Hunting Kentucky Public Land

[Tufrthnails]

I have not hunted Peabody, but I second any WMA in western KY is a good place to start if you live in a density starved area. I'm still getting the hang of KY wmas, but I am loving what I have hunted and scouted. Frankly if your hunting the Adirondacks you are gonna have a blast in KY. Myself coming from the opposite--The swamps of FL. KY is a dream in every aspect. The human pressure is what I call honest (if they are parked in a spot you can pretty much bet they are down the nearest trail not too far hunting night time sign. It took me a bit to figure out how to get where I wanted to go and avoid the other hunters, but I had a lot of great encounters last year in the few days I hunted public. One thing for me was the bow only places seem to be loaded with deer (mind you if I see any deer during daylight here in Fl it was a great hunt).

[adirondackhunter18]

Probably a dumb question, but where I hunt the temps are usually down around 60 during the day by the time the season starts: do you guys see much morning movement in the early season in that kind of climate? I kind of imagine most of em being back to bed by daylight if it's 90 degrees out, but again these are uncharted waters to me. Being down there only for a few days I'll be hunting mornings anyways, but it'd be interesting to know what people with more time there are doing.

As this plan develops it looks like I'll be in the Sinclair unit in Peabody, looks like some good country!

[PK_]

A lot of people will tell you mornings early season are a waste of time. But Plenty of good deer die in the mornings early season. But if you are looking for a mature deer on public it definitely gets tough. But if you get into an area that has had 0 human pressure so far, you can catch good bucks still on their feet an hour or more after daylight. Even in 90* weather.

But many cases yes, the mature bucks are in the bedroom before or right at first light.

[UofLbowhunter]

[quote="adirondackhunter18"]Probably a dumb question, but where I hunt the temps are usually down around 60 during the day by the time the season starts: do you guys see much morning movement in the early season in that kind of climate? I kind of imagine most of em being back to bed by daylight if it's 90 degrees out, but again these are uncharted waters to me. Being down there only for a few days I'll be hunting mornings anyways, but it'd be interesting to know what people with more time there are doing.

As this plan develops it looks like I'll be in the Sinclair unit in Peabody, looks like some good country![/quhere

Sinclair is a descent unit, one of the bigger ones for sure with good numbers of deer. It's like all public, it gets pressured, as I'm sure it will be on opening day, Especially around the crop areas from local hunters. Just my opinion, I think I would spend a morning or evening of arrival looking and scouting hunters for pressure, then do some scout hunts if you just got a few days. Brush your self up on some swamp tactics as well cause there will be a number of terrain types but being late summer water will be to a minimal and there will be plenty of lakes and strip pits to work around, some mapped some are not. One tip I will say and you may figure this out as well, in those area of big reclaim ground that super brushy, they planted big tracks of a small oaks called burr oaks, most will average about 20' in hiegth ,you should noticed those will be planted in rows, they will hold deer, those areas are mostly thick too! Something to key in on maybe! Another thing, I have had my better luck from walking a small area and finding tracks in a area more so than glassing due to being so thick! Hopes this helps alil! And good luck!! Post how your hunt went on this thread or somewhere. Like to here what happens!!! If you got more questions ask!!

[adirondackhunter18]

Probably a dumb question, but where I hunt the temps are usually down around 60 during the day by the time the season starts: do you guys see much morning movement in the early season in that kind of climate? I kind of imagine most of em being back to bed by daylight if it's 90 degrees out, but again these are uncharted waters to me. Being down there only for a few days I'll be hunting mornings anyways, but it'd be interesting to know what people with more time there are doing.

As this plan develops it looks like I'll be in the Sinclair unit in Peabody, looks like some good country![/quhere

Sinclair is a descent unit, one of the bigger ones for sure with good numbers of deer. It's like all public, it gets pressured, as I'm sure it will be on opening day, Especially around the crop areas from local hunters. Just my opinion, I think I would spend a morning or evening of arrival looking and scouting hunters for pressure, then do some scout hunts if you just got a few days. Brush your self up on some swamp tactics as well cause there will be a number of terrain types but being late summer water will be to a minimal and there will be plenty of lakes and strip pits to work around, some mapped some are not. One tip I will say and you may figure this out as well, in those area of big reclaim ground that super brushy, they planted big tracks of a small oaks called burr oaks, most will average about 20' in hiegth ,you should noticed those will be planted in rows, they will hold deer, those areas are mostly thick too! Something to key in on maybe! Another thing, I have had my better luck from walking a small area and finding tracks in a area more so than glassing due to being so thick! Hopes this helps alil! And good luck!! Post how your hunt went on this thread or somewhere. Like to here what happens!!! If you got more questions ask!!

Thanks for the tips! When you say reclaimed area, I assume you mean formerly strip mined sections?

[UofLbowhunter]

Probably a dumb question, but where I hunt the temps are usually down around 60 during the day by the time the season starts: do you guys see much morning movement in the early season in that kind of climate? I kind of imagine most of em being back to bed by daylight if it's 90 degrees out, but again these are uncharted waters to me. Being down there only for a few days I'll be hunting mornings anyways, but it'd be interesting to know what people with more time there are doing.

As this plan develops it looks like I'll be in the Sinclair unit in Peabody, looks like some good country![/quhere

Sinclair is a descent unit, one of the bigger ones for sure with good numbers of deer. It's like all public, it gets pressured, as I'm sure it will be on opening day, Especially around the crop areas from local hunters. Just my opinion, I think I would spend a morning or evening of arrival looking and scouting hunters for pressure, then do some scout hunts if you just got a few days. Brush your self up on some swamp tactics as well cause there will be a number of terrain types but being late summer water will be to a minimal and there will be plenty of lakes and strip pits to work around, some mapped some are not. One tip I will say and you may figure this out as well, in those area of big reclaim ground that super brushy, they planted big tracks of a small oaks called burr oaks, most will average about 20' in hiegth ,you should noticed those will be planted in rows, they will hold deer, those areas are mostly thick too! Something to key in on maybe! Another thing, I have had my better luck from walking a small area and finding tracks in a area more so than glassing due to being so thick! Hopes this helps alil! And good luck!! Post how your hunt went on this thread or somewhere. Like to here what happens!!! If you got more questions ask!!

Thanks for the tips! When you say reclaimed area, I assume you mean formerly strip mined sections?

Yes lots of it!