Kentucky Elk Questions

[Wayneshafer]

Was wondering if anyone had experience in Kentucky? I heard not much public land available. Is it possible to get on private with kill fee or maybe a semi guided?

 

[Indian Summer]

You better look into getting a license before you get ahead of yourself researching that! That’s like asking “If I win the Powerball where should I spend the money?”

 

[KHNC]

Most good elk property in kentucky is locked up by private and/or outfitters. It will be very expensive to get a chance to actually kill an elk if you draw. There is plenty of public, but by far most of the elk are on private or leased property.

 

[axeforce6]

I was drawn for a cow elk rifle in 2019. I went with a guide. I spent a lot of time on public ground. Its all basically coal mine property. Ky sold off some elk that year to Missouri. Well. I believe they were traded for crappie if I recall correctly. The population they listed vs what I experienced we're two different things. Its not the same as hunting out west. Appalachia is very dense. The elk don't go in the open much anymore because of hunting pressure. So your trying to catch a glimpse of a tan patch moving through dense hardwoods. I spent most of the daylight hours in those hills. Covered several miles. I saw one elk. It was beautiful 6x6 that I didn't have a tag for. In our camp we had 5 hunters. Only one guy killed a cow. It was great time and the outfitter was great.

 

[Beaglegun]

I was drawn for a cow elk rifle in 2019. I went with a guide. I spent a lot of time on public ground. Its all basically coal mine property. Ky sold off some elk that year to Missouri. Well. I believe they were traded for crappie if I recall correctly. The population they listed vs what I experienced we're two different things. Its not the same as hunting out west. Appalachia is very dense. The elk don't go in the open much anymore because of hunting pressure. So your trying to catch a glimpse of a tan patch moving through dense hardwoods. I spent most of the daylight hours in those hills. Covered several miles. I saw one elk. It was beautiful 6x6 that I didn't have a tag for. In our camp we had 5 hunters. Only one guy killed a cow. It was great time and the outfitter was great.

I believe the guides are charging way to much. I cant pay that in KY.
3 hr drive for me. We will do 2 scouting weekends. We drew unit 3. 2nd week bull.

 

[axeforce6]

I think I paid $1800.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

$1,800 for a fully-guided cow elk hunt is a screaming good deal.

 

[Beaglegun]

$1,800 for a fully-guided cow elk hunt is a screaming good deal.

$4000+!!! These guides are outta control! They make it WAY harder then it should be for everybody else. I heard a story the other day about them running elk off public, onto private on 4 wheelers. Most KY hunters who draw think the guide is part of any elk hunting. One guy told me he thought that was just what you were supposed to do when you drew a tag! Heard another story of a guide taking a guy onto land without permission and he turned out to not be a legitimate guide!

 

[Mykolaivka887]

I believe AxeForce6 said that he paid $1,800 for a guided cow elk hunt in Kentucky.

 

[MLB in TN]

Yea anything under $2000 for cow is a bargain these days. Well over $5000 for bull hunts.

 

[Ltfd210]

I believe the guides are charging way to much. I cant pay that in KY.
3 hr drive for me. We will do 2 scouting weekends. We drew unit 3. 2nd week bull.

I’d love to hear you you do. I drew unit 3 week 1 cow. Going to DIY it. I can’t afford the guide costs for this hunt.

 

[wesfromky]

Keep in mind that much of the elk hunting areas in Kentucky just got hammered with some catastrophic flooding last week. A lot of the area will be rebuilding for months and years.

 

[Ltfd210]

I did see that. Looks like my unit got hit pretty hard. Probably going to make an already difficult hunt harder.

 

[Beaglegun]

I was there day after floods all over unit 3. I never saw any flood damage

 

[mathews8pt]

I went last fall to help a buddy who's son drew a tag. Last few days of september we found 2 bulls on public and he killed one the morning after i left. If they arent vocal it would be really tough to find them where we were at. Some of the areas have more open tops that ive been in, but the timber is heavy most areas.

 

[Ltfd210]

I went last fall to help a buddy who's son drew a tag. Last few days of september we found 2 bulls on public and he killed one the morning after i left. If they arent vocal it would be really tough to find them where we were at. Some of the areas have more open tops that ive been in, but the timber is heavy most areas.

Thank you for the info. I’m currently trying to figure out my locations to scout as I’m only gonna get one scouting trip in. Every little bit helps

 

[Beaglegun]

80% of mines are to far gone to be elk habitat ever again and the other 20% will be the same way in 10 years. Nothing but sericia lespedeza and autumn olive mess. You cant see 100 yards. Elk move to better habitat. You couldnt get a shot if they were there. Sericea wont burn well enough to kill the invasive crap trees. Unbelievable debacle. But hey, the atv playbabies are havin a blast on those WMA mines that used to hold elk.

Aventure tourism is much more important.

 

[Beaglegun]

I f you draw a regulated area that has been reclaimed in the last 2 years, it can be bad ass. If you dont, it can be hard to find elk

 

[Ltfd210]

Well wanted to report back. My brother and I (first time elk hunters) drove in two nights before the season and set up a nice base camp over a reclaimed valley area in the Lewis Creek area. We slept in the bed of my truck and got a nice pile of downed wood going.

We scouted and hunted whitetails the day before. Saw quite a few but no bucks. We found some elk sign but nothing crazy. We came across a nice bowl with reclaimed rye to watch over and decide to come back the next morning.

We hiked in the next morning in extremely thick fog with wind in our favor. We stayed at the top of the bowl to avoid pushing into any elk lower in. Fog finally cleared out enough to see 100+ yards so we slowly moved down into the bowl. At the bottom of the bowl it smelled of where elk had been. We found piles of warm scat. We hiked out to not blow the area out and went back to the truck for some late lunch. We spoke with a gentleman and his grandson who said they always see elk in the bowl at night. They were white tail hunting and drove off. We went back early to prepare what would become our little snipers hide for the rest of the hunt.

We spent every night at our hide and every morning hiking and trying different areas with sign. We ultimately saw tons of whitetails, heavy elk sign in the bowl, some bear sign, but no elk. That first morning was the freshest we ever found sign. I did manage to get my first public land deer though. We hiked 27 miles over the six days, up and down mountains. The country was beautiful and are going to go back for some more public land white tail hunting. It was an amazing experience.

 

[pirogue]

Thanks for the report.