11-23-25 - Modern Gun Season

On tonight's show, Jim and Scott talked about the modern gun season and answered callers' questions.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (01:00):
Good evening, Everybody, Welcome aboard the Jim straight Are out Doors.
We have just closed out Kentucky's modern gun season for deer,
Indiana's modern gun season and rocking on. But we've been
through one of the strangest gun deer seasons that I've

(01:23):
ever seen in my lives. And I am not a
young man. Let me start with that in that regard,
let me get my co partner here, Scott crowning in
on the conversation. Scott, this one for Kentucky. Since we're
closing out tonight, we can definitely say how weird it was.

(01:44):
What partends for Indiana. We'll talk about going forward. But man,
I'll tell you, I'm scratching my head. A lot of
people are you have been very successful this season have
been I've passed two bucks that I could have killed,
one of which I'm wondering why in the world that

(02:07):
didn't shoot at this point, But uh, you know, that's
just one of those personal decisions you make. I've killed
enough nice dear in my life. I'm pretty selective at
this point outside of harvesting those for venison. But h
my goodness, there's this.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
There's definitely gonna be a sell on some one pound
containers of pro panes and hot hands because everybody was
fighting a fog, fighting the rain, and through all of that,
we were fighting just unseasonably warm temperatures. And that's just
not been in Kentucky. That's really been across the United States.
It doesn't matter what part of the rut you were

(02:51):
trying to chase, whether you traveled out of state and
went into the Midwest summer, just hunted in and around home,
whether that's Kentucky or any there was never any consistent
runs of weather that really made it to where the
deer would get on a food pattern and increase that
caloric intake. And I think that had a big impact

(03:13):
for a lot of folks.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
And then you had just such a.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
Unique situation with the amount of acorns that were in
certain areas and other areas that didn't have much of
an acre and crop at all.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
And then I.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Think a lot of folks too, were very dependent on
the acorn crop to be a main food source for
the deer. But with that warm, wet weather, of course,
a lot of those red oaks germinated and sprouted, and
it caused a lot of deer to spread out across
a lot of area. We have a lot of places
where deer can hide and really Jim. They're kind of

(03:50):
protected in these sanctuaries by the amount of ground that
is leased up that very few people get to hunt.
And we're seeing just an increase in the subdivision of
farm acres or larger land tracks to where you know,
a lot of folks are not just scratching their head

(04:11):
on where the deer at, but where's a place that
they can go hunting. And unfortunately, for many hunters across
the state, this has been one of the tougher seasons
that they've ever had just to see deer, much less
put the big buck on the wall or try to
fill the freezer.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
There's no doubt about it. And like you mentioned, there's Scott.
The weather has not been conducive on an overall basis
anywhere throughout Kentucky's gun season and in Indiana's opening week
because there's no consistency to the weather. It's either warm, rainy,

(04:53):
or windy. You know, Kentucky season openly that falled on
opening morning, and we all know that a vast majority
of deer on gun season or are normally well not
I can't say a vast majority lots of deer killed
open the weekend. Let me put it that way with
folks schedules and what have you. That's the big push,

(05:16):
that's the big opportunity, and it was a fizzle because
of the weather. It continued. We had really strong winds
day after day. We've had tons of rain, which either
A kept people out of the woods or b, in
the case of heavy rain, which we've had a lot

(05:37):
of stagnated deer movement. And then we had warm weather,
unseasonably warm weather. And we also had what you and
I told her body to expect, but we couldn't do
anything to help them with what it was going to do,
and that was foliage that stayed on at b I mean,

(06:00):
you know, I'm getting ready to start hunting my little
squirrel dog, and to enjoy really good squirrel hunting with
a dog, the leaves got to be gone, or the
squirrels run up on the top of the tree and
you can't see him anymore. Heck, we've still got oak
trees holding leaves right now, way beyond what's normal for
this time of year. But the amount of foliage during

(06:24):
the first week of our gun season was totally totally
different than what I can remember over more than fifty
deer seasons and let me say this and Scott, you're
a guy like me, but you're younger than me. I
pay attention. I have since I was in my twenties.

(06:46):
In fifty years, I think I can say without any hesitation,
this was one of the weirdest deer seasons I've ever
seen about everything we discover, would you agree?

Speaker 3 (07:03):
I do agree, And it shows too that hunters in
both Kentucky and Indiana have grinded though or our numbers
are still looking pretty good.

Speaker 4 (07:11):
It just wasn't that.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
Fast and furious harvest the first few days of season.
And the trickiest part about all of this was how
good and how strong the pre rut activity was and
how it blew up for a good seven to ten
days there and then when it come time for us
to look for that crazy amount of chasing and bucks pushing,

(07:35):
dose and traditional you know rut scenes that you get
during the forearm season. Not that people didn't see it,
but I would say the majority of people were more
on the side of seeing less activity this year with
rut behavior than average amounts of ruck at rut activity.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yes, sir, And for our purposes, you know we need
to say, well we when you and I are just
driving the rut. We're talking about dose and esters and
bucks losing their minds. You know, that's our key component
that we talk about. And I can tell you I
hunt three different counties. I haven't hunted every day, but

(08:16):
it's been darn close. And I didn't see the dose
in Estres until three days ago. That's the craziest thing
I've ever seen. And we'll talk more about that after break.
But the rut this year has been a head scratcher
for us and many people. Now to that point, folks, tonight,

(08:38):
we're doing open lines. We would love to hear what
you saw. We would love to hear what your observations are,
and we would love for you to share your stories.
To do that, please use the area code first. We've
had some problems with the phone lines recently. The numbers
that call five oh two, five seven one eighty four

(09:01):
eighty four again five seven one eighty four eighty four.
Please put into five oh two if you're outside of
the area eight hundred four four four eighty four eighty
four again that number four four four eighty four eighty four.
We'll be back after this break. It's presented by SMI Marine.

(09:25):
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on Jim straighter and again we're doing to call in tonight.

(09:47):
To call in dial five oh two five seven one
eighty four eighty four or outside the metro eight hundred
four four four eighty four eighty four. Our first college
of night is Brian downs Is calling from Nelson County.
Hey Brian, welcome aboard.

Speaker 5 (10:08):
Hey Jim, and yes I can hear you. You're sounding
good on the radio.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
Night excellent, my man. What do you got for us?

Speaker 5 (10:18):
Well, I'm calling in to give you a little bit
of feedback about lay between the Lakes. All right, So
I got drawed for the October thirty first through November
two gun hunt. I've been going down there for about
twenty five years and I was drawn for Area four,
which is right beside the environmental area. And like a

(10:43):
lot of people may know, in the past, LBL was
a bonus tag type situation, but over the years it's
transitioned to you got to use your state wide tag,
and that's kind of senned down the amount of people
that went down there. But there's always a good number
of people there, but in recent years they just haven't
managed the i'm gonna call it the property in general.

(11:04):
They're not doing anything with the fields. As of late,
these farmers didn't renew any of their ad contracts, so
big long bottoms that used to be just full of
corn are just being taken over by the field edges.
And one of these big fields that I was playing
on hunting was six to seven foot tall sycamore ceilings

(11:25):
as far as you can see, and the trees the
canopy is so high, everything shaded out. There's really no
brows there for deer.

Speaker 6 (11:36):
It's just acorns.

Speaker 5 (11:37):
And for two solid days in a premium spot where
I could see as far as I could see, never
seen a deer. The stretch of road I was on
purposely drove it two miles between me and the next guy,
and I don't even think he was hunting there, but

(11:58):
there was at least two miles between us, hundreds of acres.
I never seen a deer. I never seen any deer sign,
and it was just you know, if I had been
private property somewhere and you've got several hundred acres to
look over you abound, you would thought even if you
wasn't hunting, you would have seen a deer. Never seen
a deer.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
Well, Brian to your point, and Scott, I want you
to pile in here. We've heard this from I don't
know how many people and land between the lakes used
to be a premier place to hunt and why why
they took that off the bonus buck situation and then
turned around and allowed tons of non residents come in

(12:43):
to hunt it, which I understand, it's you know, it's
a public area, but the lack of cutting of the
timber and the lack of agriculture in there has pretty
much much put the quietness on quality deer hunting in

(13:04):
that area. Number one. Number two, the turkey hunting is
a businesbo compared to what it used to be. You know,
I've talked to Harold Died about this a lot recently
because as many people that were around during the area,
I realized he was born and raised in that area.
Nobody knows it better than Harold, and he is apoplectic,

(13:26):
which is a big fancy work for angry as he
can get about what has happened there. So you're not
the only one, Scott. I know you've heard this a lot.
One of our advertisers, Paul Thomas, he's hunted down there
for decades and he's got the same observation opinion. In
addition to I don't know how many people we hear

(13:47):
this from. And I hate that because that's a crown jewel.
It should be, but it's not anymore.

Speaker 4 (13:54):
There are several sportsmen.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
I was invited by Kevin Murphy a couple of years
ago to go down there and attend one of the
meetings the United States Department of Agriculture Force Services, who
is in control of Land between the Lakes Recreational Area now,
and of course that changed hands several years ago. And
some of your best habitat that you find through Land

(14:18):
between the Lakes, for deer turkey small game is where
the tornado went through, and there's a lot of succession
that's there, a lot more brows, higher stem count. And
of course when you're given a certain area to hunt
over on LBL, whether you're off the trace or one
of the other side roads, you know you don't always

(14:38):
can everybody go to the best habitat, but it would
be good not just for land between the lakes, it
would be good for a lot of our public lands
in both Kentucky and Tennessee. To do a couple of things.
Number One, as I'm a big advocate and I support
our law enforcement officers in wildlife and conservation and our biology,

(15:00):
I think there's a tremendous amount of revenue that we're
not taking in from the cutting of timber. We could
increase the habitat because of the managed timber harvest. And
we need to utilize more burning in areas and do
it during strategic times, not just to burn. And for example,

(15:23):
what I'm getting at there, I've been on land between
the lakes and who's your National Forest many times where
I'm walking going to a goblin turkey and I'm walking
through small smotor and a little bit of smoke that
I wish they would burn a little bit earlier in
the year.

Speaker 4 (15:39):
But yeah, it doesn't take long. I'm a big, big
believer in.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
You know, this development over time too, with the influence
of the hogs with land between the lakes, and I
think that they've had some impact there. So it's there's
a few things that have gone downhill over the years
in that area. The Asian carp and and the and
the wild pigs have have not played a played a
promising role to anglers or hunters over there.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Well, that wild hog deal, Brian, I know you are
on board with us on this. I assume you are.
Why in the world aren't hunters allowed to kill those
hogs in there when they're deer hunting? That's insane to me.
I don't heard this argument. Well, it disperses them. Okay,

(16:30):
maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. But I know one
thing about hogs. When they're dead, they don't breed anymore.
And since when not the tool? You know what I mean?
That's that's our part to play. And like they have
another place, they've taken that away from us. Brian, Can
you hold on with us because I've got a couple

(16:52):
other questions for you about the regular season. If you
don't mind, sure can okay, buddy? All right, folks got
to go to break here. It's presented by mosel properties
Heart real Tea. Check them out at m O P
h A r T Realty dot com. All right, folks, again,
we're doing open lines tonight. If you'd like to join
the conversation, call us at five O two. Please put

(17:16):
the area code first five O two four seven nine
twenty two eighty eight. Excuse me, five O two five
seven one eighty four eighty four five O two five
seven one eight four eight four or outside the area
code one eight hundred four four four eighty four eighty four,

(17:38):
and we're gonna return to our conversation with Brian. Brian, Uh,
how's your regular season been, and I'd like your observations
on that front.

Speaker 5 (17:49):
Before I give you that. There was one more point
I wanted to drop on you about LBL. It held
on for the longest time, but of course this had
to go away too. They actually had check stations there
and every morning and every evening morning the evenings, everybody
would gather around that check station. They had a biologist

(18:09):
there that would age the deer for you. They would
weigh it, and they had a big board up there,
a dry erase board, and they would write down what
area that animal was taken out, of, how many points,
how old it was, and what it weighed, and it
gave everybody some real good information on maybe next year
when they went to put in for that quota draw. Hey,

(18:30):
I want area in nine next time instead of four.
But it forced everybody to go there because and get
their deer check. You know, they wanted to go there
because you can kind of talk and see what somebody
else got. And of course I don't know Doue the
budget changes or what, but they've done away with it.
I was very disappointed not to see the check station

(18:51):
down there. It's been there for years.

Speaker 3 (18:53):
Brian, let me speak to this topic right now. With
CWD being such a concern, it makes more sense that
you should see more staff and more of a requirement
that your deer should be brought in and sampled. I mean,
maybe I'm completely wrong, but common sense this leads to

(19:14):
the fact that we have we have more of a
reason now to be screening and getting samples of our
deer than we did five ten years ago.

Speaker 4 (19:22):
I mean, Jim, am I out of place here.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
You're not out, not only in place, you're spot on.
And I'm going to take a side here to go
on a little bit of a rent, and I'm not
going to apologize about it. I know how convenient telcheck is.
I understand everything about that, we all do. But you
know what honey in general has some responsibilities connected with it,

(19:50):
and I have always been a staunch defender of check
stations for all these reasons and more. When we did
away with check stations, we did away with camaraderie amongst
hunters who could ascertain all the things about the herd's health,

(20:11):
about problems with the HD, the possibility of CWD, all
the things that could go with check stations where people
physically see the deer that helps screen illegal hunters who
would be tattle taled on by people there at those

(20:33):
check stations who know they post that deer. We've lost
the ability for children to get a pat on the
back at a check station. Hey little buddy, or hey
little gal, you know what good on you for that
deer you just harvested. This has been an insane road.

(20:55):
I know it probably very difficult to reverse it, but
I'll tell you right now it was a bad decision.
It has not held us in good stead, and it's
got to your point, in this era of CWD and
their concerns about it, it would be the easiest way
check station after check station counties all across the state

(21:17):
to get data that is so vital to be able
to manage to hurt properly. To me, it was a
stupid idea then, and I'm going to stand on a
stupidity today because you know what, We're years down the
road and now there's even more reasons for it to
be the right thing to do. I understand it does
put a burden on us, but I would gladly accept

(21:41):
it for all the above that I just spouted. I mean,
to me, that was one of the best things about
deer hunting in the modern era. And I think it's
time to rethink that.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
Part of my word and what I do is to
travel across this country and advocate and look at the
most successful ways to get young people engaged with hunting,
how to keep people interacted with hunting as they develop
into their midlife and develop families and everything pulls at them.

(22:14):
And then reactivation. And I know that several years ago
it seemed that the reason why a lot of the
check stations went away was you would hear reports that
the data was not very reliable, the record keeping wasn't good,

(22:34):
and then you hear about how much it costs to
operate and run these check stations. Well, let me speak
to something and I don't toot my own horn very much,
but I'm going to toot it right now because it's
important we need to be utilizing some of those marketing
dollars in business proposals to increase hunting and fishing to

(22:58):
run our check stations. I don't think that people understand
how violatle and how important that camaraderie and just the
fellowship in and around those areas where deer were being checked.

Speaker 4 (23:15):
Where to the sport.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
And I will also say this, it doesn't matter if
we're in Indiana, Kentucky, or Tennessee. We're always looking at
ways in which we need to grow tourism. In the
economics of small business, Jim Strader and Brian I don't
know of a better way to get people to buy
a country hand biscuit or a cup of coffee, or

(23:38):
for a kid to grab a Snicker's bar than by
stopping by the local check station and helping generate revenue
for those small rural community stores. And I'm telling you,
from the firearm sells to the hunter orange vest, whatever
wildlife sent people needed to buy all of these mom

(23:58):
and pop places and all of these businesses that ran
check stations from talking with these folks will tell you
that they have lost revenue, business, and a whole lot
of fellowship and around their local communities. People that would
get out of the stand at nine or ten o'clock
to grab a biscuit just weren't grabbing a biscuit.

Speaker 4 (24:20):
Not everybody wanted to sit on the stand all day.

Speaker 3 (24:22):
They were really appreciative of the family reunion that we
had as sportsmen and women in and around these check stations.

Speaker 4 (24:32):
And in today's age and.

Speaker 3 (24:33):
Era, with what we have with pathology and deer, why
not have check stations again and just make them better
than what they were and pass out information, do outreach programs,
explain to people why their deer needs to be deboned,
or deliver whatever message there is, and advocate for these

(24:53):
these antlerless deer harvest, promote your quota hunts, anything that
you have as far as just personnel that can be
there to answer and ask questions, and by all means,
if these hogs are a problem that land between the lakes,
how about you take somebody that's on payroll, have them
at the deer check station and actually have them do
life surveys face to face, eyeball to eyeball, actually earning

(25:17):
their salary with the hunters as they come in and
get real field reports versus relying on a damn computer.

Speaker 4 (25:22):
Excuse my language.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
Well, hey, I agree, and I agree in a big way.
You said a mouth full, and you said it very
very well. Because here's the thing about it. How can
you possibly easily I'm talking about easily get data that's
so valuable to the management of the herd, but most

(25:47):
importantly is valuable to the average hunter because when they
can get together at a central station in their county
and compare notes. You know, how was the EHD in
your end of the county? Are you concerned about CWD?

(26:08):
Are your number of buck side each? What's the rut doing?
There's no better way to do that than a check
station system. And I'm gonna make a major, absolute spot
on statement about that. Why did these agencies get away

(26:30):
from it? They're lazy, They don't want to have the
personnel there. They found a way to do it in
a manner that suited them, and they used us. They
used the hunters as excuse. The hunters don't want to
do it. The hunters don't want that inconvenience. If it's

(26:52):
an inconvenience for you to take a deer to share in,
to physically share in the management of the resource. I'm sorry,
you're not somebody that I want to sit down and
a campfire with. I know that's a strong statement, but
you know what, we're an open lines show. If you

(27:13):
disagree with me and Scott and Brian on this call
in tonight called five oh two five seven one eighty
four eighty four or eight hundred four four four eighty
four eighty four, and we want to hear your comments
because this is something that really really goes to me

(27:34):
to the core of a lot of what's wrong about
what's going on. And we can go into how easy
it is for poachers to fudge the system. We can
talk about how people have other people check in their
deer for them. All that goes away. If we got
check stations, it becomes easier for conservation officers to go

(27:57):
after the bad people. People know this system and they're
abused at folks with that, I'm gonna go to break
and get the numbers. Five O two five seven one
eighty four eighty four or eight hundred four four four
eighty four eighty four. Got to go to break its

(28:18):
presented by Paul Thomas Monsell Property's Heart Realty. Check out
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Trealty dot com. All right, folks again, if you'd like
to chime in tonight, the numbers are five O two
five seven one eighty four eighty four, and please put

(28:39):
dairy code first. Five O two five seven one eighty
four eighty four or one eight hundred four four four
eighty four eighty four. And we've got Tim on hold. Yes, Tim,
welcome aboard.

Speaker 7 (28:52):
Sir, Hey, Jim, listen to you for a long time.
I'm not sure how long you've been on the.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
Air, but well forty plus years. It's been a little
run and I'm proud of that. And then appreciate your involvement, sir.

Speaker 7 (29:08):
Oh, yeah, I've called I think once before. It was
probably ten fifteen years ago, but had you know, we've
just to comment on some of the stuff I've been
listening to. We've we've seen probably half of the deer
that we normally see during uh during gun season, for
whatever reason, killed a couple of nice bucks this year.

(29:28):
My nephew's in the Navy, come down and hut killed
a nice buck opening weekend. But my question to you
is killed a decent buck this morning, and it when
we were corded it up to come home putting the cooler,
found it had like a little puff pocket on its shoulder,

(29:51):
so not sure. Cauughted it up and we found probably
an inch inch and a half piece It looks like uh,
carbon fiber from a bowl earrol but okay, yeah, and
it had I don't know, it looked like it. You know,
it had the green puss and it kind of went
through it a little bit. So we kind of got

(30:11):
rid of the shoulder, didn't keep it, cut a good
portion of one of the backstraps off. But do you
see anything wrong with that meat? And it's probably more
I know you're listening to Scott recently and just trying
to get your own opinion.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
Well, the answer that is no, Uh, you're gonna for
what issues you have there. You've cut your meat away
that you know had your discoloration, which we know that's
something that we don't want. Uh, it doesn't matter if
it's a stick, it doesn't matter if it's a piece
of broken woody stem material or carbon arrow.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
You know you've.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
Removed that meat that has basically maintainted. And so your
meat if you pack it and store it right, you know,
get a few inches away from from all that when
you go through that vacuum celling process. Rent your meat.
Don't soak your meat, but rent your meat if you
have any worries. Had it dry right, and then you know,

(31:12):
do your freezing process. And and thankfully because of modern
technology and with refrigeration, that meat being frozen and you
taking and cooking that meat. Uh, it would be different
if you were grinding up into burger and it wasn't
being cooked well done all the way through. But being
that you've got home meat pieces pretty much that you've
taken through there, you're gonna be You're gonna be just fined.

(31:35):
I just advise you not to ground any of it
into into any of your burger or you know, any
other any other products.

Speaker 4 (31:42):
Keep it in whole meats. And as you go back.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
Through the deer uh and as you harvest doze later
in the season, you know, just be a little more
cautious so on the you know, getting your ground from
from other other areas not so close to that infection.

Speaker 7 (31:56):
Okay, yeah, we cut the majority of it out just
to be safe and you know a lot of the
meat out, but it's all the other The meat looked good,
but it was just one big puss pocket. It was
like push on that puss pocket that poked.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:11):
Yeah, honestly, Tim, It's no different than blood. You know,
like when you have trauma, frail bullet or the air
actually striking you know how you've you cut all that
or you you try to get rid of that jelly
colloggulated blood.

Speaker 4 (32:23):
Uh, same thing.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
Now if you were if you were really getting into
that deer and it was really not localized to that area,
then and anybody that listens to the show, anytime that
you see an animal that needs to be put down,
you have the legal right to do that, and you
can contact.

Speaker 4 (32:40):
Your conservation officer.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
And also anytime that you ever harvest an animal and
you feel like that meat is not to consumption quality,
if you'll contact your conservation officer, your biologist.

Speaker 4 (32:55):
Uh, they a lot of times will.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
Work with you, especially if you've harvested that animal for
consumption purposes, not a trophy purpose, to work with you
on your tag and kind of that's more on an
individual basis. You know, they have to use some common
sense and strategy as well. But most of your folks
with the departments. I've worked with law enforcement officers in

(33:19):
Tennessee where I've had that happen with turkeys and deer,
and I've had some questions with some of the deer
in Kentucky as well, and they've been really good about it.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
And Tim not to really take this to a further extent,
but to a better understanding, perhaps, is that this happens
a lot in the wild, and Scott touched on it.
It could be a stick that they run into, you know,
run through the woods. It could be a gore from

(33:50):
an antler when they fight. There's a lot of things
that have caused those localized infections, and to Scott's point,
they don't affect the meat at all. So rock on.

Speaker 7 (34:02):
Awesome, all right, y'all, keep up the good work. Appreciate you, Jim.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
We're doing the best we can, all right, Yes, sir,
all right, all right, we've got Josh on hold Josh,
Welcome aboard, sir, Josh, can you hear us? Hey? How
you doing? We're doing good, buddy, How you doing well?

Speaker 8 (34:26):
Now the rifle season's over, I'm gonna get concentrated on
squirrels because we sure we ain't got no deer.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
That's not Josh Jim Straighter. That's a man by the
name of Radar out of Meehlenburg County. I know that voice.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
That's me, buddy. Well, tell us your story here, brother. Well,
I'm forty seven years old.

Speaker 8 (34:47):
I've deer hunted since the age of twelve, and I've
hunted ten days rifle season with me and my wife.
Most deer we've seen at any time was five. I'm
out and about with my job and with deer camps
and knowing people as much as anybody in western Kentucky.
And this is the first year, sixteen days the Kentucky

(35:08):
rifle season, I have not seen the first deer in
the bed of a pickup truck, on a trailer, or
hung up in a tree other than a camp that
I went to.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
It's just it's crazy. Well, that raises a lot of questions. Goosh, Now,
let me start with the obvious one. What in the
world do you think's going on with that?

Speaker 6 (35:29):
Is?

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Yeah, I know you all got had problems in that
part of the state with EHD, the hemorrhagic disease. I
know you know, the weather's been bad. And I know
there's tons of non resident situations that are excluding people
from properties. But where does all this trickle down to

(35:52):
what you think you saw.

Speaker 8 (35:55):
I can't answer myself because I'm still hunting properties that
I've hunted for fifteen to twenty years. And I mean
our numbers have just they've just shut plumb off. We
ain't send them on the camera activity. I mean we
but we're not even finding like dead carcasses or nothing.
I mean, it's like they've just plumb vanished.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
I don't know.

Speaker 8 (36:14):
I just I know why I'm out as like I say,
as much as anybody, and the group of hunters I've
hunted with for over thirteen years, weint You know, last
two sets we've not seen the first deer. I mean
not even a deer, not nothing. And used to you
go any evening and see fifteen twenty I mean they
may all be dolls or little scrub bucks, but you

(36:35):
least see some deer. But the last two sets we've
not seen the first deer. And another thing, this is
the first year that I've never heard a shot before
daylight my whole life. I've always heard somebody shoot before daylight.
Not this year. And I've only heard ten shots other
than the group of hunters that was with me the
whole year, And that's that's that's crazy too, because where

(37:00):
I hunt, I mean, you can hear shots all up
down the river, usually ringing out, and it's just I
don't know. I ain't got the answer. But like I say,
I'm out in about and there's no doubt we've got
a major problem with our deer numbers. I'll be interested
to see what they are, county by county after today.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
Yeah, I will too, Josh, we'll have some information about that.
Would you be kind enough to hold on to after
the break? Yeah? I sure will, all right, buddy, because
I got some other questions. Questions obviously lead to questions
in that regard, Folks, If you want to chime in,
costs of five oh two, five seventy one, eighty four

(37:37):
eighty four eight one hundred four four four eighty four
eighty four will be with you right after the break.
All right, folks, we're talking deer hunting tonight. We're on
the final portion of Kentucky's modern gun deer season. Indiana's
rocking on for a bit here, but were taking calls

(38:01):
tonight to join the conversation. The numbers are five oh two.
Please dial the five oh two, five seven one eighty
four eighty four or eight hundred four four four eighty
four eighty four. Again, that long distance number is eight
hundred four four four eighty four eighty four. And we

(38:24):
still got Josh on hold for the last hour, Josh,
are you still with us? Yes, sir, your comments are
not out of bounds for a lot of folks that
we've talked to, low deer numbers, low signings, et cetera.

(38:45):
Scratching your hint about this. What do you think's going on?

Speaker 8 (38:49):
You know, I really don't know. I talked with Scott earlier,
you know, by telling him about the problem, and he
told me a situation that that makes a lot of
sense for us, because we're we're not finding no deer carcass.
So I don't know. Maybe during the draft that the
EHD didn't hit harder than what people are thinking, and
the deer actually traveled to major rivers, which down here

(39:10):
would be Pond River, Mud River, Green River, and actually
may died around the rivers and they just left our properties.
But like I say, I'm forty seven years old and
a huntred since the age of twelve, and used to
I could at least go see a deer ever setting,
and this year I can't even see a deer. Now
there's some guys that come here from Wheatley County that

(39:31):
I've got the meat in the last few years. And
in their county they can only harvest a buck, so
they come here to harvest dough they eat. And it's
four of them. And I talked to them Saturday, Sunday, Monday,
and Tuesday the first four days because they hunting public ground,
which you can only hunt five days, and as of
the first four days, they hadn't even harvested a doe,

(39:52):
you know. And they're coming strictly for meat, you know,
to fill their freezers. And so I can't answer. All
I do know is that's a major problem, and I
don't know what we need to do to try to
fix it up as a way, But well I know
enough people's voice in the right areas to draw some attention.
I think, well, this, Scott, before.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
You go on, let me let me see this, EHD
is a much bigger problem than CW did in the
short term situation for an absolute fact. Secondarily, you have
your finger on the pulse in my mind. And what
Scott told you apparently earlier, I think is a big play.

(40:38):
The gnats and that hemorrhagic disease that you know caused
their blood vessels to burst and kills them very quickly,
occurred earlier this year than normal, and a lot of
people were not aware of how many dear they lost
because they were out there. You know, it was in

(41:01):
early to mid August, you know, in the time of
the year with ticks and heat and all the things
he go with it, people aren't after that much. And
we had some floody in those river plains. So I
think you're right, there's a lot of folks that didn't
really understand exactly how bad it was because this was

(41:23):
a bad year for EHD.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
Let me play Devil's advocate though. Let's say that we
didn't have EHD. And and what Josh does Josh is
he works for the county and that right, Josh, yes, county,
all right, So he's out and about every day. So
when Josh tells you he's not seeing vehicles, and Jimmy
and you have talked about this during our conversations during

(41:49):
the week, I'm not seeing as much orange up and dashboards.
I'm not seeing as many hunters going down the road
with their hat on. I'm not seeing the trailers with
deer and stuff. But I want to run some numbers
I put together during the break. Josh is talking about
not hearing the amount of shots that he normally hears,
and I haven't either. And I'm going to tell you
the deer situation was so bad in Muhlenbird County and

(42:13):
Butler County that I hunted zero days in Muhlenbird County
and Butler County because I know that my deer herd
in the areas I hunt it is so low that
I cannot take animals off that Landscape's that's the decision
I've made, the same way that I have with some turkeys.

Speaker 4 (42:33):
But listen to these numbers.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
In twenty twenty two, Josh, there was sixteen hundred and
sixty six deer checked in. In twenty twenty three, fifteen
hundred and fifty seven, and twenty twenty four fourteen hundred
and eighty nine, and now in twenty twenty five, as
of tonight, just during the commercial break, we had thirteen
hundred and thirty deer checked in. I don't believe the
TeleCheck numbers, and I don't think you do either, Josh,

(42:56):
because nobody's hearing the amount of shots. These are firearm numbers,
giving you not total kills for the county for archery,
muzzle load or crossbow, and forarm this is just gunshots.

Speaker 4 (43:07):
And what Josh is talking about.

Speaker 3 (43:10):
Anybody that's out there, I don't care if you're in
Eminence Kentucky. I don't care if you're over in Shepherdsville
in the eastern section, the western section. There is not
trucks pulling into gas stations with four and five deer
on the back of a Honda foreman and three guys
jumping out from the Appalachian area coming to Western Kentucky
that we pleasantly welcome to come here. And what Josh

(43:34):
is talking about, You've got folks in eastern counties who
are restricted to harvest doos that are coming to Western
Kentucky to harvest doze in what the department wants us
to do. But we're not seeing people in the field.
I don't know if you're being checked by the game
moar than Josh, but I'm not. And I don't see
biologists out but they're not getting filled reports. All they're

(43:54):
doing is chasing beans on that Excel spreadsheet, and it
looks to them that deer season is pretty much spot on.
It maybe down four or five percent. They could blame
the fog of the hot weather, but there's more of
a problem than fog in hot weather.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
I guarantee it, Yes, sir, I guarantee it. Well. I
thought I can put an amen on that at my
end too, because I'm hearing it from too many people
in various series of the state.

Speaker 3 (44:22):
Well, Josh, I'll tell you something those two, Jim and Josh.
There's there's two things that I think could be having
a big impact on our dear herd in the state
of Kentucky. This night in western Kentucky, I think our
faun you know, fatality and mortality deals are going on.
I am seeing more and more and more and more

(44:44):
every year. I'm seeing more fawns killed by automobiles and
couts than ever before. I'm seeing the cout kills on
trail cameras. I see more fawns killed by automobiles than
I ever have in the last two years, and I
don't know what is going on with that. Secondly, I
do believe with the tick infestation that we have in
parts of Kentucky. I'm gonna put my money that nothing

(45:08):
is being studied, and we do not have any data
or science to follow. But I have a gut feeling
that we have tick infestation to the level that our
younger deer are being stressed so much, or some of
our deer are being impacted so much by tick infestation
that we are having a fatality rate from ticks that

(45:29):
we haven't really put our thumb on yet.

Speaker 4 (45:31):
I'll just close it right there.

Speaker 8 (45:33):
Well, but I know I'm going to get off here,
but I will say one other thing about that, Scott,
is that me and my wife went last Friday to
Paducah and we went the big road, the Parkway, of course,
and I also known in big roads used to the
ruts on pressures on you. Every quarter a mile, half
mile you see a deer carcass or laid on the road.
I seen three from Graham to Paducah.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
Yeah, that's very Tilly's here, you know.

Speaker 8 (46:01):
That's That's that tells me a lot too.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
Yes, sir, all right, folks, Uh, we got Lee on
hold Lee, welcome aboard. What have you got for us? Okay,
Lee's dropped out. I'm gonna go to quick break here.
This break is presenter by Mansel Properties, Heart Realty. Check

(46:24):
out their listening's m O p h a r Trealty
dot com again if you want to call it tonight,
the numbers of five oh two, five seven one eighty
four eighty four or eight hundred four four four eighty
four eighty four. We'll be back right after the break.
All right, folks, we're back, and again the numbers called

(46:45):
the nine or five oh two, five seven one eighty
four eighty four. Please use the area code again. It's
five O two five seven one eighty four eighty four
or eight hundred four four four eighty four eighty four.
We got bart on hold from bed for day. Bart.

Speaker 6 (47:04):
How you tonight, Hey, Jim Scott. It's always a pleasure
to be able to speak with you guys. Anytime I
get a chance to call in, I just kind of
want to give you guys a little update of what
we've got to see here in Trimble County. I did
text Scott last weekend. My youngest son did get to

(47:26):
kill a young doe and that was an absolute blessing
and always a blessing to be able to do that,
and my oldest, my oldest son killed a pretty nice
ten pointer yesterday morning. I've been blessed to set with
both of those boys that both set, so I'm proud dad, But.

Speaker 5 (47:47):
I will I will tell you.

Speaker 6 (47:49):
That, you know, other hunters in the county may say
things a little different. Things are a little different at
different places, but where I am, specific in Trimble County,
I know our numbers are nowhere near the same. The
buck that he killed yesterday morning was by himself. Now

(48:11):
he has you know, he was running, his glands on
his legs were jet black, and you know his neck
was swollen. But you know, the dough numbers are just
not here. Jim Scott, I'm not quite sure. I don't
have an answer for that. I've had the same four
doughs on the camera for the last three weeks and

(48:36):
had mature bucks also eating where I feed together, so
it's just been really random here.

Speaker 4 (48:46):
Let me make this comment.

Speaker 3 (48:48):
There's a lot of people we make the comment all
the time, don't depend on your trail cameras too much.
But between what we see from our hunts, what we
see from the trail cameras that we do utilize, there's
a pattern gym that a lot of folks are starting
to see, and that is they're keeping their dough groups.

(49:10):
Are the same dough groups that are coming in in
the summer. It's the same groups that have their funds
coming to mineral sites. It's the same groups of deer
that are coming to supplemental feeding and in the food plots,
and as people move and pinch points and trails, and
it's like these deer never actually get bread.

Speaker 5 (49:28):
Like it.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
It's like you know that they're not all going to
come in synchronization at one time. But I think what
he's telling us is feedback that we're hearing from a
lot of folks is when are their dose going to
come in heat?

Speaker 2 (49:42):
You know?

Speaker 3 (49:42):
And when are they going to split up? And and
why is it that we know that the acre and
crop come on. We know that there was a drought,
we know that there was heat, but now we're to
the point where our deer numbers. I do believe folks
are concerned, and it's much more than just a massive
acorn crop, because there's just too many people that are

(50:06):
asking where are the deer?

Speaker 2 (50:10):
Yes, sir, And a lot of it I think is
the screw rut situation we've had. There's not been the movement,
there's not been the attraction by the major older component
of the deer herd in the bucks side of things

(50:32):
that's lost their minds the way they normally do during
the portions of the season we've seen so far. So
I'm kind of on the edge because I have seen
in the three counties that I hunt in the last
on three to five days, that we are starting to

(50:53):
have a normal normal by I mean, you know, usual
sign that there is a rut happening. But my goodness,
isn't late and it is weird. This is the weirdest
rut cycle I've seen in forever. Bart I it just

(51:14):
is I mean house to slice and dice it. And
you know what, that's what we're hearing from everybody. So
it's not just used, not just being not just got,
it's it's numbers of people. So appreciate your comments and
delighted to hear you harvested deer anyway. I mean, if

(51:35):
you get out there to hunt, you've always got a chance, obviously,
so hats off to you.

Speaker 3 (51:40):
A bar according to your son's harvest record, you're gonna
have to start working a part time job to pay
for that taxidermy bill.

Speaker 6 (51:50):
So that's okay, Hey, that's that's why.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
We do it. Yes, sir, congratulates right.

Speaker 6 (52:02):
Thank you guys, appreciate it very much.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
Yes, let's go to Don, who's been on hold? Hey, Don,
you's still with us? Is that me? Yes, sir Don
from Washington?

Speaker 4 (52:18):
John?

Speaker 2 (52:19):
Sorry, John, okay, I'm sorry, go ahead, John, no problem.

Speaker 9 (52:24):
No, we hunt a farm in Gallatin County, Warsaw. It's
down the street from uh uh Tucky Speedway. Yes, sir,
we've been hunting his farm, hunting his farm for oh,
my son's thirty five, and he's been hunting it ever
since he was well, when he's old enough to get
out and hunt. But we've probably been here, you know,

(52:44):
at least thirty seven, thirty eight years, and we've always
always seen deer moving, bucks chasing every year. But this
year here we ain't. I ain't seen the first goal
and I ain't seen no bucks chasing. I ain't. You know,
we we usually kill, you know, fill our tags. We ain't,

(53:06):
but amongst four of us, we ain't killed the four deer.
And uh, I ain't killed the first one, and I
ain't seeing them. I mean, I've seen a few small ones,
but that's it. Nothing. I've seen the mama cameras a
few of them, but nothing like usual. But there's a guy,
the guy that owns the farm beside the farm we
hunt uh a guy about a mile and a half

(53:28):
down the street towards his warsaw said they found forty
one dead deer on their farm. And he said that
e H e H D has been really hit hard.
And me and my son and Donald Law kind of
walked the creeks down there and we found found a
couple of dead deer that you know, the what's left
of them. But it's it's really hit up hit this

(53:51):
farm pretty hard.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
Hey, jail, do you remember right this summer I've got
I got some pretty negative feedback from some folks that
are officials that helped Reggie late our deer. I don't
want to call out any particular group, but they told
me to kind of stay in my own lane. And
I do believe there's a lot of folks finding thirty, forty,

(54:15):
fifty sixty deer dead, trying to contact biologists. Call the
phone numbers that they tell us to call the report
sick deer. Nobody comes out to look in a lot
of counties up and around where he's at, and some
of the counties where I'm at. I don't think they
had a confirmed EHD case officially, But you got landowners
with thirty and forty deer taking video of it and

(54:39):
pictures of it, but yet nothing's being said officially on
the documentation side of it.

Speaker 4 (54:46):
I've got a problem with.

Speaker 9 (54:47):
This, Yeah, I mean, I just I didn't know. We
didn't know. It might have been the weather, you know,
because early must of it was like eighty five degrees
and then in the full moon.

Speaker 3 (54:59):
And can I ask you a question? You said you've
got several years hunting in around the area. How often
do you see a game warden or a biologist where
hunters attend to congregate as far as a restaurant or
sporting good store to ask questions?

Speaker 9 (55:12):
I heard I heard Jim talk a little while ago
about how they used to when you check in the deer,
you had to go and offically take it to a
check station. And I always enjoyed that myself. But they
don't do that no more. But I used to see
game ones every now and then that around the check
stations in different spaces but the whole time we've been

(55:34):
hunting this farm, I ain't seen the first one.

Speaker 7 (55:36):
Well, I'm sure we.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
Got to go to we gotta go to break here.
But I'll say that it's not that the game warnings
are doing their jobs, aren't having them in a position
to do their job. And we'll talk about that after
the break. All right, folks, gotta go all right?

Speaker 9 (55:57):
Thank you, yes, sir, thank you about.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
All right, folks, we're talking deer hunting night again, and
let's go to Andy. Who's on Holday? Andy? How you done?

Speaker 10 (56:16):
Yep?

Speaker 4 (56:17):
Uh?

Speaker 10 (56:17):
I think I've known you a long time, from back
to Wagner High School days. Oh my yeah, I've always
listened to your show religiously every Sunday night. I love you.

Speaker 5 (56:33):
Now.

Speaker 10 (56:33):
I just want to ask you've been talking about deer
hunting so much?

Speaker 2 (56:37):
Uh?

Speaker 10 (56:37):
You got any fishing reports, Jim?

Speaker 3 (56:41):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (56:41):
Yes we do. Actually, Uh, I'll give him here quickly.
But thank you so much for calling in. Andy. What's
your last name so I can go through my memory file?

Speaker 10 (56:52):
Okay, draft d R A U t Okay. My dad
was principal Wagner High School. Yes, sir, I married a
teacher from Whitner high school.

Speaker 2 (57:06):
I know exactly now, I know exactly. I know exactly
who you are, and unfortunately, due to my deportment, I
had to report to your dad at Tyrant. Yes, sir,
I can tell you bass are very very active, and
they're shallow. They're they're feeding up cropp. You're on fire,

(57:30):
and they're fairly shallow. Uh fifteen feet unless is where
the action is. They're hard on wood and bluegill and
the others are still active. They know winters coming pretty quickly.
So that that's aroundabout on what I can tell you
about that now. I really appreciate you calling in. Actually

(57:52):
I was, in later life good friends with your dad.
He was a good man mayor of Saint Matthew's and
you come of a good lineage.

Speaker 10 (58:01):
I will say, well, well, thank you very much, Jim Man. Sorry,
do you do all right?

Speaker 11 (58:07):
Brother?

Speaker 2 (58:08):
Thank you? We got Tim on hold? Yes, Tim your next.

Speaker 7 (58:15):
Hey, Jim, Sorry, I talked to you a minute ago
about a deer. But real quick question on albino deer.
We actually my son seemed one took a picture of it,
didn't know if he could shoot it or night or
what have you, and then I jumped it the next
morning going in dark opening week here, but I mean
it stood out like I had lights all over it.

(58:36):
But what is your girl's opinion on the albino deer?
And I'll let you guys go to get to other callers.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
Thanks, well, uh, I guess I'll lead off. It's is
judic abnormality. It makes them more prone to predators. It's
not something we necessarily want in the environment. But Scott,
you're really more astute on that genetic code of that.

(59:04):
I'll let you address it.

Speaker 3 (59:06):
This the color itself leads it more vulnerable to predation,
and you know not that they can't live a full
mature lifestyle. The statistics show outside of the genetics, whether
you start looking at recessive or dominant characteristics on whether
it's just a pieball or true albino. Now they tend

(59:27):
not to tend not to make it to the complete
life cycle. But you know, it's one of those things
We're always going to have listeners that could maybe be
non consumptive users of wildlife and.

Speaker 4 (59:40):
We may we may.

Speaker 3 (59:41):
Catch a little bit of grief over this, but to me,
that animal, if you have a legal dough tag, you
really have to just make the personal decision on whether
or not you want that animal to be something rare
and unique that you can maybe get multiple observations out
of and enjoy just.

Speaker 4 (01:00:02):
The aesthetics of it in your habitat.

Speaker 3 (01:00:06):
But it would also be a way to have a
very unique animal to harvest and provide protein for your family.
So I could see why a hunter could be very
much so divided and on the fence about what to
do in that situation. And I will tell you this,
much as much as I've hunted in my career, I

(01:00:28):
have never legally had the opportunity with any piece of
hunting equipment or tool to harvest any type of eyebine
on deer. And my personal choice would be that I
would have to take the animal, and it would be
very much in a respectful way, not just for the protein,
but also for just the uniqueness of the hunt. And

(01:00:50):
I think that's something as hunters we need to be
very proud of and be able to stand on our
on two feet and have a spine to justify why
we would or would not harvest any time of animal legally.

Speaker 7 (01:01:02):
Okay, that's good to know, because he wanted to shoot it,
but he didn't know if it was legal or not. Legal,
and he's coming for a while, but he just didn't know,
and so I wanted your opinion.

Speaker 11 (01:01:11):
Talk to.

Speaker 7 (01:01:13):
Taxidermisty here while he's actually in Bullet County, but he
said that's his lifetime deer if you ever see one,
and he said he would actually now we shot it,
just come and get it, don't gut it, and he
would take it for us.

Speaker 3 (01:01:26):
So yeah, but to your point, if you were on
a w M A or if say you were on
a military base or some other type of organized hunt,
you would have to go off the regulations. But from
listening to you earlier, you're on private property. So that's
a that's a legal deal.

Speaker 7 (01:01:41):
Yeah, okay, awesome, thank you guys.

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
Yes, sir, thank you all. Were glad. We're always glad
to clarify as best we can. Uh, let's go to
ed he's been on hold forever.

Speaker 11 (01:01:54):
Hey, Ed, you're up, Hey Jimbo all brother.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
Hey Edwin, Yes, sir, welcome aboard.

Speaker 11 (01:02:03):
Well what an awesome show. Let me start off with that,
it is a suitcase worth of information that we need
to unpack, and I think you all have done a
great job of doing it. Working backwards. That gentleman's question
about a piebald or a true albino deer to qualify

(01:02:27):
what Scott said, Albinism does not move upwardly in the column.
In other words, they're sterile. So if you have the
opportunity to harvest them on that is a true albino.
Pink nose, pink eyes, they just they they don't have
viable reproduction. Now, pieball is a different story. And and

(01:02:53):
I have had opportunity to shoot one, I didn't because
to me, it was really cool watching that little dough
walk through the field in Wisconsin, that she disappeared between
the corner and the snow. It's cool. So but something
that that that we talked that that you've all been

(01:03:16):
talking about your Star Offs show with is how this
year has just been so apoplectic. I guess maybe a
good word. It's just been a very very weird year
weather wise, and when you combine the weather with the

(01:03:38):
moon phase, you know, we got our cold snap, but
it was before the full moon. And is that one
of the reasons we're seeing diminished movement? The other thing
that I've noticed, and you know me, I'm a very
stute guy. I'm not to be all and into all

(01:03:58):
by any means. But on October twenty third, I have
a picture on my phone of a great, big red
oak down in Tyrone, which is for those of y'all
familiar with that, and its county's right on Kentucky River.
It's where a wild turkey got its start. But there's
a two hundred year old red oak tree in a

(01:04:20):
guy's yard down there, and I have a picture from
October twenty third at three thirty three in the afternoon,
and there's thirty seven deer underneath that red oak tree.
I still have. And I've got white oaks. I don't
mean any on my property here in Anders County, my
forty acres I live on, I've got white oaks. I've

(01:04:43):
got two of them, great big ones out in the
pastor they're still holding thirty percent of their leaves and
the deer are just now making their way up to
them to feed on a regular basis. So do I
have the answer. No, But I think that Mother Nature

(01:05:04):
always wants to balance, and we had a really bad year.
And I've listened to the gentleman down in western Kentucky
and Scott and that anecdotal evidence is absolutely astounding, and
it has merit EHD hit down there very hard, and

(01:05:25):
Jim you pointed out that we had massive flooding down there.
Every tractor tire rut that held water was a breeding
ground for those midges.

Speaker 2 (01:05:37):
Yeah, buddy, yeah, buddy.

Speaker 3 (01:05:42):
In every can I can, I can I say something
about where I was going with all that is, I'm
just saying that right now. I would just like to
see more presence of anybody in everybody who is on
payroll that deals with wildlife biology, especially with game species,

(01:06:05):
or any level of representation to the group that represents
our Kentucky Department official Life resources. I would just like
to see more interaction face to face over a cup
of coffee or breakfast than I would being so dependent
on surveys or selective groups of people only getting surveys

(01:06:25):
for feedback. We have too many counties we're back in
this situation, and we've got too many counties and too
much of broad areas that don't have a wildlife enforcement
officers where the world's biggest advocate for them. One officer
shouldn't be trying to cover two to three counties during
modern gun season, and our biologists they don't need to

(01:06:48):
be in the office. Get them out of the office,
and wherever there's a biscuit and gravy special, or wherever
hunters are getting gas, or wherever they're buying their eyes
for their coolers to put their meat in, or what
what ever it is interview and survey people right there.
I get innovative technology and computer data systems and all that,

(01:07:08):
but we've got to get back to the basics. We
need to get back to face to face soft skills, handshakes,
bonding and trust. Give these young kids a hunter orange
vest or a hunter orange hat when a game mordan
or a wildlife biologist interviews them. And let's get some
good pr going and marketing going, and let's advocate to

(01:07:29):
come together as sportsmen and women to figure out what
the true problems are instead of taking a survey on
a computer.

Speaker 2 (01:07:37):
Amen, and guys, to that what I want you to
hang on. One of the best Fishwife commissioners we ever
had was Don McCormick. I'm telling you, I think the
world of that guy. He did so much for us,
and he told the conservation officers at a meeting that

(01:07:59):
I'm aware of guys. If your boots aren't dirty, if
I don't get input from hunters and fishermen in your district.
And you do don't have a handle on what's going
on in your district, You're gonna be transferred and be
digging ditches instead of doing conservation officer works. That's what
needs to happen now. Now, Am I clear? I'm gonna

(01:08:26):
go to break? Yes, sir, I'm gonna go to break.
The break is presented by Monsile Properties, Heart Realty check
all their listenings out at mp H E R Trealty
dot com. Edwould past president of Lee Tucky Sportsman. We
covered a lot of ground tonight. What are your thoughts actually?

(01:08:52):
I mean, I'm just curious, good, bad? Are indifferent? I mean,
to me, Tex Stations there's the crazyt thing that can
help with every aspect to what's going on. I don't know.
You know, back then they said, well we can save
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Good grief. We've got

(01:09:14):
a seventy million dollar budget here.

Speaker 11 (01:09:18):
Come on, and our current CEO Commissioner Storm is hel
meant on saving more money. It doesn't make any sense
to me and Jim to that point. I shot my
first Kentucky deer when I was twelve years old. And

(01:09:40):
I was raised in there that you were. Dad dropped
me off at the three hundred acres that he had
bought for along with his brothers and a couple other
friends for us to enjoy. Drop me off at a
little tag along trailer to go hunting that weekend, and
I shot my first deer and there was no cell phone,

(01:10:01):
so I had to figure I had to gut it
by myself because I'd never done that before. Nobody ever
taught me. And when Dad got up there, he's like, well,
you did a pretty good job. And then we drove
it to the sales, to the check station. And a

(01:10:21):
couple of years later, I was driving and I shot
my first unadulterated Nobody told me where to go hunt.
I did it all on my own. I shot a
little eight point and I drove that thing around on
the back of my pickup truck until it was almost spoiled,
and I took it to every check station because that

(01:10:43):
was part of part and parcel to the experience of hunting.
And my children they get that experience because we have
such a large, large group that punt with us, but
they don't get it out outside of that. They don't
get to go meet the demonstrators and the Scott Cronin's

(01:11:05):
and the they don't get meet.

Speaker 2 (01:11:08):
Hey, hey, stop right there for say it. Take us
out of that bitch, because we're nobody special. We did
pay attention and we try to help, but go ahead.

Speaker 11 (01:11:20):
But but my point is is that we can't just
drive the jet stations. Hey look what I got, and
have you guys walk out of the woodwork, you know.
And it doesn't need to be you know, anybody who
is pseudo celebrity or anything like that. Just the neighbor. Congratulations,
young man or young woman, what a great harvest you

(01:11:44):
that I have.

Speaker 3 (01:11:45):
Less there and a lot more dray and silver. But
what I can say is this, I'm I'm basically twenty
years younger from most of my mentors that I consider
the best hunters and conservationists. If we're supposed to listen
to what the sportsmen want, the sportsmen want check stations back,
and they've been saying it for a long time. So

(01:12:08):
we have got to be able to find a way
with modern technology to bring back the check stations as
being an option, not the only option, to check your dear.
Let's see if we can build a better mouse trap,
and let's bring this bridge together in a stronger way.
We've got to say that road, we just need to

(01:12:30):
make a bit a better road and a bigger road,
and we need to make it better and stronger. So
let's repave it. Let's put in a new bridge, and
let's let's let's look at making check stations and ways
in which fellowship and camaraderie can come back together. And
let's put the science there. Let's get these biologists and
law enforcement people on a spot where they don't have

(01:12:52):
to run all over the place and they can meet
and greet, and it to me, it sounds like a
happy marriage, ed one. Just it sounds like we're not
being listened to when it comes to the fact that
sportsmen and them and are saying they want checkstations and where,
and we're not. I don't hear conversations in Frankfort about
bringing them back, sir.

Speaker 11 (01:13:11):
So that and that brings me to a final point.
The anecdote evidence that US sportsmen and women bring to
the table cannot be discounted. It has value regardless if
are the leadership at our department says we're a bunch

(01:13:34):
of yahoo's that don't know what we're talking about that's wrong.
And and let me just prove a point. I live
in Anderson County. I live on Wildcat Road. Anybody look
it up. Wildcat Road in business one twenty seven. It's
in Stringtown and Stringtown to the courthouse in Lawrenceburg is

(01:13:58):
roughly three miles. In the last three days, five doze
are laying dead on the side of that road between
Stringtown and the courthouse. And I'm not talking about a
rural area. I'm talking about Stringtown used to be popular
because every seven miles we had to refill our locomotives

(01:14:21):
with steamed.

Speaker 2 (01:14:22):
That's how I've already had a minute left, so go ahead.

Speaker 11 (01:14:26):
My point, my point being is that the evidence is
out there, the anecdobal evidences is out there, and the
department has to start listening to it and giving us
a voice.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
Again, well without it, they got the money and they
didn't wake up to that. And we're going to address
that in a big way in some future programs because
you know what, across the board, there's a lot of
areas we're not being listened to. And that's not against
a conservation officers, it's not the biologists, it's not the

(01:15:00):
people in the field. It's some of these people upstairs
with the super fat salaries that they do not deserve.
This is my opinion and I'll back it up with
some facts that are not letting people do their jobs.
And that's the Travis. Yes, sir, that's got a change,

(01:15:24):
or we're gonna be standing in the hell. All right, folks,
gotta go appreciate all your calls tonight, Yes sir, Thank you. Evan.
We'll be back next week, same place, at the same time.
Be safe out there, Happy holiday, God bless everybody.