With deer hunting in full swing around the commonwealth, we wondered, where can people hunt deer in Northern Kentucky?
The answer, like many in this NKwhy series, is that it’s complicated.
Where in NKY can you hunt?
There are only three public hunting locations, known as wildlife management areas, or WMAs, in Northern Kentucky: two in Boone County and one in Kenton.
In Boone County, there is Decker WMA, which is only open for archery and crossbow deer hunting; for all other species, it is open to the use of shotguns. The Dr. Norman and Martha Adair WMA is currently closed for muzzleloader, modern gun, and youth gun for deer hunting but also open under all other statewide rules and regulations.
Over in Kenton County, Mullins WMA is open under all other statewide rules and regulations, except it is closed for deer hunting season for modern guns and is only open for December muzzleloader season.
There are 132 of these wildlife management areas in the commonwealth, and some local hunting advocates say that three in NKY is not enough.
“The reason they’re scarce is they’ve been there, but populations have grown, but the public lands access have not grown along with the populations,” said Adam Mullins, president of the Moonlite Hunting & Fishing in Burlington.
Mullins said that he and his organization are working to add more WMAs to the region. One way is through turning underutilized county-owned land into a wildlife management area, “we have found some counties that have good models to use as presentation to those [NKY] counties. It’s very early in the stages these projects but that’s what we’re working towards,” said Mullins.
Once these public spaces are transitioned into WMAs, Mullins said they “become preserved by default.”
Can you hunt on private land?
Due to a provision in Kentucky Senate Bill 241, which passed earlier this year, Kentuckians must have a permit to fish or hunt on their own property if the property is less than five acres, according to reporting from WCPO.
However, resident owners, their spouse and their dependent children can hunt or fish without a permit, per the provision. If the property is rented, tenants and their children will have the same allowances.
“We are hopeful this new exemption threshold will curtail abuse of the current exemption clause by some claiming to harvest game animals on extremely small tracts of land that they own,” reads a statement from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife. “To those landowners who aren’t required by law to buy a license or permit but choose to buy them as a way to support conservation of fish and wildlife in Kentucky, we offer our sincere thanks.”
Deer hunting in NKY
So, if you’re interested in hunting in NKY, how do you go about it?
Deer hunting is separated into “seasons,” which dictates what type of weapon hunters can use.
This year in Kentucky, archery and youth/senior crossbow season started on Sept. 2 and runs through Jan. 14. Crossbow started Sep. 16 and runs through Jan. 15, youth gun only was Oct. 14 to 15, muzzleloader ran Oct. 21 to 22 and runs again Dec. 9 to 17. Modern gun season started on Nov. 11 and runs through Nov. 26.
The state is also broken up into various zones, which indicate the number of deer that hunters are allowed to kill. Joe McDermott, deer program coordinator with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, told LINK nky that deer populations need to be managed by hunters, “so like anything else that need to be put numbers needs to be controlled or managed hunting, but if you don’t do that, they can essentially eat themselves that house home.”
NKY is in Zone One, which McDermott said means “you’ve got really high deer densities, so a whole lot of them out there on the landscape, and you all have pretty much unlimited opportunity.”
In NKY, hunters can only kill one buck, or male deer, but unlimited females, known as does.
The deer population can have significant impacts on the environment, McDermott said in forested areas, “the places where you have really, really overabundant deer, you basically lose that undergrowth, so you lose those saplings, those shorter plants, basically anything the deer can reach, and the only thing that’s left is basically stuff it’s an inedible for deer and other wildlife.”
From the hunters side, Mullins said they play a large part in this magangment process, “As department’s biggest task is trying to manage these numbers and populations. Hunters plays a big role in that. They rely on the hunters to give feedback on those numbers, what they’re seeing in the field.”
Those who wish to participate in hunting outside of their own private land must also get a hunting license. Kentucky residents aged 12 to 15 must get a youth hunting license and youth deer permit, those aged 16 to 64 need an annual hunting license and statewide permit and residents over 65 or those who are disabled need a senior/disabled or senior lifetime sportsman’s license.
Before going out, hunters must consider a lot of safety measures. McDermott recommends anyone using a tree stand check that everything is in good condition before climbing in, especially if it has been left since last season, and wear a safety harness.
Most importantly, McDermott said hunters should tell people where they are going before going out into the woods.
Plus, don’t forget your orange. According to Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, hunters must wear “solid, unbroken hunter orange color visible from all sides on the head, back and chest when hunting for any species during the modern gun, muzzleloader, and youth firearm deer seasons, or a firearm elk or bear season.”
For more information on hunting in Kentucky, visit fw.ky.gov.