.

Pretty good fish.

That's probably, what, 11, 12 inches long?

Yeah, it's 12.

Hey, move back down here.

Closer to the deeper water.

And this is where they look like they want to be.

Nice, oh, that█s great.

I love it.

Look at that.

I█ve got him running and jumping Let█s work him over this way a little bit.

There you go.

Another rainbow, pretty fish.

There you go.

Oh, jumper, bring it up.

Is there a fish on there?

Yeah, a rainbow.

A little bit bigger.

He was a fighting little bugger wasn█t he?

So, Bill, I know that you've had a lot of jobs that allow you to be outdoors, haven't you?

I have.

Well, all of your adventures in the outdoors have also gotten to where, now that you're retired, you really enjoy teaching this fly fishing.

I do, I started a little outfit called Kentucky Wild, and I guide hunters and fishermen, but they're called fly fishing weekends.

And what we do is several hours of classroom and we go out and we learn to cast.

That's on Saturday.

And then on Sunday, we we fish.

The only thing you have to show up with is a fishing license.

So if you wanted to learn fly fishing, you can go online and go to your your website Kentucky wild outdoors dot com.

Particularly for beginners.

I want the you know the endeavor to pique their interest to the point where they want to do it some more.

People think there is a big mystique involved in fly fishing.

You know, there is, but there really isn't.

It's really not that difficult.

I mean, look, you're catching fish.

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly.

Well, Bill, I really appreciate you bringing me out here and and let me experience this, catching these trout.

This has been a lot of fun.

You're passionate about the outdoors.

You're a writer.

You love fly fishing.

You teach in fly fishing.

Now, I've had a blast today and thank you.

This has been fun.

No, it's been a blast.

After the holidays, you're hear the Department of Fish Wildlife start asking for your used Christmas trees.

They're used to make great fish habitat.

But there's another way to get great fish habitat, that involves using a chainsaw.

So we're here on the shores of Lake Berkeley today, and we're engaged in a fish habitat project.

Specifically, we're trying to improve the shoreline fish spawning habitat.

This project is actually a big partnership between multiple agencies.

So our agency, T.W.R.A down in Tennessee, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Forest Service, as well as a lot of local angler groups.

It's all part of a big grant which was awarded from a federal fund called the National Reservoir Fisheries Habitat Partnership.

So they provide funding for basically improving fisheries habitat in reservoirs across the country.

And in this case, Lake Barkley was chosen as a top project.

So they were able to fund all of the material purchases for this project.

So what we're doing today is we're adding what we're calling lay downs.

So we're taking trees, cutting them from the land between the Lakes National Forest Service area.

And then we're placing those along the shoreline at a lower water elevation so they'll be available to fish earlier in the springtime, as TVA and the Corps of Engineers bring the lake up to summer pool.

The main goal for this project is to improve the bass spawns at Lake Barkley.

That's where we've been struggling the most in recent years.

So that's where the habitat is really kind of designed for, but it will also be used by any species within that same family, the centrarchidae family, that includes a lot of our sport fish, bluegill, red ear, crappie.

All of them are going to be using this habitat for spawning.

So far this morning we've done about 15 lay downs on the opposite bank over here.

Now we switch banks.

We█ll work our way down every 30 to 40 feet, placing one of these lay down.

Now this tree is a hickory.

So I chose it because the hardwood is going to last a lot longer.

It doesn't have very many branches on it.

Bass like simple cover, they don█t like too many branches.

We get a lot of questions about whether an individual angler is allowed to place habitat or fish structure into Kentucky Lake or Lake Barkley.

And in our case, we're allowed to do this work because we have special permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as the U.S. Forest Service, which allow us to cut these trees and to place them in the water at specific locations.

One of the things that we're doing to evaluate the success of this kind of habitat is we're doing weekly snorkel surveys on a subsection of these sites during the spring time.

We've done that over the past two years to see whether fish are actually using this habitat to spawn.

And encouragingly, about 50% of these sites at our testing zone have been used by Bass to spawn in a particular year.

Nearly 100% of these sites will be used by Sunfish to spawn.

So it's tough to say whether we'll see an actual improvement in the catch rates of anglers over time.

But it is a new project that we are trying to improve those catch rates with.

Here we have six year old Boyd Winkle.

Boyd is a big fan of Kentucky Afield and he wanted everyone to see this nice, nine point point buck that he took in Pendleton County.

Nice job.

Here we have Dallas Willett and he said this is his first time taking a buck and it was a nice ten pointer, killed in Nelson County, Kentucky.

Chris Boyer took this nice 12 point buck during modern gun season in Boone County.

Check out the inside spread on this impressive buck that was taken from McLean County.

This buck was taken by Hunter Robbie Fulkerson.

Here we have Reed Strain with a nice seven point buck that he took in Meade County, Kentucky.

Are you still carrying that buck tag or looking to fill the freezer?

Well, you're in luck.

Late muzzleloader season runs to December the 18th and remember hunting and fishing on private property is a privilege.

Always ask permission and thank the landowner.

Until next week, I'm your host, Chad Miles and I hope to see you in the woods or on the water.