Hello and welcome to Kentucky Afield.

I'm your host, Chad Miles.

Join us as we journey the Commonwealth in search of outdoor adventure.

This week we're headed out to a FINS lake with only $50 worth of tackle to try to catch trout.

Then we're headed up to Henry County for a good old fashioned rabbit hunt.

But first, we're headed down to Yellow Bank WMA with a couple of biologists in hopes of banding ducks.

This morning we're out in Meade County at Yellow Bank Wildlife Management Area, and I'm here with several biologists and a whole lot of helping hands.

And what they're doing today is trapping ducks.

So we have set a trap.

We've let that trap down.

We know we've got hopefully over 100, maybe even 150 ducks in there.

And we're going to go in today and learn a little bit about why biologists trap ducks, and specifically learn a little more about the black duck.

That's the duck that they are really looking for.

And we hope we have a couple in this trap so we can talk to this biologist and find out a little bit more about why we're trapping them and what they expect to learn.

Ryan, you got a big crew here today and looks like you've had some success trapping some ducks.

Yes, sir.

So tell me a little bit about this setup.

Yeah.

So this trap, it's a little bit different than what we have at Sloughs or Ballard.

They're all funnel traps.

We try to get the ducks to funnel right in, to usually bait, corn, wheat, whatever you put in.

And with this trap specifically, we've got a little bit different technology.

We have a drop door, and we have a camera set up in the corner.

And whenever the ducks come in, typically after dark, we can call a number.

It'll drop the door on the ducks.

And then what we can do is get all of our staff set up, and then we can come the next morning and band them.

You going to also look for age.

You're going to look for specifically what duck.

What are we looking for today?

We're looking for the American black duck.

Okay.

We are banding black ducks as part of a cooperative agreement between the Mississippi and the Atlantic Flyway.

We have developed a new kind of mathematics that allows us to use winter banded birds in combination with summer banded birds, to estimate harvest rates and population survival rates and population dynamics of black ducks.

And so we're able to use these winter banding birds to supplement the birds that we would normally band in the summertime, to give us better information on how well black ducks survive.

So when you come in here and you're trapping ducks you are specifically targeting black ducks.

But if you're going to come here and handle these ducks, you're going to go ahead and band the other ducks as well, right?

Yes, sir.

Yeah.

We band every one of them.

You know, we'll band with 3 or 4 different band sizes because of different species.

All right, well, your crew's here.

The ducks are here.

Let's get it going.

Let's go.

All right, follow me.

Our goal is 50 birds in the state of Kentucky.

50 in the state of Kentucky.

The Atlantic flyway states will have more, but they harvest a lot more than we do.

So that 50 birds is that 50 summer and winter combined?

Or is it... No for Kentucky that's winter only.

Winter only.

Now in the summer, they will band Ontario, Quebec, and places like that.

They'll band several thousand in the summertime.

Okay.

And this is all done because they thought that the bird was in decline.

Yep.

And we're finding out now that it is in decline.

But it may not be as bad as we thought.

It's a low population species.

It's not one that, mallards there's millions and millions.

Black ducks are never going to be more than a million, probably, but a species we always had some concern about and so enough concern that there's a treaty with the U.S.

and Canada about harvest of black ducks.

And so that treaty dictates that the US harvest 50% and Canada harvest 50%.

And so we do a lot of work to make sure that we maintain that even ratio between the two states.

But the more we learn about black ducks, the more we find out they're doing okay.

They're just hard birds to work on.

Black ducks nest in the boreal forest in places that are a whole lot harder to get to.

Tell you what, that's organized chaos right there.

Those ducks flying around in there, and you got that many you're trying to direct, that many ducks into a little narrow runway here.

But we got em.

At least half of them in here.

We'll work em up in two stages.

They will get these taken care of and released, and they'll go back in and force the remaining ducks that's in the pin back in here.

And this is just an area where they can get hands on and pull them out safely.

Probably turn them loose right here.

Okay.

In that area.

And, we'll do it that way.

So I'll have two bands in each hand, and I always double check.

So Ryan when does the banding start?

Day after season goes out for regular waterfowl season.

Okay.

So right now we're doing male mallards only.

Right.

That's correct.

One of the things you're seeing in the black ducks is it looks like there's some cross breeding going on?

One of the biologists greatest concerns always is that mallards were hybridizing with black ducks.

And that hybridization would eventually dilute the gene pool to the point where we lost black ducks.

And there is a professor in University of El Paso who has been studying the genetics of black ducks.

And he's shown that that is really not the case.

They do hybridize, but the ones that are hybrids are not fertile, so they can't have young.

And so yes, you hybridize but it stops there.

And so if you look at the DNA of a black duck from the 1800s, from a museum specimen, that black duck today, they are no different.

They're actually more similar than mallards today, have changed.

And they're different than the old days because of the pin raised birds being released or whatever.

But the black ducks are the same.

So that concern about mallards diluting black ducks is not the case.

So these are male pintails?

Male pintails.

This is a green wing teal smallest duck we got.

Banding is one of the most important tools that biologists have to study migratory bird populations.

We know more about migratory birds through banding than most all the other species that we work with.

It's incredibly important tool.

And the hunters, when they report those bands, that's an incredibly important thing.

So thanks to everybody who does that.

The idea is that you're taking a bird that represents a normal bird in the population.

And so part of why we stop using kind of colorful big bands is because hunters do like to shoot those.

And so that's different mortality rate than a normal wild bird would be.

And we know very specifically what harvest rates for all the different species are because of this banding effort.

The reason we're setting this trap is for these next three ducks.

These are American black ducks.

They're going to go in and do some additional analysis and take some additional data based on age class.

So they've got three.

Let's see what we got here.

This would be a after second year because it would get the flatness of these primaries.

So it's more than two years old.

More than two years old.

Well it's great work.

It's fascinating.

And, you know, I can't imagine every day you're out here with these beautiful birds.

We saw multiple species of birds, both male and female.

Different age classes.

It's a really cool job you have.

And I appreciate you letting us come out and be a part of it.

If I could be out here every day, I would.

Well, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Well Ryan, about an hour and 30 minutes of working up birds.

What do our final numbers look like?

Right at 185 ducks.

Three black ducks banded.

Three were female, one adult, two juveniles.

So good numbers.

All in all, what a great day.

And then you plan on doing this two more times next week.

That's correct.

I tell you what, it's fascinating work.

And it's so cool to get to hold these beautiful birds this close and kind of get to see the differences in the different species.

I really appreciate you letting us come out, and good luck with the rest of the banding.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Are you looking for a fishing opportunity that's close to home?

Well, then check out one of our FINS lakes.

Well, Lee, we're at Academy Sporting Goods.

We're actually going to take $50 each and we're going to pretend that we are not fishermen at all.

We're literally going to go with $50.

We don't have rods, reels, hooks, bait.

We literally have nothing except for a fishing license.

We do have that.

Yes, we do.

So we're going to go about picking up some gear and show you how to get started with fishing without breaking the bank.

Because let me tell you what, it's a passion.

You got the passion.

I got the passion.

You probably spend more than 50 bucks nowadays when you go fishing.

Don█t tell your wife.

I'm just running over what I spent the last two weeks.

and we're going to pick up some tackle and some gear.

We may take that straight to a fins lake which is not far from here.

Try to catch some trout.

Yep.

There's a couple of ways we can start this.

You can go tackle and see how much is left, then buy a rod and reel.

Or you can go buy a rod and reel and see how much you've got left and buy tackle.

Maybe the rod and reel first.

All right, then that will let you know how much you can buy of the other one.

I█m going for a light action spinning rod and reel combo, that's where I'm going to start.

So I think that's this way.

Let's go see what they got.

All right.

Oh.

Oh.

19.

Little bit more than we would want.

These actually come with some tackle.

Having thrown a spin cast rod in years.

We know that we're targeting trout today and we're looking at stocked trout.

I do think that maybe this light action might be the ticket.

I think we're good.

If I end up getting some red worms, this would be the size I'm planning on using.

That's what I need right there.

So I think I got about $10 left.

i█m going to go see how much the live red worms are, get a pack of that and then see what we've got left.

I'm really close to my budget now.

I think we're done.

I believe we're ready.

All right, Lee.

You want to go first?

Sure.

If I'm over, that will give me a chance to run back and put something back.

Start looking at what you like the least.

Okay.

$49.24 That█s pretty good.

Hey i█m proud of that.

My turn.

You know it█s amazing we actually got quite a bit of tackle for $49 Makes it right at $49.21.

Let█s do that.

We█re within a nickel of each other, Chad.

Yeah, that's pretty close.

I'll take that.

I got a whole bag of fun here.

Look, I could use these up in a couple weeks probably.

Now I'll go out there and get hung and break every one of them off in about 20 minutes.

In-line spinners, live bait, trout Bait.

We're in good shape.

So Lee, you've written a lot about fins lakes.

If you were wanting to get into fishing, how would you start on picking a lake and a time to do that?

Well, there's the axiom.

You go fishing when you can.

Yeah.

So, time-wise: now ‘til, you know, I think these would be a great late winter, early spring option before other things turn on.

I would go to our website.

If you go to the search bar in the top right of the Web page, you just put in “fins”, they'll take you to the Fins page.

Yeah, there's a link: “stocking schedule”.

Look on that stocking schedule.

That's why we're here today, is we know these have been recently stocked because we looked on the stocking schedule.

Also, the where to fish is a great thing.

If you're looking to fish anywhere, you can judge by county, by water body type, by access, by species.

I use it all the time in my research.

All right.

I think I'm going to make my way where all of the fish are being caught.

So let's just walk up there and give it a shot.

All right.

Lee, won't be long, we'll be hearing turkeys gobble.

I know.

So what have we got?

Looks like a trout.

There we go.

Switch over to the power bait and about my second cast, had a bite.

We're actually going to keep some of these today.

But this is about what size mostly stock trout are.

Somewhere around eight inches.

Rainbow trout.

Beautiful fish.

Chad caught one, that's nice.

See if we can get lucky.

Got him.

All right, is that a power bait fish?

Power bait, brother.

Nice.

It█s a good size for a stocker.

If you all intend to release trout, a rubber net is a great thing because it doesn't remove the slime coat like a nylon net will.

I█m going to grab my pliers, here.

I like to touch trout as little as I can, so I got him in the side like there.

Hook is out.

First bite of the day and it helps if you don't step on your rod.

That's a real good idea.

Oh, there we go.

Would you like my net?

I would, if you don't mind.

You lead him over.

I█ll get it.

Thank you.

All right.

Beautiful, rainbow trout.

Well Lee, today, It kind of took ourselves back a little bit.

Like we had really never fished.

Wanted to showcase that you don't need to go spend $5,000 to get into fishing.

All we needed to spend today was power bait.

I mean $25 in a rod and probably $6 in hooks, sinkers and power bait.

I mean, any day you catch a fish, it's a good day.

And we did get skunked.

It's been fun.

It's been a good time.

A real good time.

I haven█t done this a long time.

You know what?

I feel like a kid.

Yeah, I do, too.

But I haven't bobbin█ fish bait like this in a long, long time.

It's fun.

Rabbit season here in Kentucky has wound down for this year.

And I'm already looking forward to next season.

We aint even got our guns loaded and we already got a rabbit going here.

Come on, come on, come on, come on.

Come here Josie.

Come here Checkers.

Come on.

Well, today we're in Henry County for a real late season rabbit hunt.

You know, 2025 started out with a deep freeze.

Made it hard to get out and run rabbits.

But now we've got a couple days left in the season.

I'm out here with a couple of good buddies.

We're going to get these dogs going.

And this is a piece of property we█ve hunted quite a bit.

It always produces rabbits.

Right here.

Oh, that was kind of on... Coming your way!

That was a little bit too easy, and on the jump.

So, I elected to not shoot that rabbit, you know.

We just got out and got started and, wanted to get the dogs a little bit excited.

Does not get any better than that.

I could have opened my pocket and put that one in without even taking a shot I believe.

He was going towards the pond dam and cut down here by this little ditch, and then ran straight up there towards that barn.

Probably right to the sinkhole.

Probably right to the sinkhole.

Oh, may be going to Curtis.

All right.

Perfect.

Nice cottontail.

Come on.

Hunt in here.

Hunt in here.

Let's go.

Hunt them up.

Hunt them up.

That's a deer bed, is what that is.

A deer has bedded right there and that's what melted that snow.

There's deer droppings all over in here.

They're back on it.

Well, that's the rabbit that they, jumped up there and ran a while ago.

He got out in front of them, and he had slowed down, just stopped, and was kind of waiting for the dogs to catch up.

But he didn't realize that stopped right in front of me.

All right, well, got one down.

Hey, hey, look, look, look.

Come here Checkers.

Dead.

Dead.

Good.

Good girl, good girl Josie.

Good girl Josie.

Come here Checkers.

I have no idea where this rabbit is at.

Kept acting like they wanted to go down here.

You get it?

Yeah.

Hey, I know you've got some... This is your family property.

You got some experience hunting here.

There's a sinkhole right there.

The first one got their on us.

Yep, yep.

This one was headed that way.

So you said, you know what fellas, we've seen this happen before.

Let's go over here and just guard this sinkhole.

Time to get to the sinkhole.

They push it in there and of course, this is frozen.

And they kind of lost track of it for a second.

A few seconds later, as I'm watching the dogs trying to pick the scent trail back up you got a shot.

So, nice.

They pushed him right out.

Appreciate it.

Nice job.

You got a vest?

I don't, no.

Well here's the good thing.

Yep.

There's the truck.

Matter of fact, I'll tell you what.

If you're headed that way why don't you do me a favor.

Take that one too.

Got two of them there.

No need to carry them that close to the truck.

They're in a different area of that thicket now.

They've been working this hill.

Now they're over there.

They may run one right to Paul.

Another rabbit down.

There we go.

A good spot right down here.

I hope they can round one up.

Man, that's a big rabbit.

He was going right back to that hole again.

Coming to the hole?

Yep.

We heard a shot I come around the corner and were you standing up on that big hill?

Yeah.

Close to it.

Yep.

And I saw you get another shot.

So that's a big one.

Yeah, that's the big momma jamma right there.

That's a meal for a man.

Heck yeah.

Come on.

Bring them back around here.

Right here.. Get it?

Yeah.

Amazing how many rabbits are over here.

Here he comes.

Well, dogs ran him across and was bringing him back.

Took two shots, but got him down.

Come on, come on, come on.

I can't tell you how much I enjoy small game hunting, especially with dogs and friends.

When you can put that whole combination together.

For me, deer hunting is fun, turkey hunting is fun.

But getting out here hunting with dogs, getting plenty of shots, being out with some buddies, it doesn█t get any better than this.

And rabbits are great to eat too.

Happened fast again.

Frankie barked on that rabbit.

But I never saw it until it was behind me.

And, it shot right down this fence line.

Luckily, that happened to be right where K.C.

was standing, so I think he got it.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

There you go.

There you go.

You get him?

Yeah.

Nice job.

There's definitely one more.

And I think they said two more coming to us.

Brought him right to me.

Great dogs.

Coming up.

This is a tough rabbit.

You get him?

It█s always the second shot.

Yeah.

Nice.

Good spot.

Oh, here he is right here.

He squirted through here, and I only had a split second to make a shot.

I'll tell you what.

It was a good time.

And you know what?

There's a whole lot of different ways we can prepare these.

Everybody's gonna get plenty of rabbits, stock the freezer full because it's going to be a long time before we can get fresh rabbits.

Exactly.

Thanks for coming out, guys.

I appreciate you having me.

And it was an absolute blast.

Yeah.

Had fun.

Good day.

It was.

Now let's check in and see who else has been out having fun in this week's ones that didn't get away.

Check out 13 year old Ayla Tolentino.

She got on one of the coldest days of the season and took this nice doe in Franklin County.

Congratulations.

Eight year old Rhett Thompson went out in a farm pond in Norton Ville, Kentucky and caught this nice bluegill while fishing with his grandfather.

Nice job.

Check out this beautiful buck that was taken in Harrison County by Dalton Walt.

This deer was taken on the opening weekend of gun season.

Nice job.

Eight year old Colson Thorpe loves to duck hunt.

He was out here recently with his dad, Bobby Thorpe.

Congratulations.

Elijah Coy of Meade County went out on his very first goose hunt, and it looks like he got his limit.

Nice job.

Check out this beautiful striper that was caught on the Cumberland River by Greta Armor.

She was out fishing with Captain Johnny Rush.

Congratulations.

Finally, this historic cold stretch is behind us.

Now it█s time to get outdoors and have some fun.

And remember hunting and fishing on private property is a privileage.

Always ask permission and thank the landowner.

Until next week I am your host Chad Miles and I hope to see you in the woods or on the water.

Hunters.

Anglers.

Boaters.

Paddlers.

Trappers and wildlife watchers.

This one's for you.

We're launching regional pages across Kentucky, tailored to where you live.

Fish and hunt.

Want to know when and where fish are being stocked near you.

When new public lands or water access sites come online.

How about the season dates and bag limits specific to where you're hunting?

Now you'll get real time updates, local opportunities, and expert tips straight from the biologists, educators and game wardens in your region.

Follow your local page and stay in the know right where it matters most with the purchase.

Green River bluegrass, Southeast and Northeast Regional Facebook and Instagram pages from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.