Hello and welcome to Kentucky Afield.

I'm your host, Chad Miles.

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

This week we're headed to the mountains of eastern Kentucky for an archery bull elk hunt.

Then we're going to meet up with biologists and see how they're using fire to improve the habitat in eastern Kentucky.

But first, we're headed to Taylorsville Lake to meet up with a creel clerk who not only has a passion for fishing, but also for music.

This beautiful summer morning, we're out here on Taylorsville Lake, and I have a special guest with me today.

Josh Rinkel.

How are you doing?

I'm good Chad.

How are you doing, man?

I'm doing good.

Yeah.

You actually have pretty much toured the world playing music.

Bluegrass, right?

Yeah, I was in a bluegrass band for ten years, and then, you know, before I was in that particular band, I was in some other bands, and then pretty much since I graduated high school, I've been wide open, running the roads between touring, rehearsing, being in the studio, getting from gig to gig.

I was gone for 75% of the year.

And you're actually married to a musician as well?

I am, yeah, I'm married to Laura Orshaw.

She's a Grammy nominated fiddler.

Been on the Grand Old Opry several times, and, she's one of the best.

So what instrument you play?

I play guitar.

I started out playing banjo when I was, 13.

And then, I got decent on the banjo, but then I picked up guitar and I started singing.

I started songwriting.

And that's where I found my true passion for the music was in singing and songwriting and just trying to tell a story from my perspective.

Yeah, well, it's hard to fish and play a guitar at the same time.

So we didn't bring a guitar or a banjo today.

We're going to play a little string music on a spinning rod.

That's right.

I'm here for business, man.

Well, let's go see if we can't get a couple fish going.

I think, we're going to pull out on this flat and, try a couple different techniques, see if there's any white bass or hybrid out there.

Yep.

Sounds good.

Let's make it happen.

There's one.

Dang bluegill.

Got you a bluegill.

That's not bad bluegill for Taylorsville.

I tell you what.

If he's big enough to fillet put him in there.

Oh, here we go.

Dang that's a good one.

I don't know what I got, but I'm going to guess it's a hybrid.

It could be a white bass.

It's not a crappie.

And he's not ready to be caught yet either.

You need the net?

It's a hybrid.

Yeah.

I'm gonna grab that net.

Oh, that's a good one.

I got a light line on here so.

You want me to net him?

You can, if you like.

There we go.

First one on the boat.

That's a good one, too.

We will take it.

Nice.

When they hit, it's like a freight train, isn't it?

Yeah.

There we go.

It's a hybrid.

Now, this lake has a lot of white bass too.

But the hybrids you can see, see how those lines are broken.

And they don't go in a consistent pattern.

See that?

So this is definitely a hybrid.

Those are one of my favorite eating fish right there.

Let's put it in the live well.

See if we can't catch a couple more.

There we go.

Got it?

Yeah.

Man, he hammered that thing.

He let you know he was there, huh?

Yeah.

He said not so fast.

Yeah, he's.

I might try to bring him on around.

What a fight.

They absolutely fight.

That's a good one.

Yep.

Come on, get away from that motor.

There we go.

Nice.

Yeah, man.

Nice job.

That one will make many a good tacos right there.

Yeah.

That's a nice fish, man.

It is.

It's a challenging fish to get to the boat and it's too challenging to put back.

So we're going to keep it.

That█s right.

Nice job buddy.

Oh.

Listen to that sound.

That's what you want to hear right there.

I hope this is another hybrid.

Oh, man.

Oh, he just come off.

Oh, man.

That was a good one.

They're out here.

They're just roaming and since we're not live scoping, we got to use the old fan cast method here.

So Josh, we talked about him being a traveling musician, but Josh right now is actually working as a creel clerk here on Taylorsville Lake, and a creel clerk, They go out, and a lot of people think you guys are out there, game wardens and you're writing citations.

It's not your job at all, is it?

What your job is, is just to find out what's the satisfaction level and how many people are catching fish, isn't it?

Yeah.

So pretty much what I'm doing is I'm riding around the lake and I'll find a group of people fishing and I'll ease up on them.

And it's pretty much just a survey to ask them about their fishing experience for that day.

And then later on in the survey, I'll get to their overall experience and satisfaction level of the fishery.

And I'm asking them how many hours they've been fishing just that day, what they've caught.

I have to record sizes for everything.

And a lot of people, you know, if you're out here catching 50 or 60 crappie and you know the short ones are short, you're not going to measure them, you're going to throw them back.

So I tell people just to give me their best guess on size, I ask them what I've kept, what they've thrown back, if they're a state resident, what they're targeting.

And then I go in to what's called the Angler Attitude Survey, which is the fun one for me.

Just because people get to give me their feedback on what they think about the lake.

Do they love it?

Do they hate it?

Do they want to see any changes made?

Yeah, well, what we use it for in Kentucky is to help us guide rules and regulations.

It helps us set our creel numbers and dictate how we can manage the fishery for angler satisfaction.

You catching them today?

Yeah.

I got you.

There we go.

What's it going to be?

Oh, let me get the net.

It's a white or a hybrid one.

Looks like a white bass.

It is a white bass.

There we go.

I didn't think he was what we were after because he wasn't really fighting that hard.

There you go.

That'll work though.

There's that.

Sorry to hit you with the fishing pole.

Oh you're good.

Nice catch man.

Thank you.

Throw that one in there.

Oh, here we go.

This might be a crappie the way it's coming in.

Nope.

Another white bass.

You need the net?

No.

He's a little one.

White bass.

It looks like a white bass.

Let's get a good look at him here.. All right, Josh, you mind to open that up.

I'll pitch him in there.

Well, Josh, the boats are coming out and it's getting hot.

Let's grab these fish and get back and fillet them up.

Call it a day.

What do you think?

Sounds good to me.

You know, I was cleaning these fish up.

Made me think about how many comments I get about people who say they do not like eating white bass or stripers or hybrid bass or yellow bass.

Those are all in a classification called maroney.

And those fish, in my opinion, if cleaned properly, are some of the best table fare you can find in the state of Kentucky.

I lay them right there with crappie.

So I'm going to show you how I clean these up.

And, I absolutely love them.

They're very firm.

They can be grilled.

They can be cut up, chunked up, sauteed.

You can deep fry them.

They're just excellent for the table.

So here's a small to medium size hybrid.

So obviously this is just like the way you clean any other fish.

Cut down around the neck.

Go down in and around rib cage.

There's your fillet.

Now, at this point in time, you can really push down and stay close to the hyde.

Or you can let it ride a little above it, maybe an eighth inch or so.

And what that will do is, yes, you're going to lose some of the meat, but it's the meat that's got that red on it.

So I'm going to come in and let my knife here just kind of slide along a little bit, leaving some of that meat right against the... See that?

Now, still got a little bit.

Once you get that little bit out you can then take your knife and just run alongside it.

Just like this.

Take that out.

What you're left with in my opinion, this is about as good as it gets.

There you go.

And of course, there's another piece of that as well.

I'm going to clean it up.

But next time you catch a striper or a white bass or a yellow bass or a hybrid and you're throwing it back because you're like, man, I just don't like eating those.

Give them a try.

You won't be disappointed.

Well, Josh, there you go, buddy.

We left a few out there today.

Alright, man.

Yeah we did.

You got to leave stock for next time.

That's exactly right.

Yeah, well, that's enough for you and your wife.

You guys can have a meal out of it.

We'll do it again.

But I love your story.

I love the fact that you got into bluegrass music.

You've toured the world with that, and now you are back here with another one of your true passions.

Spending time on the water.

That's right.

Yep.

And never hurts when you come home with a bag full of fish filets for the kitchen.

It's my favorite right here.

It was nice meeting you.

Take care of yourself.

You too.

Thank you Chad.

For most archers here in the state of Kentucky, taking a bull elk with your bow and arrow is a lifelong dream.

We met up with one hunter who did just that.

I'm here with James Sandlin with Bugles and Struts Outfitters.

Tell me a little bit about this piece of property, because this is prime elk hunting territory here in eastern Kentucky.

It is prime.

As you probably know, it was the first place the elk ever touched foot in the state of Kentucky is restoration in 1997, which actually occurred about three quarters of a mile from where we're standing at now.

Ryan Brady.

Ryan, where are you from?

I'm from Marion County.

Marion County, Kentucky.

Yes, sir.

So if you've been an archer for a long time?

I've been shooting bow for about six years now.

And have you ever elk hunted?

I've never elk hunted never even seen an elk before.

I told him when he come in a while ago.

He's in a he's in God's country, and it's going to be a different atmosphere than he's probably ever been and trying to hunt elk.

Did you put in for a rifle and a bow hunt?

I put in for all three.

Right.

Okay.

Now every chance I can get to come out here and see some of these big animals that I've never seen before.

So, I want an an archery tag just because of the odds.

Right?

You can take either or.

A spot in stalk archery hunt that it doesn't get much more exciting than that.

A lot of guess work with elk because they have evolved over, you know, the 23 years.

They've got a whole lot smarter on the hunt.

So they've got smarter.

We've got to get smarter about how and about how we hunt the animals.

I'm excited to get back here in the morning and try to get out, and I, I can't imagine what what that feeling is going to be like, that adrenaline rush when you come to full draw.

We will smoke him.

Let's put it together.

Let's have a good hunt.

Sounds good.

Soon as we got started this morning, we're driving this road just kind of glassing.

And we immediately saw six bulls couple of them were decent.

We came around the backside of them and the wind is right in our face.

So now we kind of try to figure out a way to get over this edge.

And it rained and it's fairly open.

So you know what spot and stalk not every time is going to work, but got to give it a try.

That was awesome.

Not bad for first morning.

No I'll take that any day.

What Brandon have spotted now?

Spar with another bull.

A single.

Yes.

Oh, that was super close in an hour this morning.

We were within about 150 yards of seven bulls.

But you know what?

They're smart.

They're using their nose and they're moving into the wind.

And that's not the way you got to set up.

So we just got a phone call.

We've got another bull located.

We got to make a quick move.

That's him right there.

It's him in the back, right?

A little high, just a hair high.

Guys, I'm telling you, that's my max shot right there.

That's him right there.

Oh, he's he's stuck good.

He's he's stuck really good.

Yes, sir.

Oh, man.

When we walked up we walked him.

We were almost too close.

We lifted up that bull saw us and moved.

We stopped that bull and it stood right there.

And I mean literally until impact.

That was a good shot.

It's going to take a little bit of time.

We saw that bull cover about three, 400 yards.

And the other bull ran off and left him.

It wasn't like he was keeping up.

We can give that elk a little bit of time, but we go in.

We're taking a bow.

Yeah.

Yes, sir.

That thing wants to stand up.

We're going to be ready.

Yeah, we got plenty of time.

Right?

We got time.

Let's wait it out.

Nice job.

Thanks.

So that was awesome.

Lets go up here just a little bit further.

All right.

We will ease right into this thicket.

Right here.

Hold up.

I see him.

You see him?

Yeah.

He's still up looking right at us.

And just right there.

I mean right here.

You and I ease right here to that way.

Lets ease over here.

Seriously.

Yeah, hop in here.

I'll go right there behind you.

I don't have a shot at all.

Yeah, I get it.

I get a shot here.

All right.

That that's another lung.

There you go.

Yes, sir.

That's awesome dude.

5 by 5.

We'll take it.

It all culminates into taking home a nice bull elk.

You'll never, ever forget this.

Just seeing them.

Yeah, it was good enough for me.

You can't prepare yourself for what it is.

Whenever you finally lay eyes on one.

It's huge.

That's crazy.

That's going home with me.

I don't have to go to Bass Pro shop to see it.

I'm stoked.

Man.

To have great habitat, you have to be able to manage your invasive plant species.

And the use of fire is probably the cheapest and most effective way to do it.

We're on the original release site.

This is the old Star Fire mine.

This is also the spot where we did the helicopter capture this winter, where we captured adult cows and put implants in them to come back later in a couple months and try to catch calves and and be part of that monitoring study for, adult cow survival and calf survival.

We're going to be doing prescribed burns today up here.

Try to improve some habitat, try to get rid of some autumn olive and get rid of some of the unwanted plants that we have and promote growth of native vegetation and some cool season grasses that will provide better forage for elk.

Up here.

So we're using a drip torch today to ignite the fuels on the ground.

And that consist of a canister which holds the mixed fuel, which is combination between diesel fuel and gasoline.

There's a venting mechanism that's on the canister.

This controls the flow rate of the fuel that's inside, so that we control how much fuel is being put on the ground in order to ignite the drip torch, you saturate the wick for a little fuel on the ground, and you can ignite that fuel.

Which in turn will ignite the wick, and you're ready to put fire on the ground.

So this is one unit of four that we want to get to today.

This is our largest unit of 200 acres.

And what we're actually doing here right now was we're getting a lot of black, and we're kind of on a downwind side of things.

So we want to get a lot of black before we send our head fire up to this side of the unit.

And basically what that's going to do is set back plant succession.

And we're trying to we got a lot of non-native species in here, like les benisa, autumn olive and we want to make sure that we keep our open areas open.

In east Kentucky a lot of areas that are predominantly wooded timber and a lot of wildlife benefit from these open areas.

Fire is a necessity to do that.

Each of our rigs have a drip torch, fuel for the drip torch.

We've got two hand tools.

Usually we've got a water and a fire rate.

Each of the rigs we have 25 to 50 gallons of water.

What we got going on here, as you can imagine, on our reclaim areas, there can be gas wells or gas lines that, pop up out of the ground.

So what we're doing right now, as you can see, we're blacking out to protect a gas line that pops up just in front of me here.

What we're doing is we're blacking out all the way to a hard brake on this side and the other side.

We're also going to a road that is a hard brake just down below us.

So we want this gas line protected at all costs.

Well, as you can see behind me, see, what we're trying to do is knock the autumn olive back.

You know, we've had a lot of autumn olive starting to come in.

It is an invasive species and the seed source is hard to get rid of.

So two of the things we're trying to do this spring is have a prescribe fire in order to kill what's above ground on the autumn olive, and then they may end up having to come back later as it starts to resprout and do something chemically or mechanically.

This is our last unit for today.

What you saw John doing bringing along the line.

We're just laying a wet line just to kind of help us make sure we keep the fire where it supposed to be.

We've been really happy with what we've accomplished so far today, and we're, excited to see, how the elk respond to habitat management.

We've done here and promote better forage for our animals.

All right.

So what we're doing right now, doing a mop up and what that consists of is crew members going around running the whole unit to make sure that all fire is out.

Fire is good for all wildlife.

And I hope that this is able to continue throughout the southeast.

Now let's check in and see who else has been out having fun in this week's ones that didn't get away.

Check out the smile on Reed Tackett as he shows us a small mouth that he caught while fishing in Elkhorn Creek.

Nice job.

11 year old Gunner Pulliam hit the woods on a crossbow hunt and took this unique buck in Perry County.

Nice job River Wilson grabbed his 410 shotgun and hit the woods.

Here's one of the four gray squirrels that he was able to harvest.

Nice job.

This season Parker Ashby went on his very first dove hunt, and he was able to take nine doves while hunting in Hopkins County.

Nice job.

Alex King had the right idea.

He went pond fishing in Monroe County and caught this nice red ear.

Four year old Griffin Leek is having the time of his life catching bluegill out of a farm pond in Nelson County.

Brian Howard headed down to the Kentucky River in Mercer County and caught this beautiful smallmouth bass.

Are you interested in hunting in the state of Kentucky?

Well, if so, make sure you join us for our fall hunting live show.

It's going to be this Monday, September the 22nd at 7:00.

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.