Gastro Gnome - Eat Better Wherever

50 years in Colorado- Relocated to Kentucky not a joke for real

Please, please take 3,000,000 other with you ! I am a native of Colorado and sure miss what it once was ! Kentucky is beautiful and will be a good place to live.
 
Really like what I see driving through there. Looked online at land in the past as it was reasonable. It is just hard to get a real feel of what a place will be like without spending more than a couple days there though. All I can say is Wisconsin isn't so bad in the spring-fall but when I retire I would like milder winters as I just never took to any winter sports.
We have not had any snow at all. A few days of 20's and one week when the whole nation was in deep freeze. The waterfalls, gorges, lakes, and trees are amazing. Land is way cheep compared to surrounding areas.
 
It sucks to live on The Wrong Side of the Divide. I’d move too if I hadn’t left the Front Range 34 years ago.
 
Grew up and lived my whole life in Colorado. Moved to Kentucky for love. No haters here, HAHA!
Elk hunted my whole life and have taken some decent bulls but excited about the possibility of a 350-400 class bull here in Kentucky.
Now that I am a resident what are my odds? I have heard that each county gets so many allotted tags. Also its a 90/10 resident to non tag allocation.
Any kentucky hunters out there that have some insights.
I hope you didn't move to KY just for a chance to hunt a big elk:
1/175 = 0.6% odds seem awful.
 
The KY elk draw is completely random. You probably have greater odds of hunting in the Gila in NM lol. Enjoy the whitetail hunting and the fishing. I live about 3 hrs north of Nashville.
 
Kentucky has been wonderful- The best thing about moving is it opens your eyes to all the great places out there. Tunnel vision for sure in Colorado. The cost of living here is 25-35% less than Colorado. I can now afford to hunt out west in multiple states when I want. I live 50 miles north of Nashville- Nashville is the coolest big city I have ever been to. Hippest too. Amazing city!
Lab, sounds like you might be my neighbor. Welcome to the Bluegrass state.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lab
Grew up and lived my whole life in Colorado. Moved to Kentucky for love. No haters here, HAHA!
Elk hunted my whole life and have taken some decent bulls but excited about the possibility of a 350-400 class bull here in Kentucky.
Now that I am a resident what are my odds? I have heard that each county gets so many allotted tags. Also its a 90/10 resident to non tag allocation.
Any kentucky hunters out there that have some insights.
Welcome to Kentucky! Glad you’re here. Tags are NOT allotted to certain counties. First you apply for cow firearm, bull firearm, or either sex archery/crossbow. You can buy entries for one or all 3. If you draw a tag, then you have to enter another drawing for the area you get to hunt. You are NOT guaranteed to get any of the areas you select. New for this year, if you’re drawn for a tag, you have to purchase the tag prior to a set date, June 15 maybe but I may be wrong about that. Anyway, tags that aren’t purchased by the date go back into a drawing just for folks who have been applying the longest without getting drawn. Numerous cow tags aren’t purchased every year. Lots of idiots, I mean hunters, only want antlers. So after all that, the hard part is securing a place to hunt that actually has elk. Elk hunting in Kentucky is nowhere near what it was 10 years ago and earlier. Herd numbers are WAY down despite what KDFWR says and unless you’re willing to pay 5-7K for a guide, you’ll struggle to find a place to hunt. I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer, but I’m telling you the truth. Lots of issues facing Kentucky elk and elk hunting. Lots of folks have been urging KDFWR to cancel elk hunting for a few years or drastically cut tags for a while. It’ll never happen though as the elk draw is a cash cow. As others have said though, the deer hunting is excellent. B&C bucks have been killed in every county. Turkey hunting is good as well, but turkey populations are in decline all over the southeast USA.
 
Lifelong Kentucky resident here. Welcome, it's a great place to live and raise a family. As for elk hunting I applied for 15 years straight and never drew, so I quit applying and started accumulating points out west. A guy I know did draw a tag couple years ago and had a horrible experience. The guides chased all the elk down to private using ATVs and the private landowners wanted 10k for permission. I also live 50 miles north of Nashville on the KY TN state line. Sounds like we might be pretty close so feel free to pm me anytime.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lab
Welcome to Kentucky! Glad you’re here. Tags are NOT allotted to certain counties. First you apply for cow firearm, bull firearm, or either sex archery/crossbow. You can buy entries for one or all 3. If you draw a tag, then you have to enter another drawing for the area you get to hunt. You are NOT guaranteed to get any of the areas you select. New for this year, if you’re drawn for a tag, you have to purchase the tag prior to a set date, June 15 maybe but I may be wrong about that. Anyway, tags that aren’t purchased by the date go back into a drawing just for folks who have been applying the longest without getting drawn. Numerous cow tags aren’t purchased every year. Lots of idiots, I mean hunters, only want antlers. So after all that, the hard part is securing a place to hunt that actually has elk. Elk hunting in Kentucky is nowhere near what it was 10 years ago and earlier. Herd numbers are WAY down despite what KDFWR says and unless you’re willing to pay 5-7K for a guide, you’ll struggle to find a place to hunt. I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer, but I’m telling you the truth. Lots of issues facing Kentucky elk and elk hunting. Lots of folks have been urging KDFWR to cancel elk hunting for a few years or drastically cut tags for a while. It’ll never happen though as the elk draw is a cash cow. As others have said though, the deer hunting is excellent. B&C bucks have been killed in every county. Turkey hunting is good as well, but turkey populations are in decline all over the southeast USA.
The only difference has been the amount of public vs Private. Colorado had a lot of NF and State lands- Kentucky not so much but findings some of the wildlife management areas that have deer.
I got into some quail which is just as fun as pheasants!
 
Lifelong Kentucky resident here. Welcome, it's a great place to live and raise a family. As for elk hunting I applied for 15 years straight and never drew, so I quit applying and started accumulating points out west. A guy I know did draw a tag couple years ago and had a horrible experience. The guides chased all the elk down to private using ATVs and the private landowners wanted 10k for permission. I also live 50 miles north of Nashville on the KY TN state line. Sounds like we might be pretty close so feel free to pm me anytime.
Really great place to live! I agree
 
Don't know about elk hunting but you are in prime whitetail land. Kentucky is one of the top 5 states for whitetail hunting and huge bucks. My wife wants to move that way cause she is tired of the cold here in Montana but with my COPD I struggle in the humidity so for that reason alone I am fighting her on it.
 
Grew up and lived my whole life in Colorado. Moved to Kentucky for love. No haters here, HAHA!
Elk hunted my whole life and have taken some decent bulls but excited about the possibility of a 350-400 class bull here in Kentucky.
Now that I am a resident what are my odds? I have heard that each county gets so many allotted tags. Also its a 90/10 resident to non tag allocation.
Any kentucky hunters out there that have some insights.
Dang !!! Your in a no lose situation there !!! When it comes to Elk and White tail hunting you have the best of both worlds. Use to hunt White tails there. BIG white tail bucks. Personally if I lived there I would spend most of my time hunting them over Elk.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lab
Leupold BX-4 Rangefinding Binoculars

Forum statistics

Threads
113,675
Messages
2,029,329
Members
36,279
Latest member
TURKEY NUT
Back
Top