Make The Best Out of Those Winter Blues

For many Kentucky outdoor fanatics, Winter months between December and March are times for side projects around the house, cleaning and re-cleaning gun(s) until they shine like a mirror, and organizing your tacklebox(es) while you itch for the Spring spawn. If this is you, you are missing out on some of the best parts of the outdoor season. Something I like to do is head out to my favorite hunting ground and walk the land, looking for any signs of deer or turkey. To be more specific, I'm looking for warn game trails, tree rubs, droppings, and grazing areas for my target game animals. Finding these signs will give you a better idea of how the animals are moving through the area, and how you can adjust for a better hunt next season.

Another important note is that deer and turkey will typically take the easiest route to get to their destination. By knowing this, Winter is the best time to set up barriers to push these animals to your more desired hunting areas. This past Fall, my father and I went out to do some tracking and noticed that a line of trees had been recently cut down for power lines, blocking the old game trail. The deer had diverged from this path, making a new one at an opening about 50 yards away. What we realized is, by clearing and setting up barriers, we can create a bottleneck to funnel deer and turkey right through our desired shooting window. Based on this adjustment, the chance of seeing a deer or turkey in these areas will be greatly increased.

Also, based on the funneled area, place your deer stand or blind accordingly. While bow hunting for whitetail, I prefer stands to blinds because they reduce the chances of your scent being picked up by down-wind deer. Scent-Loc is a good way to cover your human scent, but it is still not fool-proof. It can also be a safety concern to hunt on the ground, unprotected from big bucks in rut. There are a few stories every year about hunters being injured or killed by charging deer, I'd prefer not to become one of those stories. Regardless, take advantage of the hunting downtime to trim any branches back which might be blocking your viewing area (be careful not to cut away too many because it acts as cover and breaks up your silhouette along the tree line).

Finally, fishing in the winter time is one of my favorite things to do outdoors. I love suiting up in my camo coveralls, 2,000 gram thinsulate boots, alpaca wool socks, and insulated face-mask, and braving the cold (although it is important to recognize that hypothermia strikes swiftly and should be a definite precaution). There is not nearly as much boat traffic out on the water, which also means there is a lot less fishing pressure. This is a great time to find those hard to find honey-holes. Fishing in a couple of the more popular Kentucky water bodies, Lake Cumberland and Laurel River Lake, trolling is a way of life. In Laurel, this would most likely be for rainbow trout or smallmouth, while on Cumberland, the fish of choice is striped bass. Anyway, while trolling for these fish, mark some good structure areas on a map or gps. If you don't have much success trolling, come back and hit some of these spots with the lure of your choice (depending on the type and depth of the structure) and pull in some lethargic lunkers.

So when the cold weather has you down and you're feeling the winter blues, strap on some warm clothing, fill up a thermos, and get outdoors. Otherwise, you're going to miss the potential catch or hunt of your life.