This week on Kentucky Afield.

The key to success is preparation.

And Leo Miles is getting prepared to head to the woods for his very first deer hunt, this youth season.

Next, the first step in any good dove popper recipe is hunting doves.

And we're doing just that.

Then, while it's a much different experience than dove hunting, it's equally enjoyable in its own way.

We're in the stand for an early season archery hunt.

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.

Our Kentucky deer archery season is now in.

And you know what that means.

Our youth farm season is right around the corner.

So if you plan on taking a youth to the woods right now is the time to hit the range.

Well, today we're going to have a lot of fun.

This is the day I've been looking forward to for quite some time.

If you watch Kentucky Afield you know, I've got two children.

I have a daughter that's 14.

She did her first deer hunt two years ago and had an absolute blast.

And I have my son, Leo, who is ten.

Now last year, when he asked me to go deer hunting, it was too late to get to the range and get him ready to go.

I've always told him that before he can go deer hunting, he has to get to the range and demonstrate safety and the ability to effectively, humanely put a bullet exactly right where it's supposed to go.

Gun safety.

How important did your dad always tell you gun safety is?

You tell me every day when we're not even hunting.

Four rules of gun safety.

Can you tell me what they are?

Always treated it like it's loaded.

Even if it's not.

It's never not loaded.

It's always loaded right?

Yup, and hand off the trigger unless you you're ready to shoot.

When your face is on the stock and you're ready, that's when the trigger goes up.

Right.

And it stays on safety.

Until then, number three.

Point a gun in a safe direction.

Don't ever point it at anyone.

Anyone or anything that you don't want to shoot.

Guns always in a safe direction.

And number four?

Always wear your eyes and ear protection.

Eye's and ear protection.

So we're going to be wearing that.

Let's get started with a gun that you've shot a thousand times the little 22.

It's really, really small.

We're going to start to target really, really close.

And then we're going to work our way up into a couple of guns.

And you get to make a choice what you want to do with this year.

Sounds fun.

Leo, hop down there and see how close we are.

Looks like we're pretty close.

All right, put your safety on.

Open your bolt up.

This is what we're going to be shooting.

Go ahead and grab one and put it in.

All right.

Hop down there.

Don't shoot it yet.

How's that feel?

Feels good.

All right.

Take it off safety.

Listen, a real soft trigger pull.

I don't want any jerking flinching just right down the barrel.

Make sure you pull this against your shoulder face is on the stock.

Aim and then pull the trigger whenever you're ready.

All right.

That's not bad.

It's not about hitting the bull's eye right now.

Let's just see on your next one how close it is.

Pull it against your shoulder again, face right down on it.

Let's see how it goes again.

Where was that?

Oh, my gosh.

What?

Your bullet holes are touching.

Oh, looks like an eight.

That's really, really good.

One more time.

All right.

Lower.

Yeah, I was a little low, but that's okay.

You want to do one more?

Yep.

Do you put this one in there?

Pretty close to those other three.

We're going to be ready to move on to go ahead.

So those three are really close.

And then this here was a little bit of a jerk, but they're still all really good shots.

We're going to trying to cover these up and we're going to put the scoped 22 rifle up there.

Now, it's a little bit bigger gun.

It's not near as small as the other.

So we'll get it up there and get it fitted for you and see how you do with it.

Sounds good.

All right, now, Leo, this safety's a little different right here.

So when we push this in, we're getting ready to load it.

Load finger away from the trigger.

This is fire.

See where it says "F"?

That's safety.

So the safety is on.

So hop down again.

Find the target with the crosshairs.

Found.

All right, push it on fire.

Now let your finger feel the trigger.

And remember, wait until you're on it fully and then slowly squeeze that trigger.

Wow.

That is literally in the bull's eye.

Beat that.

That's going to be a tough one to beat.

Alright, put it on safe.

Up.

Back.

Now push it forward.

Down.

All right, now on safe.

If you can put another one right there.

This is going to be short.

We're going to be going to the big guns.

Yeah.

Hop up there, find it again.

All right.

Put it on fire.

All right, Leo.

When you feel like you're ready.

Slowly pull the trigger.

There we go, baby.

Nice.

Let's rack it again.

I'll do it for you.

Safety.

All right.

One more.

If you're that close to this, we're going to move on to the next gun.

Try one more time.

Wow.

Hey, that is really, really good.

So what we're going to do now, we're going to go and take this magazine out of here.

Let's walk down and see what we got.

Well, I'll tell you what.

That's really good shooting.

Now you're only shooting 15 yards off a rest.

So we got to make a lot of changes till we get you ready for deer hunting.

But this is a good start, so let's go ahead and cover those dots and then we're going to move the target back to about 30 yards.

We're going to get out a rifle that is the exact same gun.

But a bullet that's big enough to kill a deer with a stock that short enough to fit you.

It's a 243 Winchester.

This is a gun, I've killed several deer with this.

Your sister killed her first deer with this.

It's a very good shooting gun.

It's the exact same trigger.

Everything except for a shorter right here.

And it shoots a little more powerful bullet.

This gun here is great for deer hunting.

What we're going to try first is I want you to get used to the trigger.

We're literally going to load this without a bullet in there.

I want you to find the bullseye with the crosshairs.

Put it on fire, and I want you to squeeze the trigger.

Okay?

No flinch, no jerk.

This is called a dry fire.

All right.

Just a click.

Click.

Put it back on safe.

Listen, this gun is going to be exactly the same.

It's just going to be louder.

But you got your hearing protection on, it's going to be okay.

All right?

Yup.

I want you to not flinch.

Keep it on there and pull the trigger.

Let's see how this goes.

Ready?

All right, slow squeeze on the pull.

Gosh.

A little different, huh?

It's just louder.

You may have felt like it bounced a little more, but let's see where you're at.

Hey, guess what?

You're in the bullseye.

Really?

Pretty crazy, huh?

Yeah.

All right, let's try it again.

That was a good shot I think.

I had it crossed right on that orange.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, they're both right there.

I mean, buddy, those are those are on.

Yep.

We're going to shoot one more and then we're going to shoot one off of sticks.

When you're ready.

Wow, Leo, let's walk up there.

I think you're going to like what you see.

Oh.

All right.

We're just going to put one black dot to cover that one, and then we put an orange one right there.

We'll cover those right up.

Look at this.

Now, obviously, we can't take this lead sled to the deer stand.

This is probably what we'll have in a hunting blind.

I just want you to take a real fine aim and you put one in there that close.

You will be ready to go on a deer hunt.

Oh, my gosh.

Look there.

Hey.

Hey, that might only be 30 yards, but that's actually really, really good buddy.

I've got one more gun that I want you to shoot.

It is a less recoil gun.

It's more like the 22, but it weighs a little more.

This is a gun that if you watch TV, they want you to think it's really, really dangerous.

This is an AR-15 and it shoots a round that is a 223.

It's actually in between the 22 and the 243 that you shot.

This gun is a really, really good gun to deer hunt with for a kid or for someone that small statured.

Now this gun, you're not going to be shooting deer at 300 yards, but you're not anyway, right?

We're trying to get ready for 50 yards.

Now on this one, the one thing you got to be cautious with is that this one has a magazine and they can come in high capacity magazines.

But what we've got.

It has to be ten or less the deer hunt.

So let's get one round.

We're going to load it in there.

We're going to let you shoot this one time, see what you think.

Sounds good.

That's fire.

This is safe.

Okay, I'm going to wrap this up and get it ready to go.

All right.

After you're ready, all you need to do is take the safety off and pull the trigger.

OK. Nice and easy squeeze.

Let it surprise you when it goes off.

Oh, what did you think about that?

It was fun to shoot.

Do you like that gun?

That's a little different, huh?

It's got a good smell to it when it goes off.

You like that smell?

Like I say, a lot of people make you think no good can come from a gun like this, but it actually has very little recoil doesn't it?

Yeah.

Let's go see where you hit.

So this was your 243?

Yeah.

This was your AR round right here.

Both of those are really, really good shots.

Now you got something to think about.

This one here kicks a little bit more, but it's still not much of a kick.

Yeah.

You shot it a little bit better.

This one has less recoil, but the gun's a little heavier.

We're going to get back to the range two or three more times.

Which one do you want to focus on getting ready for deer season?

The Winchester 243 is what I'm going to go with.

I think that's a good choice.

All right, let's go.

Let's go.

Well, it's September, that means it's time to hit the dove fields.

Whether you've been out and got a limited doves or you're a new dove hunter, it's a great way to test your skills with a shotgun.

So Thomas, how long's your family been here in Spencer County?

They've owned the farm since about 1980.

Okay, so this is pretty much all you know then?

This is it.

It's been here longer than I've been alive.

So you put some work in here I see.

You've got sunflower seeds.

I see some heads out here.

What else you got planted?

So in this field, we have some sunflowers mixed in with that.

We have some foxtail.

And unfortunately, the Johnson Grass came back.

I tried to spray it and kill it off, but it had already seeded out and it came up thick.

But still, once it's bush hogged, you can see we're walking the seed.

It's still full of seed on the ground.

And that's what we're hoping to use to pull in some birds today.

There's probably more people on September the first hunting in the woods of Kentucky, or in the fields, than any other day of the year.

I believe that it's you know, nobody's been able to hunt since spring turkey.

And today is their first day to kind of get the first crack at it.

So I don't doubt it one bit.

I've been itching for months.

You know, I know a lot of people like yourself put a lot of time and energy in.

You may hunt, what, three or four or five days all year.

As far as dove seasons, or getting real good hunts?

Yeah, really good.

Absolutely.

It's a lot of work, but it's a it's a it's a love it's a passion to get out here and do this.

Well, hey, I hope we shoot.

Good.

It's been a while since I've shot a shotgun, but I am looking forward to it.

Let's get spread out here and hopefully get a couple of shots, what do you think?

Let's do it.

All right.

one coming.

There you go.

Nice shot.

Thank you, Chad.

Nice shot.

That felt good.

I was backing up and I didn't even have to pull the trigger because you smoked it.

Well alright, it feels good to get on the board.

First one down.

Let's get a few more.

10:00, Chad hard left.

Nice shot.

All right.

Now we're starting to get some action.

Pulling the trigger a little bit here.

Better walk out there and grab that one real quick before I forget where it's at.

Well, that's the first dove of 2021.

Started out slow, but we're starting to see a lot more birds still not doing a lot of shooting, but it's just a nice, casual afternoon with good friends out here shooting doves.

So one nice thing about having your own field is that, you know, I've been watching this for the past week and right here in front of us, this seems to be where the majority want to come in and start feeding.

We've got this power line to our left.

They like leaning up there to look for danger.

Obvious.

We're not going to shoot them off the wire.

That would be unsafe.

I'm thinking it's going to start lighting up.

I think it's going to be good.

Here we go.

Nice shot.

Got one.

I see the feathers.

Alright, birds starting to fly a little better.

Hopefully this last 2 hours is going to get pretty hot and heavy with some bird action.

They're actually flying different then the way that we were scouted, they were always coming in from this way and now today they're coming in behind us.

Well, you can't see them until they're almost right on top of you.

So you're going to have to make some pretty quick shots.

But hey, that's all right.

I'm out here to shoot.

If I don't, I don't have to hit them all.

Missing them is part of the game.

Coming our way.

That's a low bird.

At the mojo.

Landed at the mojo.

Take a walk out here and flush that bird?

I believe we could.

I know we can get to atleast this first row.

It's like a quail hunt.

You got to jump shoot the doves.

I tell you what, that that's something that if the field was really full, that's not something you'd want to do.

But in this situation, we're hunting 127 acre farm with four people, you know, exactly where everybody's located.

So he was able to walk out there, knows exactly his target and what's behind him, and was able to go out there and take that bird.

Knowing his backstop, and where everybody was at, that was a safe shot.

Good job, man.

Nice shot.

Hey, bird.

I know I missed him.

I never shot.

I thought I'd taken it off.

You know, we've all been there.

Well, you can't can't hit them if you don't shoot them.

But I had my safety on and pulled the trigger and nothing.

No, bang.

There we go!

Here you go.

Hey there's one right here.

They're starting to fly now.

Yes, sir.

There is one more down.

I'll see if we get a few more.

I think they're starting to fly a little better.

See what happens.

It's not a dove.

He likes that mojo though.

I've seen those mojo decoys work extremely well.

I've seen it really turn birds and bring them right to it.

I'm a firm believer, you know, I've seen if there's dove flying across a field and they get a glimpse of it, they'll turn 90 degrees and come straight to it.

There's one coming in from behind again.

Nice shot.

You just shot the wing off him.

Excellent shot.

Got two of them.

Oh I didn't see yours.

I didn't see it till was fluttering to the ground.

That was a good shot.

I Appreciate that.

Coming from this way.

Good shot.

Thank you.

Dropped it right on the decoy.

Did I really?

Oh, yeah.

You might flush a bird or two when you get out there.

That there was a good shot that thing came around as I was going to hit the decoy wasn't very high and then started to take off right about time he smashed it.

Coming right to us.

Oh, you got that one.

Yeah.

Oh, nice shot.

I don't know if you or I got that, but I believe that was you.

I got the first one.

You got the second.

So we got two down.

That was good.

Here we thought this game was about over.

And here they come at.

There's some good teamwork, Chad.

Yeah.

Good job, man.

Nice shot.

They wanted that mojo.

He took a second to find.

Well, Thomas, I appreciate you having us out for the opening day.

The weather was great.

We saw plenty of birds.

We didn't get a limit, but we had a little more of the fun.

I would agree.

You know, it's opening day.

The weather is perfect.

I think this is the first time we were mentioned in that, you know, I haven't been sweating is very comfortable.

What a great way to spend an afternoon, haven't had a gun in my hand in a while.

Come out here and get to shoot at some birds.

Missed most of them, but.

That's the way it is.

But that's what it's all about, isn't it?

Absolutely.

Thank you for having us out.

No problem.

Glad you make it out.

Thank you.

If you're an archer here in the state of Kentucky, you probably already know that September is a great month to hit the woods in hopes of filling the freezer.

Well, walking into the woods, I literally in range right now.

Of a big healthy doe.

She's kind of checking us out.

I'm making this switch.

You know, this is about the time of year.

It's October where we've been hunting, primarily bean fields as a food source.

But the acorns are really starting to fall.

Early in the year before the season, I put two deer stands out and I haven't been in this stand yet all year.

It does have bean fields kind of out in the front and behind it.

But it's also in the woods where there's some acorns, some other nut trees that are producing and dropping.

So that should be pulling some deer in.

If I see a buck I may try to get him curious and use these antlers a little bit.

I hope the deer are starting to move.

Get in there and see if we can make it happen.

Felt like I got in pretty quiet, and now it's a waiting game.

Everything is set up where it may happen fairly quick when I start seeing deer.

The woods just have a look and a feel that is perfect.

Oh, there's a deer.

We've got a deer about 60 yards dead in front of me.

I can't tell, but it looks like it's a doe.

A lot of brush between me and the deer.

But if it stays on this hillside it's going to give me a perfect shot.

If it comes down to the creek it should give a perfect shot too.

Oh here it comes.

It's going low.

Here we go.

Oh, that deer is hit good.

That deer is hit good.

It's going to go down right there.

Well, my buck hunt turned in to a perfect opportunity to fill the freezer.

Oh, well, it's still early.

We still might get a chance at that buck.

But I tell you what, I'm very excited to get a really clean, good shot at a doe that's going to make for some really good eating this whole entire winter.

Thinking about some jerky.

Pretty excited about it.

Oh, here comes another one.

There must have been two.

Here comes another one right here.

It's going to stay on the top side.

It's so early I definitely have one deer down.

If I get a really good shot to take a second one, I'll do it.

But i'm only going to take the shot if it's a for sure shot.

Well, my buck never showed up, but that's okay.

You know, I got very lucky early in the hunt to make a really good shot on a doe, right here in front of me.

We happened to see a lot of deer after that.

Just no bucks.

Deer are just worried about feeding.

This is what makes it so exciting.

You see big numbers of deer.

They tend to be moving around soon as the temperature cools off.

They're getting to the point now they're getting in the woods because of the acorns, they've been falling around us.

I'm so happy to have that doe.

I know it's right here.

I know it's a good shot.

Great hunt, no bucks, but that's okay.

There's a good feeling about having that buck tag still in your pocket and a lot of season left.

Now let's check in and see who else has been having fun in this week's ones that didn't get away.

Here we have Houston who caught his first fish while camping with his papa.

Nice job.

Check out this fish and the smile on Emmy with their first fish ever, a bluegill caught at the family farm in Hardin County, that doe back there behind the tree watched the whole thing happen.

Nice job.

Are you planning on deer hunting this year?

Well, check out our how to videos at KY Afield on YouTube.

There you'll find videos on deer processing and field dressing.

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.