Hello and welcome to Kentucky Afield.

I'm your host, Chad Miles.

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

This week, we're going to be squirrel hunting.

Searching the Ohio River for trophy catfish.

But first up, we're headed to Henry County for a rabbit hunt.

You█ll see this dog missing on a milk carton, right here, after this hunt.

What█d he say about my dog?

You said turn them loose?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you█re good.

Last time you█ll see them, boys.

Right there.

This is the kind of hunt I like.

We've got three or four people out here hunting today.

Everybody brought dogs and, you know, late season rabbit hunting.

You're always looking forward to the end and going, “man, I wish it didn't happen,” but this is a great time to get out and give your dog some last work.

Spend some time in the field with good friends.

Sounds like we█re going to get a rabbit right off the bat.

Right here.

Nick, right at you.

Look, look right here.

We got another one right here.

We got three rabbits up right now.

Got a rabbit right here.

They have gotten three rabbits up and we have not- just got my gun loaded.

Nick saw one come out and take off that direction.

And then a second rabbit came out and ran behind him and I just saw one right here.

I saw that rabbit come up right here, and then he slipped back through, came around and slipped up that trail right here.

Here we go.

Absolutely perfect.

It's a lot of fun.

There's nothing I'd rather do than sit out here and have these dogs running around chasing rabbits.

This is to me, this is the idea of a perfect day.

Here he is, here he is, here he is.

Dale just jumped one.

I hear him yelling, “there he goes, there he goes.” He's trying to put them on a scent trail but he knows where one's been.

There they go, There they go.

Come here, dead, dead.

He got it.

I hear him calling dead.

So that thing- they were running right toward him.

I figured he'd be shooting any second.

Come here, dead, dead.

Good dog.

I tell you what, this is really thinking here and I absolutely love setting out on the edges- That rabbit ran up and looked me right in the face!

I mean, I'm not exaggerating.

It was like I had to pull my gun back like this to shoot at it.

This is a perfect day.

If you can get all your bunnies close to the truck, I don't have to carry them all today.

Going to work out perfect.

Here we go.

Go take this one to the truck.

It's going to be a light load.

Let me see your color of your rabbit there.

See the difference?

Yeah, that thing- It█s blonde.

That's a beautiful bunny.

Yeah.

He's like a blondish red.

Beautiful, beautiful rabbit.

You went to pick that rabbit up and immediately yelled- the dogs jumped another one right there and where I passed there beside it.

Running right to ya█ll.

And I was making my way to you and as I was doing that, you said, here he comes.

This rabbit ran up and got right at my face and stopped.

And I needed my bifocals to put a good shot on this.

It was that close.

Yeah I love when you shoot him next to the truck.

That's right.

We just put it right here in the truck.

Come on, come on, come on.

Come on, Checkers.

Come on, Bell There it goes, Shannon.

One went right here.

Your lying.

Did you see one?

Yeah.

Well, why didn█t you shoot then?

I'm serious I'm not joking with you.

I know you might like I'm messing with him but I'm not.

It just took off right through here.

These two guys are- they joke each other so much, they don't know when they're being serious.

We don█t know when we're serious or not.

Yeah, we're never serious.

That's Nick.

Yeah.

That aint Shannon.

That█s not a .410.

Jumped him up, come down to here.

Barely could see him, thick as could be, but I got a little opening over there and I got him.

Sounds like they just jumped this rabbit the way they█re acting.

Uh oh.

There█s a .410.

Now, these are a lot harder to hit, them rabbits they█ve been killing is big.

This is a little rabbit.

They're harder to hit.

I bet that thing was just right on his feet.

He█s a lot harder to hit than ya█ll been killing, he's a little rabbit.

Hunt in here.

Hunt in here.

Chad.

You get him?

Yeah.

Dead, dead, dead, dead, Hey, hey, hey, hey.

Here.

Chopper, chopper, chopper, good boy.

Good boy.

Bell, Bell.

Wimpy.

Dead, dead.

Hey.

That's a big rabbit.

That was a long shot, too.

Yeah, it was a long shot for a .410.

I'm telling you right now.

Looks like you put it on it.

Headshot too.

Yeah.

Running away headshot.

You got to aim right.

Just right.

Lookie there.

Old dead head.

There's a rabbit right there.

Coming at us.

right here.

See it right here.

Right there see him?

I should have shown a little more patience on that.

That rabbit was coming at me, But this creek was here.

I thought if he turned and went the other way, I'd never get a shot.

So took a little longer shot than I should have, had to shoot at it twice.

And he hobbled away.

He made it about 40 yards from where I actually shot.

But here he lays.

So, you know, sometimes you get lucky.

That was probably a little longer shot than I needed to take, but it turned out well.

Got rabbit number three.

For a late season small property hunt.

That was pretty fantastic.

Did pretty good didn█t we?

It was a lot of fun.

And anytime I can get the dogs out in the field, it's a good day.

The Ohio River is notorious for large catfish, and they can be found just about year round.

Well, today is a day that I have really been looking forward to.

This is actually my second time out fishing with Captain Ben Goebel and last time we smoked 'em.

Yep.

We absolutely crushed the fish.

We're going to fish similar styles than we did last time.

And it's called bumping.

That's right.

And bumping.

The best way you described it to me is if you're a bass fisherman, it's like reverse dragging a jig.

Right?

That's pretty much like it.

if you guys if people like to bass fish, usually my first question when I get customers aboat: Do you like the bass fish?

And they say, yeah.

So you're going to like the way we fish, its just backwards when you're retrieving a jig or worm or Texas rig and a worm back to you.

Instead of that.

It's it's reverse.

You're walking it down the river.

We got we got fresh skipjack so I say we go get after it.

The way I like to hook these skipjack there's a little- Yeah.

Lip right there.

Just come up there.

Come right out the nose.

All right.

What type of flow you think we got today?

Miles per hour?

We're.

We're looking here pretty good.

You want me to go on ahead and give her- make it happen?

Yeah just drop straight down.

All right.

How deep are we fishing today?

We're going to be enough.

30 to 60.

All right, now.

I just felt the bottom.

Yep.

And then.

And then remember when you want to let it out, you just let it out as you're coming up with your bump.

Something just tapped my- Yeah, I got one tap on mine too.

Got a fish on?

Think it came off.

Now he might still be.

most important fish of the day.

That's right.

Number one.

He found him a little treat today didn't he?

Kind've a little morning pop tart this morning.

He found a trick, and a treat.

Here he is.

There you go.

Five pounder.

I'll tell you what- Right there Nice fish.

That's what you want to take home and eat right there.

That's perfect eater fish right there.

And then you can range from 5 lbs on that big of a piece of bait to 100 huh?

Yeah, he just this one, this little guy is just get going.

So, going back, and get our bait on them Oh, yeah.

I see your rod tip going there.

Yeah.

Here you go.

Little better fish.

Here you go.

I saw that rod tip bouncing.

Come over on this side, Chad.

You got it loose?

Yeah, I'm loose.

Okay.

Let me tell you, I'm.

I'm out there about to the boat ramp.

Need a net?

No, I don't think so.

Let's see what you got here.

This is a.

You think only about 15 lbs, you say?

Yeah he's- You called it.

10, 12.

You called it.

About ten.

You know, this fish here, he's been fighting a little bit, just a little spot on him from from spawn.

And you see his mouth a little bit, but very healthy Fish.

That is a good fish.

Hey, you doubled from fish one to fish two.

We're steadly just getting up so- and just a beautiful fish here, the sun on him like that and then it just never gets old catching them.

I don't even care for this size right here.

Just all colors on him.

Starting to hit that bottom.

It's just like knocking on the door.

Yep.

You're using six ounces of lead.

You'd think it would happen really quick and easy, but when you got a flow like we got.

Yeah.

It's like you think you find it right away, but when you- You do feel it, there's no doubt.

Okay, there you go.

There we go.

Good job.

Uh oh, here we go.

You got one, too?

Oh, now it's on.

I don't think he's there, its a small bite.

We about made her a double.

Yep.

It was a small bite.

This one might be more like eight or eight or nine pounder.

Yeah, right there.

There you go.

You get more fish than you get the bait.

Tell you what, still such a huge fight.

You think you want to come out here everybody goes "I want to catch a 50 pounder."

You might change your mind when you get him hooked up.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, he's probably six.

he's eight 8 lbs?

Yeah.

You start looking at the length of that fish and you go, well, okay, that fish probably what do you think, 28 inches long or..?

Probably not quite that.

He's probably 24, probably 24 or 21.

I'll tell you what now, maybe I'm getting the hang of it.

Maybe I'll get another one here real quick.

Here we go.

Yeah, yeah.

Right, right there.

See him right there on top of the water.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

He's 8, 18.

That's nice.

Got him?

Nice.

That's why you do it.

good job.

Look at that fish.

What do you notice about that fish?

Look at its eye.

Yeah.

I'll be dang.

There aint an eyeball In there.

Yeah.

He been hurt probably before.

Look, no eyeball.

It's probably been- I have.

I've only seen that one time.

That fish has been that fish has been hooked and or something the eye has been removed and it's literally healed over.

And there is no eye.

there's a skin.

Just skin.

But you know what?

These fish, they work so much on scent and smell.

this fish is still very healthy and living his life.

No eyeball.

check that out.

Oh, one eyed fish.

The one eyed fish.

You got a fish?

Yeah, that a good one?

I don't know.

He's staying down.

Oh, yeah.

We got a little drag here.

No, he's not wanting me to see him.

he's going to be a nice fish.

There you go.

Let's see here.

Oh, you got him.

Nice fish.

Upper upper 20.

That's the ones we're after, right there.

Yeah.

That's right.

Right there.

Beautiful fish.

Man.

Look how much when they once they get about the length of the last one they just for a while start getting really thick, look how wide and thick that fish is.

All right, let's see what he weighs.

Right at 28, 28 lbs.

I mean, that's just a typical trophy blue cat right there.

I mean.

What a beautiful, beautiful fish.

We're gonna we're going to get him.

Get him released here.

You got him?

Same old size today.

12, 13 pounder.

That's the slot today.

Seems like.

just a beautiful fun fish that will for most for most people unless you are an avid cat fisherman that sized fish believe it or not in this current.

Oh yeah.

Will absolutely give you all the fight you want.

Yeah.

12 lbs And if you hook into a 40 or 50 pounder, you might be done for the day.

Yeah.

So, wow, I'll tell you what, you, you, you've.

You've never let me down.

I've been down here and done this with you twice.

And every single time we come down here, we get plenty of bites.

Obviously.

Yeah, there's bigger fish.

Obviously we catch bigger fish, but some days it's just tough.

You know, today we got a big south wind, if you know what you're doing.

And you know, from April all the way through October, November, a guy can come out here and catch fish.

No doubt about it.

Hunting squirrels was the very first outdoor experience I ever had.

And for all Kentuckians, regardless of where you live, it's an experience you don't want to miss.

Oh.

They're here.

I mean, we just we just got to run into the right ones.

I don't know that I've ever been skunked here before, we're in Anderson County and we're out.

a little bit past Beaver Lake so we're going to be hunting a mix of hardwoods with some cedars thrown in.

I mean if you look here on the log you can see squirrel prints.

We know they've been active today because the snow fell last night.

So we know that they've been around.

There's also a few nest around here.

So we know this there's been activity here.

we're just trying to catch up with them.

it's pretty cold, so I don't know how well we'll do, but.

Sun's starting to try and peek out a little bit.

The wind's not as bad as we thought it was going to be, so I think we might get lucky and be able to get a few.

I'm actually from a nontraditional hunting family.

Like, I always, I don't know what it is, I always wanted to hunt from the time I can remember.

I think the first hunt I ever when I was a deer hunt, and I pestered my dad, guy he worked with took me out on a youth hunt, and I was able to be successful and harvest a doe.

And from then on, like hunting is.

It's my favorite.

My favorite thing to do, really.

So it's, the farm we█re on today.

doing this squirrel hunt is actually a guy that I grew up with, and his dad taught us a bunch of stuff about hunting.

that's kind of the way it blossomed is, you know, I met some guys I went to school with and their dads were pretty big in the outdoors and stuff, and we're teaching them, and I kind of fell in with them and, got taught a lot of good lessons that way.

Oh, I see one.

We got one.

We saw three squirrels go up this tree right here, we got one, but we're trying to see if we can.

If we can get another one.

They're still up there in this tree.

They█re just not showing theirselves, Sometimes that'll get them to show, but.

Oh, I see one.

Oh, gosh.

Oh, Should have shot.

That was a good one, too.

I should have shot, Those squirrels are just so fast that it's hard to when they're running, it can be hard to get on them.

we got a nice big squirrel.

Like I said, there's a couple more up here, so.

Put him in the pouch and.

That's a big tree.

They can be anywhere in that tree.

They█ve clearly got some kind of food source.

that they've probably buried or something.

And that█s probably where they're living in this tree.

So Can always swing back and check it.

It's not the fact of actually going hunting or anything that makes it so daunting.

It's you know, what do you do afterwards?

How do you how do you process that animal?

there are resources out there like, hunters of color, which I'm affiliated with.

I'm actually the state ambassador.

You can reach out to me about something like that, but also Fish and Wildlife.

They do the field to fork program.

I mean, it's awesome.

I mean, it teaches you everything you need to know to go out there and be successful.

Now that's going to take effort.

I mean, it doesn't happen easily every time, but it's like, you know, it█ll teach you.

What do I do if I am successful and I do harvest this animal?

And so, you know, I think that's a very important barrier to kind of break down.

It█s important to me because, being a minority.

if there weren't people that took the time to kind of show me things, then I wouldn't be where I'm at And so more representation, maybe more younger kids seeing people that kind of look like them out there doing that, could get more people out hunting.

And plus we just need more hunters.

We need more people that are there to pass on the pastime because, I mean, it's it's a great hobby, a great sport.

And, can keep kids out of trouble.

It's, it's good, wholesome fun.

I mean, you can provide a little extra food for your family.

I mean, I've seen so many back in here.

it's just a, it's a good.

Right there.

dang it!

Here he just come.

He's going up, up, up, up in that tree.

He█s on the back side of that one, I just seen his head.

He█s kind of got himself in a pickle there.

Here we go.

How in the world?

He's up there, he's on the.

All right, here we go.

There he is.

Now, you ain't got to tell everybody I missed like that.

I don't know how missed him that one time, but, Shoot.

All right, here we go.

Little success story Oh, yeah.

Here we go.

Here's another one.

We got enough to make something out of now.

Make us some good food right there.

Good looking, squirrel.

Two is a good number.

I'll take 3 or 4, but two is enough to make you something real good to eat.

That's enough.

You can.

He can kind of put them in the crock pot.

Maybe make you a little squirrel gravy or a little, squirrel and dumplings.

Action.

Pretty good little meal right there.

So I'm.

I'm feeling really, really, really, happy that we got two.

That's a ideal squirrel habitat.

It was a good day.

You know, We went for a walk is a beautiful day.

It ended up being awesome out here.

We were able to get a couple squirrels.

So, you know, we'll have a nice dinner.

Anybody can get out here and do this man, just come out and take a walk through the woods.

It's like, you may not be successful every time, which I'm not successful every time, but, you'll get to where you start to learn things and pick things up.

Don't get discouraged if you're not successful right away.

Just keep plugging away and you know, you'll get better and you'll learn more and you'll have fun.

And it's just like it's good exercise too.

And, you know, come out here with a buddy.

You're sitting here talking.

We're cutting up, having a good time.

So, all in all a great day.

Now let█s check in and see who else has been out having fun in this week█s Ones That Didn█t Get Away Here we have Nick Brewer with a buck that he named ghost.

He caught this deer on camera one time, and then he showed up under his tree stand during Muzzleloader season in Powell County.

Nice job.

Here we have Vincent Wright with a large mouth bass that he caught while fishing in Kenton County.

Congratulations.

Check out this beautiful buck that was taken in Jefferson County with a crossbow by Italy Anne Guernsey.

What a deer.

Phillip Lee caught this beautiful trophy walleye in the Cumberland River in Knox County.

This fish was caught, photo█d and released.

Nice job.

Nine year old Jackson Hoskins caught this smallmouth bass on the salt River on a canoe fishing trip with his papa.

Nice job.

Ten year old Kaylee Joe Hicks has been practicing her rifle for weeks, and it paid off on the opening day of gun season.

And she took this nice eight point buck.

Congratulations.

Ricky Dobbs hit the woods and took this nice ten point buck in McCreary County.

This was his personal best.

Nice job.

Seven year old Wyatt Woods went hunting with a crossbow in Henry County and took his very first buck.

Congratulations.

Seven year old Jacob Perkins went fishing in Henry County at his papa's pond and caught this nice 3 pound largemouth bass.

Congratulations.

Check out this nice buck that was taken with a bow and arrow by Benjamin Hill.

He said he got this deer to 15 yards and it's his first ever antlered deer.

Congratulations.

Kentucky's modern firearm season for deer is underway.

But if you didn't get a chance to get out yet, you still have time.

The season runs until Sunday, November, the 24th.

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.