just looking to see if anybody has hunted the land between the lakes down in kentucky. planning a trip this november and was wondering if the hunting was any good and a good place to get started at?
HI T,
I have not hunted it but know people who have. Any where around Dover, TN area of LBL is good. Had a friend who hunted there for three years and killed three 8 pointers ! As far as the deer there, they are quite a bit larger in body size than the surrounding private land. May be the strain of deer that were stocked in the 1960's. Probably Indiana strain, haha !!!
Can I ask a dumb question here..... Why would you want to come to KY and TN to hunt when you are in Indiana ? We dream of coming to Indiana, ILL, and Ohio for them there corn fed brutes you guys have ! A large deer here will score maybe 120-140 tops and maybe weigh 180 dressed. That does not even draw any attention in your state ! My buddy killed a 142 that weighed over 220 dressed in ILL and when we were in town we did not even get a second look.
nocams
we are just looking for somewhere else to hunt. the price of non-resident tags arent as bad as illinois. illinois has went through the roof in the last two years.
Haven't hunt there in years but hunting was good then, saw game every time out and managed to take a fallow buck and whitetail doe, had to walk in a ways but was worth it.
do you know if you have to have a fallow buck tag
John-
Post down in the TN section toward the bottom of teh main page, maybe some of those guys can give you advice. Several hail form NW TN. I've never hunted there, but have wanted to.
David
I've only hunted the TN side of LBL(70,000 acres plus).This will be my 32nd straight year to bowhunt it. I completed hiking the entire hiking network of trails(on the TN side) in Spring 2005 while turkey hunting. LBL has a liberal Fall archery season that begins the last weekend of September(coincides with TN statewide opener)ALTHOUGH Kentucky's statewide season opens the first week of September-LBL(Kentucky side-110,000 acres)does not open until the last weekend of September. The archery season extends to the middle of January. There are three gun hunts in November along with a juvenile gun hunt. The gun hunts are two day events that allows the bowhunter to hunt right up to the day before the gun hunt opener. $25.00 for a combination hunt/backcountry camping permit allows you to hunt the entire LBL property AS LONG as you have the appropriate respective STATE hunting licenses-TN/KY. lbl.org is the webpage. A group of trad hunters gather there at LBL on the TN side every season after Christmas holidays. Here is a pic of the "motley crew" from last season. I went ahead and bought a place just outside the entrance to LBL on the TN side and frequent the place often. I can tell you the bucks are growing their antlers back. I slipped up on a fairly good buck cooling himself in a creek just off the hiking trail I was on while squirrel hunting a couple days ago. As soon as the hunting season is totally over there(the 11th of June), I'll be glassing the fields looking for the good ones. IF you want to come down for a weekend I'll meet you folks and we'll both get familiar with the KY side. I intend to start buying the KY non-resident license annually so I can hunt all of LBL so plan on scouting the KY side once all hunting ceases there.
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e24/wapiteee/LBL2006Decemberdeerhunt003.jpg)
I've only coyote hunted it once as it is a 7 hour drive but it is a pretty place and seems to be plenty of deer. Not too many places in the midwest where a fella can traverse 400 square miles and not see one house. The Wrangler's campground is nice, has cabins and shower houses.
This is a pic of Area #15 where I solo camped while archery turkey hunting overlooking fields along the Kentucky Lake side(bottomlands). All these fields have been planted this year in corn. They alternate soybeans to corn. I was talking to the farmers during turkey season this year and they opted to put EVERYTHING in corn due to anticipated mast failure(late freeze)-(they felt the deer would eat all the beans since they won't have acorns)- A further note: A lawsuit was initiated last year by some radical group out of Oregon that is attempting to stop all farming of the river bottoms at LBL. They want it to be allowed to grow up into native grasses. The farmer I talked to said this may be their last year to farm LBL depending on the outcome of this lawsuit. (http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e24/wapiteee/DSC00063.jpg)
I revisited an old moonshine still in Unit #11 this Spring while turkey hunting that I discovered back in the mid-70s. The old log shack was still intact back then. Father Time has about obliterated all traces of the structure. (http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e24/wapiteee/DSC00125.jpg)
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e24/wapiteee/DSC00121.jpg)
This was their water supply-
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e24/wapiteee/DSC00124.jpg)
wow thanks for all the info. i think were going to be on the kentucky side for the most part. so what does the farmer think about the law suit? cant understand it by who am i to understand that.
I just talked to one farmer that had gotten his fertilizer spreader stuck in the mud and needed some help. He was from up KY and I got the impression it was going to impact them severely. This practice of farming the tracts and leaving a percentage for the wildlife has been a mainstay since TVA took the land to make a "sportsman's paradise". Now some tree hugging group all the way in Oregon has come out of the woodwork. LBL has been such a whirlwind of controversy since its inception. First,taking the land from the private landowners. Then, in '88 when Congress quit supplementing funding, there was talk of giving it to Fort Campbell for additional training area OR giving it back to heirs of the original landowners. TVA tightened their belts and held on to the property intact. Then the Federal Gov't. stepped in and placed it under their "Nat'l.Rec.Area" umbrella. That made it fair game for any treehugging group out there. It would be devastating if the wildlife lost the agricultural benefit the farmers have furnished. The isolated small food plots put out sporadically(limited budget) would not be enough IMO to sustain the current deer/turkey/squirrel populations.
I've never personaly hunted the area, but have buddies that do fairly regularly. They've had pretty good success. As Roger mentioned, the pending lawsuit is a big concern at the moment. If you're looking for more info on the LBL area, check here: http://www.tndeer.com/tndeertalk/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=18&page=1 . Several guys on TNDEER.COM hunt LBL religiously.
I'm also interested in hunting LBL on the TN side. I haven't had the time to scout it out yet (new to the area + new kid). Roger, it sounds like you're the man to talk to! If you'd ever like some company on one of your trips, I'd love to tag along...
Regarding your question on fallow deer(KY side only now,used to be able to hunt both sides throughout LBL) the permit alluded to(25.00) covers the fallow deer, however, there is only one geographical area in LBL that fallow deer can be hunted(Environmental Education Center,KY,archery only area) therefore,no extra fee is assessed for the fallow species. The fallow deer was introduced into LBL sometime in the late 60s and at first they held their own. I had two different fallow deer come within 70 yds. of my deer stand in '77 while hunting behind the buffalo range pen(Unit #11-North/South hiking trail). They were legal on the TN side to hunt that year. The following year(1978) there was a big die-off of deer throughout LBL. Deer were found dead around waterholes. "Black tongue" was the culprit, as I recall. TVA kept the die-off quiet but it happened. From that point on, fallow deer hunting was prohibited on the TN side. I've never seen a fallow deer on the TN side since '77. There was another big deer die-off in 1983 but it was not as bad as the earlier one. The next big deer "famine" occurred at LBL in the early 90s when LBL goofed up and scheduled their archery opener a week earlier than the TN statewide season. This gave bowhunters a whole extra week to hunt before regular season. THE entire LBL was crammed to capacity and over 300 deer were killed by bowhunters right off the bat. LBL had already printed the brochures and decided to honor the goof up. The total kill on deer by bowhunters were recordbreaking that year and the next few years the hunters paid by not finding the quantity of deer they were used to. This is probably more info than you wanted/needed but LBL has been a large part of my whitetail bowhunting over the years.
Roger,
That Cabelas Tent look familiar. THat must be Mr Pappy's home away from home. I'm one of those NY boys that go to LBL. I see Dave's back side in the picture. I backed out of last year's trip to spend time with the family last Christmas. My wife ordered me to go next year because I bugged her the whole week I was supposed to be hunting.
Can't wait to meet you in December,
Glenn
wow. they sent the post to a new forum and had trouble finding it. really good information on here. i just talk to a lady down there about license fees and the fallow deer thing. she said it will be around 210 for non-resident license and no fallow deer hunting is allowed anymore. she said there is five differnt camp grounds to choose from but didnt give any details about there location or what was offered at them.
TTT
thanks again terry
well just got back from a week of camping down at hillman ferry campgrounds. seen lots of deer and talk to a couple of people about hunting down there. wish i had a speed boat, i think that would have been an easier way to scout.
It's an awesome place to hunt,you can stay in a campground if ya want but we always backcountry camped(have to have a backcountry camping permit).Me & my dad have hunted it quite a bit in the last 25 years or so,& it's one of my favorites.The last couple of times we hunted there the only other bowhunters we seen were the ones in our party....put on your walking shoes & take a climbing stand with ya.. :readit: :bigsmyl:
There going to be a Trad Gang get together there this year? A get to know ya rendevose - rondyvese, you know what I mean.
I bought a place just outside the entrance on the TN side so I'm up there pretty regular,even out of season.As far as the annual trad hunt,"Pappy" hosts that event every year. I was up there working on my place and stopped in and visited with Mark and the "gang" while they were set up. Check on the TN TRAD forum below to get a schedule on our hunts including the LBL one. You "snowbirders" need to come on down about December and bowhunt.
LBL info can be found at : lbl.org-look under "recreation" then "hunting"- Note:each state's regs are posted since the property encompasses TN and KY.
Dimeit,do you recognize any of these characters? Probably some of the gang you were hanging out with in '05. A friendly wager going on and you can pretty well tell who won that round!!
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e24/wapiteee/LBL2006Decemberdeerhunt006.jpg)
I graduated from Murray State there around LBL and darn near flunked out because of deer hunting LBL, girls, and cold beverages (in that order). There are great places to hunt there and I killed a 140in whitetail in 1992 on the North end 2 miles west of Hillman Ferry Campground.
Hillmand Ferry Campground is a nice place to stay and there are places to hunt there too. I have found I like the North end of LBL better than the south end. The North/South trail cuts through LBL and picking a spot away from the rest of the world is the way to go. I used to get to my spots by mountain bike most of the time, but be prepared for a drag. There is no ATV or road trafic in most of LBL other than the marked roads which are gravel. The prerut (say the weekend before they have their gun quota hunt: late Oct) can be magical. The keys for me were as follows: 1. Get away from roads (duh) 2.Bench/White Oak flats are numerous. Pick one near some water 3.Invest in a GPS: you will find new places every time you are out. Mark them and save them. I killed several deer that way. I stumbled into spots and marked them on my map.
LBL puts out a nice little map with roads marked. You can also buy a pretty good topo there. Bring your tick spray. Hope that helps. I haven't hunted htere in 6 years, but I sure loved it there. For bowhunting it's hard to beat, but when the rifles start booming during their several quota muzzleloader and rifle hunts, the big boys are either kilt or in the thickess crap on the place. Have fun!
The wife and I are talking about buying a retirement home on the KY. side, mabe near Benton. Anyone on here familer with that area?
We used to go fishing down in KY Lake every year. I love the area and May have to plan a trip down for a hunt. Thanks for starting this thread and getting me thinking.
thanks for the info. im looking foward to going down there this year and tring it out. hope i dont get lost!!!!
I'd be interested in taking a lil hunting trip there... Had a friend who had some nice ones on the wall from his time stationed at Ft Campbell...
Some friends and I are planning a trip this fall after some frosts...I haven't been to LBL in several years. Looking forward to the trip anyway! We usualy hunted area 6,8,10...
rtherber - Do you know where to find info on hunting fallow deer in the (Environmental Education Center,KY,archery only area)?
According to lbl.org, no fallow deer hunting is allowed - see quote:
"The fallow deer herd is a unique aspect of our wildlife inhabitants. This species, native to Europe and Asia, was brought to LBL by the Hillman Land Company in 1918. LBL's herd is believed to be the oldest population of fallow deer in the country, and at one time was the largest. Today the herd numbers fewer than 150 and hunting of fallow deer is not permitted. Although LBL's wildlife management activities focus on native species, the fallow herd is maintained for wildlife viewing and because of its historical significance."
I honestly have failed to keep current on what goes on on the Kentucky side and apparently ALL hunting of fallow deer on LBL has ceased. There used to be a draw hunt for the Environmental Education Center(bow only)but policy changes have occurred since TVA turned the property over to USDA and that must have been one of the changes. However, now that I have purchased property just outside LBL(TN side) I intend to extend my hunting over on the Kentucky side so hope to be more "savvy" about it in upcoming seasons. I was hiking last week on several of the trails just across the state line on the KY. side. I plan to keep working my way north up the Trace.
Thanks for all the info!!! I am going to keep monitoring this thread as I have been considering a regional whitetail hunt outta state this year...
Anybody suggest a good weeklong period for up there? NOV 5-10 I pressume?
LBL is in the process of assessing the 2007 hunting season. They had honored TN's decision to allow crossbows to be used in the archery season since it was passed last year. This decision will be reassessed along with the quota hunts and other topics. I'll post the results from the meeting or I suggest potential participants check the lbl.org webpage closer to the season before finalizing plans.The public can participate in this quorum.Info on how to participate in the quorum is on the above listed website.
I cut my bowhuting teeth at LBL while pursuing my degrees at nearby Murray State Univ. FYI: Fallow deer hunting has been banned at LBL for years. As far as the elimination of row crops after 2007 - looks like a done deal.
so when is the best time to go down there? is the rut going about the same time that it is going on up here, the first week of november or somewhere in there?
QuoteOriginally posted by t. edwards:
so when is the best time to go down there? is the rut going about the same time that it is going on up here, the first week of november or somewhere in there?
The first week or so of November would be a great week to hunt there,should be plenty of chasing going on.Just make sure they aren't having any quota guns hunts going on the time your planning being there.
I wonder what the acorn crop is looking like in that neck of the woods..
There is a lot of good advice here and LBL is a nice place. One word of caution, just because a map and a sign says "No Vehicles" don't count on it when you get there. 5 Years ago when I was last down there, there was almost no enforcement of the restrictions and people drove everywhere they could get. And there are a lot of roads. That's the KY side at least.
Anyone know season dates or planning a hunt up that way? I may have a week of vacation I must take this year... needin to plan..
I am a bit smitten with the idea of this one..
I have hunted lbl quite abit . the fallow deer herd is almost deminished after the blue tounge disease killed alot off been a long while ago and the herd never really recouped . you are not allowed to shoot fallows at LBL anymore . if you need some help on areas to hunt pm me and I may still have some maps and helpful advise for you . may have a alturnative for you to think of as for public hunting around here .
Slasher, there will be a group of trad hunters camped on the KY/TN border the week after Christmas Day through the 1st of January. You can follow the thread on the TN Trad site at the end of this forum section.
We've got a group of guys planning to drive up from Georgia to hunt LBL (Kentucky side) the weekend of November 3rd. That will be the last weekend of bowhunting and the gun hunt will occur the following weekend I believe. We're hoping to see some rutting activity. This is our first trip up and we may make it an annual hunt if we like it.
Anyone else want to plan to go that weekend?
chris
I am awaiting work to see if I can get the time off... but would be interested to go but need to be back on the 9th for another commitment...
Just got back from spraying corn in western KY and TN and saw lots of deer from the air. Saw some really nice bucks around the Reelfoot Lake area.
Just wanted to update this thread. I checked the dates for LBL and the youth qouta hunt will be the weekend of November 3rd. We're planning to go up and hunt the next weekend which will be November 10th if anyone is interested.
chris