This week on Kentucky Afield, we're taking advantage of a hot bite and fishing a farm pond for largemouth bass.

Next, we'll check out a trapping event right here in Kentucky and find out why fur prices are going up.

Then, we're taking to the field with long beards on our mind.

We're turkey hunting.

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.

Here in the spring a well-maintained pond may be the best fishing opportunity that can be found in the state of Kentucky.

Today we█re out here in Henry County with a couple of my close fishing buddies.

Paul, we're out here at your fishing pond.

I've fish with you for years and years and years.

And this pond's 15 years old, and I'm ashamed to say I've never put a line in it.

Now it's a little smaller than Dale Hollow where we normally fish.

Yeah, it's a little smaller, but you know what?

You put the right species of fish in it and this pond, this time of year has trophy potential, right?

That's right.

There's been some good fish caught out of here.

So I hope we're going to have a nice day.

These type of ponds, this is the time of year you catch a true giant fish.

It's my favorite time to fish.

K.C., I know you live close to this pond.

You've probably got the most experience fishing in this pond.

What do you think we can expect?

I mean, you can expect if you don't catch a four or five pounder, you're probably doing something wrong.

Really?

Yeah.

It's a really good pond to fish.

I like fishing it in the summer more because the aerators.

But, I mean, any time you can come out and enjoy this.

In summertime when you got aerators in them, that's where they're going to go.

This time of year for me, I want to try to find the areas that's got the most 2 to 4 feet of water on the bank that gets the most sun.

So, Paul, it█s your pond, pick your path.

I'll follow behind you or go the other direction.

Let's make it happen.

All right, let's do it.

Well, you know, you're not supposed to catch a fish on your first cast.

There you go.

Large mouth?

Large mouth.

He's healthy, but we want bigger.

Like all fish.

Pretty good, though, right off the bat.

It's a start.

I thought I had one, a good one there, man.

That thing hit and I thought here we go.

Look at that.

I'm throwing the biggest bait and caught the smallest fish.

I love to creek and stream and lake fish.

But, man, this is kind of where it all starts for 90% of the fishermen right here, pond fishing.

And we're showing you exactly why this is where starts.

You pick the right time of year.

The most productive and easiest way to catch fish and trophy fish is what we're doing right here today.

Well, we found the small ones.

Yep.

We're gonna find the big ones, too.

I'm seeing K.C.

catch some fish down at the deeper end.

He's catching them down there?

I've seen a few.

K.C.

done jumped out ahead of us.

He's getting the first fish.

This cypress is starting to get some size on it.

Yeah, it is.

I mean, look at that root ball.

Wow, That's really cool.

Talk about a good place for fish to breed.

Yeah.

Those bass get up in this too.

To dig a pond and to kind of put some attributes in the way that you like to fish and include rock piles and ditches and certain type of trees.

That's kind of every fisherman's dream isn█t it?

Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

It's taken years.

You kind of got your own little smaller version of what Bill Dance has down in Tennessee.

It█s a really cool pond.

I can't believe as many times I've been out here, I've never casted on it.

Yeah, we've hunted.

We just haven't fished.

We got a bigger fish.

Finally.

Here we go.

Now, I don't know if that fish will make 20 inches, but I think it probably would.

Looking at a pretty solid three and a half to 4 pound fish.

They've been hiding and we've caught so many small fish, never fished this pond before.

But I've seen pictures and I know that they're here.

That's a pretty good fish right there.

It's already a good day of fishing.

Chad, I just got a text from K.C.

He went down to the other pond, it█s smaller, maybe warmed up better.

He's already caught three nice fish in just a few minutes.

Let's go.

There's a log out here behind me, and I just threw a pumpkin seed Berkley worm, and he almost got me wrapped around the log but we got him out.

And not a bad little fish.

Well, here we are.

This is a much, much smaller pond.

It's only about 300 yards away from where we were fishing.

Didn't plan on fishing here today, but K.C.

who fishes these ponds the most snuck over the hillside caught a couple of fish and I'm not that hard headed.

We'll see what they got in this little small pond.

I thought it was just a bluegill pond, but apparently there's bass in it as well.

There you go.

That's a good fish.

Two at a time.

Same fish.

That's probably about I don't know, it has to be six or eight off that one tree.

There you go.

You've got both species.

Not very big, oh he come off.

I really think that big pond█s two weeks away.

I think we were a little early.

We caught that one good sized fish and it really didn't have the belly that you normally get right pre-spawn and more action in the smaller pond which is warmer.

But hey, better early and catch a couple of big ones, than late and catch no big ones.

So thanks again.

It's been great.

Yeah.

Great day.

Located ten miles west of Henderson, Kentucky, is where you can find sloughs wildlife management area.

This WMA consists of six tracks that add up to over 11,000 acres with a lot of hunting and fishing and wildlife viewing opportunities.

This wildlife management area is one of the biggest WMA█s in the state.

The sloughs offer an excellent waterfowl hunting opportunity and is recognized nationally as an important birding area by the National Audubon Society, and it's considered a high priority area by Ducks Unlimited.

The WMA host up to 40,000 geese and 30,000 ducks annually.

This management area offers 12 boat ramps along the grassy pond, honey Cypress, middle slough, fronts slough, and Pond Creek areas.

Remember the wildlife management area users must abide by the Kentucky hunting, trapping and fishing regulations.

Also, keep in mind that regulations on WMA█s often differ from statewide regulations.

So be sure to review your hunting guide or website for the specific WMA you█re hunting.

For more information about this WMA, or the latest regulations and restrictions that pertain to, please visit our website at FW.KY.GOV or call 1-800-858-1549.

Trapping should be part of any land management plan and fur prices are starting to make a comeback and you'll never guess what's driving it.

We're here today in Beechmont, Kentucky for the annual fur sales, the fur auction.

And we have trappers from all over the state of Kentucky.

Plus we've got some trappers from Tennessee, Indiana, I think one from Arkansas and one from Alabama.

So we've got trappers from all over that have come.

And this is an opportunity for them to market their furs.

The fur market right now is a little bit down, but we have some strong points in the fur market right now.

The bobcat, the beaver, otters and that are pretty strong.

Skunks are strong, believe it or not.

This fur market, it's starting to gradually improve.

We lost a lot of the fur market during COVID because of supply chains and the inability of buyers to travel internationally and that's starting to improve.

It's starting to get better.

As far as the fur market goes.

This particular sale this auction that we have today, the trappers bring in their furs.

They're assigned lot numbers and their furs are graded according to species and size and color and quality and so forth.

You'll see a lot of very, very well handled fur here.

Some of our Kentucky trappers and our members are some of the best fur handlers any place.

So our fur is in strong demand as raw fur goes.

I'm certainly happy to be here again and happy for the United Trappers to sponsor this fur sale.

This is the third or fourth annual event here.

by Brandon Baize and his group of supporters.

So it's been a tremendous sale so far and certainly a much needed thing to have in support of the trappers.

And I'm so glad that beaver prices have gone up from what they were at the first sale, considerably more money per fur, and it's definitely needed to pay for the expenses and get some benefit for the trappers that love this sport.

Once the furs are graded and they go down the line, they hit the auction blocks, the auctioneer auctions off each lot of fur.

And then each trapper picks up part of a triplicate sheet to cash in with the buyer.

And They go to the trapper, and then they go also to the association for record keeping.

And then we charge a modest 5% commission, which most often covers our expenses on putting the sale on.

We put the sale on not to make money but to provide a market for our trappers.

As I've told many people, these trappers are just modern day Daniel Boone's because they do a remarkable job of trapping and serves a tremendous service for the farmers, the property owners to save their timber.

As we've mentioned numerous times, there are just hundreds and thousands of acres of crops and timberland that gets ruined every year due to the beavers.

And we're not wanting to exterminate the beavers by any stretch of the imagination.

But just like all methodical hunting and proper planning, it's just a control mechanism for the beavers.

We'll have well over 1000 beaver here and umpteen other fur.

So it's going to be one of the biggest sales in the eastern United States.

It may be the biggest by the time this thing all runs through.

So we're really excited about that.

The beaver market right now pretty strong compared to what it was.

Couple of years ago, there was probably a $9-10 average and now they're they're up to a $35-40 average with some highs going into the fifties.

One reason for that actually happens to be the Yellowstone TV program.

Everybody is buying these Western hats, And that's what they're made from, is from Beaver.

The pelt is ground up and made into like fiber of sorts.

And it's mixed with an adhesive and coloring and that sort of thing.

And they're made into these hats.

Buyers have different interests in different furs.

Some of them specialize just in raccoons.

Some of them specialize just in beaver, but most of them will buy just about any fur as long as they can develop a decent market for it.

Some of the buyers have brokers which buy in bulk and they in turn sell to manufacturers for garment making.

Garments are a big thing.

Vests, coats, gloves, hats, muffs, mittens, things like that.

And also the novelty part of the fur business is pretty big too.

And another thing.

our association tries to do, the United Trappers of Kentucky.

We like to bring new people into the activity.

What I like about trapping is that it can help manage wildlife.

You can put it up and sell it.

It█s a very enjoyable experience and it helps keep wildlife maintained.

Whether they're youngsters or adults, just get new people in.

We want to sustain this activity.

It's something that we really love.

It's a heritage.

It's a great activity.

It's a great outdoor form of recreation at a time of the year when there isn't a whole lot else.

As a trappers association, we also stress that every one of these critters we catch is a blessing of sorts.

And these critters were put here for us to have dominion over and to use responsibly.

And so we consider ourselves a conservation organization.

We teach the wise use the best use possible all these species.

So we teach our trappers that fur handling and creating the best quality pelt is actually a way of honoring each animal that we're able to harvest.

It enhances our activity in the public eye.

They know that we're not wasting this critter.

We█re doing it to use that critter a good way.

If you ask any experienced hunter, they'll tell you that it's hard to call a gobbler through a fence.

So this season, if you're hunting a farm that has a fence line and you have permission to hunt both sides, maybe set up close.

We█ve made it to the ridge top of this place we█re hunting.

We█re kind of in the knobs of Nelson County.

We█re going to sit down here, try to find out where these turkeys are at.

We scouted this place a little more bit a couple weeks ago.

And right where we're sitting there with a bunch of turkey scratching and droppings, but I have no idea where they're roosting.

But hopefully we'll get some action here in a minute.

Deer.

Right here.

Coming right at us.

A hen right there.

We just got the decoy set out and we're in a location where any turkey that comes in to this field should be able to see this decoy.

We have not heard a gobble yet this morning, but we know there are turkeys here.

This is about the time of day they normally start separating out again.

And that gives you the best chance to call one in.

We got a turkey straight across the field, probably 150 yards.

Here comes another one.

We got two turkeys.

These look like Jakes.

They█re coming straight out in the field right here.

Here comes another one.

A third turkey just came into the field.

I think we█ve got 3 jakes.

We█ve got one on the left, and we've got two on the right and they█re making their way across this field.

I know they're going to come over here.

Here comes another turkey.

Looks to me like we've got three jakes and a hen, Here they come right here.

Coming right at us.

I've got two jakes in range right now.

Let█s let this play out and see what happens.

They're curious.

They█re going to come around.

Here they come.

They█re coming right to us.

I mean right to us.

We've got a turkey right in front of us.

And a turkey about ten yards behind us, staring us down.

We're actually in between the turkeys and the decoy.

Man, we were locked down.

We had two jakes, decided to pass.

But that's awesome.

That's why you come out.

The close encounters are super, super exciting.

There█s a coyote.

All the way in the far corner.

Coming out there in the field right there.

Watching wildlife's always fun.

But when you█re on a turkey hunt and a coyote shows up.

That's not necessarily a good thing.

That Coyote just caught something.

A mouse or something.

And he's eating it right now.

Not paying much attention to our decoys.

I think it's because he's got a full belly.

So we hunted here this morning, and we saw some Jakes and never heard of Gobble.

We had a game plan set for this afternoon hunt and it was a walk in.

And before I enter the field, I'll make sure I scan as good as I can up there in the corner through a tree, I see a black dot and we start looking at and it goes into full strut.

We got our decoy set up, backed off, we█re going to try to call this turkey in, and it's probably about 250 yards right now.

Here we go.

We finally got this gobbler to sound off.

First gobble we█ve heard yet.

Hopefully we can get it to come to us.

Problem is, a hen has popped out to the side of the field.

So we got a little competition from the real thing.

We█ve got to hope our decoy and our calling sounds a little better than that hen right there.

There he goes again.

He's gobbling like crazy, but I don't think he's interested in that hen.

He█s paying more attention to us.

That turkey's coming our way, but he just wend in the woods.

Here he is, here he is right here.

He's coming to the right.

He's up there.

He's about 100 out right now.

Here he comes, he█s coming down the hill.

He's going to come to us.

Kill him right there.

Raise his head.

Wow.

This was this was the craziest hunt.

It took more patience than maybe any turkey hunt I've been on.

Let's go see what we█ve got.

There he is.

Oh my God.

I tell you what, a beautiful bird.

Got a big, thick beard on it.

Some pretty impressive hooks on it too.

Such an awesome hunt.

Really, really excited to be able to get this bird because this was a solid 3 hours of watching this bird work.

And lo and behold, he wasn't coming through this field.

This bird decided it was going to come in and sneak in and get better look at that Jake Decoy through the woods.

And that's exactly what he did.

Check out these two impressive bass that were caught by Owen Meredith on Lake Cumberland.

Nice job.

Here we have Carson Sears from Logan County who took this nice turkey on the opening morning of youth turkey season.

Congratulations.

Check out this limit of striper that was caught by Derek Chapman on Lake Cumberland.

Nice job.

Check out this 3lb crappie that was caught on Lake Barkley by Tristan Blagden.

Nice fish.

Here we have eight year old Avery Cantrell with a jake taken on the opening morning of the youth season in Harrison County.

Nice job.

Jeffrey Wells headed out to Barren River Lake to catch some crappie, but he said they were slow so he decided to bass fish instead.

Nice decision.

Joshua Allen was using a crank bait when he caught this nice smallmouth bass at Lake Cumberland.

Congratulations.

Here we have Alex Hilton, who is proudly showing off his first turkey ever.

Congratulations.

Here we have Sarah Bowen with a nice 12 inch crappie that she caught at Dewey Lake in Prestonsburg, Kentucky.

Nice job.

It's an exciting time of year here in Kentucky.

Our spring turkey season is now in, so be safe and good luck.

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.

Hello, I'm Chad Miles.

Did you know that when you buy a fishing license, it does more than provide summertime fun?

That's nice.

It produces millions of fish that are stocked in our waterways.

It constructs new opportunities for boat ramps and public access.

It provides new, sustainable habitats for our native fish.

It creates quality fishing opportunities close to home.

It helps protect our home waters.

And it makes for a better, more beautiful bluegrass for all that live here.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

It's more than just a fishing license.