This week on Kentucky Afield, spring fishing is here, and we're taking advantage of an early opportunity.

That's crappie fishing.

Next, we'll explore another opportunity that's just over the horizon.

Spring turkey hunting.

Then, we're going to spend a day in the life of animal care at the Salato Wildlife Education Center.

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.

The weather's getting nice, and the fishing is heating up.

And one of the more exciting species to target this time of year is crappie.

We're out here on Taylorsville Lake.

We got two or three days of warm weather.

That means it's time to do what?

What are we doing today Brian?

Crappie fishing, Chad.

Crappie fishing.

I mean, Taylorsville Lake is known to have huge numbers of crappie.

You guys do a lot of fishing together on the bass side, but crappie fishing is something you enjoy as well.

Yeah I spend all winter long up here, crappie fishing.

That's my go to in the winter when we're not bass fishing.

These fish are shallow all winter.

Yeah.

I mean, water temperatures can be in the low to mid thirties and you can still catch them shallow.

Well, I asked Jarrod I said, Hey, I want to go up and catch a couple crappie up at Taylorsville Lake.

He goes, Well I got your guy.

And he goes, If I had to lay a bet on somebody toI run up there and catching quality crappie in a short amount of time it'd be you.

So we'll see how it works out.

Thanks, Jarrod.

No pressure.

No pressure.

Well, you're the boat captain today.

I understand you're the guide.

You're the guy who knows where the fish are at.

Let's go get em.

Let's do it.

Let's go.

Brian, with this wind, do you want to try to pick it up out here, then work in?

No.

Just pick it up on the timber here?

Yeah.

Alright.

Here we go guys.

What do you got?

Well, you might have your first keeper crappie on right there.

This one's a little light.

Nine and a half inches.

Another one on.

That's not a keeper.

I got a bluegill here.

You know, everything's in here feeding on these minnows.

Get a crappie?

Yeah.

I don't think he'll keep.

You got him.

A little one.

Both you guys got crappie.

I'll tell you what the crappie are breeding at Taylorville.

What do we got here?

Right species, wrong size.

1/32 ounce jig heads and then just a tube jig, black and chartreuse.

There you go.

I liked to crappie fish the way I bass fish.

These crappie, you know they'll get up on the mud just like a bass will.

They eat shad just like a bass does.

And this is fun.

This is very typical for Taylorsville Lake fishing.

You know, you get out here, cover a lot of water, catch a bunch of fish.

You know what?

When these fish get up there to where they make that ten inch limit, people will be taking them home.

But the number of fish in here to catch available to be caught is tremendous.

Crappie fishing is really, truly one of those things that you just need to fish them however you feel most comfortable because you can catch fish.

The simple fact is, is you put a bait in front of them and crappie are feeding, they're probably going to eat aren█t they?

Oh yeah they're going to eat.

Finding the right kind of fish that are feeding.

That's where the trick comes in.

These crappie that are 7 to 9 inches long.

Millions of them aren█t there.

Yes, thousands.

You feel some of them, but a lot of them are just knocking a little bit of slack in the line, see a little loop, get knocked up in your line, you know, Hey, better be ready.

There we go guys.

Oh no we got us a large mouth.

Wrong species.

Oh my goodness.

Hey, the bass are biting, too.

If we can't get the crappie to go over, ten inches we█ll try a bass.

That was our first over ten.

Alright, Brian.

We're about out of water, my friend.

Keep going?

You want go out there and see if we can't get on that dead head?

Yeah.

So when we say Deadhead, what we mean is basically what we got right here in the water.

An old tree.

There's the root wod, and it's out there submerged where you can't see it, but the fish still love it.

Any cover will hold them.

That might keep.

Might keep.

We'll go check it.

We'll see.

Hey, guys, We can go home now.

We█ll have to have fish flavored broth.

That█s an eater.

Get him up here.

By George.

He'll eat.

Got him.

Pretty good fish.

I don't know if it'll keep or not.

We'll check it just to be sure.

Oh yeah.

He's ten and a half inches.

Right there█s one.

Got him.

Come here.

Double.

Bringing them in two at a time.

All right.

Welcome to Taylorsville, right.

Home of the white crappie.

Your█s is close, Chad.

When you say close, he's literally ten inches and a 16th or an eighth.

Chad.

Jarrod.

Brian, your turn.

Not frying pan worthy.

There you go.

That's a good one.

That should be an eater but will measure him.

He█s ten.

Jarrod's got one.

Good one.

Yeah, real good one.

Nice one.

That is what they call a fish sandwich.

Got it or hung up?

I got it.

You got a good one?

It's a giant.

That's good one.

Don█t even have to measure him.

That's a good Taylorsville crappie.

There you go.

We'll take it.

Had two catch 30 to get here.

But hey, I'll take that too.

We may fill a skillet after all.

Got him.

He choked that jig.

Oh yeah.

That one█s taking line.

That█s a big one there now.

That's a tournament fish right there, boys.

That's a tournament fish there, Brian.

It's a good one.

What we got here?

Is this a crappie?

Saugeye?

That█s a crappie.

Wow, That's a good crappie.

Look at that.

Now, that's a good fish right there.

We caught so many fish today.

I mean, I don't know how many we caught.

We may have caught 50 or 60.

It did take til right toward the end to start catching some like this.

Brian, that fish you caught was 13 inches or better wasn█t it.

Yeah, that's a good one.

You know what, guys?

There's no reason for cabin fever when you get out here catching crappie like this it doesn█t get any better.

Turkey season is right around the corner.

And you know what that means.

Tune in next Monday night at 7:00 for our live question and answer show all about turkey hunting.

You can catch us on YouTube, Facebook, and FW.KY.GOV.

Now let's watch a turkey hunt from a few years ago to get ready.

Well it is May, and we are turkey hunting.

This year the season came in late.

You can tell by how green everything is.

This is a very late turkey hunt.

Probably not going to hear much gobbling and be lucky if we see a strutting tom.

But that doesn't mean you still can't hunt these turkeys.

I'd love to get another bird.

I got one this year so i█ve got a tag left.

I'm going to set up in an area where I've been seeing a bunch of turkeys.

We're going to do some light calling, but you got to be ready to go at any point in time.

And you got a tag in your pocket.

One to burn.

I can't let this season go out.

I got to give it one more shot.

So hopefully we can get a bird today.

Weather turned out to be perfect for a field hunt.

I got a lot of sun.

We've got some wind.

So we thought we can set up on a place that I'm pretty familiar with, we hunted last year.

And we've hunted at numerous hunts this season.

I never got a chance to take one, but this is a great location where these turkeys walk the field.

They just are right in the woods right to this point.

So we're set up.

Got two decoys out, and hopefully big tom comes slipping by.

Oh my God.

There's a gobble not 60-70 yards away.

Okay, there he is.

There he is.

It's definitely a gobbler.

I was not expecting to hear a gobble this afternoon.

He's way more interested in filling his belly that he is our decoys right now.

He█s in range, I just got to get the perfect shot opportunity.

When this bird goes behind this tree i█ve got to move.

I got it now.

Hold on.

Now he█s behind a tree.

I got it.

Oh, my God.

What?

It's middle of the day.

We just set our decoys up thinking, oh, it's going to be a beautiful afternoon hunt.

I'm checking my phone.

Haven't made a call.

And a gobble right there.

We haven't heard a gobble in two weeks.

That's like a good long beard.

I mean, it was dragging a beard coming through there.

I'm excited to go take a look.

Oh, man.

I'm.

Wow.

Look at this beard.

Tell you what.

This is a full grown, mature bird.

We hadn't heard any gobbles in a long time.

We thought, we'll set up in their travel corridor, and we know they've been roosting, hopefully we can intersect them.

Didn't think they were going to come through at 2:00 in the afternoon.

And thank goodness this joker gobbled and let us know he was coming.

Finally came in and gave us the shot.

Ready to put this bird down.

I'll tell you what later on in the year.

It's all about persistence and knowing those travel zones.

I want to give special thanks to the Hurst Farm for allowing us to come out here and chase these turkeys.

We have had a blast and I'm looking forward to getting this bird home, getting it cleaned up, get it on the table.

Good news if you're looking for something fun to do during spring break.

The Salato Wildlife Education Center, located in Frankfort, Kentucky, is now open.

Go to FW.KY.GOV and click on Salato.

Salato is a wildlife education center located here in Frankfort, Kentucky.

It was established by the Department of Fish and Wildlife 25 years ago to educate the public about hunting, fishing and outdoor conservation.

Here at the center, we see about 55,000 people annually from Kentucky and across the United States.

This little Wildlife education center is a small zoo setting that has Kentucky native animals only.

It's a place where people can come and see these animals up close in a safe environment and learn more about their natural histories.

What people like about coming here, is any questions that they need to know or inquiring, they're getting informed of and so they leave here with more education concerning the animals.

We care for over 300 animals here at the center.

People can expect to see bear, bobcats, eagle, turtles, frogs, snakes, elk, deer, bison, turkeys.

Just a wide variety of Kentucky native animals.

The center is open from March through November to the public.

But animal care is here 365 days a year, taking care of the animals.

We do training, enrichments, health checks, feeding, cleaning and medication.

These are just some of the things we do on a daily basis.

One of the very first things I do when I come to work each morning is drive around and check on all the animals and make sure everybody's seems healthy.

Make sure all the fences are intact.

Looks like everybody standing up grazing.

Everybody looks good.

All four of them are there.

All the fences look intact.

Check in on the elk.

Everybody looks good.

We'll check on them throughout the day to make sure nobody is limping.

We prepare diets specific to our animals needs so carnivores get a carnivore diet, and our herbivores and omnivores get either an herbivore diet or a mix.

Let's go wake up a bear.

One of the main attractions we have here is our black bear.

Everyone loves to see him.

We've had him about 22 years.

He weighs 670 lbs.

Good morning bear.

All of the behaviors we train for are for medical purposes from body condition and health checks to more advanced procedures like vaccinations and blood draws.

All of the training is done voluntarily by our animals so that we can keep track of their health without causing any unnecessary stress to them.

After we get him up and moving, we begin our training.

Training usually consist of having him put his paw in a paw shute.

We warm up his paw with a heating pad.

So when it's cold, the heat really helps swell up those veins so they're a little easier to find.

We also part is hair with warm water to make it easier to see.

While he is allowing us to take blood samples and work with his paw.

He gets special snacks that Brad will feed him through the fence.

So he will get some of his favorite treats like lettuce and grapes, and he'll get those only for blood draw trainings.

After blood draw, we go into other trainings.

Mouth.

We█ll check his teeth.

Good.

Up.

Check out his paws and his paw pads.

Good boy.

Sit.

We do a variety of different trainings and it's all for health purposes.

Before we put our bear out, we always go in and clean up his enclosure, put out a little bit of food for him to find.

We use honey, berries and other types of fruit.

We█ll hide it around his enclosure so that it motivates him to forage and find that food on his own.

Get him moving around, gets him exercising.

We have two bobcats here.

One is a male and one is a female.

Everybody loves the bobcats.

Just like the bears, they█re probably the number one and number two animals that people come here to see.

They are totally opposite.

They have different personalities.

One of them is very playful and is not very food motivated for training.

And the other one is a little bit more standoffish, likes to do his own thing.

But he is very eager to train every day.

Good morning.

This is our female bobcat.

She's about six or seven years old.

She is being playful this morning.

She's ready to get to work.

And this is our male bobcat.

He's about nine years old.

He's getting ready to get to work too.

Scale.

Just getting a weight on our female bobcat here.

They're trained to get up on the scale.

We weigh them twice a month to keep up with their health.

They're both full grown now, so we like them to maintain their current weight.

Tail.

So we put tail on cue because it helps us keep track of if they have any intestinal parasites, any redness or swelling.

Very good.

They are trained to sit so that they can stay still on a scale or inside of a crate.

The Bobcats are trained to stand up and put their paws on the chain link so that we're able to look at their paw pad conditions and look at their stomachs.

All of this training really helps us stay on top of their health without any stress to them.

They love training.

They get lots of reinforcement for doing things I asked them to do.

Enrichments are activities that keeps them mentally and physically stimulated.

Sometimes it may be music.

Sometimes it could be bubbles.

A bubble machine.

So today she's getting a box with a plain sheet inside.

She seems to really be enjoying it.

So what I'll do is just leave the exhibit door open.

So if she wants to head out there while we're finishing up his training outside, she can do that.

Mouth.

Good boy.

All done.

The living stream is an outdoor aquarium that holds multiple variety of fish.

You can go in and see it as if you were looking underwater at the fish themselves and see their environment.

Its like an exhibit version of Elkhorn Creek or Guist Creek.

It has native fish that you'll find in those creeks.

We've got crappie, bluegill, largemouth bass, red ear, catfish, long nose, short nose and spotted gar, drums.

We just have a wide variety of fish species that you'll find in Kentucky.

What we're going to do now is feed the fish in the living stream.

We usually start by taking a dip net and getting about four bucket fulls of minnows.

We've got them all over here now.

Hopefully they're hungry.

Generally, when we take our minnows to the living stream, they eat like piranhas.

But today they're not as active and are not eating.

With water temperatures as cold as they are, they're going to eat slow.

Doesn't look like too many of them are hungry right now, but they have plenty to eat.

What isn█t eaten will survive and they'll have them a few days from now.

Our bald eagle is another animal people love to see.

People ask us often why he can't be released.

He was injured from a power line.

He's non releasable because he cannot fly.

We're going to try to weigh the eagle today.

We typically weigh the animals twice a month just to keep a good look on their weight.

When we weight our eagle, he knows exactly what we want because he's done it so much.

We█ll generally just point and he goes and gets on the scale.

4285 grams.

Good bird.

There's always a lot of things going on around here.

Sometimes it's a big job, sometimes it's a little job, but we always stay busy.

I really enjoy working here, working with the animals, and it's something that I know that I'm going to enjoy when I come back to work tomorrow.

We have a really good work dynamic here.

It's nice to have a team of people that you can count on.

We never know what we're going to show up to from a day to day basis.

The animals behave differently through the seasons, but I love working here and it's nice to know at the end of the day when we leave here, we know that we've provided the best care possible for these animals.

Check out Ridge Lee holding up his first bass of the year that he caught in Jefferson County.

Congratulations.

Here we have a beautiful smallmouth caught by Heather Howe on Dale Hollow Lake.

She knows what to throw at them.

That█s a four inch swim bait.

Nice job.

Here we have Jeffrey Scott Wells, who's caught another Barron River Lake monster blue catfish.

This was the second largest fish ever at 45 pounds.

Here we have seven year old Blake Taylor, who took his first deer in Bell County this year during the modern firearms season.

Nice job.

Just a friendly reminder.

The hunting and fishing license year in Kentucky starts on March 1st.

Make sure you pick a new one up before you get out, and make sure you join us next Monday night for a live turkey question and answer show.

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.