Kentucky’s modern-gun deer-hunting season opens Saturday | The Courier-Journal

Modern-gun season for deer set to open By Gary Garth • Special to The Courier-Journal •
Deer season has been open since September, and archers, crossbow hunters, muzzleloader hunters and youngsters who participated in the October youth hunt have already bagged about 20,000 whitetails.That’s a good start and one that’s put a smile on Tina Brunjes’ face.“It’s been an average harvest so far, but I’ll take that,” she said.Brunjes is the large-game program coordinator for the state game agency. Part of her job is to guide the policies that keep deer numbers under control while offering hunters optimum hunting opportunities.Deer action will ramp up across the state around sunrise Saturday, which is when the modern-gun season opens. Gun season will run through Nov.29 in zones 1 and 2 but closes Nov.23 in zones 3 and 4.State game officials expect about 252,000 or so hunters to swarm the woods this month. Brunjes said that number is based on license sales and the knowledge that about 90 percent of Kentucky’s deer hunters gun hunt the rest are assumed to be archery purists.How many deer the hunters will sack is unknown, but Brunjes expects about 82,000.“That would be about average, but I’d take more. Especially more does.”Most of the action will happen opening weekend. Hunter success or lack thereof will largely hinge on a couple of factors: Weather and the availability of hard oak mast acorns. Click link below for full story!

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