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 heading out on the Ohio River in January in search of trophy catfish.

Then we're headed to the mountains of eastern Kentucky to use a helicopter to locate some elk.

But first, we're rounding up the dogs and head to Nelson County for a rabbit hunt.

I'll tell you right now, rabbit is really good.

Do you like chicken tenders?

Fried.

Fried?

Well you can't be fried.

It's always good way to have them.

I had fried rabbit this past Sunday night.

Oh, you did?

Rabbit, gravy and biscuits.

Gosh.

There you go.

Good girl Josie.

Hunt them up Josie.

Come here Checkers.

Once they jump it, that rabbit will take off.

And the dogs will run them out.

And then the rabbit will circle, and when that happens, usually they'll come right back, almost where they took off from.

And you'll be standing there waiting, and ready.

So earlier this fall, I received an email from a Mr. Gene Taylor, and that email included some pictures and a little bit of history about rabbit hunting in Kentucky and the love of the show, Kentucky Afield, dating all the way back to the 60s.

Mr. Taylor, who we're hunting with today, told me he had a nine year old grandson who has never experienced rabbit hunting with beagles.

There was some communication back and forth.

Well, sure enough, right here during the holiday season, we were able to communicate and get Mason out here today to hopefully harvest his very first rabbit.

That's the plan.

Right here's a rabbit.

Right here's a rabbit.

Right here█s a rabbit.

Coming at you Bryan.

Yeah it ran right through here.

Went up that fence line.

Did you get to see it?

No, I didn█t see it.

The white dog jumped it right there and pushed it right in past them.

And then they took off that way.

Let's walk this way Mason.

All right.

Good luck, buddy.

They're coming back.

They're coming back.

250 yards out.

Bryan, get ready because if they get by him.

You really like when dogs, when they pack, when one, when one dog opens up, other dogs will come in and start the chase with them.

But not when they█re random strays.

We don't even know where this dog came from.

He said he was going to pack and get in and all the fun.

I don't know you.

You're just out rabbit on with us today, aren't you?

They're coming back hard.

Here he comes.

You got him?

You got it.

I can see his ears set there.

And I was like, hey, there he is.

Hey, look look look look look look look look look look.

Turn loose.

Turn loose.

Turn loose.

Turn loose.

Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead.

Checkers, or Josie.

Dead, dead.

Well, I tell you what, we've seen this rabbit.

Boy that was a good chase.

We were hoping to get Mason a shot, but the way it kept running was down here in this real tall grass.

It ran through here three times, and I just don't think he could, see this one, so.

No.

We needed to give the dogs a reprieve and get them on another rabbit.

We█ve got plenty of land still to hunt, so.

Yeah.

Good shot.

Thank you, brother.

Appreciate it.

Thanks.

All right, let's get them loaded up.

Come on Checkers.

Come here Bell.

Come on Frankie, come here.

Hunter in here, Josie.

There ought to be a rabbit in here for sure.

There he goes, there he goes.

Coming over your way.

Do you see him?

He was too close to the dogs.

The dog was too close on him.

Trying to get Mason on this outside, this field edge is much easier to get a shot.

So they█ve push it out now, I'm going to guess 80, 90 yards.

Hopefully they're going to turn it, bring it right back to us.

We, somehow picked up a stray fifth dog, not a hunting dog.

And sometimes it's working out in front of us with the other dogs.

I think we could be scaring some rabbits on us.

So, not running rabbits, just turning them when they're coming back to us.

Get back here.

Coming back.

There it is.

Coming at you.

Coming right to you.

Oh, you got it.

It jumped straight up in the air.

Brian did you get him?

Yeah.

Number two.

What do you think about watching the dogs and coming out here with your Papa and getting a little exercise in the middle of Winter, are you having fun?

Yes.

Yeah.

You're doing really good.

I'm having a fun time with you.

You guys got a beautiful place to rabbit hunt.

Have you have a rabbit hunt without dogs, or is today your very first rabbit hunt ever?

Today is my very first rabbit hunt.

You got to get a rabbit out there in front of you and let you pull a trigger.

That'll change the game for you.

But I'm having fun.

You gonna over and check the rabbit out that Brian got?

All right, you can walk over there.

They█re having a rough time for whatever reason, I don't know why they're having a rough time holding a scent trail.

They're just a little.

Well, they're extremely loose.

They're overrunning it.

The big dogs are honoring the young dogs for some reason, I don't know what's going on there.

Hunt in here.

Get in here.

Come here, get in here.

There he goes.

I saw something take off running and all four dogs took off running after that rabbit.

Hopefully they bring him back around.

So the rabbit could go up that ravine and come back down this upper the fence line too.

Yeah.

So your Papa is telling you that, if those dogs get up here on this side of the field, we'll go hunt this this tree line, because they may come back this way.

Right now we're going to kind of figure out where they're going to be.

Right here.

Come here.

Mason.

Get ready buddy, right here.

There he goes, there he goes!

It's not.

Safety was on, wasn't it?

Did you see the rabbit?

Better safe than sorry, buddy.

It's okay.

Maybe they█ll run it back again.

I guess, maybe I should trust Bell.

Yeah, we were asleep at the wheel on that one.

Did you see how close that rabbit was?

Did you see him, the rabbit?

Okay, good.

There he goes way down in the corner down there.

You see him down there?

In the corner, going this way.

Good luck buddy.

You know, you come out with a young kid, it's all about coming out and let them make their mistakes.

Let them tell you when it's time to go.

Mason's been a trooper, we█ve been out here for about 3.5 hours, maybe a little longer.

He's still with it.

He got that close to getting a shot at his first rabbit, but we still got that same rabbit is up and running, and I think it's going to come right back down through here again.

So hopefully he set up to, finish the deal and get a shot.

There it is.

Coming up this side.

Did you see it?

Nice!

Well, I'll tell you what, I█m going to tip my hat to this rabbit, because that thing has ran by us 3 or 4 or 5 times and was cunning enough to never give up a shot, or a real good shot.

But, I think we got him finally.

(Good Shot) Thank you!

Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead.

Did Chad get him?

I did, yeah.

Good, good.

How many times did he slipped in this corner with us seeing him?

3 or 4.

At least.

Dogs did a great job on this one.

You know, I was not extremely happy, especially the early.

I didn't think they did very good at all.

But on this rabbit to run it by 5 or 6 times.

Yeah they did a nice job.

Everybody thinks, well, you know, the dogs are not running the rabbit by.

The dogs can't steer the rabbit.

They just got to push it.

And, that rabbit just kept running by us and we were just not in a spot to kill it.

It's been a lot of fun, guys.

He didn█t help that much.

That dog getting help much?

Yeah.

No.

Well, that's a good note to get this boy back home.

He█s getting worn out.

Hey, I tell you what.

You have been a complete trooper, and I know that it didn't go the way exactly the way you wanted it.

But you know what?

I probably went on 4 or 5 rabbit hunts before I got one.

And the first time you get one rabbit, you might get 2 or 3, or who knows?

You're allowed 4, a day.

Yeah.

Well, let's get em moved in the right direction.

All right, let's head on back.

Trophy catfish can be caught in the Ohio River year round.

But if you ask my buddy Ricky, he'd probably tell you that the winter might be the best time.

A beautiful January cold, brisk morning on the Ohio River.

I'm here with Ricky Eiselt.

You love to target big catfish and you've been sending me pictures of giant catfish, right?

Yeah.

We've we've caught some pretty good fish this month.

We've called a 80 pounder, I think three or four over 50 pounds.

We've had a couple of 60 pounds.

So it's it's been pretty good this month.

Wintertime is a great time to catch a giant.

Yeah.

A lot of people don't understand that.

I mean, we're out here today.

It's 24 degrees and this is a great situation, great conditions to catch catfish and potentially a big one.

Correct.

Hopefully, we put a good sized fish in the boat.

Yeah, we're going to try to.

I'll do my best.

Let's do it.

So I like to scale my bait, which where these have been sitting in there on that ice.

They're about half frozen here.

All right.

Perfect.

That's a catchable fish.

You want to get this one Chad?

Just take your time with them because they're kind of coming up out of deep water.

Let me take this reel down for me, I█m going to go over you.

Got it.

Feels like it could be a 12 or 15 pounder.

Yeah, feels like a pretty good fish.

I like those big fish.

A lot of times you'll get that big fish and he'll come toward you and once you get him under the boat, you just can't get him up off the bottom.

I'm gonna grab the bogas and we'll boga grip him.

We won't use the net.

That's about a 20 pounder.

It's not a bad fish.

Not a bad fish at all.

What a beautiful fish.

I'll tell you what, there's nothing like fighting one of these.

And I can't imagine- you caught a 92?

I caught a 92 in 2009.

We've caught a 89, an 80, a few in the seventies.

It's been a pretty good year.

There he goes.

We're off to a little bit of a start.

Here's a fish.

He's catchable.

Got another one.

That one there hit one of the steaks didn't it?

Yeah.

He took that little chunk I just put on there.

For guys that you know is looking to eat fish that size there that's the size you want to eat.

Oh yeah.

Them big fish, you know, turn them loose and let them grow.

Not to mention they're just better table fare.

Look at this.

Look at it.

Look at this.

This is a good one.

This a big one.

here Chad.

No, go ahead.

No.

Here, take it, buddy.

I catch him all the time.

That█s on that mega head.

You know, it's coming in a little easier than I thought.

He might not be as big as the other one.

I'm telling you right now, I think there's something about this sunlight.

I'm telling you, the sunlight come out all of a sudden.

I've seen it, days out there, you know, it█d change up.

He wasn't the big one.

I thought he was.

That's our best, well, that 18 pounder is probably under too, but that's our best under fish.

That's what you want.

If you was out here- Tournament fishing and you had your over, this is what you█d be looking for- a bunch of those.

Under is under what, 30?

35.

35?

In Kentucky.

Okay.

34 if you're on Tennessee River.

Okay.

I would say he's going to be about 30, 30 inches.

But that's only maybe a 10 pound, 12 pound fish.

So it's the inches is what, in tournaments, looking at.

that█s only about 28 inches.

So you are allowed one per person over 35.

And then you'd want your- three.

Three apiece for- Three unders.

Correct.

Yeah.

i█m going to throw this in the box too.

Watch your foot just one second.

That's a big fish.

Get it.

Get it.

Big fish.

Big fish.

Pull.

All right, baby, That's a good fish.

He's coming right at you like I said, you see him smoke the drag?

It's coming right at it.

He was pulling drag.

Keep pulling.

Keep reeling until you get caught up with him.

Okay.

This a good fish here.

It smoked it, Chad Didn█t it?

He's definitely on there.

Keep going, you aint caught up with him yet.

Yeah.

I haven█t really felt the weight yet.

Just take your time with it.

He didn't play around either, did it?

No, Just like I said, look at the bubbles.

Yeah.

That's about a 30 pounder.

Good job, buddy.

Yes, sir.

Awesome.

That was great.

We're looking for one about twice that size but That's our best one today.

Look at that fish.

You talked about fish running at you.

Yeah, that's exactly what he did.

I was like, this fish don't feel that big.

And he kept coming and kept coming and kept coming and then when he got under the boat, it was all of the sudden- Yeah.

Straight down.

If he'd have been double that size, once you got him here, he would have kept going up river.

You're just holding on at that point and that's when it gets fun.

But that's a good fish, man.

Awesome job.

Man, thank you so much.

That is a good fish.

I'll take that all day long.

About 31, 32 pounds.

What a fish.

Man, it's just incredible.

That's what we're after there.

When you█re fighting them, and they're in their element in the water and you're trying to pull them up.

You're going wherever they want to go until they get tired aren█t you?

Yeah.

Blue cats are some of the funnest fish you're going to catch.

You know, fresh water.

That█s a good fish.

That was awesome.

You know what?

I know for what you're used to, it wasn't the greatest of day but for most people to come out here- this is January.

Yeah.

And catch this type of quality fish.

That's a great day.

Yeah, I've had a lot worse days, so we didn't get what I come for but I'm satisfied.

You know, you listen to a country song, you think that you can only catch catfish in the summer sitting on a bank.

You showed me today that maybe the best time to come out and get them: Middle of the winter.

I think that's the best time for the bigger fish.

Yeah, well, let's get these back in.

Man.

It's been a great day.

Thank you.

Yeah, my pleasure.

How do you get a radio collar on a full grown elk in the mountains of eastern Kentucky?

Well, you may be surprised to learn it involves a helicopter.

Today we're in eastern Kentucky in our elk management zone.

We are capturing elk with a helicopter this week.

The purpose of what we're trying to do is we are evaluating our cow reproduction rates and our calf survival.

So when we look at the population monitoring and what we do as a department, it's very important for us to know what percent of our cows are pregnant.

And then of those cars that are pregnant, what percent of them give birth to a calf, and what is their survival rate.

We've had a long history of elk research here in Kentucky, goes back to when the first elk stuffed up the trailer.

It was wearing a radio tracking collar.

You know, elk in the east are a new thing.

And we're more or less writing our own book on elk management in the east.

So this research is critical.

It's a big operation.

We've got almost 25 people out here today.

We're really excited to be working on this project.

For the data derived from this will definitely help guide our future management efforts throughout the restoration zone as a whole.

This calf survival study in particular is very, very important for us.

Calves are the drivers of the population, so it's really important to know how many are living and dying, if anything is killing them, what might that be?

What management decisions can we make to help bolster the population?

What we're doing today, trapping these adult females, It's all a really important part of it.

So essentially from the process that it works, we have a helicopter capture crew, the flies over, the elk they locate and they peel off a single or double, you know, a calf or a cow.

They then shoot a net over the animal.

The animal becomes entangled and then they drop a man out on the ground- They call the mugger- goes over to that elk, puts a blindfold on them, hobbles their legs together, gets the net off, puts them in a flight bag.

He would then radio the helicopter crew.

Helicopter comes back in, drops the rope, hooks the elk up to the rope, and then they fly the elk to us.

So they do everything in the field capture process and prepare them for flight.

And then they bring them to us When we're seeing these animals from where they're captured to our drop zone locations, which may be up to a mile or two miles from where we're set up working the animals, the helicopter crew, they position the animal in there in such a way that it keeps its internal organs safe, keeps its spine aligned properly, so we can minimize our risk for injury during the transportation process.

So once the elk lands the first thing we want to do is make sure that it's in good physical condition from the capture, we immediately check a temperature to make sure that they're not too hot.

We█ll transport the animals down to our work up facility where we've got separate teams ready to take care of each animal.

The first thing we do at the processing facility is check temperature again, make sure they're at a good, healthy level, that they're able to be immobilized.

At that point, we do immobilize them.

We wait for the mobilization of drugs that put them fully asleep, and then we begin the workup process during the workup process will draw blood from the animals to look at this overall health.

They will get airtags for us to be able to identify the animal that will get our GPS collar, that will allow us to track that animal through the life of the collar or the life of the animal.

We collect hair for genetic analysis.

We will also do a just a total assessment of the body looking at fat deposition and fat contents on the animal, just overall condition.

We'll actually give them a numbing injection and we'll pull one of their front incisors and we'll send those off to a lab and they can tell us essentially how old the animal is by counting the rings inside of the tooth.

Kind of like aging a tree.

Yeah.

So my role here is to ensure the health and safety of the animals that we are catching for this project.

We have an anesthesia tech on each animal, making sure that they are having appropriate levels.

I'm right there with them the whole time, making sure everything's good.

We're really working hard to make sure these animals are safe while they're immobilized.

The animals do have a winter coat on, so if they come in just a little bit warm, we'll dump water on them or take other measures to make sure we get their temperature under control.

And we're doing everything safely and humanely as possible.

So during the workup process too, you'll see us consistently trying to move the animal around.

We're just trying to make sure that it remains in a safe position, and particularly with its head, we'll try to make sure that it's upright and in a natural position as best it can that allows the animal to breathe sufficiently.

When the helicopter crew is bringing the animals, they typically will bring them into us two or three animals at a time.

We do this for a couple of reasons.

Generally, we don't want to stressing her too much.

We have very firm establish chase time so that they're not stressed out too much.

It gives us time to really pay attention to each and every animal that comes in to make sure that they get through this process safely.

Part of this project is with the University of Kentucky.

We have two graduate students that are on the project to help with the data analysis and the data composition.

So I'm really excited to be a graduate student at UK working on this project with KDFWR So I get to start to answer some of the questions that you all have and we all have about the elk herd here we're looking at several management focused questions in our research.

So first off, we just want to know how much space these animals are using out on the landscape.

We can get that information from the collar data.

This winter capture season here of Adult elk is really kind of the precursor that sets us up nicely for our summer elk Calf captures where we'll be putting small transmitters on them and tracking them through their first year of life.

So this time around we get to do a ultrasound to check her pregnancy status to see if she is pregnant or not.

And then if she is pregnant, we will insert a transmitter and that will give us a notification of when she gives birth so that we can more easily go out and find that calf.

There's the transmitter that we put into the pregnant cow.

So this elk█s had the workup complete.

She's wearing new radio collars and fresh ear tags and has a vaginal implant transmitter.

And we've given her the reversal to the drug.

And so here in about five or 10 minutes, she'll get off and head up the mountain.

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

Here we have Rob Duncan with a beautiful 11 point buck that he took in Mason County.

Congratulations.

Check out this nice buck that was Nolan Winningham█s very first deer ever.

This deer was taken on the family farm.

With all of this snow on the ground, are you dealing with cabin fever?

Well, many experienced hunters will tell you these conditions are perfect to be in the field.

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.