Soaking the Non-Residents in Kentucky

This is in response to:

Higher Priced Non-Resident License, a thread over on KentuckyHunting.net


I am a resident of Ohio, and hunt exclusively in Zone 1. Kentucky affords me a much better opportunity to hunt deer and turkey. My family owns 200 acres in Bracken County. I've written several times here about how much I appreciate the opportunity to come across the river to hunt.

I've been watching this thread develop, and I cannot figure out why there is such animosity here to non-resident hunters. Yes, I am from out of state. Yes, we own property here. No, I am not one of the last-minute Johnnies at the Walmart. Yes, since my shoulder went bad, I've been gun-only, but I had 25 years in as a bow hunter before I gave up. I have a medical waiver to hunt with a crossbow. I am somewhat of an outdoor writer, and I frequently write to promote NKY and the Ohio Valley as a hunting destination. My family puts a large amount of money into the local economy in the way of taxes, gas, food, and license fees, but we think it's worth it.

The reality of it is, that in Zone 1 there are simply not enough hunters to hunt all the deer. I've seen huge increases in our herd since 2001. EHD was just a blip for us. The deer and turkey both are thriving. More hunters are needed in this zone, and yet nobody seems to like the idea of us carpetbaggers shooting your deer.

When there is unlimited taking of antlerless deer available in a zone, you know there is a problem. The problem is NOT that the non-residents aren't being soaked enough. The problem is NOT that the non-residents aren't being kept out. The problem is NOT crossbows. The problem is NOT rifle season during the rut. The problem is that you have too few hunters taking too few deer. Here in Bracken County, the deer probably outnumber the permanent residents.

I will be blunt. I was fairly willing when we first moved out here to give written permission to hunt. However, each and every time I gave out that permission, I ended up getting screwed. I caught one neighbor on his deck in his underwear, shooting at deer on my property. He didn't hit anything, but he was shooting at 300 yards with his 30-30 and just emptying the magazine at them. He'd go back in the trailer, reload and come back out. The deer didn't seem to mind, but I thought that was an awful amount of lead going into the woods indiscriminately.

I gave permission for a fellow to ride his ATV through the property to the land-locked parcel that adjoins me and later I found him and his buddies hunting everywhere on my property--and giving me grief to boot. I caught another fellow in the chain over the driveway-- he'd gotten his ATV's handlebars stuck sneeking in. His answer "I didn't think you were home."

I've been in contact with the CO every year to help take care of the poachers, but they keep coming. My neighbors came and tore down my posted signs. I have to patrol constantly for new tree stands and ground blinds on my property-- people from as far away as the TN line. If y'all had just been nice, I would have been nice. Nobody likes to have what's theirs to give taken without permission.

I am down to 2 active letters this year: 1 for a 79 year old local grouse hunter that is a true gentleman and one for my retired bosses, a KY resident, who wants to come fill his freezer with doe. Between us, my sons and my old boss we should be able to knock over enough deer to do what's needed on this plot.

Let me give you all some suggestions:

1) Keep KY a good non-resident bargain. You might want to make some WMA's resident only, but I would not go screwing with much else.

2) Encourage non-residents into Zone 1. You already give them a great chance to come across the river and shoot rifles during the rut. However, you should incentivize antlerless deer. Maybe offer a special $75 non-resident antlerless license/tag for the December rut or something. Let crossbows in on private land in Zone 1 regardless of medical condition. Leverage the out-of-staters to help handle the herd.

3) Put reefer trucks out on the major roads and set up stations for donating whole deer carcasses, and feed the hungry. Anyone can drop off a deer on their way home from the field.

4) Police your own, and be nice. Buckeyes are notorious in SE Indiana and N KY for coming over the state line and being slobs. However, my problem has been with my own neighbors. It does not take much to get private land posted and the landowner permanently peeved. You don't want more WMA's, do you? Really? You don't want more chances to hunt in a crowd. You want to be left alone when you hunt. Taxing non-residents and buying WMA land is not the way to that; honoring your own laws and being nice to landowners is.

5) Encourage local business to make the Rifle Opener a celebration. Roll out the red carpet. Have a Fall Festival. Sell soup, chili, spaghetti, fried chicken in the main square. Bake sales, car shows, craft shows, folk art-- get the out of staters in here and soak 'em. You personally won't see any benefit to additional non-resident fees, but you can walk home with cash in your pockets if you roll out the welcome. Give the wives something to do while the hunters are hunting, and the hunters won't be as quick to roll back across the line when they're done hunting. Telecheck probably put a damper on this, but you all can make up for it. Make the Opener your best money-making weekend of the year. If you don't believe it can happen, go look at what they do in MacArthur OH, for their Turkey Festival in the Spring.

6) Non-resident ownership of KY land is a great thing, not a bad one. Here are all these fallow farms throughout the state. The per-acre price is depressed due to the supply. The more you encourage non-residents, the more that price goes up. All of a sudden what was unused acreage is some out-of-stater's dream come true. Later, when you want to buy it back, you can let the property values fall back down. This is what Americans did to the Japanese and the Germans back in the 80's-- sold them real estate at inflated prices and then let the bottom fall out of the market.


That's just my ideas-- one old fart Buckeye who loves coming over the bridge every weekend. YMMV