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May 18, 2025 • 71 mins
Jim and Scott discuss proposals for new CWD zones in Henderson, Union, Webster, Crittenden, McLean, and Daviess counties. Due to the discovery of the CWD0-positive deer in Posey County, Indiana, there will be a special commission meeting on Wednesday, May 21st.
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
News Radio eight forty whas welcomes you to Jim Straighter Outdoors,
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Outdoors is brought to you by Massioak Property's Heart Realty.
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(00:23):
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(00:44):
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Speaker 2 (01:00):
Good evening, everybody demonstrator here and welcome aboard to demonstrator
Outdoors Tonight, my co host, Scott.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Coroner and I have a ton of information we're gonna
share with you.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
A lot of it is going to center around the
discovery of a CWD positive deer in Posey County, Indiana,
which triggered a meeting in western Kentucky where their a
meeting was held about CWD zones being established in Kentucky

(01:37):
as a result of the deer discovered over in Indiana
across the river, which is part of the story that
we're going to unravel for you tonight. There's a lot
of aspects to it. There's a number of counties that
are being mentioned as part of the zones. There's mention

(02:02):
of a September rifle season for deer, and there are
various aspects that we're going to try it out for
you tonight. We're going to discuss them, and tonight we're
talking to you the sports went to educate you, but
I'm also talking to the commissioners new members of the

(02:23):
Fish and Wildlife Commission, because a lot has been.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
Put on their play here in very short order.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
This has, in my opinion, the ear marks of a
knee jerk reaction to a single deer that tested positive
in Indiana and it becomes very very curious in many regards,
and we're going to talk about those aspects and what
our thoughts are about what's going on. And I'm going

(02:52):
to share information about a study that came out of
Arkansas that was mentioned at the meeting, which I think
is flawed and that's something I hope the commissioners will
take into consideration. And I'm going to point out some
of the things, having watched a couple of times, that

(03:13):
I think point to problems with it.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
I know Scott's got some thoughts.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
About that and our methods of testing and what we're doing.
So we're going to talk about all those things, and
we're also going to give you reports about the early
squirrel season. We're going to talk about what's going on
with fishing around the region, and we got some wildlife
reports we're going to share.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
So we've got a really full play.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
And a lot of ground to cover. However, as I mentioned,
we're going to start out the program tonight with the
emergence of CWD in Posey County, Indiana and what it
portends or what it has surfaced. That's going to go
in front of the fish Wilffe Commission on the twenty

(03:59):
first day of May, which of course is right around
the corner. So we're gonna share that information with you
and try to break it down for you where it's
easy to understand. We're gonna give you a lot to
think about in that regard. If you have questions or
you would like to make a comment tonight, I would.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Encourage you to call in. We'll be glad to chat with.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
You and consider your opinions or your input on this
because it's gonna be very controversial for a number of reasons.
And to do so, you call sit these numbers five
oh two, five seven one eighty four eighty four again
five oh two, five seven one eighty four eighty four,

(04:42):
or if you're a long distance caller, use our eight
hundred number which is eight hundred four four four eighty
four eighty four again toll free eight hundred four four
four eighty four eighty four. With that, I'm gonna go
to breaks here, and after break again, we'll.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
Talk about this CWD.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Occurrence and what's been laid out as tentative plan to
deal with it. There was a meeting held in Western
Kentucky that unfortunately a whole lot of individuals didn't attend.
But that's another subject altogether, because on short notice and
during the week, a lot of people can't make those
meetings at any rate. Without further ado, I'm going to

(05:27):
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All right, folks, again, we're going to be talking about
this emergence of a CWD deer in Posey County, Indiana

(05:50):
and a subsequent reaction in a public meeting where some
potential plans for how they're going to have we're discussed,
and so Scott and I are going to talk to
you about that tonight, and if you have any thoughts
or have anything you want to comment on, calls at
five point seven to one eighty four eighty four or

(06:13):
eight hundred four four four eighty four eighty four. Scott,
I guess first, let's talk about the counties that potentially
will be involved, and again we're not sure what the
Commission is going to do with the information that was
disseminated at this meeting in western Kentucky. But the counties

(06:33):
that have been mentioned are Henderson, Union and Webster Counties.
They're the counties in that immediate area across from Posey.
But because of the thirty mile radius that the CWD
plan calls for, Crittenden County, McLean County, and Davies County

(06:59):
had the potential to be included in the plan. And
we're going to talk about the aspects of that because
quite frankly, this discussion in this public meeting had more
moving parts than an earthworm. I'm saying that not to
be a joke, but I mean there's a lot of
moving parts to it. So we're gonna kind of piece

(07:19):
through it for you to begin with. In my estimation,
we're moving way too swiftly here because the deer tested
positive over in Posey County, Indiana, across the river to
deer swim the river, of course they do.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
Is it rare?

Speaker 2 (07:40):
No?

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Is it common?

Speaker 4 (07:42):
No?

Speaker 2 (07:43):
That's number one, and there's only one deer that's tested positive.
I'm going to counter that with the fact that last
year in the CWD zones down in Ballard, what have you,
they tested according to the department figures nine thousand deer
and there are no positive deer except for that one

(08:04):
in the pen down there and a captive deer in
the pen, and to date that pen still contains deer
that were with that deer that tested positive. So that's
a very curious situation to me. And there's appears to
be a real rush towards several things that have been

(08:27):
thrust upon the sportsmen, and they were asked to come
to the meeting and hear about it, and they were
able to give their opinions.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Scott, the Crittenden, McLean and Davys counties.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
Very small portions of those counties lie within that thirty
mile radius zone. Isn't that correct?

Speaker 4 (08:55):
I think most people have had just a concern when
it came to the regulation and the miles. Is this
by land surface? Is it by air? Because even back
when Grayson County, Breckenridge County, Harden, et cetera. Were being
put into the same scenario, and that is that they're

(09:17):
having to adopt and change what regulations were in place.
There was some questions and people were trying to figure
out how the equation was solved on what counties were
going to be imposed with CWD surveillance zone regulations and
where we're at right now where you open the program,

(09:39):
May the twenty first is coming up. It's just coming Wednesday,
and what it states from the meeting that was held
over the public form to allow people to get updates
on May the eighth, twenty twenty five, was that the
Department is looking into strategies to man the deer population,

(10:02):
including what could be a one dough harvest before taking
a buck or a separate dough season at the end
of September. So what we're getting at GIM is no
matter which county someone lives in or which county someone
hunts in, what's coming up on May the twenty first

(10:22):
is important for every person who deer hunts into Commonwealth
and has a business that revolves around funny because we're
going to start seeing more and more and more information
and the possibility of more change when it comes to
our deer regulations. And it's a time where if our

(10:46):
commission works the way that's supposed to and commissioners do
the jobs and what they were elected to do and
represent the voice of the sportsman, we can talk about
the miles or the county or the line. It time
that we're going to have to take an active row
with sportsmen and women to reach out to our commissioners
and let them know what we do and we do

(11:06):
not think because even some of us that listen to
this program may have differences of opinions, and it's going
to be really important that we have some facts and
it's going to be really important that we're not just
looking at short term changes and regulations that can occur.
The CWD and the management of it in the state
of Kentucky is going to be something that all of
us is active sportsmen and women are going to have

(11:29):
to address and this won't be the last time that
we have to do it.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yes, sir, I think that's exactly the case. Now I
mentioned there's a lot of moving parts to this. Let's start,
I guess with We've mentioned the counties and there are
several really curious things that happen here, and I'm open

(11:54):
up with a positive comment that was made.

Speaker 5 (12:00):
Whether or not the.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
Commission sees fit to do this remains to be seen,
but it's my understanding that there is a proposal to
eliminate the ban on baiting and mineral in this new
zone if they do institute the zone and go with

(12:21):
the protocols that were mentioned at the meeting, and I'm
very much in favor of that. Scott, I'm allowing you
to comment for a variety of reasons, one of which
is we've argued long and hard that removing mineral from
a deer's ability to get mineral puts them at greater

(12:44):
risk for a lot of different diseases, not just CWD.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
That's number one.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Number two, when mineral is removed from areas where hunters
and land managers place it or dissipates, deer have to
travel further to obtain mineral. They can't do without it.
They have to have mineral to stay healthy, and they
will travel to get it. What does that do That

(13:10):
concentrates those dear more than they would have been concentrated
if they've been mineral available over a vast area due
to land and hunter management. And that's a hard factory fee.
I don't know where they could go with it, but
be that as it may, it's my understanding in this

(13:32):
news zone that the proposal is that they allowed now
there is a heaveat to that, and it is that
the proposal calls for the bait to be broadcast, in
other words, not to be piled. And Scott, you and
I are very much in favor of that. We've talked

(13:52):
to that issue many many times in the past and
we both are proponents of it in to supplemental feeding
for deer, which again helps them stay healthy.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
And so I hope that's implemented. What I'm not clear about,
and which we'll.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Be discussed at this meeting, is whether or not they're
going to lift that baiting band in the Mineral band
if they decide to in the other zones, in the
Ballard Zone and up here in Breaking Ridge and what
have you.

Speaker 4 (14:28):
I hope yeah. Directly from the slide at the meeting
that it states that what was proposed for baiting and
feeding is that no longer would there be restricted baiting
or a feeding practice in the CWD surveillance zones of

(14:50):
pending the Commissioner's approval. So the commissioners will have to
vote and the commission as a whole will have to
pass that. And the goal of this and this is
where me and you stayed in the same lane with
doctor Crow and other experts that we talked to the
reason why the Department advocates for this. From their slide

(15:11):
nothing that me and you are bringing to it. But
from the department slide, it says the goal is to
give hunters an effective tool to increased harvest in surveillance's
own counties. And that's what we talked about, that if
we did have to increase the deer harvest, that baiting
or supplemental feeding would be a tool to help us

(15:33):
control these deer numbers. Now, something that people need to
consider as well is different counties are going to have
different amounts of deer density. For example, from the Department's numbers,
Webster County holds forty seven deer per square mile, where
the lowest county in those counties that you mentioned, Jim
is Davis County, which is holding fifteenth deer per square mile.

(15:57):
And when we look at that, what we're getting at
is from day one, I reached out to the official
representative from the Department, the veterinarian, and I ask, why
are we not educating and why are we not trying
to influence people, even in the countings that we can

(16:19):
legally bait. Why are we not explaining to them that
there are different methods that are better to use. Bait
or supplemental feeding in others. And what we're getting at
is is it better to broadcast it or is it
better to put it in a pile. Is it better
to have a deer put its nose into a mouthpiece
or is it better for deer to eat cobb corn?
And both of us have tried to explain to people

(16:43):
that neither one of us want deep disease to increase
in deer. But if you're trying to decrease the population,
if you're looking at the herd and you're looking at
carrying capacity, and you're looking at how many deer are
in an area, one of the most effective tools that
you have to remove a large amount of the population

(17:03):
and a quick and effective management tool, scientifically proven just
with the use of it, yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
And on the side of the working man and people
that don't have small properties to hunt, that is one
of the most effective tools for them to be able
to harvest deer, which of course is the objective here.

Speaker 3 (17:22):
So there's some other aspects to that that we're going
to talk about after this break.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
But again, folks, if you want to join the conversation
about this tonight, the numbers five seventy one eighty four
eighty four or eight hundred four four four eighty four
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mop h a rtrealty dot com. All right, folks, again,

(17:54):
we're at this point in the program talking about the
emergence of CWD and Posey County, Indiana, and the proposals
to create CWD zones in Kentucky and Henderson, Union, Webster
and potentially Crittendon, MacLean.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
And Davies Counties.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Scott, I want to return to what we were talking
about with the aspects of the mineral and debate. You know,
a lot of the guys in these other zones suffered
through that, and as we saw, we had a horrible
winter period for the deer, and I hate to think

(18:34):
about deer that suffered through that without supplemental feeding and
without the addition of mineral in their diets that enabled
them to better survive that type of weather.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
You know, that lasted for a long long time.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
And one of the criticisms I had of this Arkansas
study is that the gentleman that they utilized, he was
great graduate student, as I understand it said that the
deer that they collared in the study died, A lot

(19:12):
of them died within a year of being collared. And
in that statement he said, in this disease kills that quickly.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
There's no data.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
Anywhere that I'm aware of that shows that CWD from
being detected in an animal to death occurs that rapidly
and ironically. Later in that presentation he mentioned a longer
time period. I can't remember the exact number of years,
but it was a number of years before the deer

(19:43):
succumb to it. He also mentioned that there was a
variance in lowland deer populations versus high rough country deer
that the deer in the highland areas in the rough
country survive longer. And I can't get my head around

(20:04):
that in any way, shape or fashion.

Speaker 3 (20:05):
And I don't know where his surmise of that is.
But one of the things.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
That also popped up was he mentioned the mortalities that
deer in the study had, and he did mention that
if they died from a child, or they died from
a bobcat or the collar deer this is, or killed
by car if they put him down, as that they
want CWD. But then he talked about the once in

(20:35):
a lifetime winter they had, he called it a polar
vortex that occurred during that study. And while he talked
about the number significant number of deer that died from
supposedly the CWD effects in that winter, he didn't talk
about how many deer that didn't have c w D

(20:58):
died in that here. And those are to me big
holes in some of the conclusions that that gentleman made.
And I would leave it up to the commissioners if
they would, and to the public to watch that presentation
and see what their thoughts are, because when those things

(21:19):
are omitted, that's skewed data. That's not good scientific data.
And I know, Scott, you're really big on that kind
of crucial example of things that are omitted in a
paper like that.

Speaker 4 (21:38):
Yeah, And I'm going to give exact data from that
gentleman's research and to connect it to the mineral. This
mineral situation is important for folks to understand, especially where
we're at right now. It is May the eighteenth, and
in the next two weeks you will start to see

(22:02):
the peak of our fawning season come into play. And
these those in what they need for their lactation to
deliver the colosstrum, which is the first milk that the
young receives from its mother, to build natural antibodies to
build its immune system is critical. It's critical in humans,

(22:24):
it's critical in livestock. It's critical with wildlife. We do
not need to take away mineral supplements. And we are
not talking about additives that you put on the dirt
and the soil that are just molasses and all the
little goodies that attract deer. We're talking about true mineral sites.
Develop mineral sites. We need to realize that the deer

(22:49):
antler development is huge. As far as what Kentucky's known for.
We are known as a trophy buck state. We have
been marked in Kentucky as a trophy buck state. To
keep these antlers and development, to keep them big, to
keep them strong, to help the deer with their everyday

(23:09):
health needs. Supplemental mineral sights on free choice. Free choice
means that the deer is not forced to go to it.
It goes to it twenty four seven whenever it desires
to which I'm a believer, Jim, that Mother nature triggers
that animal to know when it does or does not
need certain minerals or intakes in its diet. I truly

(23:32):
believe that Mother nature has got a way in which
they help that animal out more so than we ever
can as a human. But when we put those things there,
they utilize them, and they utilize them as some of
the most critical and important times of a deer's nutrition
when it is at a depletion. When we look at

(23:54):
managing our deer herd, our mineral sits, our mineral supplements
are to help with better fond health, better overall deer health,
bigger and better antler development, and the overall body needs
that a white tailed deer has. Why do we want
to get rid of that? We're trying to do what's

(24:16):
best in herd. In the herd, we're not just trying
to raise one big deer with a big set of
antlers so that we can harvest it and take a
picture with it. We are managing the herd. It is
a management practice. So his data, this gentleman, and it
relates to this mineral. Before folks think we that we

(24:37):
jumped into our rabbit hole, his data states that one
year survival for CWD negative deer was seventy four percent.
They say that survival for CWD positive deer was twenty
six percent at two hundred and nineteen days, it said
the survival for CWD positive deer was only fifty percent.

(24:57):
So here's the deal. Say that have c w D
deer going to die from it, but that doesn't mean
that we have to increase their chances of dying from
other problems. It doesn't mean that we need to have
our deer herd. It's not healthy and entacret in. Nobody
that's trying to manage deer or trying to infect deer.

(25:19):
No one has got any data that is proving that
we are increasing c w D cases because we have
mineral sites available for deer and our they're assuming they
do have they do not have facts that it's increasing CWD.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
Jim, that's exactly right.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
And I'm a return to a statement I made earlier
because I want again, I would love the commissioners to
turn this in their mind.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
When you exclude.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
Deer from minerals like they did in the in this
initial deal, and it's my understanding that was kind of
thrust upon the Commissioners by folks in Frankfort in the
administration that they had to include that in the in
the dictates in the zones that they established, or they

(26:13):
couldn't do the zone, which I'm of the opinion that
was incorrect information, which is to say, I think it
was a lie.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
When you exclude.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Deer from minerals and they have to travel distances, what
are they going to go to? Scott You and I
know where they're gonna go. They're gonna go to assault,
They're gonna go to natural mentor sites that the few
that are available, and they're going to really concentrate there,
which runs counter to their arguments that concentrating deer around mineral.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
Could create c w D.

Speaker 4 (26:49):
It's it's let me let me explain something for people
that are listening and don't understand mad cow disease, which
a lot of times is kind of associated with the
prions and different things. Mad cow disease has got documentation
of where it has existed. But we did not stop

(27:11):
feeding mineral to cattle and other livestock because mad cow
disease is out there. We did not stop feeding livestock
and concentrated areas because mad cow disease is out there.
You have to monitor your herd, you have to monitor
your animals. And guess what. Some animals are going to

(27:31):
get sick. They are, But we are not doing things.
This is what's important. We are not doing things that
is proven to spread c WD. What is happening is
these game agencies are saying that to spread a CWD
from human activities might come might not factually, might come

(27:56):
from concentrating animals over a food source. Well, guess what.
We concentrate animals over a food source called a persymmetry
when it drops, and we concentrate animals over a food
source called a white oak when it drops. And when
animals get in and around pasture fields or hay fields
or any areas to get their ruffage in their brows,

(28:16):
they concentrate. Even the best management practices that these game
and fish agencies tell us to do concentrates animals into
specific areas. Their practice is concentrate animals to come onto
our farms because we are doing better management practices. So
take your words, shuffle them, take your statistics and twist them.

(28:39):
Statistics prove that we don't have cases of contamination. Statisticians
are trying to get us to believe that we as
the hunter and the conservationists or the problem and that's
not the case.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
No, it's not, and that's another subject.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
And I guess the bottom line on where we're discussing
this is that we hope that the commissioners in this
meeting on the twenty first understand this and remove these
baiting and mineral bands across the board in these other zones,
not just in the Henderson Union, Webster Creating and MacLean

(29:21):
and Davies County areas, the other zones over there in
Berecaage and down in Ballad area.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
Those zones have suffered through this and it's a pretty
bitter pill.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
Those people have had to swallow quite frankly, they've had
to put up with a lot. So I'm just hoping
that they opened their eyes and realized. Now again to
their credit, they're saying that they realize baiting allows you

(29:52):
to kill more deer, and the number one objective is
to kill more deer, which is the one thing that
helps more according to their statistics on the CWD occurrences.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
But again we want to.

Speaker 4 (30:07):
Them yep, yeah, before we go to break deer concentrate
in areas where there's food, takee baiting completely out of
the game. They're still going to concentrate on alfalfa fields.
They're still going to concentrate on cornfields. They're still going
to concentrate on soybean fields, They're still going to concentrate
on masks. You cannot change how deer naturally feed. They

(30:30):
concentrate and they congregate because they're social animals. That's it.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (30:37):
You can't well what they naturally do.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
And one of the most important ones, and I've mentioned
it repeatedly, what are you going to do with liquing
branches because that's where saliva urn and all kinds of
things are transferred. You're not going to stop that. And
that was one of the arguments about minerals. Well, that's
where they salivate on the mineral block and they could
be spread that way.

Speaker 3 (31:01):
Studies don't show it.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
All right, got to go to break care of this
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(31:23):
All right, folks again, if you want to join the
conversation with us tonight. The numbers are five oh two,
five seven one eighty four eighty four. It's five seven
one eighty four eighty four in the five O two area,
or if you're outside of five O two, you can
call us at eight hundred.

Speaker 3 (31:42):
Four four four eighty four eighty four. Scott.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
There's several other things that come into play here with
this situation, and one of them is mention. We're gonna
get into it after the break here momentarily in a
big way.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
But another thing that was mentioned.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
Is the proposal for a September rifle season. I want
to start by saying, again speaking to the current commissioners,
this subject has come up before. This flag was run
up the flagpole before. It caused a tremendous amount of

(32:29):
fighting and infighting amongst members of the conservation community, and
it ultimately was passed by the Department and went to
the legislature, and it was defeated in the legislature, and
they have little stomach, in my opinion, for another go

(32:51):
around about a September rifle season for deer. The idea
behind this is to harvest more deer, and again Scott
will talk in great detail about that coming back. But
the point I'm trying to make is this has been
tried before. Jame Jenkins, who is involved with this particular

(33:16):
situation again, took great exception to the fact that the
legislature wouldn't approve it at the time, and I was
there and testified against it. Commissioner Tony Brown was there.
Ed marsh former president of the League Kentucky Sportsman, was
there and we spoke to the legislature against it, and

(33:39):
there was a lot of reasons for it.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
One of them was, of course.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
The vegetation and the aspect of how far can you
see and shoot with a rifle where you perhaps can't
see what's beyond the leaf cover. There's aspects to it
like the number of deer that are still nursing their
faunds at that period of year, and again we're going
to talk.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
At lengths about this coming back from the break.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
Another aspect is the spoilage of meat during that period
of year and what do you do with it, and
when you boil it all down, it just simply is
not that good idea from my perspective.

Speaker 3 (34:26):
Scott. I'll let you speak to your ideas on it.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
But what I will tell you is this was tried before,
it was knocked down before, and here it comes again.
So I want you commissioners to understand that that has
been tried before and it was defeated when it went
to the legislature. And to that point, folks, I would
like you to call your commission your district commissioner and

(34:52):
let them know how you feel about these subjects. Because
the Scott pointed out, it's going to affect you down
the road one way or the other. So got to
go to break here. This break is presented by moss
Ilk Properties Heart Realty, Paul Thomas's broker all kinds of
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(35:12):
listings at MOLP h A r T Realty dot com.
All right, we're continue our discussion here with the new
emergence of a CWD situation that started in Posey County,
Indiana and the Kentucky Department of Fishing Wildlife Resources reaction
to it.

Speaker 3 (35:32):
The numbers again to night are.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
Five seven one eighty four eighty four or eight hundred
four four four eighty four eighty four. And we've got
Larry calling from Webster County. Larry, I know you have
a lot of interest in this because you're from Webster
and you attended to mean, what are your thoughts about this?

Speaker 5 (35:54):
Oh so well?

Speaker 6 (35:55):
Uh that that makes the second meeting I've been to.
I went to the one and U Kentucky and then
now the one is Henderson and uh, I mean I
actually I think the fishing while Apartment Fish Wilde did
did a good job of, you know, explaining to the
public if they didn't already know what CWD was. I

(36:16):
think the change now that they've made, hopefully that that's
gonna stick. And I think it is on being able
to bait, will you know, satisfy the general hunter. So,
you know, you and I've discussed over what how many
years about all the things and and things.

Speaker 5 (36:39):
We you and I disagree on and agree on.

Speaker 6 (36:41):
But it's it's got so many it's so much to
it that I don't know if anybody could ever agree
on any one thing for sure, if you know what
I mean there? So I know you do, yes, But
you know, I think the research obviously should continue. As

(37:02):
you and I spoke, we need to keep abreast of
what's going on.

Speaker 5 (37:07):
I think a little.

Speaker 6 (37:08):
Bit of knee jerk action was taken down in uh
on the Tennessee line on the first you know, down
in and when Tennessee was detected there. But you know,
I think it's here to stay. I think it's gonna
affect eventually or could affect every county in Kentucky.

Speaker 5 (37:29):
I think we're going to.

Speaker 6 (37:30):
Have to figure out how the best way to deal
with it, to monitor it, but not overdue what you know,
what's necessary. I know lots of scientists are there's there's
a there's a big split decision on on science on
this subject. So and I wasn't privy to your first

(37:51):
uh hire your.

Speaker 5 (37:52):
Shows, so I don't know where you're.

Speaker 6 (37:54):
At with all this, but that my opinion is just
just keep abreast on the research, follow up on you know,
any politive cases, and just monitor those. Maybe not take
as much action sometimes that people may think or need
to be.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
That's just me.

Speaker 6 (38:13):
But overall, I think we will. I think we will
see it more and more. I mean, it's here. We
just got to learn how to deal with it.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
It is here, and it's going to be here.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
And I'd like to make a couple of points and
then I'm going to try it out. The portion about
these this September season we were just getting ready to
talk about that, but it is here, it's going to
be here.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
I want to remind everybody.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
No one has ever died or become sick ever anywhere
where there's been CWD, and it's been out there for
more than fifty years, No single large scale deer population
has ever collapsed.

Speaker 3 (39:04):
Because of it.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
And EHD heemorrhagic disease, which is fatal and it's fatal
very quickly, has been and probably always will be a
much bigger threat to local deer herbs than CWD that's
been shown through the fifty years that it's been out there.

(39:27):
And so you know, the fact that they checked nine
thousand deer last year, that has tested nine thousand deer
and we didn't have a single positive case makes me
question the knee jerk reaction here, which leads to this
deal about a September rifle season for dolls.

Speaker 3 (39:51):
So Larry, if you'd like to hang on and join us,
that's fine, But.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
Scott, this September season again has been mentioned before, it
was tried before, it was beat down in the legislature
for a variety of reasons. The inclusion of Crittendon, MacLean
and Davis Counties. In this again, there's six counties that

(40:16):
stand to be affected depending on how the Commission votes
on this. Larry, I think we're included, and it was
mentioned and you were at the meeting.

Speaker 3 (40:27):
Because those counties have.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Processors, deer processors, where the other counties Henderson, Union and
Webster do not.

Speaker 3 (40:38):
Which that is correct. Yes, So what that's going to
do is put a big burden on.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
The hunters in Henderson, Union in Webster to have to
travel over there to get to the processor in a
period when it's beastly hot. There's a lot of dangerous
polis in. There's other aspects, Scott and I are going
to discuss here at a minute, but I know you
had some thoughts on that because if if Kristin, Maclain

(41:09):
and Davies are included simply because they've got the processors,
that's putting a burden on those people and they're gonna
be happy, and I don't blame them especially.

Speaker 3 (41:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (41:20):
Yeah, we were asked at the meeting, uh did we
want those uh you know, exterior counties that had small
percentages included on the on the surveillance zone.

Speaker 5 (41:33):
We were asked, which do you want three or do
you want.

Speaker 6 (41:36):
You know, the all the counties and my answer and
many were three, because it's it's really panalized, you know
for a small although it's in that in cups is
that thirty mile zone through the epicenter there, but but
it just really burdens, uh, those two counties which have

(41:57):
a very small percentage of acreage involved in this circle.
And you know, I mean I've expressed this before. I
think we hunters need to know how to care for
a game, deep on it and take.

Speaker 5 (42:08):
Care of our own selves.

Speaker 6 (42:11):
Processors are very handy, they're very good at what they do,
but at times like this, if we can't take care
of our own game, that we kill and have to
have somebody else to do that for us.

Speaker 5 (42:25):
If I'm that.

Speaker 6 (42:26):
County I've got, I'm disheartened, to say the least. If
I'm printing County guy, in twelve percent of my counties
encompassed in that zone, I feel like you've penalized me now,
including me who lives outside of that zone would be
or someone that from Crinton County, although I'm from Webster.
But I think that's just making everybody inclusive that don't

(42:48):
really need to.

Speaker 2 (42:49):
Be, especially if they do not vote to lift that
baiting and mineral band which has been enforced in the
other c W the zones. We don't know yet what
they're gonna do, so it's kind of a pig and
a pope for us at this point, which is why
I'm encouraging everyone that here's a broadcast and has an

(43:11):
opinion one way or another to contact their district commissioner
because this will be decided that the commission table, which
is where it blows.

Speaker 6 (43:22):
Their proposal was to Jim, was to allow bating in
the existing CWG zones. Now to change that they were
gonna allow bating. Now, I don't know if that's gonna
hold true or not, how that's gonna go or not,
but that was they wanted more dear killed. That's why
that they're gonna let us supposedly gonna let your bait

(43:44):
in these surveillance zones.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
Yes, and then there and they're they're proposing that a
September rifle season will do that.

Speaker 3 (43:53):
Scott and I are going to talk to that length and.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
Some of the reasons why it's a bad idea right
after the break there them to hang on, got to
go to break care, folks. This break is presented by
SMI Marine. Check them out. Take your boat over there.
If you're having any problems. They're a greater trusts shooting it.
They can do new electronics and help you understand how
to utilize those. We've got some used boats for saale.

(44:16):
And remember you never get soaked by my friends at SMI.
All right, folks, part of the tied out again at
this meeting, and Henderson was the idea for a late
September rifle season for those only we mentioned it earlier,
and there's a lot of reasons that we think it's

(44:41):
a bad idea. They revolve around the fauns at that
time and what they get from their mother. They revolve
around the heat and spoilers of the meat and several
other aspects.

Speaker 3 (44:54):
Scott, I know you are very passionate about.

Speaker 2 (44:56):
That because you and I between us have done a
whole lot of September hunting with bowling arrow and it
presents a lot of challenges.

Speaker 3 (45:03):
So give me your give folks your thoughts on this.

Speaker 4 (45:07):
Gonna hammer some stuff out. Number one, all of these
processors need to be interviewed and contacted to see when
they want to see this surplus A deer coming in
because the fact of the matter is, like Larry said,
we should know how to process our own game. But
the reality is that's really not what's happening anymore. We
have certain areas that are going to have higher concentrations

(45:28):
of deer density. So as of right now, this September
season isn't impacting everyone statewide, and it is around the
CWD surveillance zones. But let's talk about weather in September
and talk about farm crops and talk about the use
of a rifle and how far you can see with
the foliage in September, Or maybe we should talk about
the tics or how much mass is starting to drop

(45:50):
on the ground and how deer is starting to become nocturnal,
or maybe if the department's listening, tune in real quick.
Maybe we shouldn't take away from the opportunity of our
youth hunters and put a gun season before they even
get a chance to go to the woods. Let that
sink in. The whole reason for the youth season was
to give youth the opportunity to have unpressured deer to hunt,

(46:14):
to introduce them to the sport. Put a gun season
before you season and see what happens, it's not going
to be a good result for our youth hunters. We
already have a great season to harvest deer archery, crossbow,
vertical bow, recurve, compound, you've got a muzzleoder season, You've

(46:35):
got late seasons, you have free seasons for youth, you
have all of these quota hunts. We just need people
to shoot deer. That's what we need to do. That's
where I stand on all of this is we need
to shoot deer, and we don't need to get caught
up in the debate of is it better to shoot
deer in September December? Is it better to shoot them
here or there on our farms. We just need to

(46:56):
know that we are a tool and conservation. We need
to harvest deer. It's obvious, in my opinion, not yours, Jim,
we've not done a great job of that. We need
to harvest more deer. I'll say it. Well, we've preached it,
we've encouraged it. Hold on, Here's here's where we're at.

Speaker 3 (47:14):
Though.

Speaker 4 (47:15):
September is not the time to do it. If we're
going to have an extended deer season. If we are,
and I do not think that we do need it.
I think we need to do a better job of
harvesting deer when our seasons are in place now. But
let's talk about just hunting in the early season versus winter.

(47:37):
Deer are more concentrated in the winter, and we can
harvest deer as they heard up easier with a rifle,
have longer shots, and all of the deer are starting
to really concentrate on food sources by then. Okay, my
proposal if the Department is going to listen and you
told me be careful what you ask for, but people

(47:59):
from apartment have asked off record commissioners, here's the deal.
School is not on a statewide schedule for fall break.
Schools are out, employees are off, people have time to travel.
Non resident hunters are coming into state. Resident hunters are
leaving the state. But school is out, and we have

(48:21):
a lot of youth that like to be happy on
the trigger. That's a fact. You want to shoot those.
You need to have people that are willing to shoot them.
Start your gun season on two PM and only allow
afternoon hunting starting at two pm from Christmas eve Day
until New Year's Day. That gives all of our waterfowl

(48:41):
hunters and our small game hunters opportunity to hunt without
worrying about people being out in the woods with a firearm.
That gives us the better opportunity to hunt. When crops
are out of the field, that gives us better opportunity
to access. You can't drive a four wheel through a
standing cornfield or beans won't keep permission out there. But

(49:02):
you have your processing that needs to be done. And
if we do, like Larry said, processor on deer, the
weather's into our advantage. We already have a free use
season that's already in place. During those days, we are
at a point in time where the deer have not
cast their antlers, so we should be able to identify
our bucks and our nose very easily. And it's a

(49:25):
time in which families can spend time together, uncles and
cousins can get together, and people for the most part,
are not concentrated. There'll be some people concentrated on killing
a big deer on a late season food source, but
overall people will be very relaxed. Our small game hunters
will get out into the field. They know after two PM,
if they continue to hunt, that there's people in the

(49:46):
woods that could be hunting any other big question about
all of this, where does this stand with our WMA's
versus our private lens. We haven't heard this, and hopefully
they'll talk about this on the twenty first. But if
you I want to harvest deer, and if we have
to swallow this pill of we're gonna have to have
an antlerless deer season. That's my proposal. Christmas Eve Day,

(50:09):
it starts at two pm, it runs to New Year's Day,
and you can only hunt each of those days after
two pm. There's a lot of ways to debate it.
We can spend a lot of time on it. We
don't need to do any of this if we'll just
do our job and follow the seasons that are already
in place and start doing a better job of harvesting

(50:30):
deer when we've already got a season with a bowl,
with a crossbow, with a rifle with a muzzleoder And
as far as I'm concerned, we can step up and
show the department that we need to do a better job,
and we accept the challenge. But they also need to
do a better job of telling folks why we need
to kill these deer and start educating our young people

(50:53):
and our new hunters on how to process their own
deer and break them down in the fields. Making a
YouTube videos not gonna cut it. It needs to be
a lot more diverse, and it's going to take a
lot of time, energy, and effort.

Speaker 2 (51:06):
I want to make it clear that I'm not in
favor of season expansions personally, because I defy anyone to
say that there's not more than ample opportunity between early archery,
early crossbowl, muzzleloader, special seasons, Laighton museloader, and the gun season.

(51:28):
If you want to kill deer, you can kill deer.
So what we really need to concentrate on, in my opinion,
is a really strong educational push to make people understand
how vital it is that we kill more dogs. Because
you and I discussed this before the program, Scott, when
you kill those you actually kill three deer, You kill

(51:49):
the mom and the two fauns. That's the way you
control herd expansion is by harvesting dose. And while we're
on this subject, September season, with the amount of non
resident hunters that are in the equation now because of
this pushed continual push to get the non residents here,

(52:11):
they're not gonna come here to hunt those in September.
That's a cocka mami idea from start to finish. But
there's other aspects and so one of which is the spoliage.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
Of the meat.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
For example, guy in Webster that kills the deer and
he's a working man and he's gonna have to go
all the way across the counties and get over there
to the processor and drop off his deer, or talk
about the mosquitoes and the bugs.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
It's just.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
I don't think it's the answer, and I hope the
commissioners will again turn that in their mind. My goodness,
we've got tons of opportunity now. The thing that needs
to be realized.

Speaker 3 (52:57):
We need to kill more dogs.

Speaker 2 (52:59):
That's the bottom, no matter how you slice the dice.
Arrested this, but we'll continue that discussion after the break.
This break is presented by Moltil Properties Heart Realty. Check
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wildlife properties for sale. You see these listings at mlp

(53:19):
HR Team realty dot com. All right, Scotty, we were
talking about the some of the things about this season.
One of them is this additional foretality of mortality that
we put on the falls. If you harvest big numbers
of them with a rifle in September, because they the

(53:40):
dose in a big way on average, are still lactating.

Speaker 3 (53:44):
Does that mean that the fawns have to have the milk?

Speaker 2 (53:47):
No, But there's a reason God created these credits the
way he did, and that's supplemental food that gets their
body weights up to get ready for winter.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
That's number one. Number two.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
Anyone that's ever been a student a deer and knows
how vitally important it is for those young faunds to
learn how to navigate fences, dangerous highways, whether to run
or hide around a predator. And you put the hammer
on them during that period, you're going to create problems
for those funds and that. I don't like that, and

(54:23):
I especially don't like how hard it is to keep
the meat fresh. If you make an airant shot more
times than not late September, that deer will be spoiled
or on a way to spoiled by the time you
get to it the next morning.

Speaker 3 (54:37):
Ask bowl hunters about that.

Speaker 4 (54:39):
So well, le, let's let's talk about something else too, Jim.
I mean, there's no hidden secret that the Department of
Fish and Wildlife has been capitalizing on promoting the earlier
September season for archers, and if we decide to do
that season in September with a gun, I look for

(54:59):
a lot of those dollars that the state's been getting
and revenue to bunt down the Tennessee and that August
season will become that much more popular. The other thing
is too, no matter what deer management person you talk
to in the private sector or the public sector, pressure
is what impacts big deer in quality, big deer movement.

(55:23):
It doesn't matter if we're talking waterfowl, turkey, it doesn't
matter if we talk about small game. Pressure is part
of the success of the hunt. And the more pressure
you put on these deer, the more they're going to
react to it. And I'm telling you, if folks want
to ever have a short course on when to harvest

(55:46):
deer and take deer, you take deer not based off
of temperature. You don't take deer based off of a month.
You take deer off of when it's gonna have the
least amount of impact on the eight acres or the
eight thousand acres that you hunt. And you do it
when it works with your schedule period.

Speaker 3 (56:08):
Okay, Larry, I know you're still on. You had a comment.

Speaker 6 (56:12):
Yeah, I had a couple of high points to hit,
and I'll get off.

Speaker 5 (56:15):
Here on the meeting we had in Henderson County.

Speaker 6 (56:18):
Just to clarify, and I'm not sure if y'all discuss
this already, because I've just came home just a bit ago,
but the expanded Youth Firearm season is a nine day
season start second weekend in October, and that is statewide.
The antlyst firearm weekend and last weekend in September is

(56:42):
only in surveillance zone counties, as it was presented to
us in Henderson County, So the counties in the surveillance
zone will only have the last weekend in September gun hunt.

Speaker 5 (56:55):
If that stands the hold of what they told us
the other night.

Speaker 3 (56:59):
One of that's correct. That's correct.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
However, given some of the folks in the administration's desire
for a September seven years ago, I can't help but
have a john decide to where that will go if
they do it as a starting point in the CWD zones.

Speaker 3 (57:20):
That's that's my concern.

Speaker 6 (57:23):
Yes, I knew, and I knew you were going to
say that, because we discussed that once it comes in,
it's it's you can't turn back. So yes, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir,
Well I get off your guys. I appreciate you having
me on in prayers all those and the cars stites
affected by the.

Speaker 2 (57:37):
Tornadoes and storms. Yes, sir, Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that, Scott.
Now we're gonna mention that at the end of the
program tonight, and our prayers are with them for sure. Scott. Yeah,
you got any more comments or ideas?

Speaker 4 (57:57):
Uhuh, it's just twisted the whole thing, just twist. It's
a tough it's a tough subject for a lot of
different reasons. I just you know, I think back over
the years and I think about all the talks that
people say that, you know, modern muzzleolders are basically a
single shot rifle. I've watched crossbows be a very expensive

(58:20):
product to own to where now a family can easily
purchase a two hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars
packaged crossbow that will shoot a two to two and
a half inch group at thirty yards. I look at
all of the improvements and ground blinds, I look at
all of the strategy that's out there available on the

(58:43):
internet on how people can capitalize on hunting deer over
mass crops, or how they can dissect the piece of
public land and use terrain to put more deer in
front of them. I just I think that one thing
that the Department will agree upon, no matter what state

(59:05):
we're talking about, is that we have to educate and
inform the hunter to the point where we are made
aware again and it's brought to our attention that our
population of deer has changed and for the most part
increased most part, not everywhere, and in those areas where

(59:27):
it has, it's our responsibility to keep those numbers in
check and not just be trophy hunters. And so now
the question becomes, do we have a special season in September?
And if we do, Jim, I mean, what are the
predicted numbers that they expect? I mean, what is the
amount of harvest that they expect? And I don't know that.

(59:48):
I'm not sure they do, and that's part of trial
and era. But I do know this much. I know
that if you look at me and said, hey, you've
got the opportunity to shoot a dole when it's thirty
two degrees outside, or you've got the opportunity to shoot
a doe when it's ninety two degrees outside. I can
tell you the prose of why it's better to shoot

(01:00:08):
one in the cooler months. I can also tell you
what the pros are of being able to access a
farm and hunt it before the agricultural crop comes out,
and I can tell you what it's like after the
crop comes out. I was thinking about that on the
way in and like to do the program. And I

(01:00:29):
don't think many people understand and realize how limited access
is to so many acres of woodlands why the crops
are still standing. Think about that. You have to walk
across a cut cornfield or a sheved cornfield. You've got
to walk across the field that's had the beans thrashed

(01:00:49):
in it. I mean, if you look at the ground,
the ground is not always in the best shape. In
September we get into a lot of drought issues some years.
There's just so many different things that you can argue
on it. But the truth is is we need to

(01:01:11):
harvest the deer. We need to take these dose. We
need to do it in the legal ways that are
already out there. And give the hunters some credit that
we can do this. Instead of taking things away from
the hunter, start bringing things to the hunter. I wish
we were shaking hands more than we were sitting at

(01:01:32):
tables as being told what to do. Yes, utilization of
bait or supplemental feeding is going to help put game
and range with archery equipment. And yes, it's going to
be beneficial for folks to be informed that we need
to harvest more deer. You know, you look at your

(01:01:54):
age and my age in Larry's age. You know, I
turned forty seven years old today and I know a
little bit more about deer hunting now than I did
when I was fourteen or fifteen years old. Are we
doing a good job in forming younger people about how
and when the harvest deer. Are we doing a good
job in forming our non resident hunters on how we're

(01:02:15):
going to keep a good deer herd? Are the resident hunters?
Are they happy with the hunting that's here? Are they
happy with having to compete with the amount of non
residents that come into our state? I mean, which direction
do we want to sit down? And it boils down
to this, do we want to sit down and come
to aggreeants on things or do we want to continue
to argue or complicate things. And the one thing that

(01:02:39):
is consistent is that the department needs our help to
harvest more antlerless deer. And I'm going to as an individual,
promote that folks take the challenge this summer to shoot
their bow and get their equipment ready and go into
it with the mindset even if nothing changes on May
the twenty first, to please become a better conservationist and

(01:03:01):
steward of the land and to do your part and
paying attention to what zone you hunt and the regulations
on what the Department is asking us, no matter if
you're in Indiana or Kentucky or whatever state you're in,
to be a tool and conservation and do more than
just harvest a set of antlers.

Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
Yes, sir, that's again, that's a big problem with the
non resident component that hunts here because they've got tons
of little bitty deer at home. They're not going to
come here, for example, for a September, the only rifle
season that's not going to happen. I'm not sure in
my mind at all that resident hunters are going to

(01:03:42):
go to it, because again, they've got multiple opportunities already.
The bowl hunters are going to bowl hunt, the musslord
hunters that love a mussloader, they're gonna muzsloord hunt. The
guys that want to hunt with cross bowl, they've got
their opportunity. And there's I go back to what I said.
Anybody say they're an ample opportunity to kill as many

(01:04:03):
deer as you want.

Speaker 3 (01:04:05):
Fact, the matter is we're not doing it.

Speaker 4 (01:04:07):
We gotta start, and it doesn't matter what processor we
talk to, they all tell us the same thing. What
impacts how many deer they take in during the season
is not the month, it's the temperature. I mean, we
get it. There's a peak, there's a peak time of
breeding November and the gunsies and yes, they're gonna have
more deer, but these youth hunts and muzzleloter hunts, those

(01:04:29):
numbers fluctuate from year to year based off of the weather.
And they'll tell you when the weather's colder, guess what
harvest goes up. And when it's hot, guess what harvest
is down. So let's let's just use our common sense,
use the counter, use the seasons that we got, and
let's try to do this without having to complicate things
and any more than what we have to. And if

(01:04:51):
we do have to do it, let's let's use some
strategy of when kids and parents are off work, and
uncles and aunts and all those folks can get out
and do it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
And educate the public the best we can and let
them give their input instead of it coming from the
top down. This is another example of something that came
from the top down. These ideas, they weren't coming from
the public. The commissioners weren't out there talking to their
constituents about this and asking what people thought. And now

(01:05:24):
they're in a position where they're going to have to
decide it next Wednesday or this coming Wednesday on the
twenty first. So I'll close with this, Folks, Please consider
what we've said tonight, think it through on your own
pro con call your district commissioner and let them know
what you think should happen here. Because again, there's been

(01:05:49):
nine thousand deer tested, not a single one's been proven positive.
And that's because of a deer in Tennessee that had CWD.
The other one was a deer in a pen. And again, unfortunately, ironically,
those deer are still in the pen and.

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
Just deal in Indiana's across the river in Polic County.
So I think these things need to be.

Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
Thought out and done over a period of time where
there's more input.

Speaker 3 (01:06:22):
Anyone would be dissatisfied with that, certainly.

Speaker 2 (01:06:25):
All right, gotta go break Break is presented by SMI
Marine that at eleven four hundred row. Check them out.
Remember you never get sold by my friends at SMI.
All right, folks have promised, we've got some fish reports.
Will start with that, and then a squirrel report from
my main man here, Scott Cronin, who's been out the

(01:06:48):
last two days and got two limits of squirrels. Scott,
let's talk about fish, especially blue gill and shell crackers
that are red here.

Speaker 3 (01:06:55):
They're on fire.

Speaker 4 (01:06:57):
Now you're on far bluegill in the readier pulled back
a little bit quicker than the blue gill, but they're
back up on the bed. That full moon when it
hit on the twelfth, it kind of slowed things down
just a little bit during the daytime fishing. But right now,
if you've got a cork or any type of bobber,
it's going down and fish are on ice. It's good

(01:07:19):
to keep a stone around your fill at knife if
you still do it with a handheld, because you're going
to use it. And if you've got an electric knife,
you better make sure that you're ready for an increased
electric bill this month, because if you can't put fish
in the livewell or in hot grease right now, then
it's time to go back to the drawing board. But

(01:07:40):
the catfish bite is going to increase each and every day.
Those fish are starting to come up into the rocks,
and the bottom line on the fish gym is the
next three and a half weeks are going to be
some of the best catfishing and pan fishing that Kentucky
and Indiana have to offer. It's a great time to
get out with friends and family. And it doesn't matter

(01:08:03):
if you're in a boat that's riveted together that you
got to scoop a little bit of water out of
on the pondtoon, or in the best fabric glass boats
that are made. It's just time to be on the
water and watch. Is the Memorial Day weekend weather.

Speaker 2 (01:08:19):
Shallow water and they're really biting well. I mean I
fished this week, you fish several days this week. It's
it's just totally game on with the panfish situation. I
did a little Facebook post about a creek fishing jaunt
that I took, and those fish are in the middle
of the spawn, and man, are they on fire. I
caught some really nice rock bass and uh long air

(01:08:42):
sunfish and some small mouth and all of them were
just really really voracious. I mean the bite was on.
So that is a good thing. Catfish, of course, they're
going to start coming to the rocks, as we all know, Scott,
let's talk a little bit about that rip rap. Those
areas are gonna get red hot here very shortly.

Speaker 4 (01:09:03):
Any of your big chuck rock at all is is
going to be good that can be rock has been
put in place by by man or work.

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
The catfish are definitely gonna come up and be on
the rocks. That's where they try to spawn. And we
got a dark phase of the moon coming up here
week after next, a week after this coming, and that
will really put them on fire, and it will no
doubt put a lot of bluegill back on.

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
The beds again.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
So those are two things that are coming right around
the corner, so we need to be ready for them.

Speaker 3 (01:09:40):
Scott, Are you still with me, yes, sir? Can you
hear me, all right.

Speaker 5 (01:09:48):
He's there, he's there.

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
Squall season is in play. Scott's been out and been
definitely taking advantage of that. The western part of the state,
the mulberries are out and they are.

Speaker 3 (01:10:00):
Really concentrating on them.

Speaker 2 (01:10:03):
Scott told me that he took two limits in about
a forty to fifty square area in the last two
days because of the amount of mulberries that are out
up here in the northern part and over east. Mulberries
aren't really that big right now, but the squirrels are
really active. They're on the ground a lot, and they're

(01:10:23):
moving through the trees where it's a great time to
get out and enjoy a sport that's underutilized with a
game species that is very, very heavily populated right now,
so we would encourage you all to take advantage of it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:39):
Bass fishing has been good.

Speaker 2 (01:10:41):
I wouldn't call it as excellent as the bluegill end
or the catfish bite this building, but again, they are
in shallow water still, a lot of them are in
post spawn, but they're coming back to feed.

Speaker 3 (01:10:55):
On fry and some of the.

Speaker 2 (01:10:58):
Of the other species that have already hatched, so that's
a good thing. However, the lace continue to.

Speaker 3 (01:11:04):
Be very very high. It's got anything to add here.
Right at the end, we're real short.

Speaker 4 (01:11:09):
Yeah, just two and a half to three and a
half weeks of prime fishing and get out.

Speaker 3 (01:11:13):
All right, folks.

Speaker 2 (01:11:14):
Well again, we want to extend our condolences to all
those folks that were impacted by the flooding in these
horrible tornadoes that occurred. Unfortunately, Kentucky was part of that
epicenter or the loss of people and the property was devastating.

Speaker 3 (01:11:31):
And we will have you in our prayers, enjoyed with
it with you tonight again.

Speaker 2 (01:11:36):
If you got any thoughts about the CW plan or
what's going on with that, please contact your district commissioner.
You can find their contact information on the Kentucky Department
of Fishing while AFE website.

Speaker 3 (01:11:48):
God bless everybody.
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