This week on Kentucky Afield.

We're wrapping up 2022 by looking back on a few of our favorite segments from the year the was.

It's all next on Kentucky Afield.

Hello and welcome to Kentucky Afield.

I'm your host, Chad Miles.

Join us as we journey to the Commonwealth in search of outdoor adventure.

2022 is coming to an end.

Now it's time to look back at some of the segments that we've enjoyed bringing to you the most, including a fishing segment from Rough River Lake.

We're out here on beautiful Rough River Lake.

This May morning, I'm here with good friend Billy Parish.

Billy you were down here a week or so ago.

You were actually fishing for a bass tournament using the Garmin panoptics.

And you located something not exactly largemouth bass, huh?

Well, me and a friend of mine were pre-fishing for a bass tournament.

And we saw some shad flipping on top of the water, so we thought maybe.

Maybe those are large mouth.

You know, they're kind of pushing the shad.

So I took the boat over there to it, and I could see him on my panoptics.

I took a little rattletrap out, you know, and came through and caught a striped hybrid stripe about 17, 18 inches long.

I tell you what, when you start catching those hybrids on a moving bait through the water like that, it's hard to leave them in.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

We forgot all about pre-fishing.

I tell you what, I absolutely love fishing for the white bass hybrid stripers, whatever they are.

So today we're fun fishing.

Show me how you're doing this.

I can't wait to get that first hybrid stretch in my line.

We're going to hopefully locate some bait balls, find some fish, and hopefully put them in the boat.

Well, let's let's go see if we can do it.

All right, let's go.

Either somebody is throwing something in over there by that dock in the water or I've seen two blowups.

Where at?

Right.

Right.

That way.

I've seen, too.

Just like way over there all the way to that bank.

I mean, because there is like two blowups right by that dock Start out this big rattletrap that could be stripes right here.

The direction is I know, based on that arrow right there, and it says they're about 30 feet in.

We see them right here.

So that should put us kind of out in that area right Look at that.

He's going after all.

He hit it.

I hit it again.

Yeah.

Okay, here we go.

Getting.

Yeah.

Yeah, he got a real good one.

That's a good one.

Here.

This is what you come to Rough River for right here.

Hybrid bass.

Now, when they stock these, they're really, really small.

And they look kind of like a white bass.

This is a hybrid between a striper and a white bass.

You'll see there's two teeth pads right here on the tongue.

And that's one of the ways you can tell the difference between this and a white bass.

Also, if you look how the lines come down and on a white bass, you'll have one distinct line on these.

You're going to have multiple look at the side.

You got one, two, three, at least four now on these fish, there is no size limit.

You're allowed 15, but only five of which can be over 15 inches long.

This one's almost 20 inches long.

Nice fish There's some right there chasing bait fish.

There he is, he got it.. Yeah he got it.

Now, that's a good one.

What do you think you got this time.

Oh, that's a good gosh.

Yeah.

Look, look, you got one, too.

I saw.

I saw a fish hit it on that graph.

Well, you could tell they were pretty good sized ones on the graph wow I got a tank right here, man.

Look it here.

This one here is probably five pounder.

What you got One that big?

bigger than the last one.

That's a good fish here.

Here we go.

Need the net?

I got him.

Look at that.

What a nice, nice fish.

Hey, we doubled up right there with two.

Really, really, really good fish.

We saw them on the panoptics, right.

I could tell they were bigger than the other ones we've been seeing right out there.

You said you hit it, and I took two cranks to kind of get out your way.

Picked it up.

Wham!

He hit, man.

I just felt a tick.

And then I dropped it.

Was letting it sink, and boom, he nailed it.

That's.

That's so much fun.

I think we got a pretty good one here.

Here we go.

You get em'?

Look how that thing's got me bent over, and this isn't as big as the last couple we've caught but it's still.

Look at that, Rod.

That's why I like doing this on a spinning rod.

Yeah, so that's a pretty good one, though.

Yeah.

I'll tell you, the cool thing is, too, there's some of these fish are actually tagged here when I get this fish, and I'll show you where the tag would be.

And then.

Oh, yeah, I got a pretty good one over here, Chad.

They're such hard, hard fighting fish.

Yeah, I don't see either one of these are not tagged.

Where would it be?

It would be right there.

Yeah, it'd be a piece.

It runs in, and it would have a metal piece and it'd be a tag on it.

So they put that in there when they're real small.

Yeah.

And then they'll have it'll have a tag number for a fish number as well as a number that you called a reported it.

And then you need to take that information down, then release the fish and, you know, be very much appreciate it cause we're doing a study to talk about what the mortality rate is, how far they're moving.

It'll produce additional information that hopefully will make them easier to catch He just hit your bait.

Yeah, he did.

He did.

I'll say, I don't know why you're not real in that.

Like, Oh, my, yeah, I'm going to need a net.

That fish is probably over 20.

I tell you what, there's not many under 15 today, is there?

You snagged him in the back.

This fish did not bite my lure I literally just accidentally snagged this fish.

So nice fish.

Glad to have it.

It's got to go back.

Well Billy, Seriously.

It doesn't get much more fun than that.

I've had a blast.

Unless you can go find smaller fish.

We got to be done for the day.

It's 11:00.

We're.

We're limited out.

It didn't take long did it?

But, you know, here's the thing.

When you got five each fish this size, if you're going to keep some put some fish in the frigerator, it doesn't get any better than this right here.

And why be greedy if we catch any more today, even if they are under?

When I know that in a year or two the fish can be this quality.

There's really no reason for us at this point in time to want to keep a smaller fish.

Right?

I agree.

I say we try to catch a couple more, turn them loose.

We'll take these back and get them.

Get them ready.

I know what I'm having for dinner.

That was good.

Hey, thank you so much for for bringing me out here and showing me how you use this panoptics to catch open water fish and you can keep your bait right on top of fish on the open water and come out and catch fish like this, it doesn't get any better It's a lot of fun isn't it?

On spinning tackle?

What are you talking about, yeah.

Good job, man.

Now let's head to far western Kentucky, where we█ll be sitting on the edge of a swamp in a hunting blind, waiting for wood ducks.

Well, today we're in Ballard County right here on the bank of a swamp.

Get ready to do something that's super cool.

We've done this one other time years ago in a different county.

What are we getting ready to do today?

So we're getting ready to try to use a rocket net to trap some wood ducks, trapping wood ducks.

And a couple of reasons why we do this, but it takes some prep work, so we kind of show up for all the fun.

You guys have actually been working for a couple of weeks to prep this site and get it just right.

You know, it starts actually in mid-summer.

We come in here and all the vegetation gets sprayed and we try to clean this out as well as possible cause any sticks or herbaceous vegetation binds are nets.

So whenever it goes off, it causes issues.

You know, some of the original prep work is putting up cameras, getting ducks on bait getting them used to the site, and then slowly but surely adding them and they that and then blinds getting them more acclimated for today when we're going to actually shoot the net and try to band some ducks.

So you've been baiting these ducks and you're talking about like hundreds of pounds of what?

wheat as well.

We've been using yeah.

so the ducks kind of come in and they find it and then they start gaining in numbers and hopefully we get a chance to fire these rockets.

Yep.

So wildlife biologist also need to be bomb technicians as well.

And these are going to get a charge in them of what is it, gunpowder?

It is.

It's the type of munitions that were able to get through us fish.

We have a stockpile of those for being able to band well into the future right now.

So and the idea is to get the data that you want, get these banded and get them turned loose pretty quickly, right?

Absolutely.

Looking at whether the last few days I've been looking at temperatures we have in the past been able to band in the afternoons, but it takes a little bit more prep work to make sure the ducks are cool, to make sure they're not overheating and that we're getting them out of the net and separating them so that they're not getting physically exhausted.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Ah, we're all set.

Let's get in the ground blind and wait on the ducks.

All right.

Sounds good.

Just now, coming up on the bank.

So we're just waiting on the ducks to get on bait.

Hopefully we█ll be able to shoot the net here pretty soon.

There are tons of ducks right by us right here, right now.

Oh, yeah.

They're flying in and literally landing 15 feet from the shoreline.

They tend to get their stage up.

And then they'll cross the bay.

You'll see.

Once one of them gets on bait then they'll all go to bite.

These ducks have more discipline than me.

If I was sitting that close to a meal I'd have a rough time.

Holding off as they lose confidence, kind got fly back out in the water.

They're a little wary.

They're kind of testing the waters if you will.

They're all congregating on the bank again, just like before.

I can't tell how many are out there probably 50 or 60.

They're crossing the net once they cross the net you█ll start seeing them run to bait and then the others will pick up and run to bait behind It's really neat to watch.

I've seen them do that 4 to 5 times before we was actually able to shoot the net so they're already coming back over the net again.

There's still birds all by itself.

They're not going to go on up to bait.

I wanna go and shoot it.

3...2...1...every single time that thing goes off, Every single time that thing goes off, you know it's going to happen.

It still shocks the fire out of you.

So it's a mad dash to try to get these birds out of the net.

We want to try to do as little damage to the bird as you possibly can.

That's a female.

Female looks like a female We're going to go in the male cage.

So now they've got all the birds sorted into male versus female.

We're going to take these cages back to the truck where they got all the bands.

From that point, they'll start sorting them out banding them, recording the data and then turn them loose.

We will run male birds through one side and female birds through the other.

We'll have whoever's getting the birds out.

They'll check to make sure that it is a male that was put inside of the cage, that it was in.

You got the bar shaped wide on the end of the speculum.

That indicates a male most of the time in a female, that white part will be teardrop shaped.

These guys have been doing it for years and they're able to spot some of the adult birds.

That's really what we're looking for mostly is adult females.

Yeah, yeah.

I won't call that an adult.

What is the wood duck population in Kentucky like right now?

It's very stable.

That's the whole reason that we're doing this banding is to be able to see the numbers year after year if that recapture data and be able to match these birds and where they're going and how they spend their winters.

This is a conservation aspect.

If you want to duck hunt , the department has to have this project going forward for early wood duck season.

And I think the department is pretty well committed to it.

I know that our sportsmen and women here in the state of Kentucky that do duck hunt, enjoy that early duck season.

Tell me some areas that would be good forwood duck hunting of obviously right here.

A boat, right.

Is a good location.

Yeah.

So I mean, there's a lot of WMA█s across the state that have options to be able to wood duck on even in the eastern part of the state, some of the rivers and lakes, there's a good number of wood ducks that are there.

Last bird, look at that.

Brand new hardware on there turn it loose.

Ready?

Well, I tell you what, coming down here and doing this is always a lot of fun.

And I don't know how else you get this up and close and personal with wood ducks or other forms of wildlife literally in your hands.

Thank you so much for that, it█s been a blast.

Last cow elk season, we caught up with a couple of good buddies that headed east for a cow elk hunt that turned out to be an adventure of a lifetime.

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 on 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.

It just kept trottin█ and trottin█.

It was crazy.

It was so big, you know, so much bigger than a 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.

From all of us here at Kentucky Afield, we'd love to wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy holidays.

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.