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 jump in a kayak in search of trophy largemouth bass.

Then we're going to welcome the bird dogs to town as the UFTA nationals head to Kentucky.

But first, we're headed to the mountains of eastern Kentucky for an elk firearm hunt.

Hey, my name's Travis Stevens from Richmond, Kentucky.

I drew a cow firearm tag for week two.

We're out here in Bell County.

We█re on the Middlesboro tract.

I'm really excited I got drawn to hunt this piece of land.

It's over 30,000 acres, which, from what I was researching, is one of the larger tracts that you can hunt on.

It's a WMA, it's an old reclaimed coal mine, and we're doing a spot and stalk style hunt, which is a style I've never done before.

But we decided to do a DIY hunt with no guides, and we█re going to be camping out here in these mountains for the next few days.

I've come out here a couple of times to scout, which is something that I've never done.

I█ve deer hunted for several years.

This is new to me, so I'm really excited.

Been watching a lot of YouTube and getting excited for this hunt.

Elk.

At the very top.

At the clearing, right at the edge of the tree.

Yeah.

I think we spotted some elk.

We're going to go take a look.

We saw five elk on top of this ridgeline here.

Came down.

Tried to get a good shot.

And I spooked them or they just took off into the timber on the other side.

So we're going to hike around this bend here, try to catch them on the other side.

When we came to scout, we were an ATV and we saw one on the road and we thought it like went up the hill.

We just kind of eased on toward it, just kept trottin█ and trottin█.

It was crazy.

It was so big, you know, so much bigger than the deer.

It's neat.

I hope we see one again.

They bedded down somewhere.

This morning we saw several elk right here on this hillside then the fog rolled in.

I think they spooked or something.

So we're getting ready to go back out to the same spot.

We've been hunting all day, kind of hiking around the other side of this ridge.

But we're hopeful that they'll be here when we get back tonight.

All right.

Let's just sit right here.

We've got my buddy Tyler behind us glassing this ridge back this way, and then we're looking at this up here, toward this ridge, its where we saw them this morning.

We're hoping they█d come back out.

Hey, I think I see something over here, I'm gonna get up and just see if I can see something.

We got Travis checking out a hillside right here where he thought he saw some movement, then we've got a nice little ridge and a bowl that we're glassing over where we saw some elk earlier.

So hopefully between these two viewpoints, we can find something.

Fun first day.

We hiked around a lot and we tried our best.

Couldn't find them tonight, but we're going to go back to camp, get a good night's rest and hit it again tomorrow.

See if they're back.

Lord help us to have a successful hunt today.

Help us to harvest an elk and to feed many people with it.

Thank you for our fellowship, and no matter thank you that we got to have this time together.

So fun.

You say in your word that when two or more are gathered, you're there also.

So would you be with us today?

Just help us to glorify you and all that we do.

Including this hunt.

Pray this in Christ█s name, amen.

Going around here, like walk this whole thing around to where we were yesterday morning.

There's Elk over there.

There█s two or three.

There's a whole herd right there, right beside where we started yesterday.

They're walking along that top road.

They█re on that far, far ridge.

All right.

Let's go.

So this morning, we left our campsite.

We kind of made one big loop around that ridge that we'd started on.

Well this morning, we came and they are right where we began yesterday, where we originally spotted them.

And now we're trying to hike in and get a close shot.

I think it's too far to shoot.

You can't make the shot from here.

No, It's way too far.

All right.

We got to keep going.

All right.

They've crossed over that hill.

We got to go now.

Let's go.

There's some of them even closer right there.

All right.

The one on the left.

You hit, you hit one.

You hit one.

It's about to go down.

It just bedded down.

It's falling.

Did it take off?

It█s down.

It's down, Travis.

Oh, my God.

That was awesome.

I got my first elk.

Yes sir!

Oh.

Oh, my gosh.

Yes, sir.

That was awesome.

It's down.

Oh, my gosh.

Good shot.

Good job.

That's the herd, baby.

Look at them.

There's a bunch of them.

We found him.

Are you sure it█s down?

Are you sure it█s down?

We got to get closer.

I got to make sure that it█s down.

Oh, look at that.

Oh, my goodness.

Look how big.

Oh, look how big it is.

Oh, my gosh, that's awesome.

Look how huge.

Oh, my goodness.

Woo!

Cow, late season, baby.

Wow, that was awesome.

Oh, look at those mountains.

Awesome.

Wow.

This thing is so much bigger than a deer.

I mean, that thing is so big, and they're beautiful.

Look at this fur.

This is amazing.

I mean, this is just amazing.

You kidding me right now?

Look how big it is.

I know.

Look at that shot.

Get you some.

That's awesome.

That's bigger than I imagined.

Daniel, can you believe that?

Born here in Kentucky came down from Richmond to do this hunt.

We camped out here.

We got up in the morning and we just kind of walked around this edge and we saw these elk on this hillside.

So we took off after them.

And we we were like, so- man, we made it up here.

I got a long shot and I just can't believe it.

Got a good shot here.

Yeah.

My dad's old gun came through for me and got a cow elk.

Congrats.

Yeah man, it█s beautiful.

Good work.

Man, you guys helped so much.

It's such a privilege to get out here and do this this morning with these guys.

So thankful for my friends coming out here.

This is a team effort.

Uh, gosh, thankful we get to do this here in these pretty mountains here in eastern Kentucky.

Man, what a great experience.

Kayak fishing is for more than just the summer.

It can be a great way to get out and target largemouth bass even in the wintertime.

One of the questions I get all the time is “what's your favorite type of fishing to do?” I'm very fortunate that I get to do a lot of different styles of fishing, but today this is probably my favorite and that is bass fishing in the late winter / early spring, for bass.

This is the best time of year to go out and catch a really good fish.

So what type of conditions are you looking for?

I look for two or three days of fairly stable, warm weather.

The first two or three days that we get.

That's when the bass come from their winter hideouts in the deeper water, and they move up into the shallower flats, looking to feed and looking for a place to nest.

This is a really good time to catch a big fish.

If I can find a body of water, a pond or a small lake that doesn't get a ton of pressure, these are the perfect locations to catch big largemouth bass late in the winter, early in the spring.

Type of lures I like to use.

I like to start out fishing spinner baits, chatter baits, things like that.

Rattle traps.

A lot of vibration.

We're trying to create a lot of commotion.

Bigger lures.

If that doesn't work, then I'll start moving into a slower presentation.

Jerk baits.

They work really, really, really well.

Or bigger soft plastics like Senkos or maybe a brush hog or something like that that I can move at a slower pace.

I fished this place one time before.

I caught a really big fish.

Oh, my goodness.

Oh, my goodness.

Seven pounds, six ounces.

Let's get the boats out and let's try to see if we can't catch a nice largemouth bass today.

I'm so incredibly excited.

I'll tell you what, I don't think you can beat starting off with a chatter bait in these conditions.

It's a pearl white color.

It's going to create a lot of vibrations in this stained water and I can move it really, really, really slow in and around cover.

Here we go.

What do we got here?

This thing hit the second that bait hit the water.

Oh, it's a big fish.

It's a good one.

It's a... this is a four or five pounder.

Oh, man.

Look at that.

Early March.

And this fish is plum full of eggs.

Oh, my goodness.

That thing was sitting in about less than a foot of water.

And it hit that chatter bait as soon as it made contact with the water.

This is probably pushing four pound fish.

I do have a scale.

Might want to weigh it.

See what we got.

Four pounds, one ounce because of that big fat belly.

Let's get it back in.

Turn it loose.

All right.

I'm going to pick up and move about another 30 feet.

We're going to kind of do that all the way down this bank.

Here we go.

Small fish.

I█ll tell you what a little bitty fish there.

I've got this small spinner bait, and it's in a gold, which is really good in stained color.

I never throw a spinner bait on a spinning reel, but I'm doing this today mainly because it's a very light spinner bait.

So it's working pretty well with this lighter line here.

So that's the reason I'm throwing a spinner bait on a spinning reel.

Here█s one.

Tell you what, these are fun to catch.

It█s amazing a body of water that's got so many fish in it, they█re really spread out.

All the small fish are down here where the wind is blowing in this shallow flat.

And it seems like the two really good bites I had were back that way.

So I'm going to sit down here and play around with these little more, try to catch a big fish down here, but if I don█t have any luck we█ll go back down there and fish that bank and try to pick up a big, pre-spawner.

Another ten inch large mouth.

Man it is amazing how they are choking that spinner bait down to be such a little fish.

I mean, when they hit it, it's gone.

Better watch out, buddy.

There's bass in here that█ll eat you.

Here we go.

Feels like that other fish.

Man they're stacked in here.

There's a little deeper water.

And it actually might be the creek channel that comes through here.

And these fish are sitting right in that deeper water, right on the edge.

Everything around them is stick ups in less than a foot deep.

Let's get this one back and make a move for some big ones.

There we go.

Oh man, not a big fish like I was hoping for, but it's in the big fish territory.

This bank right here has produced some really nice fish.

So I was hoping when I felt that strike, it was going to be a giant.

It's about four years away from that.

Or longer.

But hey, I'll take it.

Well, I didn't get my trophy today, but you'll never hear me complain about a day on the water where you catch a four pound plus fish.

And we did have one fish over four pounds.

Caught several other fish, had a great time.

And hey, we've got a lot of fishing left all Spring and spawn to go.

I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time this year on the water.

People who train dogs know that it's a lot of work.

For all the individuals that are headed here to Kentucky for the UFTA nationals., this is where it all comes together.

Where do you go if you want to see over 150 of the nation's best pointing bird dogs?

Well, in this situation, we don█t have to go anywhere.

They actually came to us.

We're here today at the Cedar Creek Quail Club for the UFTA nationals.

Today is the open division so this is the best of the best.

So what we're watching here today It's a timed event with a dog and a handler who also is carrying a shotgun.

And there's three different zones and there's a bird that's going to be placed, a lot of quail, in each of those zones.

The dog has to come up and find the bird and point.

They walk up to it, flush the bird.

If the bird is shot, The handler has to stand still until it's retrieved and repeat the process.

After you've secured all three of your birds, that's when your time stops.

You want to make sure you hunt clean, shoot clean, and you want your dog to point that bird as fast as you possibly can and retrieve it back to your hand as quickly as possible.

I'm here with Kyle.

You're about ready to take your dog out into the field here.

Yes, sir.

What dog you running today?

His name█s Rip, he's a two year old little Britney spaniel.

Should do good today, we'll see what happens.

I like his odds.

What type of time are you expecting?

I hope two or three.

So how do you like to run dogs in Kentucky?

I like it.

I work at a preserve every day, guide for a living and tarpon fish in the summertime.

But I'll tell you what, Kentucky is a beautiful place.

We love when they have the Nationals up here.

So I tell you what, tell me a little bit about what it takes to win this.

I mean, I know it obviously take a really good dog.

That█s right.

It takes shooting clean, right?

That█s right.

And it takes a little bit of luck.

It does.

It does.

And the luck comes in when you're watching these fields.

If you can get a safety bird up front that's going to help you where you don't have to cover the whole field, well, good luck.

Thank you.

We hope you get it time better than you expect.

I think so, we'll see.

Good luck.

here.

Let's go.

Whoa, whoa.

Here, here, here, here.

Let's go.

Whoa, whoa.

Gun█s clear.

Rip, here, here, here, here.

Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, Let's go.

Here, here, here, here, here.

Time.

That█s what I'm talking about, son.

Yeah!

Ah, we had a four.

We get to play more tomorrow.

It█s fast.

I'm out of breath.

Front and back, four.

That's about as good as we're going to do today in this mud.

Happy with him though.

Pretty good for a two year old.

So I'm here with President Brett Biel of the UFTA.

How are you doing?

Oh doing good.

Pretty day.

Getting more ready to run.

UFTA, tell me what that stands for for those that don't know.

United Field Trialers Association.

This is your second year in Kentucky in a row?

Second.

Yeah.

It█s actually our third year of having nationals, my second year of being the president.

All right.

How do you like coming to Kentucky?

Oh, we love it.

It's a good central location.

We have people come from all over.

I'm from Alabama.

You█ve got a lot of good, strong clubs here in Kentucky.

Cedar Creek is a strong club, got great members.

They got facilities.

It's just a great place to come to, as you can see.

Look at some of these fields, the venue that you can oversee the fields and watch, and that, your know, allows people to learn how to play the game and just enjoy watching dogs run.

Hey, Joey, I've been out here and spoke to you before here at Cedar Creek Quail Club.

Man, what a big event you guys have going on here today.

Huge.

A lot of dogs, a lot of folks.

Probably 15 states, just a lot of friends, hunting dogs.

The great thing about this venue is that it's rolling hills and you can stand up and kind of watch all the action as a spectator.

Yes, it's a great place to actually be able to stand and watch all the fields.

You get to watch the dogs work, which is what we all love to do, to be able to see what those dogs have been trained to do throughout the year or years to get to this point.

This is a huge event.

It's not just your average dog here.

How much time and effort have you guys taken to get these fields and get everything set up?

We've actually been preparing for this for the last year, but true efforts it's probably since July.

So six months, a lot of hours, a lot of help, a lot of members.

But we pull it off every year, so.

Well, you've done a great job.

I can't tell you how much I just appreciate the habitat and all the camaraderie out here with hunting dogs.

It doesn't get any better than that.

No, better than that.

That's for sure.

Thank you.

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 Jack Roberts, who's proudly showing off the catfish that he caught at his papa's farm pond.

Nice job.

Check out this beautiful 11 point buck that was taken by Rob Duncan.

This buck was taken in Mason County, Kentucky.

Nice job.

Here we have Mikayla Ashley, who said she finally took her first buck at the age of 26.

This year was taken in Wayne County.

Congratulations.

Check out this beautiful rainbow trout that was over 20in long that was caught by Beth Maynard.

This fish was taken at Wolf Creek Dam.

Nice job.

Check out this beautiful smallmouth bass that was caught at Dale Hollow Lake by Brant Pomeroy.

This fish weighed 4 pounds, seven ounces.

Nice job.

Kenny Bailey went fishing at Painesville Lake and caught this nice hybrid striped bass.

Congratulations.

Check out this nice nine point buck that was taken by John Henry.

This buck was taken in Henry County during the modern farm season.

Nice deer.

Check out these two young fellows, Jesse and Ehsan, for they went out and set trap lines and caught this bobcat in a foothold trap while trapping Christmas break in Hardin County.

Nice job.

Here we have Nick Santoro with his first black bear.

This bear was taken in Belle County, Kentucky.

Nice job.

Jeff Caldwell went crappie fishing on Lake Barkley and caught this nice crappie.

Congratulations.

Morgan Cowherd caught his first beaver on a trap line in Greene County.

Nice job.

Check out this giant buck that was taken by Nolan White.

This deer was taken in Grant County, Kentucky.

Nice job.

Here we have Garrett Powell with his first snow goose.

This bird was taken in Henderson County.

Nice job.

The new year has brought with it snow and cold weather, but there are still plenty of opportunities to get outdoors.

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.