This week on Kentucky Afield.

We're searching for a bird the size of a baseball and over 3000 acres of tall grass.

That's right, we're hunting quail.

Next, They call it the rib eye of the sky.

But in all honesty, it tastes more like filet.

We are after Sandhill cranes.

Then, To celebrate our 70th year on air.

We're taking a dive into the Kentucky Afield Archives and going striper fishing on Lake Cumberland in 1989.

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.

In my opinion, one of the most beautiful sites you can see in the outdoors is a bird dog on point.

Well, I'm out here with Ben Leffew, on one of my favorite places here in central Kentucky, Shaker Village.

What are we doing today?

Today we're going on a quail hunt.

So it's part of the lottery quail drawing we do in partnership with the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

So proceeds from ticket sales go to conservation camps and Salateo and then it goes to conservation here as well.

We're in a field that was originally planted in 2009 with a lot of help from Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.

So the goal here was a lot of different species, but it█s kind of a quail focus area?

Correct.

And hopefully taking this land and putting it back into prairies and allowing it to grow up a little bit, but also burn it and manage it.

You wanted to maintain it for wild quail?

Correct.

Have you guys ever released quail here before?

We have not.

So these are all 100% wild birds.

And that's what makes this so incredibly unique.

Yeah.

Well, let's meet our hunter and get the dogs on the ground.

I'm here with Marie, and you are the lucky winner of this quail hunt on Shaker Village.

What made you want to do this?

I've always loved Shaker Village.

I've ridden my horses here.

And when I heard they had a quail hunt, I'm a new hunter.

A couple of years and I just had to try it.

It's a beautiful, very special place out here.

You've been hunting for how long now?

A couple of years.

A couple of years.

Yeah, so i█m new.

That is so great.

I love the fact that, you know, you decided at some point in time that, you know, there's some I want to try.

It's exactly it.

I took care of my kids.

I took care of my mother.

And now it's my time.

And I thought I didn't expect to like it.

And then when I found out the dogs were involved, I'm like, I'm all in.

I█m pretty obsessed.

Well, I tell you what, let's go meet these dogs.

We're gonna have a lot of fun.

We are.

Let's do it.

Let's do it.

Let's go.

Normally, if you can see the dog real well, you just watch him.

But, you know, in this case, where the cover is pretty thick and we let them run pretty well.

You know, the Garmin is pretty much a lifesaver in this deal.

They're hunting for something about that big around 3000 acres, more or less.

You know, Bird, if they're feeding, they're easier to find.

They'll be out scattered.

So we'll find a covey that way.

Or if they're still, you know, huddled up close, they're just hunting for where they're sitting.

Come on Boe.

Looks like we got one on point.

Mary, which side you want to be on here?

I'll go right.

Okay.

Keep going.

They'll come on down there at the edge.

There they go.

I believe we had a miss on my side.

I think I had two misses.

They were fast.

Yeah, I believe I missed.

Look in here Boe.

People that are not into hunting, they don't understand that it's not all about the harvest.

It's as much about the pursuit and the adventure of the hunt as you as the rest of it.

And the comradery with the dogs and stuff.

Yeah, it's a great connection to the earth.

It really, truly is.

It connects you back to, like I said, a different time.

There is the deer.

There they go.

The deer right there.

Looks like we got one on point.

There they go.

That was the single, huh?

That was pretty awesome.

Well, that was cool.

You, as soon as that bird came up you recognize there was a a quail.

Was on it pulling the trigger.

That's great.

It was exciting.

And I was just thinking, I need to go over a little bit more, sort of, you know?

We saw that bird a while a go kind of get up in front of a dog and fly in front of us.

Come back down.

We didn't know exactly where it was at.

We didn't know if it was still there.

Sure enough, you walked right up there and got a chance.

Well Marie, that was a great day for me.

I do not get a chance to do that very much, and I appreciate you sharing this opportunity with me.

Well, it's been fun and it's been fun to get to know you, too.

Yeah.

And I tell you.

So today we didn't see as many birds, but that was hunting is all about.

You didn't come out here thinking, you know, if someone would have told you before the day started, well, you know, we're not gonna end up with a bird.

I came and done the same thing wouldn█t you?

Yeah, it's not about the take.

It's about the experience.

That's right.

To get out here and meet someone new.

Watch these dogs work.

Today's a perfect day.

I agree.

I agree.

It goes in the books.

If you spend much time outdoors in Kentucky, you have probably heard or seen the sandhill crane off in the distance.

But many hunters have never had the chance to see one close up.

It never fails, when you put your decoys out in the morning before it's light and think you did a really good job.

Daybreak comes and they█re too tight.

I'll set my perimeter first.

That way I know that I'm 60 yards from the blind, 70 yards from the blind.

That gives me my outer limit.

Then I fill in.

It makes it appear bigger from the air.

Makes it appear that there's more.

You get them munched in tight these birds up in the air.

It looks like a really small group may not be attracted to them.

Yeah.

Then sometimes I'll be out here and I end up pulling every one of them up and cover it up with grass and then hunt.

If there's too much movement in them, yeah, then you can't have too much movement.

That█ll flair them.

We have a light breeze.

They're moving just to move a little bit.

And you don't ever want to turn in face in the same direction because that's how they act when they see something that's threatening.

Yeah.

You know, if I see a coyote walking across the field, they're all going to turn and face a direction from the air that tells other birds there's something wrong.

They're completely not alarmed, just feeding, doing their thing.

Yeah.

You always want more feeders than you do sentries.

Just like goose decoys.

Yeah.

All right, let's go move the truck.

All right, that sounds good.

Well that█s our first group, and I hear another one coming, so it looks like we're set up just in time.

Yeah, they roost down on Barren River Lake.

About this time every morning, they'll pick up.

They usually come off in groups of ten or twenty to areas that they know they're going to feed.

Most likely areas they█ve feed the day before.

Now, when they go back to the roost from the field in the evening, they'll pick up in groups of 40 or 50.

So here in Kentucky, when do we typically start seeing them and how long will they be here?

You typically start seeing them come through until the weather, the end of October, all the way through into February.

I witnessed sandhill cranes from a distance, a lot from a deer stand.

I mean, that's the time of year you really start seeing them from a boat.

But to be this close to them, I█m really excited about this.

Yeah, it could happen in a minute or two.

Or we could be here for a couple hours, it just depends how they fly.

Well, it's beautiful out here, and we're dressed for the cold, so whatever it takes, I'm fine.

We're good.

I'm going enjoy every minute.

Yeah, no doubt.

We've already seen our first group of birds.

It could happen any time now.

Right.

The birds that we█re going to be paying attention to are going to be coming from in front of us Okay, those are the ones that will give us some play right over the blind.

And that's what we're after.

There's several groups out right now making their way.

There have been a few coming over on this right hand side.

It'd be nice if we could get some small groups to come through.

Right.

So once they come in, we've got to make sure that they're in range and flying low, right?

If they drop down to treetop level out there, they're going to be good.

Can you see these on my side?

Yeah.

They're low enough if they come over.

They're flaring a little bit.

Not sure if it█s our blind or the decoys, but they're coming in close.

But right at the very end, they're starting to peel out a little bit to the right and left.

There's a few right there.

Here we go.

There█s about 15 in there.

There's that group in front of us.

They're coming over the trees like I want.

They█re a little bit lower than the last couple.

So this may give us a chance here.

I'm hearing birds all around us.

We've got a single right here.

Kill it.

There we go.

Nice shot.

Bird down.

Yeah.

Good job.

First Crane ever.

I love it.

That was awesome.

All right, so need to sit down, get ready.

Get back down because there are liable to come in from anywhere again.

I didn█t even see that bird.

That was great.

That is really awesome.

It's so exciting when those things come through like that.

So many birds and all of sudden they can come from anywhere.

They can.

I mean, you got thousands of birds coming this way, but so many have made the way behind us.

And they kind of just circle around.

You don't know.

You're expecting to come from the front, but luckily you saw that one in the back, I hear some behind us right now.

We got plenty more chances, it looks like.

Yeah.

Here they come.

So I'm loaded up and ready to go again.

The thing you have to watch out for now is you are allowed one more bird.

Yeah.

So you got to be really careful.

Shooting a single is great But if these birds come in and ten or 15 like they have been, you know, be careful on the next shot.

I█m going to make sure that they're not going that fast, I█ll either take that first bird or that very last one.

But there's more coming over the trees right now.

They're coming in like I want them but right at the end They're starting to flare.

I want to pull a few of these decoys to see if that doesn█t help.

Alright.

These birds here, they look good right now.

This may be it right here.

They're going to be a little higher than that last one.

So you may have have to lead this bird just a little bit.

Get ready.

They're going to do it.

There we go.

I've tagged out.

That is awesome.

That is awesome.

Your second Sandhill Crane.

Hey, this could not have worked out any better.

We've got to see so many birds.

Had two birds fly right over us here.

That worked out great.

It did.

And they're still flying all over.

I mean there█s birds coming from every direction.

And I tell you what, this was really exciting.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate you bringing me out here to do this.

This was an absolute blast.

Oh I love it.

I love sitting here watching it as much as I do shooting myself.

And you have put us in a spot where those birds, you knew right where they were going to be and right where they were going to feed.

And we just got right in the travel corridor.

And man we have seen some birds.

We have to get out there now and tag your bird.

Gotta go out there and take a look at what we got.

So here we go.

What a beautiful bird.

And this one has what I would call little red on top?

Right.

An adult bird will have no feathers on its head, and it'll be this red skin all the way to the back of its head.

I█m going to mark little or no red?

Correct.

It's going to ask if it has a leg band.

There's no existing bands on this bird.

So that's going to be no.

No.

All right.

The next process is when you apply, you get a band and this gets attached to the leg of the bird.

To the leg.

All right.

But you'll need that number there.

The 2039.

2039.

Of course i'll let you do the honors.

All right.

When you tag a crane, you come up here above this knuckle right here, and you want to wrap it twice and lock it in.

There you go.

Once it's locked, it's locked?

Once it█s locked it█s locked.

You'll feel it click when you get it in there.

So Brett, an interesting thing on the sandhill crane hunting is that you put in for the lottery, and if you're drawn, you're actually sent a link to where you go and have to take a test that shows me exactly how these birds look in flight, how they look juvenile, and the reason that is is for what?

There's a concern that hunters will mistake a sandhill crane for a whopping crane or a great blue heron.

So the test has questions to make sure that you can identify the difference.

There's a lot of shoot, don't shoot questions.

You may have a scenario where you can't tell what color a bird is.

It's flying in, but you can't tell what color it is.

If you can't tell what color it is you need to be careful and not shoot that bird because it could be a whooping crane.

Being in law enforcement, I feel like having a Sandhill Crane season actually helps protect the whooping crane.

Because now you're putting hunters in the field who are educated in what whooping cranes look like, the fact that they need protection.

And there's never been an accidental shooting of whooping Crane in the state of Kentucky by a hunter, correct?

No.

Well, we're going to get this bird picked up.

The only thing I got to make sure I do before I processes this bird or before midnight, I have to telecheck and put my telecheck confirmation number on here.

That█s it.

But we at this point in time, we're going to go check our other bird out.

Yeah, let's go get it.

All right.

Wow look how there's no feathers and look how much red is on the head of this bird.

Correct.

That would be considered an adult.

You'll see on an adult bird that you have a lot more tan in the wing, just a beautiful bird.

You know, it is just a stunningly beautiful bird.

A lot of people don't know that these are excellent to eat.

Oh, they're great.

The nickname for them is they call them ribeye of the sky.

It doesn't get much better than ribeyes.

You can grill it, fry it, bake it, you can do whatever you want, but I take that breast and go ahead and cut it in strips and then soak those strips for a couple of days in saltwater and get some of that blood out.

It makes for much better table fare.

Yeah.

Hey, look, we've been outside of the blind now for a good 30 minutes or so, and the birds are still flying in.

And this would be a spot if you were going to hunt tomorrow.

You could come right back here to have another opportunity.

You could, you could come back to this same spot in a day or two.

Well, I'll tell you what.

I'm excited to get these things on a hot grill, I will tell you that.

They're great.

This year Kentucky Afield will be celebrating 70 years on-air.

And from time to time, we're going to take a look back and see what we've been up to.

Stripers or striped bass.

Originally, a saltwater fish that spawned in brackish and freshwater.

Stripers were introduced in Lake Cumberland in 1979 and are doing very well.

On this beautiful morning the challenge of catching one of these big fighting fish has us pumped up and fishing guide Brad Weakley is ready.

Making me nervous Tom.

Oh, son there█s a big one rolling down there, right on down the bank.

I█d like to catch this one if I could.

A man could get hooked on this kind of fishing on short order, you don't have to catch but one you█re hooked for life.

I'll show you how to do this little trick.

This works real good.

You can put this balloon on your line however deep that you want to fish, and then you let out a lot of line out behind you.

I'm talking about, oh, probably 60 yards is what that last one was back and I had him down about ten feet deep and this way you can tow that line along, and it█s just a giant cork is all it is.

But the great thing about it is whenever the fish hits and starts running around stuff, the balloon will pop.

If it doesn't, when it gets to the end of the rod, it'll just go ahead and reel up on the line.

And you're not you're not bothered with losing your fish or whatever because of the cork effect.

You got about that much balloon.

And you just tie it on here.

Just like that see, and that's going to be my cork.

Give myself some slack.

And I know I want to go down about eight feet.

So I've got a seven foot rod, see here?

Now I got eight feet.

That's a pretty good way to judge it and I just get hold of my balloon like this.

I just slide him up the line to my rod tip.

I know I got eight feet.

I got him.

Ah he come off.

Or did he?

Yeah, he's gone.

No he ain't I got him.

Oh boy do I have him.

Oh he's headed to deep water Tom.

Oh yeah.

Tom i█m going to try to take him to the front of the boat.

Oh are we going.

He's in another line.

Oh man.

He█s headed to deep water.

That█s good if he don't get up on that saddle way over yonder.

He run off a bunch of line before I realized what happened.

See him in that other line?

Oh yeah.

Now, now that's power son.

That is raw power.

I'm telling you you don't have to get on many of these before a man get hook for life.

You take a seven foot rod and break it off like that.

Boy he took off a bunch of line when he hit.

He's still way out there to.

I just keep a pressure on his nose, see if I can bring him around.

This water█s so clear down here we've been running 10, 12lb test line.

I can't get on him too hard.

Won█t have him.

He█s made a turn to me now.

Oh he seen us that time didn█t he?

Shew, look what a ball.

Now he█s wanting to do his sounding trick now.

You know, he's a striper is actually a ocean fish.

He has the ability to achieve just about whatever depths that he wants.

Now he'll play a little game where he go down about ten foot and stop.

Now, gain back a little bit and he'll go down again.

That's called sounding.

You just hope that you got enough lake and enough line that he can't take it down and hang you up.

There he goes back down.

He█s still running it off.

Now lay it back on his nose and see if I can bring him up.

If this water had a little color we could run about a well even a 14lb test line would help.

I think this one█s either 10 or 12.

Oh man, I'm getting tired.

I'll be ready to sit down when this is over.

but it sure is nice.

Look at him peel that line off of there.

He█s just taking it on down.

Watch him.

He's going to do it again.

There he goes.

I bet you all think I'm hung up, don't you?

Come out of there.

I haven't seen him yet, but I'm going to guess him somewhere around 15, 18 or something.

He's not he's not a 40.

Go around that motor.

He ain't exactly little is he?

There he is out there.

Now, how much stuff he reckons on top of my dip net?

Of course, everything.

That█s okay.

That's the way it's supposed to be.

If it was where I could get to it, you couldn't catch nothing.

Hey, (laughing).

I'm telling you what folks.

If you've never done any striper fishing at Cumberland Lake you see what you█re missing.

That's a beautiful fish.

A worthy adversary, striper fishing.

I love it.

In 1972 I caught my first one about 6 pounds.

They got more spunk-per-inch than anything I've ever fought.

Now if I can stuff him in this little hole.

Get in there, I█m getting tired of fooling with you man.

How about that?

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

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

Here we have brother and sister Ainsley and Lucas Heron.

They both took their first bucks this year from Crittendon County, Kentucky.

Nice job.

Here we have a really impressive whitetail buck taken by Loyd Gillespie from Tomahawk, Kentucky.

Nice job.

Here we have 13 year old Connor Hall who took this nice elk during the youth elk season in Knot county.

Congratulations.

Did you make a New Year's resolution to get more exercise in 2023?

Well, one of the ways to do that is by getting outdoors and small game hunting.

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.