deer hunting in barren county, ky

Natalie Dugger December 2014 Folklore Fieldwork Paper

FA 799 Manuscripts & Folklife Archives – Special Collections Library – Western Kentucky University

Deer Hunting in Barren County, KY

When you walk in any home in Barren County, KY, you are likely to see a deer head

mounted on the wall somewhere in the home. While some may consider this odd, it is pretty

normal in many places in the United States, and especially in Barren County where deer hunting

is such an anticipated event. Deer hunting is usually considered a time-honored family tradition,

but mounting your kill as a trophy prevents us from losing the sporting aspect of hunting. This

paper will document how deer hunting is done, the background behind it, the different hunting

laws in Kentucky, and the knowledge and equipment that is required.

Origins

No one really knows the exact time that humans began hunting deer, but archeologists

have found evidence in Germany of weapons and deer bones as far back as 350,000 years ago.

(Robintek 1) As early hunter and gatherers, deer provided great use to humans. Not only did the

meat provide food, but the hide could be used for clothing and blankets, and the bones could be

used for tools and weapons. Humans had to learn how to track deer and attract more, in order to

provide for their families regularly. Those original skills have been passed down to hunters

today, although they may have transformed with the ever advancing technology and knowledge.

Many people today still use hunting to provide food for their families, but it has evolved over

time into more of a recreational/sporting event.

Laws in Kentucky

To be able to deer hunt in Kentucky, you have to have the proper hunting license. If you

are a resident, the annual license fee is $20. If you are a nonresident, the annual license fee is



$140. You will also need a deer permit; for ages 16+, residents pay $35 or $120 for nonresidents.

If you are between the ages of 12-15, the youth deer permit is $10 for residents or $15 for

nonresidents. Based on the map provided by The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife

Resources, Barren County is in hunting zone 3. Each weapon (modern gun, archery, crossbow,

muzzleloader) has a different time period in which deer can be hunted with that particular

weapon. In zone 3, Nov. 8-17 was modern gun, Sept. 6- Jan 19 was archery, Oct. 1-19 and Nov.

8- Dec. 31 was crossbow, and Oct. 18-19 and Dec. 13-21 was muzzleloader. (These dates were

for the year of 2014.) The number of deer you can kill each season is also important. In zone 3,

you may kill a total of four deer. Only one of these deer is allowed to have antlers however, and

only two of them may be killed with a firearm. All hunters are required to wear hunter orange. It

is imperative that hunters wear some form of hunter orange, in order to be visible to other

hunters and decrease their chances of being involved in hunting accidents. A vest is mandatory,

but other forms of hunter orange are also encouraged. (Commonwealth of Kentucky 1)

Tradition

Hunting began as a way to provide for the family, but it has evolved into a recreational

activity. In many families, hunting is a family tradition that allows them to bond or is a coming

of age ritual. Most hunters learn the basics of how to hunt from their father or another male

relative, and then become skilled hunters with friends their own age. According to the Fish and

Wildlife Services, most hunters start in the age group of 12-15 – around the time a person would

be becoming a teenager. Teaching them hunting at this age is a way for older relatives to

recognize that the new hunter is growing up (or coming of age) and to pass on the knowledge

they have obtained over their years of hunting. When a hunter first begins deer hunting, it is all



about the kill. Killing your first deer brings about a rush of excitement and pride. Pictures are

usually taken, and the hunter usually gets his first deer mounted as a trophy of his achievement.

As a hunter grows older, it becomes less about the kill and more about the tradition. For instance,

as a male grows older and has his own children, he would be less interested in how big the deer

he killed was and more interested in teaching the traditions of deer hunting to his children.

(Bronner 11,12,16)

Deer Hunting Interview

I interviewed Bo Michael Hubbard, age 18, of Glasgow, KY on his experience with deer

hunting. Below is the interview with my questions and his answers.

1. What is your favorite weapon to use when hunting?

“I like bow hunting a lot better because it’s harder. There’s a lot more you have to do,

and it makes it more exciting when you kill a deer than with a gun, mainly because you

have to be within 20 yards of the deer to make a kill with a bow.”

2. What started your interest in hunting? Is it a family tradition?

“I’m a man, I like guns. My uncle always hunted and when I learned about it, no one else

in my family did it, so I wanted to learn how to do it. He took me squirrel hunting to start

me out. Hunting is a sport but not a sport many people are willing to do. You practice and

get good at it, but it isn’t like a school sport. You have to want to do it.”

3. What is your hunting routine?

“Deer hunting, for me, starts the first week of November, so I take corn (to attract deer)

and my camera (to see the prospects for the season) out into the woods in early October

or late September. The week of, you want to stay out of the woods so nothing disturbs the



animals or knock the deer off track. The night before the hunt, you wash your clothes in

Scent Away detergent and then take a shower in Scent Away soap and shampoo. You get

all your clothes together that you’ll be wearing- it’s usually a lot of clothes because it’s

really cold- you get your gun or bow together and all of your bullets or arrows ready. The

morning of the hunt, you wake up around 4 in the morning or early enough to be in the

woods at least an hour before sunrise. I hunt on my grandpa’s land, and once I get there, I

put everything on the four wheeler and ride out to my hunting spot. I don’t pull it up

close to the stand though because you don’t want to scare anything off, so I park it about

50 yards away and then walk to my tree stand. I use doe urine to spray on the ground or a

wick to hang on the tree. The doe urine attracts the bucks- gun season is also rut season,

which is when the bucks are trying to mate, so if he smells fresh doe urine he’ll come out.

If you don’t see anything after a while, you can hit a grunt. Deer grunt (that’s the sound

they make), so if you hit a male grunt, other males will hear it and think a buck has seen a

doe and they’ll come closer. Same goes for a female grunt. When it comes to where you

sit when you hunt, you can either get in a blind or a tree stand. A blind is a camouflaged

tent that usually sits far enough away from the corn pile that the deer won’t notice that

it’s there. If you get in a tree stand, once you get up in it, you want to attach your safety

harness so that if your stand falls or you fall, then you won’t die. Then you just get up

there, and wait.”

4. What do you have to wear when you go hunting?

“Camouflage. It’s usually cold outside though, so you want to wear a base layer. This is

something thermal, something tight fitting so it keeps your body heat in. Then you want



to put your heavier clothing on (something that is insulated), pants and then overalls, and

a thick, insulated jacket.”

5. What do you do after you kill a deer?

“Whoop and holler. I pray and thank God for the deer. You have to tag it before you

touch it. You call the phone number on your deer tags that you bought before the season

started. I load it up on the four wheeler and take it to the barn. I gut it by cutting the first

layer of skin from the bottom of its sternum to its bottom half, pull out all the guts and

blood, and then hang the deer up. You hook two hooks through its Achilles heel bones

and you hook it through both of those bones and pull the chain hanging from the ceiling

and it pulls the deer up so you have better access to it. Now, you cut all the skin off and

pull it over the head, and then you just start cutting all the meat you can cut off. I cut off

the back strap, steaks, shoulder, and hind legs for sure.”

6. What do you do with the meat and the excess meat?

“You have to clean the meat. When you cut it off the deer, it has a layer of tissue on it

and you have to cut all the tissue off so that it’s just meat and get it on ice and freeze it as

fast as you can or it will ruin. If it’s a buck and you want to keep it, you have to keep the

head and make sure you don’t cut any of its face or neck and take it to a taxidermist.”

7. How do you make deer jerky?

“You cut the meat into thin, long layers and soak it in the sauce and seasoning you want

to cook it in (Cajun, teriyaki, etc.). Let it soak for 3-4 days before you cook it, then put it

in a dehydrator or in the oven. It takes longer in the oven, but it can be done. You have to

make it like a dehydrator with the door open at 450 degrees for 6 hours. It cooks for

about 2 hours in the dehydrator.”



8. What is the biggest deer you have killed?

“An 11-pointer. You tell how many points a deer has by the number of horns/spikes it has

on its rack.”

9. What’s the craziest story/memory you have of hunting?

“I was sitting in my tree stand, watching a squirrel jump from limb to limb 40 ft. up in the

air, and it jumped and was about a foot away from the limb and missed the limb. I just

watched it fall to its death. Another time, I was sitting in the blind, and had just woken

up. It’s not a good idea to fall asleep while you’re hunting, but I had been hunting a few

days already which had made me really tired. Anyway, a noise woke me up, and it kept

coming closer and closer, so I looked out of my side window. This deer’s head ran

straight into the blind and it scared it because it couldn’t tell the difference between the

blind and the woods. It jumped back into the air and ran away.”

10. When is the best time to hunt?

“Really cold mornings. People say a full moon is the best night, or after it rains. The deer

will be out a lot more because they don’t like to move in the rain.”

11. What supplies are essential to deer hunting?

“Scent Away to draw away the human scent. It neutralizes the scent and makes you smell

more like nature. You need a skinning knife too; it’s different than a regular knife. It has

a sharp notch on the back that you can grab the deer’s skin with and pull straight down

and it rips the deer’s skin open for you. I take a pistol with me in case I need fast access

for immediate danger. I take a grunt call, doe urine, ropes, snacks and water (you don’t

know how long you’ll be up there), hand and foot warmers for when it gets extremely

cold, binoculars in case it’s too far out and you can’t find it, a range finder (can go up to



200 ft., if it sees something moving it will pick it up and it will tell you how far away it

is), and a flashlight since it’s dark when you go in. You have to know what kind of

camouflage to use too. When you go deer hunting you want to use Real Tree because it’s

close pictures of a real tree, so you blend in. If you’re hunting in the ground and it is fall,

you would need to wear Mossy Oak, compared to if you’re hunting ducks, you would use

Upland Camo. You have to know what your background is going to look like at that time

of the year so that you blend in and aren’t seen by the animals. You must have an orange

vest on or you’ll get a ticket. If you get caught by a game warden without your hunting

license, you get a $500 fine. The game warden will take your gun and everything you

have on you. If you kill a deer, it’s an even bigger fine and they take the deer as well.”

Equipment

Deer hunting is taken very seriously. The amount of money hunters put into their equipment

is extravagant and over time can accumulate into an outrageous amount. There are various stores

related to the outdoors and then there are some that are outdoors-based with a focus on hunting.

Cabela’s is a chain store, one which opened recently in Bowling Green, KY. Cabela’s is stocked

with anything imaginable that you would need for hunting. A cold weather jacket can range

anywhere from $50-$650. The $650 jacket is waterproof for the harshest elements, has insulated

fleece lining, has pit zips to provide ventilation, and has durable, watertight zippers. It is made

out of tightly woven polyester to ensure that you can move around stealthily. The matching pants

are on sale for $479.20. The simple orange vest you have to wear can range from $13.99-$109.

Hunting apparel and gear can be very cheap or very expensive, depending on how seriously the

hunter considers deer hunting. If a hunter really cares about a sport, and has all of the needed



equipment Hubbard listed in his interview, the amount of money spent on hunting can add up to

a large amount. The weapons used to kill the deer and the ammunition for the weapon also adds

up to a very costly amount. Hubbard has over $2,000 worth of guns, plus a very expensive

crossbow. The bullets needed for those guns are expensive, and they usually have to be bought in

bulk. If you only have enough bullets to shoot the deer with, then you will not have enough

practice with the gun to make a clean kill. Buying bullets in bulk means that you can go out and

practice shooting, increasing your chance of making a clean shot. Arrows for the bow also add

into the already large cost of hunting, and the permits and licenses, and the cleaning supplies for

the weapons and the deer keep the price of hunting climbing at a steady rate.

Participant Observation

I participated in a deer hunt when the season opened for modern guns in November of 2014.

I went along with Bo Hubbard. The entire process was taken very seriously. We were up at 4 in

the morning exactly, put our many layers on, and loaded up the car. We drove to his

grandfather’s land, and packed everything we needed on the four wheeler. Before we left to go to

his hunting spot, he sprayed me down with Scent Away to make sure that I would not repel

anything that might come across our path. We drove the four wheeler into the woods, and

stopped about 50-75 yards away from the tree stand. The sun had not risen yet, so it was pitch

black outside. Using a small flashlight only occasionally, we made our way to the tree stand. The

tree stand was about 20 feet up in the air, and we had to climb the narrow ladder to the top with

all of our supplies and weapons. We had a bag full of our supplies such as doe urine, Scent Away,

skinning knives, binoculars, etc. We also had a 357 magnum for quick defense and his crossbow.

After making it into the tree stand safely, he strapped us in, and we began waiting. Once the sun



rose, we stayed out for about 3.5 more hours before I realized hunting was not an experience I

would enjoy participating in regularly. Talking was not allowed, neither was any movement, as it

might scare off the deer. Because hunting was not something I had been introduced to before and

did not take as seriously, the importance of the rituals that went into preparing for the hunt were

not as significant to me.

Deer hunting is a serious yet fun recreational way for relatives and friends to bond, escape

the reality of daily life, and continue the traditions of their families. Although it began as a way

to provide food for the family, hunting has evolved over the span of many years into what it is

today. And despite the many rules hunters must accommodate to, it is a sport that people are very

passionate about and generate thousands of dollars of revenue for.



Bibliography:

Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. The

Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, 2014. Web. 8 October 2014.

http://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Pages/Deer-Hunting.aspx

Cabela’s. Cabela’s World’s Foremost Outfitter. Cabela’s, 1996-2014. Web. 8 October 2014.

http://www.cabelas.com/category/Mens-Hunting-Clothing/

Robintek. “History of Deer Hunting.” The Buck Journal. The Buck Journal. Web. 8 October

2014. http://thebuckjournal.com/history-of-deer-hunting/

Bronner, Simon J. 2004. “This Is Why We Hunt,” Western Folklore 63:1&2 (11,12,16)

Bo Michael Hubbard. 2014. Natalie Sinclaire Dugger. Phone call, 15 November 2014. Personal

collection.

http://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Pages/Deer-Hunting.aspx

http://www.cabelas.com/category/Mens-Hunting-Clothing/

http://thebuckjournal.com/history-of-deer-hunting/



Picture: Bo Michael Hubbard, of Glasgow, KY, with an 11 point buck.



Picture: The gun Hubbard uses during modern gun season.



Picture: This is the mounted trophy of Hubbard’s 11 point deer.



Picture: This is the crossbow Hubbard uses during bow season. It weighs 60 pounds.



Picture: This is the 357 that Hubbard takes with him when he goes hunting

as a mode of quick self-defense.



Picture: The grunt call and a miniture skinning knife are pictured above.

deer hunting in barren county, ky

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