This week on Kentucky Afield.

We're getting up close and personal with the state's only flying mammal, but not for fun.

We're doing it to try to save an endangered species.

Next, We'll explore something that's getting a lot of interest these days, and that's tree saddle hunting.

Then, we're going to take to the woods for some squirrel hunting.

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.

Here at the Department of Fish and Wildlife, we have many wildlife biologist that work on the animals we hunt and the fish that we fish for.

But there are a small group of biologists that work to monitor and protect endangered species.

Virginia Big Eared bats are our most endangered mammal we have in Kentucky.

As best we can tell from the information we have available to us statewide, there's only somewhere between three and 4000 individuals currently.

The biologists here at Kentucky Fish and Wildlife spend a lot of time managing Virginia Big Eared bats.

The last year, as a part of our project with Virginia Big Eared bats we discovered a new or at least newly known to us maternity site for the species.

It's a pretty sizable site.

It holds maybe a little bit over 10% of all the Virginia Big Eared bats we know of in the state.

We were concerned that people could unknowingly go into the cave at the wrong time of year and disturb the bats and actually cause the population to decline.

So at that point, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife worked with the Daniel Boone National Forest with US Fish and Wildlife with the Kentucky Natural Land Trust and with experts in actually erecting these cave gates to get the site protected.

Using using a cave gate.

I need a piece.

A sill s-i-l-l 78 inches.

Yes.

When I say gate it, we're erecting these barriers that will allow the bat to move in and out of the cave freely, but that restricts human access.

Human disturbance, and most of the time it's unknowingly disturbing these bats, can actually have a negative impact on the population.

So if we get a lot of human disturbance at a cave that's used as a hibernaculum for example, while the bats are hibernating, the humans walking around will disturb them.

They'll wake up, they'll start depleting fat reserves, and they'll actually starve to death in the wintertime.

In the summertime, if it's a maternity site for a species you disturb the mothers with their pups.

Sometimes the pups, if you do at the wrong time of year, are unable to fly at this time, and they can actually fall down to the cave floor to their death.

So when you put these cave gates up or barriers up, it's there as a way of managing a very small number of the caves that we have in the state that that are the ones that are our most important cave resources.

We utilized our Kentucky Wild program to pay for a portion of the gate in conjunction with that to the imperiled Bat Conservation Fund administered by the Kentucky Natural Lands Trust, paid for a portion of the project as well.

So we were able to leverage Kentucky wild funds that are donated money from our Kentucky Wild members to actually get this site protected.

What we want to do is put in these management strategies with putting cave gates up, but then we also want to continue monitoring the sites to make sure that the populations are at least holding steady, although we would obviously prefer to have the the populations increase in size, a tool that we use for monitoring populations.

We can go in with thermal binoculars and monitor emergence at night and just get a count of how many bats are coming out in order to collect the most data from a site and to really see how our population is doing, we'll use a harp trap.

A harp trap is a metal frame with monofilament fishing line that you buy any baits to work around vertically.

And the idea is as the bats emerge out of the cave, they kind of bump into the fishing line that we've got pulled really tight, and it makes them fall into a little cloth bag at the bottom of the trap.

As soon as they hit the bag at the bottom, we have biologists on site that pull the bat out and that's when we really start collecting some good information on is this a site used by males or females?

Sometimes both.

Is it a maternity site where we have both mothers and pups there?

What's the reproductive condition and the body condition of the bats that we're catching?

And that's what we're also able to put bands on bat so that we can do these long term data sets.

That's essentially a way of marking the bat so that we can collect trend data on individuals.

We're able to band these bats in the summertime.

We'll go in in the wintertime to do the bat count.

And as we see, bats that have a band on them will pull that bat, look at the band report that.

And we're able to find the migration trend on species.

So by attaching these bands, we're able to start getting these links between where they're spending their summers and where they're spending their winters.

In addition, we're able to look year after year and see how long some of these bats live, which can actually be up to 20 years.

So by not only doing the monitoring that we've talked about, but by also installing these cave gates at appropriate sites, we're able to monitor and hopefully recover the species long term.

One of the things we want to make sure of is to protect the populations that we know of.

And then beyond that, once we get these sites protected, then we can work into some of the habitat work that needs to happen out on the landscape to make sure that the species is recovered.

Deer season is right around the corner here in the state of Kentucky, and there are many effective, safe ways to get in range of a deer.

But one of the newest, most compact methods is called tree saddle hunting.

Well, Shane, I know we're looking for a good tree for a saddle.

I don't have any experience for this.

You pick a tree out.

We can use it on about any tree, but that one, I believe, looks perfect Chad.

All right, that looks good to me.

Shane, you introduced something to me that I have actually still never done, but we've talked a little about it, and that is saddle hunting.

Tell me a little bit about generally what saddle hunting is.

And essentially this is using a harness system in lieu of a normal traditional tree stand.

Yeah.

So saddle hunting essentially is a lightweight form of hunting where you're wearing a harness.

It's it's a purpose made tree saddle that's built for the purpose of a hunter spending extended periods of time in it.

It's combined with a lightweight climbing method.

And you climb the tree and you will you will hanging, suspended from a tether which is attached to the tree tied to your harness that you're going to be sitting in or leaning back against, and your feet are going to be on a small platform of some type, it's going to be attached to the tree underneath you.

And literally when you leave the ground, you're going to be tethered to the tree where falling is not really a possibility all the way up until your hunting position.

Is that correct?

That's correct, yes.

Okay.

So using it in a way where you are attached and a fall is not possible, it is very, very, very important.

Yeah.

So the saddle system, what is the benefits of hunting with a tree saddle?

It's very lightweight.

It's very simple to walk in wit.

Instead of carrying a large stand in, it can be snagging on trees and branches.

You can literally wear it.

You are facing the tree, it gives you more usable range around the tree to shoot from.

Okay.

It's very safe.

You know, like you said, you're tied in from the minute you leave the ground to the minute your feet touch the ground again.

When a person sees this, they're going to immediately go, Well, that kind of looks like what I see a lineman wearing or maybe a rock climber.

It's very similar gear repurposed for hunting, correct?

Exactly.

I bet if you ask ten different climbers how they climb and what tools they need, you probably get ten different answers.

But to keep it simple, tell me exactly what equipment is needed here.

Set of climbing sticks is a great way to get started.

They're easy to use, they're easy to learn.

You're going to need a foot platform to put your feet on.

Once you get up to hunting height for stability to shoot off, you're going to need a saddle to hold.

You attached to the saddle is going to be a bridge.

Lineman's belt to help you get up and down on the sticks.

Some type of rope grab and a carabiner to attach that lineman's belt to your saddle and you're going to need a tether.

Again, some type of rope grab and a carabiner on that tether that goes around the tree, that attaches to your saddle to hold you when you're suspended.

So on the saddle, I step inside it, making sure to step through the bridge.

There are leg loops and attach them.

And this webbing, that the pad, the back of the saddle, is actually what's going to be holding me as I sit down.

So that's where the bulk of my bodies weight is going to be carried.

What are they rated to hold?

What type of weight?

Some of the lightest rated ones are rated around 350, 400 pounds.

They'll hold plenty of weight.

There's no concern there at all.

So the next step for me, is I'm going to take my step.

This small platform will actually be what my feet will rest against when I get to hunting height.

Okay.

You can purchase these online as well.

I made this one and tied it up.

It's a step aider.

A step aider essentially, when you're using a one step, just gives you two more steps?

Correct, yes.

That's all this is Is it a strap that's a two more steps to get you a little bit higher?

Correct, yes.

Okay.

So I walk up to the tree and I'm going to put it about this high.

So I want my first foot to be able to reach my step aider.

Okay.

Throw my rope around the tree.

I'm going to attach my step to the tree using the cam-cleat and the rope.

Make sure the rope's ran back out of the way so I'm not going to snag it and kick it loose with my feet.

So this type of cleat that is good right there?

Yes sir.

That's rated for 500 pounds plus.

It comes from the sailing industry.

It'll hold it will hold plenty of weight and will set my stick and we'll pull down on it.

Okay.

And then I'm going to put my body weight into it to set it a little bit more and I'll set my stick.

All right.

Now, the next step is to take the rope that I'm actually going to be using.

I will climb up this rope and I will also come back down this rope by rappelling.

Okay.

This is a simple knot.

Okay.

I'm going to tie simple overhand figure eight into it.

And you can buy these already pre-tied?

Yes sir, you can buy them pre-tied.

And I'm going to use the carabiner through the loop.

I'm going to then attach this around the tree.

And you say carabiner, these are not regular carabiners you go by Walmart.

They have a way that these these will tighten back down and screw closed.

Correct, yes.

Don't just grab any old regular carabiner that's not made for climbing, right?

Buy a climbing rated carabiner.

I turned it around so that my screw gate is facing out away from the tree.

It's not going to get bound up against the tree and that's going to hang for a second.

Okay.

So let me gather a couple of things here.

I'm going to need this in a moment to descend the tree.

This is a rappelling ring and another carabiner.

I'm going to take it and clip it on my belt right here.

It's going to be with me going up the tree.

I will need that to get down.

And I'm going to use an ascender.

It's a one way rope grab.

So i'm going to attach it to the rope and it grabs the rope.

I gotcha.

So it allows me to ascend up.

I release the tension on it.

I'm going to descend.

Okay.

So at this point, my carabiner is going to attach to my ascender, that attaches to my bridge.

Okay.

Once you pull that tight it's physically not possible for you to fall without a major malfunction.

Correct.

When I climb using an aider, I'm going to use a toe-to-tree method.

My toe is going to touch the tree.

That's what's going to lock me out and help me hold that rope steady and stable.

I'm going to go ahead and start working my tether up the tree.

The most dangerous time is when the tether gets below you.

That's correct.

The mid-point of your body, right?

I mean, every time you take a step, you're pulling it up.

Yes.

You want to pull that up every time.

Yeah.

And keep it tight.

Yeah.

So at this point, I'll sit back, always ease into my saddle slowly at first.

Okay.

Let it set.

Make sure my rope's, good.

I'm going to hang free.

All right.

So at this point, my tether has me.

I'm hanging in my saddle.

I want to reach down, grab this little wire, pull my step up, release my cam-cleat.

Step comes up with me.

You're going to start the whole process over, it looks like.

Yep, the whole process starts over.

I'm going to reset my step, set it back in my cam-cleat.

So let me ask you something.

If you were doing this and this tree had a big limb that come in right here, once you move your tether up over top of it, you could go around the limb here couldn't you?

That's correct.

And in that case.

But you're going to detach yourself for a split second to get above it, right?

No, sir, I would not.

What I would do is I would carry a second tether with me.

I would tie that one, tie off to it, and then I would leapfrog that tether over it.

I got you.

Okay.

On a traditional stand where you're climbing stand, you're limited to trees without limbs.

Correct.

With this with a second tether that's not a concern.

That's correct.

Yeah.

Man that little cam lock on there is really nice because you're reaching below you.

You want to make sure you got a way that you can take it off in there pretty quickly and easily.

That's correct.

Yeah.

Now, one thing we didn't showcase, you would have attached either your firearm, your muzzleloader, or your bow before you took off, and had that clipped to your belt.

Right.

I would have that tied on to my harness.

The top step of that stick is now my platform.

Okay.

So I've got a small rope that would tie up here.

I'd hang my bow, I would pull my bow and my backpack up.

Okay, hang that here.

And at this point, I've got shots.

I could shoot here.

I can come out on stick shoot over here.

I can come off to this side of the tree and that's how I hunt.

Can you turn and face the other way?

I can.

What if it was directly behind you?

Yes.

So now you're up there to your hunting height.

You're literally on the platform, which is your step.

So on your last climb, you just don't detach it and you leave it, right?

I leave it.

Yeah.

This becomes my tether, which will become my rappelling rope.

So when I get at the hunting height, pull my bow up, and I'm going to take this massive rope, but I'm going to tuck it back in my backpack to keep it up.

Another thing I really like about this, a deer walking under me does not see steps on the bottom of the tree.

Yeah, there's literally nothing until your last step.

There's no ropes and spending.

You've pulled everything up, so it's out of the way.

It's shooting from a seated position pretty easy.

I prefer to shoot from the standing position.

Okay.

So this is my favorite shot, is out here.

Now tell me how you navigate that rope with your bow string and your draw.

Is that something?

You're just over top of it.

I'm up over it.

Okay.

So I'm going to bring my bow out, I'm going to come across my tether and I'm going to draw here.

Okay.

So it is clear of it.

So in that saddle right now, how comfortable is that for an extended four or five, six hour hunt?

Oh, it's very comfortable.

I could spend a long time here.

All right.

It's very comfortable.

It's like you're sitting in a hammock against a tree.

Now, once your hunt is over, you've got to come back down.

There's a couple of different methods you could do this.

You could literally do it in reverse of the way you did this, where you could scoot your tether down a little bit, reach down, grab the step.

The quickest, easiest way for you would be to do what?

Simply rappel out of the tree.

So this is a very simple setup.

This is a rappelling ring.

I'm simply going to run a bite of rope through this ring, and I'm going to take a carabiner and run it through over here.

That just introduces friction to that rope.

That is then going to attach to my bridge.

There's many devices.

This is a simple, easy, cheap way to do it.

You can buy rappelling belay devices.

So any time I do this, I always I'm super slow and super careful from one device to another.

And that's something which is going to take some practice, look up on YouTube, different ways that people are doing this.

I probably wouldn't go buy the equipment and go out the very first day and climb up a tree stand.

I would do most of my trial and error at about three feet.

Four feet off the ground.

Yeah, absolutely you're right.

So if you see this knot that is behind my carabiner, this pull down rope, I'm going to take this figure eight.

After I've lowered my bow and my bows attach the other end of it.

I'm actually going to hook this carabiner into my rope and it's going to have a secondary function in a minute.

So just like I'm repelling anywhere else.

My weight is now on my repel rope.

So, I'm going to always check my equipment.

So I'm going to start coming down lowering the weight a little bit.

Everything's holding just fine.

So i'm going to come down.

I'm going to stop myself here, remove my step.

Okay.

Step's free and it'll be waiting for me at the bottom of the tree.

Now i'm just going to come on down the tree.

Just walk down the tree.

There you go.

And I'm down.

You might look at this and go, well wait a minute you got a problem.

Your rope is up there and you're down here.

So tell us how you're going to do this.

Right.

So I've got my pull down rope attached.

This is where your bow was attached.

It's a little heavier duty than a normal bow rope.

I'm simply going to pull my rope, work it loose and work it down the tree.

And there we go.

There you go.

Now you round up your ropes and your gear and shove it back into your backpack.

One great thing about this is completely approved and safe for public lands because I can't even tell you've been on this tree.

Literally less than a climbing stand as far as there's not a mark or scar on this tree.

I think it's a great tool for a hunter to have.

If you'd like to learn more information on saddle hunting, including how to use an alternate method using your climbing sticks, tune in to our YouTube page at KY Afield.

Hey, if you don't want to wait till deer season to hit the woods, you're in luck.

Our squirrel season starts on August 20th.

Well, Jeremy, we've been talking about doing this for a long time.

People are used to seeing you all and giving us all of our law enforcement information.

But what they don't know is that you're an avid hunter.

Oh, I love to hunt.

Deer, turkeys, squirrels, small game.

We're right down the street from.

From there you patrol.

And here on a WMA we're on Green River WMA.

And you've got a squirrel dog with you today.

I do.

Well, let's meet your dog.

Okay, so how is Soup?

Soup's two.

two years old.

So have you had this dog since he was a pup?

We have.

We got to when he was about eight months old.

You just hunt squirrels and squirrels only with this dog?

That's it.

That's all he hunts.

You get out and you hunt one time behind Squirrel Dog.

You'll you'll definitely want to get your squirrel dog.

Oh, it's so much fun.

You think he's treed?

Oh he's treed.

He's treed.

He's ready.

We better.

We better get rolling.

Hey Dad, if you keep walking around, we see it, we're just trying to get it to move.

We need a shotgun don't we.

There's a nest right there he's trying to get to.

Got him.

He's coming down.

It's laid back and hung up.

There we go.

Nice job.

Tell what that that squirrel there posed us a challenge.

With all the leaves and he was pretty nervous when we came in.

Yeah yeah.

And there's the second one.

Oh my gosh.

So this one was shot and hung up in a vine.

and we saw a second squirrel thinking it was the first one.

That's exactly right.

We got two and we got plenty to go.

Yes, sir.

Job.

Good work.

Good job.

This is an awesome place to bow hunt and I don't take advantage of it like I should.

It's a beautiful wildlife management area, I'll tell you that.

It's right up here.

I think you hit it that time.

Oh, he ain't dead.

He's on the move.

Coming down.

There you go.

Yeah.

Oh, perfect amount of lead on that dog to keep him off there.

Nice shot Mr. McQueary.

A little gray.

Nice job.

Soup treed it, we saw it, but we need your dad to come in and shoot it out.

He had to finish it off for us didn't he?

We had to call it help.

Had to have backup.

He got it.

Good shot Dad.

Nice job.

You know, they say going hunting with a conservation officer.

It can be fun, cant it?

Oh, yeah we have a lot of fun.

You can tell he's got a passion for it.

I mean, he, you know, he way he handles the dog and just watching him go to the woods today, he's making future trips.

He's planning future trips and thinking about deer set ups.

Right.

You know, that's what it takes to be a good a good game officer.

I think so.

You have to know what's what's a hunter going to be out here looking for.

Where are they going to want to set up and you know and most of our conservation officers, as a matter of fact I don't know any that don't hunt.

They all want to spend time outdoors.

That's why they became a conservation officer.

Got him.

That's a sow.

Get our game bag within our game bag out.

There you go.

Good job.

it's been pretty fast pace as far as treeing goes.

I'll, I will bet my boat that when you turn her loose within three minutes she's treed.

It's going to happen again, huh?

Good job buddy, good job.

Tell me a little bit about how these dogs hunt differently than a feist.

The difference mostly between this dog, the mountain cur and the feist is, feist are most time going to use their eyes, they're going to focus mainly on tree and squirrels by sight.

And, Soup, like I said, he's an original mountain cur.

He'll use his eye's some but it's mainly going to be his nose.

Okay.

Better Reload huh?

Get ready.

I think so.

Fingers crossed.

If you got a good shot.

Oh, I can't find its head.

Alright, I can shoot it if you want me to.

Yeah, if you've got him.

It's starting to run.

He's on the other side of the tree.

There he comes.

Nice shot.

That's teamwork.

This is something you can do by yourself, but it's a lot more fun when you got somebody to talk to carry on with.

And a lot of times it takes someone running around the tree to get a good clear shot.

It truly is what you said.

It does take teamwork with the dog and the hunters.

Yeah, exactly.

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 Cade Carter and Briggs Bates with a beautiful smallmouth bass that was caught on cave run lake.

Here we have 12 year old Tori Williams.

This is her first time fishing at her uncle's secret spot in Oldham County.

Nice fish.

Check out this bass caught by Emelia Allen.

This fish was caught in Martin County, Kentucky.

Nice job.

Here we have Jennifer.

Lovings.

She got this beautiful 5 pound largemouth bass in Owen County, Kentucky, nice fish.

Here we have Joe Ortlieb and John Martini with a nice group of ducks from Campbell County.

Nice job.

Hunter Ward here caught this beautiful black crappie at a farm pond while fishing with his papa in Clark County, Kentucky.

Karen Richardson would like to thank her time at the Becoming an Outdoor Woman weekend for this catfish she caught while fishing with her husband on Guist Creek lake.

Just a reminder, Kentucky Afield will be off-air and preempted on KET for the next two weeks.

But make sure you join us live on August the 27th for our annual Kentucky Wild Questions and Answers Show, and remember, hunting and fishing on private property is a privilege.

Always ask permission and thank the landowner.

Until next time.

I'm your host, Chad Miles.

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