(from Google Images)
I’ve been seeing more deer along the highways here lately, and it has me thinking about the upcoming crossbow season.
In Kentucky it starts September 20, 2025 and runs through January 19, 2026. To be sure, it will be way too hot for me to hunt in September. I won’t hunt until late October when it is considerably cooler.
Ohio County is still in Zone 2, which means we can take as many as four deer by purchasing additional permits. Only one of the four can be a buck (button bucks don’t count as antlered).
All this information can be found at fw.ky.gov.
Of particular interest and relevance are the two new CWD zones in Kentucky because they are closer to Ohio County than the first one.
As you can see, Breckinridge County is, in fact, one of our border counties. If you plan to hunt in one of these three zones, there are restrictions.
For those who aren’t aware, CWD stands for Chronic Wasting Disease. It is a disease that makes its way into a deer’s brain and spinal cord. It’s almost always fatal.
A similar disease in humans is CJD, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. In cattle it’s called BSE, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, aka Mad Cow Disease. Although Mad Cow Disease can be transmitted to humans through beef consumption, CWD hasn’t proven to be transmissible to humans from deer.
The kicker is…it hasn’t proven to NOT be transmissible.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not taking a chance.
If you hunt in or near a CWD zone, be extra careful not to come into contact with the brain or spinal cord when field dressing.
I recently was diagnosed with Alpha-gal, an autoimmune disease transmitted by ticks. This means I’m not supposed to eat venison anymore, nor any other mammal.
Even though I can’t eat venison, I’ll still hunt. Other family members can still eat it. So I’ll keep a little for them and donate the rest.
The Kentucky Hunters for the Hungry program will take your deer and have it processed and donated to those in need.
My friend Jimmy Cantrell, an avid outdoorsman, was able to point me in the right direction for donating deer. According to him, there is nowhere in Ohio County to take deer you wish to donate to Ky Hunters for the Hungry.
Jimmy did give me this location, which isn’t far from me at all:
Now, there is another reason for me to harvest four deer, and I’m afraid to say I think it’s more important than ever.
Remember I said I had been seeing more deer here lately. What I didn’t say was that I had been seeing them in the middle of the day. What I also didn’t say was that I find this curiously unusual.
These sightings have me concerned that this daylight deer behavior might be a result of overpopulation. So now more than ever, I see hunting and harvesting deer as necessary.
I would much rather see deer harvested and the venison put to good use helping the hungry than see them die and suffer a long, slow death from starvation.
Yes, I have Alpha-gal, and no, I’m not supposed to eat venison anymore. But I’ll still be out there in the great outdoors this fall and winter doing my small part to help the hungry and keep the deer population in check.
And you know what? I’ll also be out there to rejuvenate myself. I find that it’s good for the mind and body to sit quiet and still for hours in the cold.
To those of you who will also be out there hunting this year—Good luck and please be safe!
