This week on Kentucky Afield.

Modern Firearm Season for deer kicks off in less than a week, on November the 12th.

But depending on where you're hunting, there might be a few things that you need to know before hitting the woods.

Next, rabbit season is upon us, and we're not the only ones that are excited for it.

Then, deer, rabbit and now squirrel.

We're in the heart of Fall hunting here in the Bluegrass State, and we're loving every minute of it.

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.

CWD, or chronic wasting disease, has never been detected in Kentucky, but it has changed the way we have to hunt some of the counties in the Southwest.

Today I'm in Marshall County, Kentucky, hunting for whitetail.

Today's hunt will be a little different as I'm hunting in the chronic wasting disease surveillance zone.

That means if I'm lucky enough to harvest a deer, I need to have the carcass check for CWD at the nearest check station.

Because I've already punched my bug tag, today we're going to be hunting for a mature doe only.

Oh, here we go.

There's a doe behind us.

It's kind of small.

Here comes a big doe.

It's been a crazy afternoon I haven█t been in the stand 45 minutes.

I've already seen several deer and got a shot.

But it was such a fast situation.

It literally shows up, runs the field, luckily stopped right at the corner.

I'm guessing probably 160 to 175 yards.

This gun was zeroed in at 200.

I felt like I put the crosshairs on it right at the upper shoulder.

So I may have shot over it.

I may have shot high.

I felt like I had a good rest.

The responsible thing to do to get out of the stand, go down there, and take a look.

Oh, wait a minute.

Here we go.

Here we go.

We've got blood right here.

This might be the impact spot.

There's the deer.

That deer only ran about 70 yard but in 15 yards it was out of view and its tail was stuck straight up in the air, which made me think that I'd missed it.

Let's go see where it█s hit at.

Oh, well, here she is.

You know, my stand is about from here about 170 or 80 yards that way.

The deer were standing out here across this field.

And when I shot, I saw something coming through the woods, and I couldn't tell if I had missed.

And the deer had turned and went that way, which I could have never seen it, or it would have went up across the field I was looking at and I never saw it cross, so I wasn't sure exactly what had happened, but walked over here and found the blood.

She's only laying about 45 or 50 yards from where the shot was made.

Man, what a beautiful, nice doe.

This doe looks as healthy as it can be.

It shows no sign of any sickness.

But that doesn't mean it doesn't have to be tested.

I still need to field dress this deer get my ink pen out, fill out my harvest log and get it to the check station before they close.

I'm here with deer program biologist Tommy Apostolopoulos.

How are you doing today?

I'm doing well.

So this season, a deer hunter that hunts in the five county surveillance zone.

If they're successful in taking a deer, what do they need when they show up at the check station?

So you'll need the deer, whether it's whole, gutted, or you can just bring us the head and we'll take a sample off of it.

You mind if we take the head?

No, not a bit.

Okay.

All right.

Good deal.

So you take the entire head.

That's the plan.

Yeah.

So the samples that we pull are the lymph nodes right here underneath your jaw.

And so it's just easier if you're not going to mount it or european mount or nothing to just take the whole thing.

If you're interested in taxidermy.

Like, say you get a nice buck later or something.

What we would do is we would take this.

We have a white tag and I'll get one here in a second.

We just stick it through the tongue so that doesn't mess up the cape or nothing.

You tell us where you're going to take it.

And then we later contact that taxidermist.

And we go after it's been caped.

So you're going to send these off if somehow this deer, which still to this day has never happened in Kentucky.

Yeah.

If this deer comes back positive, you've got my phone number.

You guys are going to immediately reach out, right?

Yes.

We will contact you if the deer█s positive.

So you kind of don't want to hear back from us.

Yeah, but if like four, six weeks go by, you haven't heard and you're curious.

So we give you it's a business card with a specific tag number associated with your information and this specific sample.

And so that number is how you're going to figure it out.

Okay.

We're also asking for about a one mile general idea of where you harvested that animal, the telecheck number.

We'll get some contact information from you, but that's it and we'll take care of the rest once you get there.

To find out where these telecheck stations are located and the hours in which they're going to be open, where do you get that information?

So you can look in our fall hunting guide or our website.

Just like last year, same five counties Marshall, Callaway, Graves, Hickman and Fulton.

There are 13 check stations in those counties kind of scattered throughout.

So there shouldn't be one very far from where you are.

If you harvest a deer in those counties, we're only requiring you to bring your deer to us on three weekends and two Mondays of modern gun season.

Okay, so that's November 12th through the 14th, the 19th through the 21st, and then the 26th and 27th, there are check stations that follow this same process.

It's going to be the southeastern part of the state, though, in Bell and Harlan counties, the check stations there are completely voluntary.

They're highly recommended, but they're not mandatory.

And if you want any information on where to find those, you can go on our website to the CWD page at FW.KY.GOV.

One thing that's still in place from last season.

No hunting over bait, correct?

R We are restricting baiting and feeding in those five counties to avoid nose to nose contact as much as possible.

Baiting includes any kind of grain, fruits, veggies.

And mineral licks right?

Mineral licks as well.

And that does not include standing crops or anything that's planted in the ground.

Well, I appreciate you coming on and sharing this information with us.

Hopefully we come out of 2022 in the same situation we were prior to the season.

That is no CWD in the state of Kentucky.

Absolutely.

Hey, this was pretty painless.

It was pretty easy.

Yeah.

And I learned something today, so.

Hey, I appreciate your time.

Yeah, I hope we get plenty more samples and, you know, 5 minutes in and out.

Yep.

That's it.

It don't take long at all.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, you're very welcome.

Located nine miles southeast of Lebanon and 5.5 miles north of Bradfordsville is Marion County WMA and State Forest.

This wildlife management area is nearly 1400 acres and offers excellent hunting opportunities.

The property consists of steep rolling ridges and hollows.

The best hunting opportunities are for deer, turkey and squirrel due to the extensive oak and hickory woodlands.

Take note while there are several small streams on the property, fishing is not really recommended due to poor fishing opportunities.

Also, all parking spots are located on the eastern boundaries along Silom Road.

Parking along the road is prohibited.

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

Also, keep in mind that regulations on WMAs often differ from statewide regulations.

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

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

Rabbit season is now open in the eastern part of Kentucky.

And I don't know about you, but I can't wait to spend some time in the field.

Well, rabbit season is finally here.

It█s a little warm today, but we're hoping to get these dogs out and put them on some bunnies.

You guys ready to get after it?

We are.

Yes sir.

Now, this is a farm that we've actually been on before, late in the year.

And you guys have had a lot of success rabbit hunting here in Spencer County.

Gun season is coming up this week.

You guys actually bow hunted this morning.

Been up since 3:45 this morning so.

Hey, what gets better than combining a day of bow hunting and rabbit hunting all of the same day?

That's the way to do it right there.

If we█d have just brought the pole we could█ve crappie fished later tonight.

That would have been nice.

That would be nice.

Now, you actually have a dog with you today too tell me a little bit about your dog.

My daughter found that dog.

I guess he was about three months old.

So when we got him home, I thought, I'll take him out and start training him, and I did.

Well, we'll see how he does.

I brought my two.

I got Josie this little lemon dog here and Checkers, the tri-color.

We've been doing some training and they've hunted once this year, so hopefully we can get out and jump some bunnies.

Ryan, did you see any deer this morning?

Seen three deer.

Three bucks one doe.

Okay.

Not as many as we wanted to, but still a good time.

Good to get out.

So we're actually rabbit hunting where you deer hunt.

And a lot of people have concern that it's going to mess their deer up.

What's your thoughts on that?

I don't think it has any effect, honestly.

You know, another farm we hunt, there's dogs that run loose constantly.

You know, they don't have any fence or anything, you know, and they get out and run rabbits.

And, you know, we still see deer day in, day out.

So I think it's hardly any effect, honestly.

Okay.

And Dan, you and I have done some fishing in the past, and this is a piece of property that you've had permission to hunt for a while.

You've killed some limits out here several times.

Yeah, this farm generally has a lot of rabbits on it.

Okay, so it should be a good hunt.

These dogs have said I've been on this leash long enough.

Let's go.

Go get them.

Oh, first bunny up.

We got them all barking now.

So this is hot.

Get em up.

Ain█t that something.

I haven█t seen this rabbit and they already got one down.

That's awesome.

Dead!

That's a big old bunny.

That's good boys.

That good boys.

That█s good boys.

All right, good job.

Go, go, go.

Ryan they coming back down towards you.

Checkers jumped a rabbit right here.

Ryan was able to get a couple of shots, but it's really thick, and we just had a shot over here.

But I haven't heard whether or not they got that rabbit yet.

Hey Chad, I think I killed that rabbit your dogs on.

Oh, okay.

Hey, we got that rabbit down.

So you did see it, right?

Yeah.

I missed it.

It come by me and went up the hill and turn around, come right back and think Dad killed it.

Hey, you're supposed to shoot all the shells.

You just shot one.

I know.

I was trying to outdo my son because I think he emptied everything he had over there.

Well looks like you did a good job because there it lays.

Nice shot.

Thanks.

See how this goes right here.

I get handed the rabbit.

This is why I have a son right here.

This is why I had a son.

There you go.

Too bad we█re not swamp rabbit hunting they█d be about three times that size.

You really weigh him down.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!

Let's get him up.

Let's get him up.

Get him up.

Get him up!

Get him up!

Get him up.

Let's get him up.

Still going.

I'm gonna tell you, Chad, I'm pretend like I didn't see that.

That was too close.

Come here, Josie.

This is just grown up thick briars.

And what this is, Is perfect for rabbits to elude birds of prey.

Think about a bird trying to swoop down and get something out of this.

It would be nearly impossible.

It's also a great spot to raise young and keep them away from coyotes.

Good shot.

Good boys.

That was a good run there now.

They ran that rabbit four or five different brush piles and finally got it out.

I could have shot him sitting one time and didn't.

Nice job, man.

Thank you.

One for the skillet.

All right.

There he is coming right at you.

Right at you.

These rabbits want to run over me today.

He said right at me, and I'm looking out there.

He meant right at me, like right here.

Here he is.

Here he is.

Here.

Look.

Dead.

Here you go.

Good boy.

Good boy.

There he goes.

There he goes.

That was awesome.

Dogs ran this one maybe couple of hundred yards.

Came back by me.

We got him.

There were two shots.

Was that us?

There he is.

That's Barry.

He must have got that rabbit.

Oh, my gosh.

That thing ran forever.

There he goes.

Get him?

Got him.

What a crazy race that was so good that I am so impressed.

Hank did such a great job, ran that rabbit around there, and the rabbit you could tell was getting tired, wasn't going very hard, but he was out in front of the dogs.

Of course, these dogs got about 20 miles on them now today.

I did not want that rabbit to get away.

These dogs after 20 miles the trucks right here.

Wanted to go ahead and take that one.

Well, guys, I really appreciate the invite.

I couldn't imagine a better day this early in the rabbit season to come out here and run dogs.

I really appreciate you guys.

We got to do it again.

Yeah it was a good day.

Lot of fun.

When the leaves fall off the tree and deer season wraps up, that's when it's time to grab that squirrel dog and hit the woods.

We're down here in Trigg County today.

We're getting ready to do something that I don't get to do as much as I like, but it's always a blast, and that is squirrel hunting with dogs.

So you guys brought us down here and you got a big piece of property here that's got a bunch of wildlife on it.

And you brought some dogs with you.

What type of dogs you guys bring?

They█re fiest.

Okay.

Fiest.

So fiest dogs, they're kind of bred to do separate things, but squirrel hunting is what people use them the most for isn█t it?

They█ll tree other game, but mainly squirrels.

What we use ours for.

Yeah.

So this a piece of property that you own.

And you told me you've been squirrel in for a long time.

What makes hunting with the dog so much more exciting?

You never know what's going to happen.

Sometimes it's chicken, sometimes it's feathers.

So how many dogs we got today?

Got three.

Okay, three dogs.

And they're all mountain fiests.

How many dogs you bring?

I've got one dog and he█s got two.

Okay, let's go meet your dogs and put them on the ground.

All right.

You know, this is a little different style of hunting.

This this hillside, this kind of rolling and the terrain is rolling.

So what they like to do is to let the dogs out one at a time, let the dogs hunt out in front of them and they follow behind in the ATV.

So makes for a pretty casual day of squirrel hunting.

Rosie has got one treed.

We got two squirrels right here.

You're going to take the bottom one?

Whenever you're ready.

There you go.

Great shot.

Oh, there they go.

Lets walk over and see what you got.

Bring it here.

Thank you, darling.

Well, that was a good shot.

Rosie ran over here and grabbed one of these squirrels.

I don't know if she got the first one or the second one, but I found some blood.

Yeah.

There you go.

That's how it's done right there.

I was born in a tent in a saw mill in 1938, and I started squirrel hunting when I was five.

And we weren't sport hunting.

We were hunting to eat.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

So we killed one whenever our parents.

wanted to cook for a meal, so that's the way I started squirrel hunting.

Wow.

I've been doing it ever since.

Can you imagine turning a five year old loose with a 22 now to kill?

It was just a different time and place, wasn█t it?

I mean, you did it out in necessity, too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

This tree won't hold still for me to shoot.

Good job.

Bring it here.

There you go.

Nice shot.

That dog did a great job.

Well, I'll tell you what.

I appreciate you guys giving me a little bit of history about squirrel hunting today.

We've talked about squirrel hunting from the time you was five years old.

Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate for us did it?

It's got a mind of its own.

You know, we know there's a ton of squirrels where we hunted and the dogs did really good considering the situation.

But we start dealing with these wind gusts of 20, 25, 30 mile an hour.

They decided to hole up on us, I think.

But I tell you what I really like, I like watching how you guys have used some of the modern day technologies of the GPS and the ATV.

It kept you out here chasing the squirrels up and down these hillsides.

So you don't see any end in this game, do you?

You're going to keep going aren█t you?

Thats right.

As long as I can.

And I really appreciate you coming out here and and bringing your dogs and and taking us on this hunt.

You're very welcome.

We appreciate you coming too.

It's been a lot of fun.

Hopefully the next time Mother Nature will cooperate and we'll have a better hunt.

Okay.

Thank you, guys.

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.

Check out this beautiful smallmouth bass caught by Christopher Perry.

This fish was caught in the big South Fork and Sterns, Kentucky.

Nice job.

Here we have a stringer full of fish caught by Ethan Mitchell and his dad and uncle.

They were caught at a family farm pond in Ohio County.

Nice job.

Here we have George Crown of Floyds Knobs, Indiana, who caught this trophy rainbow trout while fishing in Cumberland River.

Nice fish.

Here we have two year old Walker Donnelly from Smith Grove, Kentucky, helping his dad on a family dove hunt in Edmonson County.

Nice job.

Here we have Molly Kramer and this is her first deer ever taken with a bow.

She took this massive deer in Mason County, Kentucky.

Congratulations.

Here we have Nicholas Morgan with a nice 3 pound bass that he caught in his neighbor's farm pond.

Nice job.

Here we have three year old Heidi Hillman who caught her first fish ever, a nice bluegill that was caught in her family's pond.

She caught this fish on her paw patrol fishing rod.

Check out this beautiful largemouth bass that was caught by Blake Russell.

He's from Mount Washington, Kentucky.

And this fish was caught at Rough River Lake using a crank bait.

Check out the tines on this deer that was taken by seven year old Barrett Fletcher from Nelson County.

He took his first buck ever during the youth season on his pop and Mimi's farm.

36 year old Michael Dunn decided this was going to be the year he takes up bow hunting and he took this nice doe in Washington County.

Nice job.

Here's a fish we don't see very often.

This is Joe Vickers of Cincinnati, Ohio, who was fishing for stripers at Lake Cumberland and caught this lake sturgeon.

This fish was released immediately.

Nice job.

There are many hunting seasons open right now here in the state of Kentucky.

And if you want to get out in the woods, go to FW.KY.GOV and find an opportunity near you.

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.

Did you know that Kentucky is home to the largest elk herd in the eastern U.S. with an elk zone twice the size of Yellowstone National Park.

Look how big it is.

I mean, this is just amazing.

And we enjoy one of the most diverse fisheries in the country.

Just ask Christine.

Very nice.

And by the way, Kentucky is known for being one of the top five states for trophy white tails each year.

Additionally, more than 100,000 Kentuckians have benefited from our conservation education programs like the Salato Wildlife Education Center, summer conservation camps, and our learn to hunt and fish classes.

Or did you know about the 1.6 million acres open to the public?

These are just a few things that Kentucky's Department of Fish and Wildlife have helped preserve.

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

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

Who pays for conservation in Kentucky?

Well, since the department receives no general fund state tax dollars, we rely on the sportsmen and women of the commonwealth.

He's been waiting years for that.

So if you enjoy Kentucky's resources, help us manage them by purchasing a hunting or fishing license today.

You can do so by visiting FW.KY.GOV.