hunting land between the lakes?

[t. edwards]

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?

[NoCams]

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

[t. edwards]

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.

[52 bow]

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.

[t. edwards]

do you know if you have to have a fallow buck tag

[David Sapp]

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

[rtherber]

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.

[rtherber]

[ChristopherO]

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.

[rtherber]

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.  

[rtherber]

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.  

[rtherber]

[rtherber]

This was their water supply-
 

[t. edwards]

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.

[rtherber]

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.

[Chris Wilson]

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.

[ApplePie]

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...

[rtherber]

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.

[Dimeit]

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

[t. edwards]

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.