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 going to learn about how your city or municipality can apply for a boat ramp, boat dock, or fishing pier.

Then we're going to hit the deer stand for some early season archery action.

But first up, we're going to hit the field for the opening day of dove season and some fast flying doves.

It's September the 1st.

And as usual, on September 1st, it's hot.

But if you're an outdoors person here in the state of Kentucky, you know exactly what that means.

September the 1st, always the opening day of dove season here in state of Kentucky.

And I am lucky enough to be invited to a old friend of mine family farm out here in the Mount Washington Spencer County area.

And we've got a good old fashioned dove shoot going on.

He's got quite a bit of habitat planted out here, a lot of sunflowers, and he's been seeing quite a few birds sitting down and waiting for them to come.

They ought to be any minute now.

It's time to get loaded up.

And for me, this is kind of the official kickoff to the hunting season.

I know that the squirrel season has been in.

I haven't been out yet, but when September the 1st comes in, dove season opens up.

It rolls right into all the other hunting seasons.

And I can't wait to one shoot some doves and then secondly, be in that deer stand next weekend.

They're starting to fly more and more.

I've already seen three now.

We are still in the process of getting all of our hunters out in the field.

So we're letting birds fly right over top of us, letting them get used to us being setting here.

And we're not shooting yet.

I think they got 1 or 2 more trips on the UTV to get everybody out.

Then the game plan is going to change dramatically.

Well, it looks like our last hunters have now gotten to their hay bales, so we got a thumbs up.

So there's no more free passes.

The next bird that comes through in range, It's time to start shooting.

Right here.

That was a good shot.

Man.

They█re turning.

There's 5 or 6 in that group though.

Here comes one.

Get ready.

Well, first dove of the year.

They're starting to fly a little bit better.

We've been seeing them scurting and now they're kind of crossing the field, so hopefully it's about to get real good.

There we go.

I tell you what, if you've never dove hunted, it's a lot of shooting, a lot of fun, a lot of friendship.

And they're also fantastic on the grill.

So the limit here is 15.

So we got a lot of room to make up.

This is number one.

Oh look I got one on the fence right there.

Came in and took my seat while I was retrieving my bird.

A bird literally flew in and landed right here as I was walking back up.

When the bird come off the wire, it went lower.

Because this hillside is rolling, even though a bird looks like it's the appropriate height off the ground, you got to be very cautious in the direction you're shooting.

That shot would have been right toward that couple setting down there.

I've got perfect avenue to shoot this way or this way.

There's no reason for me to ever need to take a shot dead, left or right, unless it's straight above me.

Wow.

That was a ton of birds.

They're starting to really come up and fly right now.

Got that one.

All right.

That was a fun bird right there.

Because I got I got a little shook up because I watched it fly toward me so long.

And trying to decide when to take the shot.

Put it down, though.

Let's go pick it up.

Oh, man.

I have birds just flying right over me.

Have my decoy out.

Brought him right in.

Starting to fly a lot faster now.

A lot more birds.

Got him.

All right.

We got them down in the front and the back.

Nice job.

Coming to you.

Pretty birds.

Tasty birds too.

I'll tell you what.

If you never had dove, my favorite way is to grill them.

But there's a lot of different ways that you can eat dove.

And really, most of the things you can do with chicken, you just don't want to overcook them.

But, if you ever had them, they█re kind of a darker red meat and, wrapped in bacon and grilled, probably my favorite way.

They are absolutely delicious.

Right into the sun.

Oh, right there.

She just picked that one up.

Thank you.

Man, I appreciate you, I gotcha.

Thank you.

There go.

There, another one.

You got them left to right.

All right.

Getting close.

I think I need 1 or 2 more birds.

Having a limit.

I tell you what.

Last year we went out and - Come here, come here, Indy.

Come here, Indy.

Come here, Indy.

I got one left.

How many you got so far today?

I got six.

A lot of times I get asked by new hunters.

Hey, I'm interested in buying my first gun.

What should I consider for hunting?

And, you know, a lot of people will give you all the different calibers of rifles, but probably a 20 gauge shotgun.

You can do all your small game hunting.

I rabbit hunt, dove hunt, squirrel hunt... too close, too low.

I've killed turkeys with this.

You can shoot slugs through it.

A 20 gauge shotgun is probably about as versatile as any gun you can use for hunting, because you can hunt everything from deer to doves.

And, it's a perfect, perfect gun to get introduced into hunting.

Rabbit hunting, squirrel hunting, duck hunting, dove hunting, deer hunting, turkey hunting.

Pretty much covers the gamut here in Kentucky.

Let's grab that bird.

That's number 15.

Well, I'll tell you what.

If you get a chance to go to a dove hunt and you've never done it, take full advantage.

It's a lot of fun.

Great eating.

Got 5, 10, 15 doves.

That's the limit.

Make sure we pick up all our shell casings, round up our mess, and we're going to go talk to these other people.

See what type of luck there having.

You guys been doing so good shooting.

Thank you, thank you.

I appreciate that work with that dog there.

Thank you.

Now you actually came up from Arkansas, you and your boys.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

So what brought you to Kentucky to dove hunt?

Well, Jack Porter, the guy we're hunting on, he's a acquaintance, a friend of mine.

Okay.

And he invited us up.

We've been coming, this is our third year.

This is my youngest son, Wesley.

Hey, Wesley.

And my oldest son, Bradley.

Well, glad to have you guys in Kentucky.

I hope you've had fun.

And, your dog.

Come here, come here, Indy.

Indy, here.

She must be camera shy.

Does she, does she duck hunt as well?

She does.

So she retrieves ducks?

So that's great, because there are a couple of those times when she was out, the birds would hit the ground and still be on the go.

She was picking them right up.

Yes, sir.

Well, I'm glad to have you guys here in Kentucky.

I hope you had a good time.

And, we'll be calling you when the season opens in Arkansas.

That'll be great.

That█ll be great.

Thanks for having us.

Thank you.

Well, I can't think of a better way to spend September the 1st.

You know, we had some new hunters out here today, saw some good dog work.

We got our limit.

It's time to go put them on the grill.

Man, there are hundreds of farms just like yours today where they're sitting around enjoying this friendship and dove season opener.

Absolutely, absolutely.

But for you, it didn't start today.

It did not start today.

It started probably late April.

You know, you got to get your plant you seeds in, your fertilize, and then you got to fence them.

Because if you don't fence them the deer will get them all.

So it's a labor love.

Well I know you tell me it's been 30 something years that you've been putting in this field and having this group of people, you know what?

Friends, family, wives, kids, first time dove hunters, this is a family event.

Absolutely.

We've had we've actually had 2 or 3, young people that killed their first dove day, which is exciting.

I'll tell you what.

It's a lot of fun.

I can't think of a better way to start off and kick off the fall hunting season, and we are exactly downwind of those dove breasts that are cooking on that grill.

I say, let's go get a plate.

What do you think?

Sounds good.

I appreciate you coming out.

Thank you.

There are many things to be considered before building a boat ramp, courtesy dock or fishing pier.

But the Department of Fish and Wildlife is here to help you with the process.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources has boat ramps and boat docks all over the state that we take care of and build and maintenance.

Today, we are at Little Sandy Boat Ramp in Greenup County, where we are installing a courtesy dock.

The local county government came to us through the application process, asking if we could put a courtesy dock in because they already have a nice three lane ramp and a very large parking lot.

So we came up, inspected and decided it was a good spot for a courtesy dock.

There's an application process for any county government or state government to apply to put in a boat ramp, courtesy dock, fishing pier, or all of it if they want it.

We look at the applications.

We go to the sites that they would like them and we we just look at them to see if it's feasible or not.

Sometimes it may look like a good spot, but we go out and do water data and it may be too shallow or we don't think it's a good spot.

So we have to be selective of where we go and what we do.

So we're not spending money on something that will not be used.

This dock, it will get lots of usage.

They hold lots of fishing tournaments here.

It helps out with the safety of the anglers getting in and out of their boat, and speeds up the process on these large ramps, with lots of boats coming in and out.

The river is right behind me.

This is like a little cove area right off the Little Sandy, and it dumps right into the Ohio not probably a half mile from here.

This dock is made from all aluminum.

We've had wooden docks we've built in the past that do not last near as long.

So we're trying to go to all aluminum just for the low maintenance and the longevity that they last.

There is some wooden boards on the outside to protect the boats from hitting the aluminum.

And we'll put rub rail on those as well.

And that should be the only thing that we should ever have to replace on these docks, as opposed to a wooden dock.

They hardly last ten years.

And so this has an aluminum frame with an aluminum floor aluminum gangway.

So it should last forever.

The time of year does not matter too much on when we install.

The main factor that could keep us from installing or working is high water.

If like rainy season, if we have a lot of rain and the water comes up, it just floods out our work site so we can't work under water.

And so we are back and forth a lot.

We bounce from projects.

If one of them is underwater, we'll go work on something else for a day or two that may need some maintenance, and then we'll come back as soon as we can when the water's down and get back to it.

So we came in, dug our footers, put our sidewalk and headwall in, did some dirt work, and today we're going to install the dock.

And it comes in a bunch of pieces.

So it's almost like a puzzle to put together.

We have to put everything that's on the land completely done, and then we have to mount our hinge on the sidewalk.

Then we will bring the dock in and piece by piece, put it into the water.

And bolt it together.

And then we'll take ropes or a boat, whichever we need for each circumstance.

Float it around into position.

And then we'll take our backhoe or a tellahandler and lift up the gangway and set it on our hinge that we mounted on the sidewalk.

Hammer.

Up.

There.

It█s through.

We█re good.

We hope this dock last a long time.

We hope that the anglers get to use this.

They can have more fishing tournaments, or if anybody wants to come out with their families and use the dock to help launch their boats safely and not fall, getting on and off their boat, trying to get onto land, they can just get right on to the dock and tie their boat up and park their truck.

If you don't have a flowing system, it could take hours to launch lots of boats, but if you have a courtesy dock, you can launch park your boat, go park your car while someone else could be launching.

Instead of having your boat on the ramp, taking up room.

Hey.

It's that time of year again.

Time to get in the woods and in a deer stand for the early archery season.

Today, we're hunting this farm we've been at all year.

And the beans have now been cut, so they've been removed.

It's time for us to make our way into the woods.

We'll go into a stand.

The last time I hunted this stand in the evening I had a pretty good buck chase a doe right by me.

I made a couple of “mer mer” noises trying to get that deer to stop.

Paid no attention.

It kept on running.

And that's pretty typical when they're starting that rut phase.

Hopefully tonight I can get in a stand and have some deer come through.

Chasing.

We're going to do some rattling.

Going to do a little grunting.

And hopefully that buck that I seen or a couple other deer that I've seen out here will show up and get in bow range.

We'll see how it goes.

You won't get a deer if you don't get out in the stand.

Bad conditions.

Rain can't stop us.

We're going to try to get out there and make this happen.

Got in really quiet.

Felt really good about that.

The interesting thing is, is that when I was down the field.

It's really windy, and the wind was supposed to be coming directly this way, blowing my scent right across the creek, the way I came in, which would be perfect.

Unfortunately, when I got in here and got set up, you can't always trust the wind that you see on your weather apps.

Because I got in here and got set up.

The wind on this hillside is going this way.

Now, that doesn't necessarily ruin my hunt, but it does let me know that if a mature Buck comes in and it's moving toward the way my wind is blowing.

I want to do my best to try to get a good shot before it gets downwind.

You got a mature deer, unless he's got the doe on his mind, and they're going to probably wind you If you're downwind.

So hopefully any deer that crosses this creek.

I█ll have the wind in my favor.

Right now, It's not moving in the same direction that I was anticipating.

Honestly, I would have chose a different stand.

Had I known it was doing this.

But now I'm here.

I got to make the best of it.

Here comes a deer.

Oh, there█s a buck, there█s a buck right there.

I can't see him now, but I just saw a buck.

It█s a nine or a ten pointer and it's walking down away from me.

Toward the creek.

It█s either going to cross that creek or turn and either come our way the other way.

There he comes.

Here he comes.

Here he comes.

This deer is going to walk right under us.

Merp!

So we█re watching his doe out here in this field.

And this deer is out there messing around and I look back.

And this buck is making its way away from us.

I know it's going to get to the river.

It's going to have a barrier.

So I start grunting, and I grunt 3 or 4 times thinking maybe I can bring that deer this way.

It's dark running down here toward us.

Well, the way this is set up, I get it full draw it.

When the deer stops, it's setting down here.

I can't get a shot because of the angle with my camera guy here.

So the deer█s standing there.

Perfect range.

I can't get a shot.

Can't get a shot, can't get a shot.

Finally, I was able to get a shot off.

Hopefully this will all pull together.

I think that█s- there it is.

There it is.

Right there.

Oh, sweet.

That deer didn't go 130 yards.

Oh, sweet.

Oh, my goodness.

Oh my goodness.

This is not a huge deer.

But I'll tell you what.

Considering how much time I spent on the stand.

And to get this buck with my bow literally the night before gun season, I could not be more excited.

I don't think I put a great shot on this deer.

It literally is on the other side, but the deer was slightly quartering away.

And what?

Whatever happened, it didn't go over 100, 100 and 2030 yards.

And here it is, very wide deer, not very long tines, but I couldn't be.

I could not be more excited, tickled to have this deer buck tag is punched.

What a great season.

I'm so excited.

What a year.

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 this nice sized drum that was caught by Brandon Vice.

This fish was caught at the cave run tail water.

Nice fish.

Here we have Cameron Deaton with a nice white crappie that he caught at a farm pond in Berea, Kentucky.

Congratulations.

Check out this nice trophy largemouth bass that was caught by Bailey Cox.

This fish was caught in Elk Lake and Owen County.

Check out these two little hunting buddies here.

We have five year old Walker Donley and his little brother, Holt Donley.

They harvested a couple of doves while hunting in Edmonson County on the opening weekend.

Nice job.

Fall is my favorite time of year here in the state of Kentucky, with plenty of outdoor activities available.

Plan your adventure today 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.