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 out to Western Kentucky as we join in on a quail hunt.

Then we're going to meet up with fisheries biologist to see what they're doing with a chainsaw to improve our fisheries habitat.

But first we're going to take a look back to 2022 and jump in a tree stand during the modern firearm season, right in the middle of a rut.

Well, after about an hour lunch, getting back into the woods.

This morning we saw several bucks and most of the time they showed up 15-20 minutes after rattling one of those bucks across 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.

It wasn't in range today with a rifle, but it's working in our area and it's chasing Doe.

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 to get an opportunity to take that deer.

Let's see what happens.

Now that is a fresh scrape.

This is about 80 yards from my stand.

Almost looks like that buck is taking a garden rake and just pulled 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 right in the same spot I was at this morning.

Now I have bowhunted here a few other times, and on two different occasions.

I've seen a pretty good buck right on this woodline.

Both times it was later in the evening.

So we got to wind that█s blowing straight this way, right the way I walked in, and not get near that little patch of woods that buck hanging out.

I know it was using this area because I can smell him in here.

And there's some scrapes in this area as well.

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

This is just, you know, dealing 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 had a couple other people that are out here as well on the right legally, hopefully we get him in here, we've had him here twice, both times I had a bow in my hand.

Couldn't make it happen.

Well its about 3:30, been in here for a little while.

No action just yet.

You know, it's getting dark.

Really dark by six.

So I█m going to 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 it 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, like grunts walking around, not interested in feeding at all.

Just smelling.

And then this doe showed up.

As soon as she hit that field, boy, he saw it.

He was behind it.

She saw that was a buck.

She knew, hey, 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 have filled the 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 you can keep around your stand speeding around, it increases your chances.

So I love seeing these does Whoa here comes a buck, here comes a buck.

Here comes a good buck.

Looks like about an eight pointer.

I can't tell let█s let him get out in the field, see what happens.

Oh.

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.

Think 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 kind of waiting to see what happens.

But I'm not gonna 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 think we█re still going to see that buck again.

He█s checking in 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 that█s going in the field, she's about to pop out.

He█s coming.

Here he comes.

Got him right now.

Here he comes.

Here he comes.

You on him?

Yeah.

I'm good.

I don't like taking running shots, but there was only about 60 yards, so I felt really confident about taking that shot of it.

He's down.

He's right there.

I'm pretty fired up about it.

It's really cold this time of year getting out here.

You know, as normally a bowhunter, 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.

Keep an eye on them.

Making his making his rub pulling soil away from the bottom of that tree.

I mean, he was going through all the phases of rut.

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

I've had great season.

I've got a freezer full of venison.

I was able to take a 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 had 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 can wrap it all up and ended up right here today.

It█ll make it such a perfect season.

Filled all my tags my buck tag.

Couldn't worked out any better, but we said when we parked out here, we came in.

There's another truck if we know there's a hunter because we we know this truck.

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

And they're hunting somewhere right over there.

Both of these deer went straight down I█m going to be a courteous, 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 now, 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.

I've taken them 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 briar bush.

Look at that neck.

Look at that.

We'll 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 5 or 600 yards on the other side of this cornfield is where I started bow hunting this year.

Had some really cool encounters, saw a couple of 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 are just loading in this little valley I'm in right now came up here, was able to take a couple does with my Muzzleloader saw a 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 firearm season.

I 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 capped 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.

It's about the time in 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.

Pockets of quail can be found throughout the state of Kentucky, but most of them can be found on landowners properties that are willing to put in the work.

So we're in Logan County here today doing a little small game hunting, and I'm with the right crew for that.

Right?

Hope so.

Yeah, that's what we're here for.

Small game program coordinator here.

And John, everybody's farm looks just like this doesn't it?

Oh right.

Everybody you drive across state, they look just like this don”t they?

That's where I don't really.

This is perfect for a small game.

Is it not?

This is a primo farm.

And we've been working with Mike for a couple of years.

And it's very rare that a landowner actually listens to some of the things we mentioned.

And you're going to see a lot of great habitat today thanks to the work of Mike and his family and friends that come out here and work with him to make it look like this.

So, Mike, tell me a little bit about your piece of property you got here.

Obviously, it looks like it was built for small game, but you told me you're mainly a deer and turkey guy.

I am, I do enjoy seeing the quails and small game, but, when we started out with it, it was mostly deer and turkeys, but, found out that what you do bleeds over into the small game to hopefully it seems to be working.

We'll see.

We also have Zach Danks and Zach, you're the Turkey program coordinator as well as grouse.

When you put out plots like this and you let CRP grow up for small game, what's your turkey population going to be like as well?

You'd be doing the best you could do to help that local population and anything you can do.

Quail management is is turkey brood management.

And if you want more turkeys you got to have more baby turkeys.

And this cover for nesting and broodering is it's vital.

Let's go meet the dogs and load up, what do we think?

let's do it, let's do it.

Let's go.

Are you running beepers on these dogs?

If they go on point, not beepers.

So I've got a good G.P.S.

unit.

It tells me when they stop, when they go on point.

So it will tell us when they stop that I can't tell if they're stopped to use the bathroom or if they're actually pointing.

I got you, but I'll have to be watching it and tell you.

It's so thick I was wanting to see how you knew when one was on point.

Yep.

I didn't realize you had GPS on them I run bells usually, but I'm only got one bell now, so between the bills and the GPS, the beeper is handy.

I had one on her, so we can use it if we need to.

Okay.

Oh, look at this nice ragweed strip.

This is your food source mixed in with the cover.

Hey, John, look for may up there.

52 yards for me.

It's just saying she stopped right to your left.

Oh, yeah.

Man.

Oh, yeah.

Girl.

Yeah.

Reyna too.

Oh.

One of them may broke, it looks like 33 to blue.

He broke.

This is wild bird hunting here.

They'll run on the ground and take off on you some.

This is really, really, really thick.

But you can see that there is an area in the bottom where you can tell that the very bottom undergrowth is kind of missing.

And this is perfect habitat for quail.

They can get in here areas to feed but yet there's a cover, a canopy that keeps aerial predators from coming down and picking them all off.

Everything wants to eat a quail birdie right here.

Looks like the 41 yards right up the sumac.

Oh she's on dead point over there, Mike.

She break?

She broke.

Man this is pretty prime right through here.

And it looks perfect.

Got a point?

Yeah.

Where they at?

They're in here.

Nothing?

You think these birds flew.

Maybe we didn't see him or hear him, but.

Might have been where they were or who knows?

So far we”re over three on covey encounters the law of averages where the eventually get one to fly.

You would think habitats ever changing a lot of people just don't recognize how nature's constantly evolving and changing.

We're constantly trying to maintain cover.

So tell me a little bit about what you need for good quail habitat.

When we talk about bobwhite, we always talk about the bees bunch grasses.

We got a bunch of bunch grasses, those native warm season grasses, bare ground.

That's what Mike's making when he's burning.

And part of what that burning does is diversify the plant community in different stages of plants.

So he's resetting the plant community when he burns a patch.

And that creates that opportunity to get that bug community in place.

So if you get all those bees right, we'll have birds.

And that's what we hope to find today.

Oh, this is good.

They”re in here.

Zach and I'll go on the upper side.

You guys stay down over here.

Let's make a miracle happen.

There we go.

How about that?

Now that's what we're talking about right there, Mike.

Amy this bird is a juvenile.

See those white tipped feathers here?

These are the secondary coverts.

And when they're white tip, that's a juvenile.

When they're really they're fuller and completely gray when it's an adult.

So it means it was hatched this summer.

We had 2 or 3 times where we thought we had birds.

That last one held really tight.

It was right in the corner.

So we make our way down here to this corner or that corner.

I feel very comfortable that we're going to flush another covey of quail here.

The dogs are working good.

Deer.

Look at all of them tails going everywhere.

That's the thing about this cover.

Is the deer are secure here.

365 you know?

I mean, they just come out to eat a little bit, come back bed in this go in the woods.

Dogs still on point?

Yeah.

Just 49 yards up ahead there.

Oh.

You get one down?

Yeah.

Nice.

Right.

Little late getting up here on that.

We had all three dogs on point.

And as we come over the ridge here the cubby flushed.

I think we got one down.

Let's go see.

Dead.

Dead.

Got it?

Good girl.

Well, that is a beautiful bird.

I tell you what, you never get sick of seeing those dogs on point.

Walk over and hear that flush.

Yeah, it's a special moment in the hunting world.

It really, really, truly is.

Turkey.

Turkey, Turkey.

Oh, if it was fall turkey season, Mike, we might have switched gears.

Yeah.

Oh, we got a point here.

Double point they”re In there.

There they go.

I will never do that again.

Mike I couldn't even pick my bird.

Everyone I picked It was going down.

I killed three.

You got three!

I did.

I knocked down three birds.

I'll never do it in my life again.

Mike.

All right, Randa.

Right here, Randa.

Right here, Randa.

one.

There you go.

Right there.

One front here.

Yeah, that one got hit really hard.

Blue dead.

Here's one right here.

Man.

How'd it go?

Well, I'll tell you what.

I think.

That was a pretty good day.

It's been a long time since I flushed coveys of quail.

And you're all█s dogs did great.

Mike, it's obvious that all your habitat work is paying off.

Well, I hope so.

It makes me feel pretty good to have a day like this.

Fisheries biologists are working hard at land between the lakes to remove cedar trees, which not only helps the wildlife but also improves the fisheries habitat.

So we're here on the shores of Lake Barkley 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, TWRA down in Tennessee, the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers, US 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.

Okay.

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 centrarchid family.

That includes a lot of our sport fish bluegill, red deer, 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 switched banks.

Ready to work our way down every 30 to 40ft, placing one of these lay downs.

Now, this tree is a hickory.

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 covers.

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.

In our case, we're allowed to do this work because we have special permits from the US 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 some subsection of these sites during springtime.

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.

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

Check out this beautiful buck with a nice drop tine that was taken by 14 year old Landon Walker.

This buck was taken in Harrison County.

Ella Tabor harvested this nice buck and Nicholas County with the 6.5 Creedmoor.

She said she was eating venison snack sticks when this buck showed up.

Here we have Martin Gambrel with a nice eight point buck that he took at Morgan County.

Congratulations.

Hopefully you had a productive deer season and punched that buck tag.

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.