September 16,
I recently had a
great trip to the state of Kentucky for an early season Wood duck and Teal
hunt. I proudly consider Kentucky my 2nd
home and have made trips to the Bluegrass state multiple times each year dating
back to 2007. This was my first trip on
Lake Barkley duck hunting and it will be a fond memory for years to come. On the opening morning of Teal and Wood duck season we
arrived at the launch around 4:45 am. We
launched at the Linton public boat ramp which is located about a mile from the Tennessee
line as the crow files and headed north out on the big lake. Lake Barkley is a man made lake fed by the
Cumberland River. Kentucky Lake is a sister lake and it’s fed
off the Tennessee River. The area
between the two large bodies of water is known as the Land Between the Lakes (LBL). From my limited experience Lake Barkley is very
large and shallow in many spots making it a challenge to navigate especially in
the dark. Our good friend and his
brother have many years’ experience on the lake and made it look easy. During the early season most of the hunting
is done in makeshift land blinds constructed from driftwood and other debris
found on the muddy banks of the lake. It’s
just another part of the adventure scavenging for bling material in the dark
and listening to the ducks and geese quacking in the distance.
Most of the duck hunting on this southern end
of the lake is geared around a man made duck pond in the middle of the
lake.
The pond is rather large and
closed to hunting later in the year and used as a duck sanctuary. We had a successful hunt and had shots at
geese and wood ducks.
We saw several
groups of Teal but couldn’t bring them in close enough to enjoy the
action. After the morning hunt we took
time to ride the lake and look for potential spots for the floating blind to be deployed
for the winter duck season.
We all
entered the duck draw that decides on blind placement and I will discuss that
topic a little later in the article. We
wrapped up the early duck season and got a much appreciated invite to a dove
shoot on a large farm just outside Pembroke, Ky. When we arrived at the corn field, that must
have been close to 60 acres of fresh cut corn, the doves were thick. We saw many birds roosting on a power-line in the
middle of the field and several hundred feeding in the extremities of the
field.
After several hours of steady action we found
ourselves cleaning around 50 birds as a group.
Now we are closing in on the main excuse we had to make this trip, stand
placement and camera deployment on a new tract of land we leased for the
upcoming Whitetail deer season. We
reached the hunting land with the ATV’s and had a great time exploring the new
lease, with a slight rain keeping the heat down and my pants wet on the seat of
the old quad. We identified 3 new stand
locations and setup 3 new cameras as well.
So as I sit here quietly typing at my desk I wonder what images are
currently on the cameras. It will be a couple
of long months before that answer is revealed.
Now back to the Duck Draw which is a big event in the Western Kentucky
area. We traveled a little over an hour
up to the Lake Barkley dam and the crowd waiting was astonishing.
I later learned it was well over 500
applicants entered into the drawing. We
had 11 in our group and needed several more apparently. After much heartache the
group finally got a draw and all the most desirable blind location had already been
pinned on the large double 4’x8’ maps. We
selected 2 locations with plans of having 2 blinds for multiple locations to
choose from when the big birds get flying later in the year. By law each blind can hold a max of 4 hunters
and must be occupied by the owner 30 minutes prior to legal shooting
hours. If the blind is not occupied 30
minutes prior to shooting hours it is up for grabs to any hunter on the lake. What
is normally a trip spent working on the deer lease turned into a great bird
hunting trip that I will remember for years to come.
Questions or Comments
alakingfish@gmail.com
Shelby Byrd
alakingfish@gmail.com
Shelby Byrd
