[King Kong]

September is the month to apply for deer quota hunts in Kentucky.  

Quota hunting applications are accepted from September 1 - September 30.

KDFW holds deer quota hunts on 16 Wildlife Management Area's,  along with 5 State Parks. 

There is a $3 application fee per hunter to apply. 

There is a set number of slots for each hunt. 
For example: Paintsville Lake has 200 slots available to hunters.  If 250 hunter's apply for the Paintsville Lake hunt,  200 is the number of hunter's to be accepted. 

For more information you can go to the KDFW, Kentucky Dept of Fish and Wildlife web page.  Just scroll down a little and you will find quota hunt information.

---

I'm thinking about applying for the Paintsville Lake hunt this year. 

It's been 20 some years since I applied.  We got drawn for this hunt 3 straight year's.  We had pretty good success hunting out there.  My brother took a 10pt one year on the Paintsville quota hunt.  It had a 20in spread.  It was the biggest deer taken during the quota hunt that year. 

He harvested it in a low gap,  way down in a holler.  I mean way down! Was a nightmare dragging straight up hill to get out.  Me and him trying to drag the deer with one arm while holding our rifles with the other.  Slipping and falling in the leaves and acorns! Losing our grip and the deer sliding down the hill!  Never been so glad to get to the top of the ridge in my life lol

Each quota hunt has it's own dates.  
Paintsville Lakes is the weekend before state wide rifle season.  That's what I like about it.  Let's you get started a weekend before everyone else.  By the first weekend of November,  I'm definitely ready to get started!

Here's what I don't like about the quota hunts:
It can get crowded out there.  You got like 200 hunter's,  with limited access point's to enter government property.  We either go in on private land or take a boat.  That helps but it's still hard not to run into other hunter's. 

The main thing I don't like about quota hunts is the deer tags.  You have to use your state wide tags on them now. 

Years back you could buy bonus tags just for quota hunts.  You could possibly harvest 2 bucks a year this way.  Use your bonus quota hunt tags for a buck during the quota hunt.  Then you still had your state wide tags for state wide rifle,  muzzleloader,  and bow seasons.  

Each quota hunt has it's own specific rules as to what can or cannot be harvested.  Some might have a certain width of spread limit for bucks.  For example,  a buck may need to have a minimum spread of 15 inches in order to be harvested on a certain quota hunt.  Not sure if any quota hunts have the spread limit or not anymore. 

Again you can find info on the KDFW web page about quota hunts and the regulations regarding each one.