I've been lucky enough to have been bow hunting for almost 40 years. Looking back, we had a few deer. I remember getting excited just to see a few tracks. I'd be luck to see a deer about once every 5 to 10 days of hunting. Never see any decent bucks. Today, hunting here in Ky is awsome. We hav been blessed by great deer management by our state. Today Ky ranks as one of the top spots for recordbook bucks. I would just like to thank the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife for the job they have done. We have quality hunting within 10 miles of where I live. Thanks for giving me an opportunity.
I don't live in kentucky anymore but have lots of family that does. I'm glad the state didn't panic and cut the hunting season way short when that disease swept through there a few years ago. A lot of that was probably caused by a little overpopulation. Also ever since I moved from Kentucky 18yrs ago I always thought it was kind of funny that Kentuckys harvest was bigger than Kansas' total estimated population. Granted the deer here are bigger but there are less of them. I also remember being absolutely no problem to see 80-100 deer per evening when glassing bean fields in KY. I don't think I have ever seen more than 20 in one spot in KS. Maybe my neck of the woods in KY was an exception to the rule but I think there has always been a ton of deer there. Not necessarily record book deer but tons of them.
deer herd I think that overall, our(Ky's) deer population is down, but the quality of big bucks is still improving!
Oh definitely. Where we were at in the bowling green area there have always been some really nice dear. My dad has a 130 that was 2.5 and a 125 that was only 18 months old when he shot it. But they were also hunting ground that from what my uncle tells me now has some of the best deer in the state and is managed extremely well. The genes are definitely there just need to keep people from shooting all the young ones. My dad killed those deer in the late 80s before the management boom really got rolling. Whenever I look at that 18 month old deer its extremely hard to believe it was that young. He would have been a monster if he'd lived to 5.5 at least a state record i'm sure.
Did that disease that swept through there affect your area very much. When I was back there that year my uncle took me to probably 50 deer that had died on the lease he was hunting. There were estimates that 60% of the dear in that county had died from the disease.
Amen to that!!! The area I live in had way to many deer back in the 80's...30+ PSM. Now its down to around 15 PSM, which IMO is right where it needs to stay.
The EHD virus was caused by drought...spread by gnats around the few remaining water sources. Even areas with less than 10 deer per square mile where hit hard.
Depends on where in the state you are. Western Ky has the ag land, but the further east you go the deer densities are lower and the hunting gets harder. Blue tongue really hurt us a few years ago. Some places have come back better than others. But overall I think KDFWR does a good.
The north eastern part of the state has the highest deer densities...up around Owen, Henry and Shelby.
That’s actually considered central Kentucky and the Bluegrass Region. We have property in Shelby and I have hunted Owen since I was in undergrad. Both great places to hunt with good numbers of deer. But being from Eastern Kentucky I consider Eastern Kentucky anything past Powell County or Past Bath County. When I refer to Eastern Kentucky I’m talking about those counties east of those points. Daniel Boon National Forest, ect.. Most of these counties are zone 4 except for a few zone 3’s. I’m not trying to start a pi—ing match, just clarifying my post.
Lewis Co. is just north of those two counties, its been the hottest county in the state for recored class bucks over the last few years.
Well thought I was in West Ky....I guess that would put you and I in central Ky. or the Green river region, lol. I'll be coming up your way to get a string put on my bow in the next week or two.
