Art Lander’s Outdoors: Hunting season news and observations with autumn set to begin Sept. 22

Autumn officially begins in nine days on September 22. Many hunting seasons have opened, or will be in upcoming weeks. The cooler weather this time of year signals better fishing.

Here is some news and observations:

• The current Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide for August 2024 to March 2025 is available online here.

It is also available in paper form at many locations around the state where licenses or hunting and fishing gear are sold.

The guide details license requirements, seasons and regulations for deer, bear, migratory birds and waterfowl, elk, fall turkey, furbearer hunting and trapping, and small game hunting and trapping. There’s also details on public land hunting, and quotas hunts.

Deer hunters take note:

Due to the detection of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in western Kentucky, special hunting restrictions are in place within the CWD Surveillance Zone (Ballard, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Marshall and McCracken counties).

Chronic Wasting Disease is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that destroys nerve cells, particularly in the brain. CWD affects cervids, including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, and moose.

Mandatory CWD Check Station requirements for deer hunters in the CWD Surveillance Zone are in effect Nov. 9-11, Nov. 16-17 and Nov. 23-24.

See page 14 of the Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide for updated CWD Check Station locations and Voluntary Deer Sample Collection Sites.

• In an effort to stop the illegal release and spread of wild pigs, wild pig hunting and trapping is now prohibited.

Landowners can still remove wild pigs that cause damage to their private property. KDFWR encourages anyone seeing wild pigs or to report wild pig damage, to telephone (800) 858-1549.

Hunting fails as an eradication tool for wild pigs due to their high reproductive rate and intelligence. Disturbances associated with human activity, especially hunting pressure, cause wild pigs to leave the area and become nocturnal.

Wild pigs are an exotic, invasive species that poses serious threats to native wildlife and wildlife habitat, wetlands and other natural areas, and agriculture. Also, they are carriers of at least 45 parasites and diseases.

They are not considered a game species in Kentucky.

To learn how to obtain free professional trapping services to remove wild pigs, and to access more information on wild pigs in Kentucky, visit KDFWR’s Wild Pig Home .

• Shorter days and cooler temperatures are a signal to fish to feed up ahead of winter.

Early on, fall fishing is at its best in small waters that cool down sooner: farm ponds, small lakes and streams.

It’s a good time to catch a quality-size largemouth bass from a pond or small lake, fishing a white spinnerbait early in the day. In streams and rivers crank baits are a top choice for smallmouth bass.

When colder temperatures arrive in October and November crappie come up shallow on the banks in large reservoirs and good numbers can be caught casting small jigs and spinners.

To access fishing information, including the annual fishing forecast and tips, the locations of streams and lakes, and fish stocking schedules, vist KDFWR’s Fishing webpage .

Arguably, autumn is the top outdoors season for many of us because there are so many hunting and fishing options. Decisions, decisions.

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