Hello and welcome to Kentucky Afield.

I'm your host, Chad Miles.

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

February.

Weather can be unpredictable, but there are still a lot of great things to do outdoors.

Like check the stocking schedule for rainbow trout throughout the state of Kentucky, or pick a nice warm evening to listen to the mating calls of a woodcock.

But first up, we're headed out to see how we did on our last rabbit hunt of the season.

We aint even got our guns loaded and we already got a rabbit going here.

Come on, come on, come on, come on.

Come here Josie.

Come here Checkers.

Come on.

Well, today we're in Henry County for a real late season rabbit hunt.

You know, 2025 started out with a deep freeze.

Made it hard to get out and run rabbits.

But now we've got a couple days left in the season.

I'm out here with a couple of good buddies.

We're going to get these dogs going.

And this is a piece of property we█ve hunted quite a bit.

It always produces rabbits.

Right here.

Oh, that was kind of on... Coming your way!

That was a little bit too easy, and on the jump.

So, I elected to not shoot that rabbit, you know.

We just got out and got started and, wanted to get the dogs a little bit excited.

Does not get any better than that.

I could have opened my pocket and put that one in without even taking a shot I believe.

He was going towards the pond dam and cut down here by this little ditch, and then ran straight up there towards that barn.

Probably right to the sinkhole.

Probably right to the sinkhole.

Oh, may be going to Curtis.

All right.

Perfect.

Nice cottontail.

Come on.

Hunt in here.

Hunt in here.

Let's go.

Hunt them up.

Hunt them up.

That's a deer bed, is what that is.

A deer has bedded right there and that's what melted that snow.

There's deer droppings all over in here.

They're back on it.

Well, that's the rabbit that they, jumped up there and ran a while ago.

He got out in front of them, and he had slowed down, just stopped, and was kind of waiting for the dogs to catch up.

But he didn't realize that stopped right in front of me.

All right, well, got one down.

Hey, hey, look, look, look.

Come here Checkers.

Dead.

Dead.

Good.

Good girl, good girl Josie.

Good girl Josie.

Come here Checkers.

I have no idea where this rabbit is at.

Kept acting like they wanted to go down here.

You get it?

Yeah.

Hey, I know you've got some...

This is your family property.

You got some experience hunting here.

There's a sinkhole right there.

The first one got their on us.

Yep, yep.

This one was headed that way.

So you said, you know what fellas, we've seen this happen before.

Let's go over here and just guard this sinkhole.

Time to get to the sinkhole.

They push it in there and of course, this is frozen.

And they kind of lost track of it for a second.

A few seconds later, as I'm watching the dogs trying to pick the scent trail back up you got a shot.

So, nice.

They pushed him right out.

Appreciate it.

Nice job.

You got a vest?

I don't, no.

Well here's the good thing.

Yep.

There's the truck.

Matter of fact, I'll tell you what.

If you're headed that way why don't you do me a favor.

Take that one too.

Got two of them there.

No need to carry them that close to the truck.

They're in a different area of that thicket now.

They've been working this hill.

Now they're over there.

They may run one right to Paul.

Another rabbit down.

There we go.

A good spot right down here.

I hope they can round one up.

Man, that's a big rabbit.

He was going right back to that hole again.

Coming to the hole?

Yep.

We heard a shot I come around the corner and were you standing up on that big hill?

Yeah.

Close to it.

Yep.

And I saw you get another shot.

So that's a big one.

Yeah, that's the big momma jamma right there.

That's a meal for a man.

Heck yeah.

Come on.

Bring them back around here.

Right here.. Get it?

Yeah.

Amazing how many rabbits are over here.

Here he comes.

Well, dogs ran him across and was bringing him back.

Took two shots, but got him down.

Come on, come on, come on.

I can't tell you how much I enjoy small game hunting, especially with dogs and friends.

When you can put that whole combination together.

For me, deer hunting is fun, turkey hunting is fun.

But getting out here hunting with dogs, getting plenty of shots, being out with some buddies, it doesn█t get any better than this.

And rabbits are great to eat too.

Happened fast again.

Frankie barked on that rabbit.

But I never saw it until it was behind me.

And, it shot right down this fence line.

Luckily, that happened to be right where K.C.

was standing, so I think he got it.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

There you go.

There you go.

You get him?

Yeah.

Nice job.

There's definitely one more.

And I think they said two more coming to us.

Brought him right to me.

Great dogs.

Coming up.

This is a tough rabbit.

You get him?

It█s always the second shot.

Yeah.

Nice.

Good spot.

Oh, here he is right here.

He squirted through here, and I only had a split second to make a shot.

I'll tell you what.

It was a good time.

And you know what?

There's a whole lot of different ways we can prepare these.

Everybody's gonna get plenty of rabbits, stock the freezer full because it's going to be a long time before we can get fresh rabbits.

Exactly.

Thanks for coming out, guys.

I appreciate you having me.

And it was an absolute blast.

Yeah.

Had fun.

Good day.

It was.

Are you looking for a unique fishing opportunity this time of year?

Well, trout are being stocked across the state in waters probably near you.

Go to FW.KY.GOV for more information.

Well, Bill, we're here today at Roundstone Creek.

And what county are we in?

Hart?

I think so we're right here on the edge.

We're doing one of your passions today, and it's something that I actually really enjoy to do, but, I'm, I can't say I'm real proficient, and that's trout fishing.

Okay.

What type of trout are we?

Are we likely to catch today?

Probably, more likely to get rainbows, but, you know, we might pick up a brown.

Okay, so it'd be awesome.

This is an area that they actually put both.

There are rainbows and browns in here.

Some of them, you know, are recently stocked this year.

Some of them may have been stocked last year or the year before.

So what you've got rigged up today.

These are both your fly rods.

You've got you've got two different rigs here.

The one you're holding is a nymph rig.

Okay.

It's a little longer rod and a lighter rod, because you might get a gigantic fish on here and you don't want to break the line, so you want that rod to really give.

So this is a three weight rod, right?

Yes.

Three weight rod.

And this is a very common.

You got two different two different flies.

We got one at the bottom one about 12 13in up.

And then up here we have strike indicator.

The strike indicator is just a fly fisherman's fancy way of saying a bobber.

Okay, I know you're really passionate about outdoors in the state of Kentucky.

I know you, and we you and I have bow hunted together.

We have, I really, enjoy getting out with someone that I know is.

And his passionate as you are.

Thank you.

Outdoors.

Thank you.

And I hope we catch a fish.

It'd be embarrassing if we didn't.

We know what that would just be.

Bonus, though.

Catch a fish.

So which way you want to start?

You wanna go upstream or down stream?

So we're going to go upstream today if we can.

wade the water's a little bit higher today.

And hopefully if you see my hat floating down the river you know what?

You know what happened.

That's right.

Let's go.

I'm gonna follow you.

You take me to where?

Wherever you want to get started, and we'll see what we can make happen.

Okay?

Let's go.

All right.

Okay, so let me, give you a little casting lesson with this one.

If you ever if you've ever watched the River runs Through the movie with Brad Pitt in the movie, Norman McLain calls it the Presbyterian method of fly casting.

Yes.

It's his father was a Presbyterian minister.

So anyway, it's a four count rhythm.

Okay, you know, if you're doing your typical back cast and forward cast, it's a four count rhythm.

And two of those counts are pauses.

And you got a pause at the back.

And the reason you pause is to let that line load up in the back.

Then you can just flick it forward.

And every time you go forward, you let some line out.

Now, this time, roll it kind of out toward the middle a little more.

All right.

You can.

Good.

Excellent.

I mean, you're a pro.

It's something I have a lot of interest in.

It's just something I was not exposed to a whole lot, too, which is crazy, because a lot of people don't think of Kentucky as a fly fishing state.

A lot of opportunities for fishing.

Kentucky is the Kentucky is such a resource.

I'm looking for a fly.

It's called a mop.

Fly.

You know those, mops that you wash your car with those mitts?

You just take a piece of that.

And put it on a a little jig hook.

I'm surprised we haven't had any bites, to be honest with you.

I think maybe we should go back down closer to the bridge.

Give our.

Give it a try.

There.

We think that'll work, man.

Okay, I got one Chad All right.

That's a rainbow, Yeah.

Pretty good fish.

That's probably, what, 11 to 12in long?

Yeah.

It's 12.

Hey, move back down here closer to the deeper water.

And this is where they look like they want to be.

Nice.

Oh that's great, I love it.

Look at that.

I got him running and jumping work him over this way a little bit.

There you go.

Another rainbow.

Pretty fish.

There you go.

Oh, jumper.

Bring it up.

Is there a fish on there?

Yeah, it's a rainbow.

Little bit bigger.

He was a fighting little bugger.

So Bill, I know that, you've had a lot of jobs that allow you to be outdoors, haven't you?

I have, well, all of your adventures in the outdoors have also gotten to where, now that you retired, you really enjoy teaching this fly fishing I do.

I started a little outfit called Kentucky Wild.

And I guide hunters and fishermen, but they're called fly fishing weekends.

And what we do is, several hours a classroom and we go out and we learn the cast that's on Saturday.

And then on Sunday, we, we fish.

The only thing you have to show up with is a fishing license.

So if you wanted to learn fly fishing, you can go online and go to your your website, Kentucky Wild Outdoors.

Dot com.

Particularly for beginners.

I want the, you know, the endeavor to pique their interest to the point where they want to do it some more.

People think there's a big mystique involved in fly fishing.

You know there is, but there really isn't.

It's really not that difficult.

I mean, look, you're catching fish.

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly.

Well, Bill, I really appreciate you bringing me out here.

And, and let me experience this.

Catching these trout.

This has been a lot of fun.

You're passionate about the outdoors.

You're a writer.

You love fly fishing.

You teach and fly fishing.

Now, I've had a blast today.

And thank you.

This has been fun.

No, it's been a blast.

You don't have to be an avid birder to appreciate the song and mating dance of the American woodcock.

Pick yourself a nice, warm evening and go out and see if you can spot one.

This evening we're out here at Welch, just south of Richmond, and I'm here with Wes Little, who is a migratory bird biologis We're doing something kind of un There's something different toni We're going snipe hunting.

Snipe really we're trying to find what type o It's the American woodcock.

American woodcock.

So you've heard of snipe and send your buddy out with a f and a pillowcase.

We're going out with a big flash We're looking for these birds.

They blend into the ground.

They're very hard to see.

You listen for their calls kind of in the area where they are and sneak up in t and try to catch them.

Tonight, we've got some ATVs wit some flashlights and some lights And you're going to catch them actually with a net.

And if you get one down on the g we're going to band it.

And that just helps.

Tell about migration, how far they're going.

Harvest information because it is a game bird.

It is a game bird.

And it's a secretive game where it's small.

It's very well camouflaged, just Do you see them tonight, You'll on top of them and you won't eve And we don't always hear them at So you can see there are shootin here.

This is why we're at this WMA these shoo in between I mean, it's a mess, That shrubby good rabbit cover i woodcock cover.

They like this grown up wooly fi They like to have an early successional forest or a thick, young growth forest nearby.

That's where they stay during th And this WMA itself has really w and which is conducive for them hunting earthworms.

So we're going to drive these st We're going to listen for the bi Sometimes you never hear them, and all of a sudden they're right in front of you.

Like, where did that come from?

So that's the plan where we're at the shooting line We'll listen for birds, and then to sneak up, catch a couple.

All right.

Well, let's let's get after it.

Let's go this way.

It's close.

Hear that?

I think he's up there, which is Might be two this bird's about ready to shoot up in the sky.

And when it goes up and starts i display we're going to try to se as much as we can while moving a as we can to where it takes off so when it comes back down We'll be right there in front of All right lets go up Closer.

Just landed, right beside us.

Right in the middle.

I can see it plain as day, right Pretty cool.

That is really cool.

I mean, I think I look like mini turkeys.

They've got their own strut.

They don't fluff about the same it's very similar to a turkey tom strutting for a They're nocturnal their eyes are set really high up on their head so they can still see almost 360 while their beak is in the groun That's why we have to wait for i to be fully dark.

They're adapted for night vision We've got to see how this bird a what he does during his mating s Hear some really cool characteri Let's go get on the atv and get close look.

Sounds good.

I'd like to see one right there in my hand.

Oh, good catch.

Get on.

Get on it get on it.

All right.

Well, I'm impressed.

Your very first attempt to get t You got it.

She's a pro Oh, he's puffed up, too.

Oh, yeah.

Look at this.

He's got his tail up.

This is given its mating dance.

Look to it.

It's almost like a t like it's puffed up.

Look at the beak we were talking Look how long that beak is.

What a cool looking bird now has been banded?

Nope.

So this will be a brand new band We get very few recaptures in th I've been doing this here for si or seven years now, and I've got one bird a recaptur and I'd caught it the night befo Oh, wow.

Hunter, you came down h This bird look like it was only from the front of the ATV.

When you got the net out and was to get that net on top of the bi Look pretty easy.

Looks easy.

You got to lose so many birds to You did great.

The idea now is to put this little band o and then if anyone ever harvests is one of these birds or finds this bird report online And then you find some informati about where it was banded.

That's right.

Each one of these birds will hav number.

Every single bird that's banded gets a unique number.

Then when a hunter gets it will go to www.reportband.gov okay.

And then they can enter the coun the exact location of the of the They'll report to the hunter.

This bird was banded as an adult in March of 2022 or They're a Really neat bird you know you mentioned the turke and that beak, it's unlike any other beak in the bir World, especially in Kentucky.

A lot of people will say, you know, when God was building he took the leftover parts and put it on the woodcock.

yeah I thought that was a platyp Yeah exactly.

It just we don't have platypus in Kentucky, so this is our oddb Everything about them is just di than every other bird.

We're going to check out the win and this is where we'll determin how old it is.

These are their flight feathers and those outer three feathers.

See how skinny they are.

And they've got that little notc Those are the feathers that made that Twitter call when they're doing their sky dan When you get into these feathers on the juvenile birds, there's a black line that separates the in the inside of the feather fro Buffy tip.

this is an adult bird.

It's at least two years old.

Look at beautiful the tail feath That's my favorite part of the b That's a miniature turkey fan.

It's got a turkey fan look at the little white tips.

And then look look at this just beautiful, puffy little fea down there on this bird such a pretty bird.

But looks like you did a great job of catching it.

You got some new hardware on it, some bling.

You want to do the honors?

Yeah, I don't mind.

Yeah, I'd lo All right, so we'll see how this bird takes Look how pretty the wings are, r There goes wow.

Isn't that cool?

Let's go see if we get another whoo!

There you go.

This one is right in the middle.

Oh, we got a snipe so it looks very similar.

Yeah, but it's much smaller bird.

to the Woodcock.

It is smaller.

More streamlined.

But the biggest difference are the stripes on his head.

And Woodcock, they go across.

You know, it's kids.

You hear people talk about snipe and usually they're kind of joki about getting somebody out in th And but there is a such thing as hunting, and this is the type of that they're talking about going and going after.

Right?

That is that's the common or Wil is the proper name for their tai is going to be a little differen It's not a fantail bird like the but the snipes.

Are there a true shorebird speci So this snipe, you know, we're in mucky stuff right here.

They probe like the woodcock do, but they're not a specialist for earthworms as as the the woodcocks are snipe.

We're going to pick up other bug And I can band them.

I've got the right size band, but we don't have a project goin So let this guy go very cool.

But if you're looking at it through a light pulling up and it's all hidden and you see this bird, you immed think, Well, it's a woodcock, le go after the woodcock until we g It was an accidental catch, but a really cool one.

it is.

We'll let this guy go and let him get back to his busi There he goes.

Well, Wes I appreciate your time I have a I have a whole new resp for American woodcock, and I tell you what I'd like to come up and maybe we'll get in t some day and try to go after one I hope so.

Thanks again.

It was a lot of fu Thanks for coming.

Now let's check in and see who else has been out having fun.

And this week's ones that didn't get away.

Check out this beautiful buck that was taken by Haley Carson.

Nine year old Levi Evans took this really nice buck on the first day of youth season in Morgan County.

crossbow season in Boone County.

Nice deer.

Eight year old Annabeth Buckman got out in Washington County during the youth weekend and took this nice buck.

while hunting in Bath County, Kentucky.

Congratulations.

Joshua Bratcher knows how to spend a nice birthday.

He went fishing at Energy Lake in Land Between the Lakes and caught these nice crappie.

Here we have Kevin Cannon with a nice buck that Connor Bewley caught this nice 28 inch catfish while fishing for bass from his kayak.

This was his largest catfish.

Nice job.

Check out this giant taken by Landon Mitchell during the youth weekend in Nicholas County.

This buck scored 171in.

What a deer.

Cain Casey got out and did a little hunting during the youth weekend.

He went to Rolling Fork WMA and took this nice six point buck.

Nice job.

This coming Monday, February the 17th at 7:00 Most hunters know that deer season starts next weekend.

will be our annual fishing question and answer show.

But don't forget about small game hunting.

In my opinion, that's the best way to get a new hunter started.

to answer all of your fishing questions.

And remember, 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.

and I hope to see you in the woods or on the water.