I don’t have to have a license to hunt on my own property here in KY - but I’m still expected to abide by seasons and harvest limits set by the state game and fish authorities.
I’m allowed to harvest one antlered buck (no thanks) and unlimited numbers of does… their website is kind of confusing… in one place they say ‘unlimited antlerless deer in Zone 1’, but in other places it says four total(including one antlered deer) but you can purchase tags for two additional unantlered.
However, since I routinely see 50 or more every evening in the fields visible from my back porch… we can’t kill enough of the hooved rats to make a dent in the population.
6 Likes
its the same here. i have friends in M.D that have that same problem. thing is a warden needs a warrant to go on your property. and they need probable cause to do it. unless they actually see you poach they dont have probable cause. when we have gone hunting on their land down there, the word is shoot as many does as you can. worry about permits later. 
1 Like
It sounds like you need to make friends with enough hunters in your area to whittle down the population.
1 Like
Private landowners can get paid here (well you get reduced property taxes) to open up land to the public. There was (they got out of it) a chunk of land by my brother’s property that was open. He said opening morning you would have thought people would be tailgating there was so many vehicles there. It also wasn’t a huge piece (100 acres?) so guys were pretty much shoulder to shoulder!
1 Like
I’m damned picky about who I let hunt. I want to know who is here, where they are, and I want them to know where anyone else is. So… I have ONE young man who is allowed to hunt here. He’s respectful, careful, helpful, and trustworthy.
No way I would ‘open it up to the public’… while I’d like to see the deer population impacted, I’m not up for a bevvy of yahoos trashing the place and potentially shooting one another. I already have enough worries with interlopers sneaking in without permission.
3 Likes
if you were closer id volunteer to help you with your problem and give you half the meat for letting me do so. im a NRA instructor and safety is always my highest priority. ive hunted some very populated areas in s. P.A and MD. i have a good Army buddy that lives just outside of Bowling Green,KY id go visit while im there.
2 Likes
When i was a kid i remember thinking i was going to be shot during deer drives. It was the days of “if its brown, its down”. Also you’d either be a stander or a driver and the deer would be in between you and the other group–never made any sense to me although most guys who were driving would either not carry a gun or carry a shotgun (if allowed) and the standers would only shoot once deer were past them///most times the deer would run out the sides and there would be guys stationed with rifles if possible. Still remember a homeowner yelling at one of my older brother’s buddies because they were shooting way too close to his house and he got all ticked off and burnt out of there. Some wild stuff. I don’t miss it.
3 Likes
Thats a kansas coyotes technique you see them on both hills with the small fast coyotes chasing their prey in the middle. The prey eventually find them selves surrounded as the net closes. Its hard to believe animals are so smart. Once had a black and white feral cat who didnt want eaten. It screamed past me in terror every few weeks and it ran for a water pipe under the ground only big enough for it to fit in. It had the technique down so no coyote ate that cat for years until it injured its back paw somehow. The cat dissapeared quickly afterwards.
In this area they call that walking or pushing the deer. Its so effective there are many laws regulating it. No 4 wheelers etc. As they give people way to much of an advantage. Its right up there with hunting from a boat its illegal because its easy to sneak up when your not walking down a river. No leaves under your feet they never would hear you coming.
1 Like
driving deer is illegal in Maine but its very hard to prove in our thick forests. i had several buddies and we would tag out every year that way. we would show up in separate vehicles and enter a prescouted point at a determined time. if a warden checked us we told him we were hunting alone. we never really thought about the dangers of doing it. it was bucks only so you had to be certain of what you were shooting.
2 Likes
So, 11 months later…better? No, I imagine not.
Lot of rules have changed over the years, especially due to CWD. I think there are a lot stricter feeding rules.
1 Like
Not sure about all States… but in TN you can harvest ginseng any time from your own property if for personal consumption.
There is a hunting season for it…but only applies to ginseng that will be sold.
Ginseng hunters do not have to buy a permit but you have to have landowner permission to harvest on someone elses property.
Ginseng dealers… have to purchase a license from the State… 250.00. Only dealers can sell ginseng outside the State… and only if they get it certified… most park rangers can certify it.
6 Likes
What are they?
1 Like
Giant puffballs. Yum
5 Likes
I have seen multiple does with single or pair of fawns in my backyard recently…
When it comes to eating deer, the younger the better. When those fawns loose the spots and get to be around 50-70 lbs… now that is grilling material there… very good to eat.
A big rack is nice, but the meat on a 4-5-6 year old buck… if you grilled it you would have to make boot leather out of it.
I am anticipating some 60 lb doe tenderloin grilled this year.
Mmmmm Good.
3 Likes
I’m from the Texas Hill Country, where if you don’t see five deer in one day, you staid in bed all day. Hearing how hunting is in different states fascinates me. I hadn’t heard of deer drives, but I think it’s something my family has generally frowned upon because it “scares the deer” and yeah, always the danger of shooting somebody. We typically hunt in stands. We have axis here too in great numbers, and that’s what I prefer to shoot, because the meat is more like beef and the does give as as much meat as a whitetail buck, at least.
Unfortunately its just another thing I have to worry about getting in my garden and orchard though.
4 Likes
When I was a youngster… we hunted deer with dogs… beagles and walkers… there was a huge group of guys here that did that. It was not legal in TN to hunt deer with dogs… but we did, everyone did… Hmmmm… my Grandfather was the Judge, and the local Sheriff hunted with us… what did the game warden do … nothing.
I think in TN, in the early days 50’s-60’s whitetail deer were so scarce that you had to hunt them with dogs to have any chance of getting one. That developed and continued into the 70’s (when I was a kid)… but eventually played out in the 80’s (as deer became much more populated here)…
People changed from running them with dogs, to still hunting.
We made drives too… but when deer are plentiful, just getting on a good stand and staying there… one or more will come by eventually.
There you go the complete rural history of Deer hunting in Tennessee.
PS… i have taken nearly 200 deer with bow and arrow… and several with rifle and muzzle-loader too. Never hunted with cross bow.
TNHunter
4 Likes
Nice big doe just outside a fenced cemetery about 6 p.m. this evening…maybe the one that prunes some of my apples for me. 
I’ve got some 12 gauge slugs…
2 Likes
hunting bear with hounds is popular here. fall 3 years ago i was out grouse hunting when a bear closely followed a pack of hounds crossed in front of me. they got him treed about 75 yrds off the road. i went in and watched the bear in the tree until the hunters showed up and shot it. they were from VA. nice 325lb boar.
1 Like