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Free youth hunt to bring last (gun) shot at deer | News | paducahsun.com

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Free youth hunt to bring last (gun) shot at deer | News | paducahsun.com

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Abundant sunshine. High near 25F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Cloudy. Snow showers developing late. Low 18F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 50%.

Kentucky’s free youth hunt next weekend could be a chance for a youngster to take a first deer, like Autumn Haire did in Mclean County last year.

Kentucky’s free youth hunt next weekend could be a chance for a youngster to take a first deer, like Autumn Haire did in Mclean County last year.

Kentucky’s adult deer hunters are finished with firearms pursuits for the 2022-23 hunting year, while kids have one more shot next weekend.

The last potential whitetail take with shooting irons of any sort comes New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, Dec. 31-Jan. 1, with Kentucky’s annual free youth deer hunting weekend. This season allows adult-overseen kids younger than 16 to hunt deer with modern firearms.

The special part of this late weekend season, the “free” part, is that these youngsters are not required to have youth hunting licenses nor deer permits to participate. The free youth hunt was initiated by the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources to spark the creation of new hunters by removing the barriers of expense for kid hunting licenses and deer permits to encourage more adults to take youngsters on these outings.

Other than the license and permit exemption, the two-day free youth season is conducted under regular Kentucky deer hunting regulations. As a youth season, an adult must accompany each kid hunter and stay close enough to immediately take control of the youngster’s gun.

An adult overseer certainly cannot hunt with a gun, although technically the adult can hunt with archery equipment or a crossbow, as those hunting seasons for deer continue through Jan. 16. As a mere suggestion, however, adult overseers probably ought to offer the juniors full attention and allow them whatever whitetail opportunities may develop.

Both participating kid deer hunters and their adult chaperones are required to wear fluorescent orange of head, chest and back during the free youth deer season because it is a firearms deer hunt. For that matter, other hunters afield during the weekend season must do likewise. That includes archery and crossbow deer hunters as well as small game hunters.

And speaking of small game hunters, the Saturday, Dec. 31, opening of the free youth deer weekend is also the opening day of Kentucky’s free youth small game hunting and trapping season. This runs as full week, through Jan. 6.

The free youth small game hunting/trapping season is like the special deer season in that no youth license is required of participants.

Early this week, Sunday, adults closed out their deer gun hunting options in Kentucky with the last of the late muzzleloading firearms season. That ran Dec. 10-18.

At the close of the late muzzleloader season, Kentucky hunters had taken 10,610 with front-stuffing firearms for the year to date. That is a step up from last year, when muzzleloader hunters took 9,246 deer for the entire hunting year.

Indeed, the deer harvest for all weapons and all season this year is running well ahead of last year and the 10-year average.

The total Kentucky deer harvest at the close of the muzzleloader season was about 138,600. That compares to about 127,400 at the same point last year. This year’s harvest already exceeds the total of all seasons/all weapons deer hunting last year, which was 132,328.

Kentucky’s remaining archery and crossbow deer seasons and next weekend’s free youth deer hunting weekend may add enough harvest to put the total above the state’s average over the past decade, which is about 141,400.

Kentucky’s initial dove hunting always starts of Sept. 1, typically a rather stuffy late summer day on which to smolder in an open field in waiting for the passing of these fleet game birds. Upland wingshooters flock, so to speak, to the grain fields and such for this (literally) hot action.

Months later, this ultra-wintry Dec. 24 finds far, far fewer upland hunters interested or even cognizant of the fact that today is the opening day of Kentucky third and latest segment of the mourning dove hunting season. Indeed, the third stint of dove season in the state runs Dec. 24-Jan. 15.

It’s no secret that most dove hunting practiced in Kentucky occurs in the first season, and the vast majority of that hunting occurs over the initial days, especially through the second weekend of the season. Those early days typically catch doves in highest concentrations around the late summer feeding areas to which they have adapted and while they are least spooky toward human beings lurking out there in their habitats.

By the time the second phase of dove hunting comes around, a high percentage of hunters have moved on to other game seasons and/or simply lost interest in doves. By the present start of dove season/take three, it comes down to the hardest of hardcore dove hunters who might still pick this pursuit over other game options, furred or feathered.

With weather conditions that were anticipated, I’m guessing that the number of game birds and animals taken today is going to be modest, considering that at least a few more sportsmen and women are going to be cowering indoors in heated confines. I can see some waterfowlers with the advantage of minimal heating in their blinds and pits hanging in there, but every other pursuit, not so much.

Meanwhile, this being Christmas Eve, a great many hunters will set their game seasons aside for a day or two for family holiday endeavors.

Albeit season three and with arctic-like conditions, here we have yet another opening day for dove hunters. I wonder if any of those streaking gray fliers will be taken today. Anyone who scores a limit today ought to win a prize.

Steve Vantreese is a freelance outdoors writer. Email outdoors news items to outdoors@paducahsun.com or phone 270-575-8650.

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