Hunting Kentucky Public Land

[adirondackhunter18]

Hey guys, my name's Alex and I'm a hunter from the Adirondack Mountains up in far Northern New York (think Quebec, not NYC). All my hunting life has been spent tracking in the big woods Benoit-style, but I started bowhunting a few years back. With the low deer numbers, constantly changing food sources, and non-existent agriculture, bowhunting is a tough business up here, though certainly not impossible. I've decided to take a trip down to Kentucky this year for an early season bowhunt, and would love some advice from those of you who know the area. I've heard great things about the Peabody WMA, and am considering that as a place to start. Thoughts? Anybody else have any general tips for hunting the Bluegrass state?

[Ladykiller]

Western KY is pretty darn good.

[tbunao]

Ny here as well. I have experienced Peabody and early season, what's your dates?

[seazofcheeze]

If recommend lots of permethrin, bug spray, and snake boots. I've only hunted north central Kentucky and only early season once. Boy was it hot. I've heard the western end has better numbers. I think you might need an additional permit to hunt Peabody, so check the regs. Also the KY FWP site has a link that shows all the public hunting areas overlaid on Google maps, which is a really nice feature.

[tbunao]

If recommend lots of permethrin, bug spray, and snake boots. I've only hunted north central Kentucky and only early season once. Boy was it hot. I've heard the western end has better numbers. I think you might need an additional permit to hunt Peabody, so check the regs. Also the KY FWP site has a link that shows all the public hunting areas overlaid on Google maps, which is a really nice feature.

X2 on everything. It was a $15 permit to hunt Peabody. Depending on what section you are hunting one part has a river fairy that only runs during light so you have to take the long way around. Also those overplayed maps on google are not 100% accurate. Pm me and I'll let you know what I saw where and etc.

[UofLbowhunter]

I live within an hour of most of peabody land, early seaon will be hot most of the time. Ticks will be rough especially in wetter areas, if it isnt ticks, it will be what us southerners call turkey lice, ( seed ticks) millions at a time! But put all that aside and you can kill velvet buck if your early enough. There are some big bucks around, but finding one will take a lil time, the majority of the place is strip mined, but it has been sevral years ago. So its super thick in alot of places, i think best described as texas kind of hunting with some bigger trees. Lots of crp,Certain areas do have mature hardwoods some wetland as well , but the wetland do not have cattails they have phirmities or prags is what they say on the beast! There are sevral crop fields around in different areas but mostly on the boarders of the wma. You probably have a good chance of seeing some deer but is pretty thick in spots, some areas get hit pretty hard some not,some good scouting though should get you in a bucks area! I have made sevral scouting trips there this winter in diffrent sections and have found some good sign and a few beds. Anythings possible.

Just about any of the western wma will hold deer and some decent bucks but it really depends on what kind of terrian you want to hunt. There are hills to swamps all in this part of the state and just about any of them you can probally manage a shooter! I do have to add between 5 of the biggest in this half of the state there is well over 250,000 acres of ground of what ever you want to hunt! If you decide what you want to hunt ill try to point you in the right direction!

[rfickes87]

I've never been there but i just scouted it for 5 minutes.

If early season doesn't work out go back over thanksgiving break to something like this and hunt their rut...

I think Dan could have a hay day in the thermal tunnels of this kind of terrain.

[adirondackhunter18]

Great input guys, thanks a ton! If anybody ever wants to get up here and hunt the Adirondacks give me a shout and I'll gladly return the favor.

I'll actually be there right at the beginning and the end of the seasons, Sept 3-7 and January 7-11.

What I'm most adept at hunting is mountainous terrain, since that's what I'm used to, but the whole point of this trip is to get myself into a totally new setting and try something completely foreign, so any I'm up for just about anything.

For those of you with experience in the Peabody WMA, are there places to camp nearby?

Thanks again!

[tbunao]

phirmities or prags is what they say on the beast!

Is that the 10 ft high grass that's a wall? Talk about intimidating plus snakes, snappers, and Sasquatch

[Ridgerunner7]

I never hunted Peabody but I love KY early. It can be brutally hot, tough hunting but can pay off for the guy that puts in the work. I thought ticks were bad in Michigan. OMG..I had thousands on me. Never experienced anything like that. I got lucky and killed a nice velvet buck last year and when I grabbed his fuzzy antlers they were spongy bloody and mega force of ticks invaded my body in a matter of seconds. It was 98 that day that I killed. I saw a legit 160 on the public the second day and If I could've identified it was a buck I would've had a shot but like mentioned above it was so thick that I couldn't tell until it was too late. I'll be going back this year. Pressure was pretty darn low in my opinion. Sure I saw cars but I'm used to seeing parking lots full around here so It was a nice change.

[PK_]

Just pick any public in that area, good deer numbers everywhere besides LBL. LBL KY doesn't open as early as the rest of the state anymore anyways.

[UofLbowhunter]

phirmities or prags is what they say on the beast!

Is that the 10 ft high grass that's a wall? Talk about intimidating plus snakes, snappers, and Sasquatch

Yes it is! It kind of crappy to walk in deer wont bed in like cattails but will find spots in it, like tree and such but most place i see them use it, its a thinner place that they can travel in! Its a dominate reed type of grass stuff, it loves water and will choke out alot of stuff!

[tbunao]

phirmities or prags is what they say on the beast!

Is that the 10 ft high grass that's a wall? Talk about intimidating plus snakes, snappers, and Sasquatch

Yes it is! It kind of crappy to walk in deer wont bed in like cattails but will find spots in it, like tree and such but most place i see them use it, its a thinner place that they can travel in! Its a dominate reed type of grass stuff, it loves water and will choke out alot of stuff!

One spot in Peabody has a good section of it. Like cattails I noticed a solid trail coming out of it. Had does come out on it. Cool stuff

[UofLbowhunter]

phirmities or prags is what they say on the beast!

Is that the 10 ft high grass that's a wall? Talk about intimidating plus snakes, snappers, and Sasquatch

Yes it is! It kind of crappy to walk in deer wont bed in like cattails but will find spots in it, like tree and such but most place i see them use it, its a thinner place that they can travel in! Its a dominate reed type of grass stuff, it loves water and will choke out alot of stuff!

One spot in Peabody has a good section of it. Like cattails I noticed a solid trail coming out of it. Had does come out on it. Cool stuff

Yes, i would bet there an island in there, or a hump of some sort, usally From what ive found, but i havent been alot of it just where something has caught my attintion!

[docwaters]

Another good option in Kentucky is Fort Knox. There are a few restrictions to deal with, but it's a great hunt and given we are a one buck tag here in Kentucky, any deer taken on Fort Knox does not apply to your Kentucky bag limit. Bonus buck!