This week on Kentucky Afield.

The average rabbit hunt here in Kentucky consist of a few buddies and a couple dogs, and that's exactly how we are hitting the woods this time out.

Next, you better get your fishing poles and your appetite ready because the best time of the year to catch some table fare is right around the corner.

Then we're headed to the sky with biologist and seeing some important work that they're doing to monitor bald eagles.

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.

I'm always up for a big rabbit hunt, but most of my hunts here in Kentucky are a couple of buddies and a few dogs.

Well, today we're out here in Henry County and we're getting ready to do one of my favorite things.

Getting ready to start rabbit hunting.

You know, this is an interesting day.

We like to do big rabbit hunts.

A lot of times we'll have eight, ten dogs and five or six hunters And those are a lot of fun.

But today this is more of a typical rabbit hunt.

A couple of buddies get together, just a few dogs, put some dogs on the ground and get after them.

So this is going to be a lot of fun.

It should be a good spot.

So, KC, So you kind of grew up doing some rabbit hunting, haven█t you?

Yes.

Tell me a little bit about where we're hunting today.

We█re hunting in Henry County.

This is actually a neighbors farm that they█ve been gracious enough to let us hunt.

It's always been in the past just a great farm to rabbit hunt.

And we've run some dogs before and we've always had some luck.

I brought my two little dogs here, two little females.

Josie is the lemon dog and then the black dog there, that's checkers.

Paul, you and I talk a lot about hunting and you kind of got into hunting a little bit later on.

You█ve always fished, but hunting is something that you really picked up in the last 20 years, isn't it?

Yeah, that's right.

Being from Jefferson County, I didn't have a whole lot of access to hunting grounds and finally met some folks out here in Henry county.

And I haven't stopped hunting since.

There's nothing like meeting friends through the outdoors.

And, you know, we met later on in life, and, you know, we've been doing this quite a bit.

Well, these dogs are ready to go.

They've been on the ground twice this week, so they should be ready to go.

Should be a good hunt.

I█m going to keep them on the collar.

We're going to walk up and turn them loose up here.

You going to come with me?

Yeah.

All right, let's go.

Ready, Josie?

Ready, Checkers?

Go.

Hunt ‘em up Let's go, Let's go.

There he goes!

Here!

Well, that didn't take long.

We got a rabbit up.

Let's see what happens here.

Oh, there it goes.

All right, put the dogs on it.

There's a big sinkhole behind us, and every year we've hunted here, rabbits end up coming in the sinkhole.

If you don't shoot them before they get to the sinkhole, then they get away.

So what we're doing is just waiting on the rabbit.

Hopefully he'll circle back and Paul or Chad will get a shot, but if not, he's probably going to come this way.

So we're going to sit right here and try to get shot at him.

Here you go, hunt in here.

Let's go.

Hunt in here.

Get in there.

There he goes.

Coming at you, Paul!

Hold still it█ll come back.

Right there.

Must█ve been Chad that shot twice.

Hey, hey, hey.

Right here.

Dead.

Dead.

Checkers, checkers.

Hey, here he is.

See?

It tells you how much beagles rely on their nose.

Look at this.

That dog can see that rabbit, but it wants to smell right where he went.

Right here.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, dead dead, dead, dead!

All right, let's get another one.

Let's get another one.

There he is.

That was a pretty cool chase.

We jumped this rabbit about 150 yards back, and it was just staying way out in front of us that whole time.

Got lucky.

We got lucky.

There he is.

Coming to you, KC.

Coming right to you.

I believe he got it.

You get it?

Yeah, we got it.

Sweet.

Nice job.

Here he is.

Here he is.

Dead, dead.

Here, here, here, here.

Here he is.

Good boy.

Dead, dead, dead.

Ah, no.

I saw him for a split second.

Come out the second run around, but then he come popped out right 30 yards.

Perfect.

Well, nice job.

Yeah thank you.

I█ll tell you what, poor Paul has been over there guarding that sinkhole.

He has.

Well, let's get the dogs gathered up and go over there and find out if he's still awake.

All right.

Hey, Here he goes!

Right at you, Paul, right at you.

Right here!

Paul, maybe we can call Amazon and have them drop you off some more shells.

instead of 50, I got 47.

There he goes, there he goes!

Sorry, man.

I got your bunny.

Its alright.

He was headed back up that fence line.

If I didn█t shoot, we were going to be here a while.

So KC said that we can go over there.

Right next door?

Yeah.

Try to get you a bunny or two.

Oh, good.

Hey, hey, there he goes!

Get ready, Paul!

There you go.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Here he goes!

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

Coming to you, KC.

Yeah.

Nice shot.

That was awesome.

So he ended up under that truck?

Yes.

Ended up underneath the old truck and ran right out here in the open.

Couldn█t get any easier.

Well, I tell you what, we got a lot of fence-line left .

There█s plenty more.

I'll throw it up in the truck.

There you go.

Nice shot.

Thanks.

There it goes.

Moving backwards.

Oh I see it.

Right by KC.

Poor Paul.

One of those days you can't be in the right spot.

But we're going to get him a bunny here in a minute.

Yeah, there's been one in here.

Here he comes!

Checkers.

Dead.

Oh, let go.

Had to shoot pretty quick.

But you know what that's four.

So I got a limit of rabbits today.

Any time you can go out and get a limit of rabbit, that's a heck of a day.

Coming up your side of the bank, right at you.

There you go.

Yeah, I think it's the biggest one today.

Nice job.

Yeah.

Thanks.

We've had some really good runs today.

And for having three people and only two dogs, you know, we probably could have killed a few more rabbits.

And we may get one or two more on the way to the truck.

But this is how the vast majority of people rabbit hunt.

It's a couple of friends, one or two dogs, helping the dogs out a little bit, kicking up some brush and letting the dogs bring the rabbits back by.

That's the rabbit hunting█s all about.

They had some good long runs.

They have.

They have.

I tell what they've done pretty well today.

February is the month that you need to start watching the river gauges, because when the water is right, it's time to catch sauger.

So I guess that's the Frankfort pound, huh?

That's it.

I'll let you lead the way, you know right where you're going.

All right.

So I guess the very first thing you do when you go sauger fishing is you kind of look at how much flow you got and how much weight you're going to need and keep it on the bottom, huh?

Right.

The last year, it's been hard to find a date to get on the river where it's not blown out.

Well with so much rain that we've had.

Yeah.

It really changes from one day to the next.

Most river fishermen know if it's going to be a good day as soon as they lay their eyes on the water.

What are you guys thinking about today?

I like the color and the flow.

All right, good.

I'm gonna start throwing here a little curly tail, a little swim bait, or maybe a paddle tail swim bait on a quarter ounce head and see if I can keep it pegged to the bottom.

Most important thing when sauger fishing is keep your bait on the bottom.

You may go through some lures, but if you ain't on the bottom, not going to be catching fish.

I'm from Bourbon County.

Okay.

Yeah.

So I was raised in a little town North Middletown.

Yeah, we all probably grew up on Stoney Creek.

And then when we came to Frankfort, naturally we came to a bigger body of water.

Whoever catches the first fish doesn't have to buy lunch.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay, So we█re going to starve.

There he is.

Maybe they're moving in.

Nice one too.

Very nice.

Wow, that's a nice one.

That is a nice, nice, that█s sauger too, isn█t it?

Yes, sure is.

Boy, he█s healthy.

That's a nice looking fish.

There was a barge parked here when we first got here.

And when that barge moved, the water conditions kind of changed and it's finally settling back out.

He was close to the bank too so he probably went about maybe 15 foot off.

Look how healthy it is.

Oh, I know.

Now, I'll tell you what.

When it comes to table fare, is there a fish that you'd rather have than that right there?

No, It's hard to beat.

So recently we have changed the rules and regulations on sauger, walleye and hybrids of those species known as Saugeyes.

And the reason it changed is we█re wanting to see more fish this size.

Right now, it's combined.

If you catch Walleye, Sauger or Saugeye, they all go together.

14 inch length limit, six per person.

Man, you get six of that size and you got something.

Wow.

Yeah.

This is a pretty simple bait and fairly inexpensive.

You just got a quarter ounce ball head on there with a little paddle tail swim bait on there.

And you want to keep it simple because you're going to lose some, aren█t you?

You█re gonna lose some.

We'll see how long that fish is.

I'm going to guess that fish is 18 inches.

At least, maybe longer.

Oh, almost 19.

Almost 19 inches.

That's a really, really nice fish.

Someone thinks they want to give this a try.

Obviously, you need a rod that you can make long casts, you can use a medium action rod.

Just about 10lbs test line.

And another important thing is you're looking for areas in the bottom where you got some water current.

But it's a spot they can kind of rest up a little bit.

Yeah, just, just like, for instance, at the edge of that barrier.

Yeah.

It creates a little bit of a eddy.

Yeah.

And that's a great ambush point for these type of fish.

Anyway, it gives them a break and it takes the bait and pulls the bait right to them.

Bait comes right into them, you know.

Now, Mark, you're no stranger to fishing right here around Frankfort in the river, are you?

No, I've been fishing this part of the river and all the river in Frankfort here for all my life, pretty much.

Yeah.

It's just something we always did as a kid.

It's close.

It's convenient.

You never know what you're going to catch.

Got him?

Nice.

There you go.

Looks like a pretty good one.

Oh, my gosh.

Look at Sauger.

Look at that.

Jeez.

And here's what you caught it on right there.

Little, little- bass pro.

Bass pro with a lead head on it.

And man, what a nice fish.

Look how healthy and thick this is.

She's been eating good.

This is a trophy fish.

Oh, definitely.

It's a beautiful fish.

I mean, this is a 28 plus fish.

And you've already got a near 19 inch fish in there.

Right.

This is two fish makes a mess.

Man they█re strong, aren█t they?

We█re right at 20 inches on this So it's about an inch longer than your last one.

Come down here and catch one or two of those and you've got yourself a mess of fish.

It makes it worthwhile.

We talked about fishing out here off the bank.

You know, a lot of people would think, well, there's no chance you're going to catch such a trophy fish off the bank.

I'm sitting right here in downtown Frankfort.

It's not like we've traveled to a deep extreme somewhere where there's no pressure.

About two miles from my house.

Two miles from your house, come out here and you catch a beautiful, beautiful fish like this.

Look at that.

Wow.

And Bill, you said it perfectly.

If you're a person that you got an hour or two after work and you don't want to mess with dealing with your boat.

Yeah.

You can still run down here and run on the edge of the bank and make a couple of casts.

You never know what you█re going to get.

This is what's here.

Yeah, yeah.

I'll tell you what.

I think our day is going to get cut short.

I believe it's going to start raining.

But, you know, considering we just came down here to spend some time, catch some trophy fish like this, it don't get any better, does it?

No, no, no.

Out of all the fish species we have, game fish species we have in the state, these, in my opinion, are some of the most beautiful.

They've got that real distinctive, real flat nose, and they get in these areas and they can cut the water.

I really appreciate you guys having us out.

Who would have thought?

Right here in downtown Frankfort, you can down and catch a couple of trophy fish.

A good kept secret, but I believe it's going to get out now.

You know what?

You you got two really nice ones today.

And you know what?

I'll be back.

Saturday.

Thank you.

Hopefully, we'll have to get out and do something, do something else some time.

Any time.

Well, I appreciate it.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you, Bill, for asking to come with you.

The eagle population here in the state of Kentucky is surging.

And how do we know that?

Well, that's an interesting story in itself.

Well, I hope the weather holds.

Yup.

Weather looks good for today, its going to be a great day to go look for eagles.

So I'm here with Kate Slankard, avian biologist.

We've had you on the show several times, but today it's about bald eagles.

Tell me a little bit about what we did today.

We just completed our helicopter survey for bald eagles.

This is a really efficient way for us to look for eagle nests.

And we fly most of the western part of the state where our eagle nests are most dense and basically have our annual count that way.

The annual count.

What are you counting?

You're counting not birds, but actual nest sites, right?

Right.

We're looking for active nests.

And so a nest is active if it has adult eagles at it.

And we basically look at the locations that we knew eagle's nested the year before.

And while we're out doing that, we're looking for new locations as well.

All right.

Clear right, Clear left.

Ready to start, everybody ready?

Ready.

OK here we go.

So how are the eagles doing in the state of Kentucky?

They're doing great.

In 1986, we had our first nest.

There was many, many years where we didn't have any eagles nesting in Kentucky.

And then about when I started my job in 2007, we had 50 or so nests and last year we counted 176 nests statewide.

They're doing really good.

Wow.

All right almost five miles up there so we█re doing good.

Yeah.

I get phone calls from people and they say, Do you know we have bald eagles in Kentucky?

And I say, Well, yeah, look up more often.

If you're out on the water, you can see bald eagles quite easily nowadays.

So you probably still want an individual if they have a piece of property or they come by bald eagles nest and they're sure, hey, that's a bald eagles nest.

You probably still want them to call you and let you know.

Yeah, we still keep track of each nest statewide, and sometimes folks get afraid to call us and let us know they have an eagle nest.

They feel like we're going to come shut their farm down or something like that.

You know, nowadays it's really not a big deal to have an eagle nest on your property.

The birds do fine with activities that were going on before they were there.

We're not going to stop you from plant in your corn or things like that.

And so don't be afraid to call us and let us know if you have an eagle nest so we can monitor it.

We're over Elkhorn Creek looking for an eagle nest somebody called in.

This would be a new one to know of one up the river a little ways, but we think the birds may have moved over here.

And this is a great time of year to do it because the canopy is not filled in on the trees yet.

You can really see down and this is the time they have their eggs, correct?

Right.

Yeah.

We plan it before the leaves are on the trees.

Easier to see the nest that way.

And most of their birds are sitting on eggs right now.

You're not counting eggs or eaglets.

It's all about active nests.

And you know about how many eggs are going to be produced and how many will actually make it to adulthood.

Right?

Usually eagles will lay 1 to 3 eggs and their nesting season starts usually in February and the chicks will fledge in May or June.

So what type of food source do the eagles predominantly use?

They eat mostly fish, but they'll also eat waterfowl, roadkill, rabbits, turtles, anything they can get their talons on.

But they mostly nest close to water because fish are a big food source for them.

I see a nest out here.

It doesn't quite look big enough for an eagle nest but...

Okay, got it, about 10:30.

So either eagles have started building a nest here or that may be a hawk nest.

But let's grab a coordinate for it.

Okay.

We take coordinates for each nest and we keep a database.

And so that way we can keep an eye on them from year to year and see how they're doing.

We mark them from the helicopter so we can get exact coordinates.

But if you see a bald eagle, don't necessarily need to call the department anymore.

Right.

There's enough bald eagles that you get calls every day, I'm guessing saying, hey, I saw a bald eagle.

Yeah, we have the fortunate problem where there's just too many birds to keep track of anymore.

And so we do not keep track of just where an eagle is seen.

And we really only need to be called if you find a nest.

Most of the time eagles will use the same nest year after year.

And a lot of times will be sitting in the same nest.

But that nest got blown out in a storm or something like that then we look for a new one.

Sometimes we'll just spot nests in between points too.

So I'm always looking.

The bald eagle at one point in time was endangered.

Right.

And it studies like this that actually took the bald eagle off the endangered list.

Right.

Because we know we have a thriving population.

Exactly.

And so we're monitoring them to make sure that they aren't going to become endangered again.

This is part of the post de-listing, endangered species monitoring.

And then also because they're such a good indicator of environmental quality.

So, for instance, bald eagles declined in the past because DDT was an issue.

And this way when we keep track of nest numbers, we can make sure there's not another issue like that out in the environment.

Okay.

It's right out the left window.

That big sycamore tree that's got a bird on it looks like it's sitting on eggs.

Pretty good sized nest.

Not as big as some of them we see.

This is one of several we have on the Kentucky River.

She's got plenty of room in that nest for chicks.

Eagle chicks are big.

So that's why the nest have to be so big.

Chicks need room to grow up.

The nest is made of sticks.

The inside of the nest is oftentimes grass, straw.

Sometimes they█ll even pick up things like old corncobs and shucks out of the fields.

Anything soft for bedding for the chicks.

Okay, so she's incubating.

I say she but actually it could be a he, both male and female bald eagles will incubate.

Female does a little bit more incubation than the male, though.

So what we're looking for is the behavior in the bird, this bird sitting really tight to the eggs.

The eggs would have hatched.

And if there are small chicks there, the bird would be sitting up a little bit more and often putting its head down to feed the young.

So birds clearly sitting on eggs still probably lay these eggs in February, maybe early March.

That's a pretty typical timeline for central Kentucky.

So long term prognosis for bald eagles.

I'm assuming they're just going to continue to grow, right?

Yeah, they're going to continue to do well, hopefully.

And, you know, at some point we might find that we've kind of hit a carrying capacity or as many eagles as we can fit in the state.

But I don't think we're close to that.

I think we've got plenty of room for growth still.

Well as an avian biologist that gets to work with birds of prey and especially eagles.

You may have the coolest job in the state.

I think so.

Well, thanks for everything you do.

Thanks for having me.

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 seven year old Avery Cantrell.

Here she is with her very first squirrel taken in Harrison County.

Congratulations.

Check out this bobcat that was taken by Matt Lauer.

He called in this nice female bobcat and shot her at 25 yards with a shotgun.

Here we have the beagle named Copper that retrieved the rabbit for the hunter, Toby Meredith on a recent hunt in Nelson County.

Nice job.

Here we have Jeremy Gillam and Mark Minix trying to keep the Predator population in check here in the state of Kentucky.

Nice job.

Navya Allen had a great day in the field in Henry County chasing bunnies.

Congratulations.

Gage Hales Tabb has been out catching these pre spawn crappies.

Here he is pictured with a perfect example of a black crappie on the left and a white crappie on the right.

Nice job.

Here we have Caden Southerland, who went raccoon hunting at the falls of the Rough.

Nice job.

Here we have Emmylou with her very first deer.

A nice buck.

That was taken in Nelson County during the Free Youth Weekend.

This buck scored over 140 inches.

Nice job.

Looking for a reason to get outdoors.

Our squirrel season stays in till the end of the month and our fins lakes are currently being stocked.

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.