OutdoorsKentucky.Com
Award-winning journalist Art Lander Jr. posts news and information
about fishing, hunting, nature and self-sufficient rural living in Kentucky
Text and Photos 2010 Art Lander Jr.
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Winter 2010
What’s New
Steiner Merlin 8 X 32 binoculars are bright, light here
Lorpen Socks keep feet warm, dry and scent-free here
Coyotes a visible predator here
Elk season update here
Kentucky’s 2009-10 white-tailed deer season ends with higher than usual percentage of bucks in the harvest here
Deer harvests in Kentucky 2004-09 here
The era of the big buck in Kentucky here
Kentucky’s first bear hunt buried by snowstorm here
Fall 2009
What’s New
Shorter vanes, faster arrows here
Muzzy MX-3 broadhead here
Deer processing made easy here
Early Season Buck Disappearing Act here.
November 2009 deer harvest down 5 percent here.
A message from the publisher here.
Spring/Summer 2009
What’s New
Record harvest during spring wild turkey season despite poor hunting weather here.
Find out why there’s so much optimism about Kentucky’s Spring Wild Turkey Season here.
Vero Vellini gun slings -- comfortable enough for all-day hunts. You’ll never get tired when chasing that long-bearded gobbler here.
Ross bows are beautiful shooters here.
Road trip! Central Kentucky’s top smallmouth bass streams here.
The 2009-10 Deer Season dates, changes for late muzzleloader season, and zone status information here.
Is it time for a new bow string? Take a step up to a custom string. Check out Winner’s Choice here.
Posted January 16, 2010
By Art Lander Jr.
OutdoorsKentucky.Com
Spring Wild Turkey Season Update Excellent
The outlook for Kentucky’s 2010 spring wild turkey season appears to be as good as it gets.
“It’s looking like one of the best seasons in the past 8 to 10 years,” said Steven Dobey, wild turkey biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “There will be lots of 2-year-old birds, and they will be doing a lot of the gobbling.”
A record hatch in 2008 is the reason for the bounty of long-bearded turkeys that will be roaming Kentucky's woods and fields when the season opens Saturday, April 17, 2010. The 23-day season closes on Sunday, May 9, 2010, and the limit per hunter is two bearded turkeys.
"I would rate last year's (2009) hatch as moderate, a trend we've been seeing for the past 6 to 7 years," said Dobey. "My best guesstimate is our flock now numbers about 220,000."
The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission voted last August to open the 2010 season a week earlier, on April 10, and extend it through Sunday, May 2, but the new timeframe did not pass the legislative review process.
The department and the Commission will seek more public input on the issue before making a recommendation on spring wild turkey season dates.
In just 30 years, Kentucky’s wild turkey flock has grown to become one of the best in the region.
“Of the states surrounding Kentucky (seven, including Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee), we’re tied for first place (with Tennessee) in the number of birds harvested per square mile,” said Dobey. “That quite an accomplishment considering Tennessee has a much longer season and (hunters can take) double our bag limit.”
In 2009, hunters took a record 29,007 bearded turkeys during Kentucky’s spring season, an increase of 10,764 birds over just a decade ago, during the 2000 season.
Hunters should find plenty of vocal 2-year-old turkeys when Kentucky’s spring wild turkey season opens April 17, 2010, because of a record hatch in 2008.
Photo courtesy of National Wild Turkey Federation
Updated March 9, 2010
By Art Lander Jr.
OutdoorsKentucky.Com
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission Votes to Award
800 Permits to hunters for the 2010-11 Elk Season
FRANKFORT -- At its quarterly meeting today, the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to award hunters 800 permits for the 2010-11 elk season, and made some minor changes to the elk regulations.
The breakdown of permits includes: 200 bull permits and 600 cow permits. One hundred twenty-five of the bull permits are for elk with 4 x 4 antlers (four points on each side), or larger, and 75 of the bull permits are for elk with spike antlers, with up to
two points on each side.
Kentucky’s elk herd, which is estimated to number about 11,000, resides in a 16-county elk zone in eastern Kentucky, which is divided into six Elk Hunting Units (EHUs).
Last year, when 1,000 permits were issued, hunters took 778 elk – 276 bulls and 502 cows.
Elk permits are awarded by lottery drawing, with a few given to landowners who let the public hunt on their land, and a few auctioned for fundraising purposes to benefit elk restoration.
Beginning this season, EHU 3, will be divided into two sub-units EHU 3A, and EHU 3B. “Creating a small unit around the core of Consol WMA will better control hunting pressure, and the number of elk harvested,” said Tina Brunjes, elk biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.
The November firearms season for elk was moved to December, so that it wouldn’t overlap with modern firearms season for deer.
A hunter drawn for a bull elk permit can’t apply for a bull permit for the next three years, but can continue to apply for a cow elk permit. This change is designed to increase the number of people hunting elk in Kentucky for the first time.
The 2010-11 elk seasons are:
Firearms: Youth-only, September 25-27.
Firearms: Week 1 (bull), October 2-8; Week 2 (bull), October 9-15.
Firearms: Week 1 (cow), December 11-17; Week 2 (cow), December, 18-24.
Archery: Week 1 (bull), October 2-8, and October 16, 2010 through January 17, 2011.
Archery: Week 2 (bull), October 9, 2010 through January 17, 2011.
Archery: Week 1 (cow), October 16 through December 17, and December 25, 2010 through January 17, 2011.
Archery: Week 2 (cow), October 16 through December 10 and, December 18, 2010 through January 17, 2011.
For more information on elk hunting in Kentucky click here.
Updated March 9, 2010
By Art Lander Jr.
OutdoorsKentucky.Com
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission Approves 2010-11
Deer Season Regulations
FRANKFORT -- The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission approved regulations for Kentucky’s 2010-11 white-tailed deer season today.
Here are some highlights:
Archery (Either sex, Zones 1-4) September 4, 2010 through January 17, 2011
Early Youth Weekend (Either sex, Zones 1-4) October 9-10, 2010
Early Muzzleloader (Either Sex, Zones 1 -3, antlered deer only, Zone 4) October 16-17, 2010
Modern Firearms (Either sex deer, Zones 1-2) November 13-28, 2010
Modern Firearms (Either sex deer, Zone 3) November 13-22, 2010
Modern Firearms (Antlered deer only, Zone 4) November 13-22, 2010
Late Muzzleloader (Either sex, Zones 1-3) December 11-19, 2010, (Antlered deer only, Zone 4), December 11-16, (Either sex, Zone 4), (December 17-19
Late Youth Weekend (Either sex, Zones 1-4) January 1-2, 2011
Statewide, there’s a one buck limit. In Zone 1, there’s no bag limit on antlerless deer. In Zones 2-4, there’s a season limit of four deer.
Citing declining deer harvest the last five years in 24 counties, the Commission adopted the following changes in zone status:
Bullitt, Hardin, Hart and Nelson counties were moved from Zone 1 to Zone 2.
Adair, Barren, Butler, Cumberland, Daviess, Edmonson, Hancock, Marion, Metcalfe, Monroe, Ohio, Simpson, Taylor and Warren counties were moved from Zone 2 to Zone 3.
Clinton, Garrard, Knox, Laurel, Russell and Whitley counties were moved from a Zone 3 to Zone 4.
Caldwell county was moved from Zone 2 to Zone 1.