Hey y’all, gonna be up front, we’re from GA, but headed to Campbell Co for 1 week to see family. Been wanting to turn this into a yearly public land KY trip for a while. Closest WMA’s are Stephens creek, Adair, Gates-Lloyd and Mullins WMA’s. If y’all have any advice on which one or how to hunt em, I know we’d be very grateful.
Do you have on x mapping or hunt stand? I will gladly send you some waypoints that you should probably check out.
Public land situation in northern ky is pretty sorry. If you are ok with shooting a doe or a small buck you have a decent chance to get it done despite being bow only. If you are only looking for a buck to put on the wall you are wasting your time, it wont happen. Your best bet is to get private land permission or lease, maybe your family can ask around? i have hunted Adair, Gates-Lloyd and Mullins WMA’s a lot (7years) before beaing able to afford to lease different farms then ultimately buying my own property. Have killed does at all of them, and saw some small bucks.
I will try to offer you something more useful. The Fleming WMA is a decent spot. I have not hunted it at all this year but in years past I have seen some good bucks while squirrel hunting in the southern sector near Wallingford. It is in Fleming Co. About 1hr from Campbell Co. It is a small tract but close to your location. Also, my Step Daughter works for the National Forrest Service and she told me last night that they have spotted several large bucks in the DBNF near Cave Run Lake. That is a huge tract of land. I squirrel hunt on it a lot and have never seen a deer on it but I was not looking for them either. Public land hunting in KY for deer is tough. There is a hunter behind every tree and many are too trigger happy for my taste. I have never had any luck deer hunting on public lands. You would be far better off planning a goose/duck hunt or a rabbit/squirrel hunt. I know a guy in Lewis Co who has a private preserve and offers trophy deer hunts. That is a possibility.
There is a campground called clear creek campground (near cave run lake irish referred to) i used to stay at and hunt with some buddies you wont see a bunch of does and the hunting terrain can be tough but you have a legit chance at a nice buck. If you are a bow only or flintlock kind of guy they use to have a primitive weapons only area you will have all to yourself. (Not sure if that still exists or not but worth checking out) This is were i started out hunting 20 years ago
I do have HuntStand. That is incredibly generous of you, but you don’t need to give me any honey holes
We picked up our licenses today and the fella at the counter mentioned Ft Thomas. Are there specific areas that are open to public or do you have to have landowner permission still? Again thanks all for your help
I've been in northern Campbell my whole life and never heard of public hunting ground in Ft Thomas. Definately no gun hunting. They do nuisance bow hunts every year, but that's a tough tag to get.
I used to drive up Clear Creek a lot at night and you would see deer along the roads . We also used to go to the shooting range at Clear Creek until a idiot almost shot my little brother . Everyone was resetting targets , around 5 sets of shooters . My little brother and another set of shooters was finishing setting up targets and the idiot let lead fly . We quickly jumped his arse . You can also access the lake from there .