Krooked Creek Whitetails LLC

06/02/2026

Think we have a new baby fawn crossing Crooked Creek with its Momma…..🦌

05/30/2026

Rainy day in the bean field 🦌

05/29/2026

Red Tail Hawk checking in🛩️

05/21/2026

Turkey poult success can jump by 75% in a major cicada year, but not for the reason most people think. Yes, turkeys eat cicadas, and a giant hatch gives hens and poults a massive food source at a critical time, but that is only part of the story. The bigger piece may be what cicadas do to everything else in the woods.

When cicadas are everywhere, raccoons, opossums, skunks, groundhogs, coyotes, foxes, and about every other nest predator in the woods suddenly has an easy meal crawling all over the ground. Their bellies are full, which means they are not spending as much time hunting turkey nests and newly hatched poults. Indiana’s 2021 brood survey during the big Brood X cicada year showed 4.0 poults per hen, 74% higher than the year before, and reported broods were up 415%. Cicadas do not fix every turkey problem, but they can absolutely give turkeys a short-term boost that hunters may notice for the next few seasons.

— Stephen Ziegler
Outdoor writer | Owner, DeLong Lures

05/13/2026

Our driveway to camp is busy….🦌🏹🦌

05/13/2026

May is a “No Mow” month!!
Fawns and Turkey poults rely on that cover.
Let it be until June🦌🦃

Fawn season is here! Cover is essential to a fawn’s survival. Several features of fawn cover include remote areas with nearby browse. A doe should be able to forage while leaving new fawns in secure cover. Hunter’s can create fawn cover on their property!

There are many ways to create safe spaces for fawns. Timber stands improvements like hinge cutting creates brushy growth on the ground. Target trees with a 3-8”diameter at breast height (DBH). Cuts are made ½ - 2/3 of the way through a tree, then pushed over. This allows the tree to continue to grow leaves while on the ground. Hinge cutting trees like maples make for good cover and browse. Red cedars can also leave dense cover. These practices also open the canopy and allow more sunlight to hit the forest floor. More browse like forbs, berries, and saplings will grow with more sunlight and serve as cover. Hinge cutting allows for early successional growth that will help other games species like turkey, quail, and grouse. Migratory birds that are declining can benefit like Indigo buntings and Prairie warblers. Other methods of TSI can create this growth as well.

Creating habitat for fawns is best done in late winter/early spring, but hinge cutting can also be implemented late summer! Other practices like planting native grasses and mowing outside the nesting season (May through July) will also help!

05/13/2026

Well done Crittenden County!👏🦃🦃🦃

05/13/2026

Such a great Spring in the Bluegrass!

It was a record-breaking spring turkey season in the Commonwealth, with the highest turkey harvest we have ever had!

With 36,428 turkeys harvested across the state…

• Total harvest was up 18.8% from last year’s total (30,661) and up 13.9% from the 5-year average.
• Public land harvest was up 25% over the five-year average.

Although every region’s total harvest increased from last year, the Purchase Region boasted the highest growth.

Why the Purchase Region specifically? Well, in 2024, there was a cicada emergence that boosted turkey reproductive success, resulting in increased numbers of 2-year-old birds.

This is GREAT news for Kentuckians!

Because if you recall, central Kentucky and eastern Kentucky folks, you all experienced a large cicada emergence last year, meaning it could result in high numbers of jakes this year and 2-year-old birds next year, just as it did in the western part of the state!

Congrats to all of our hunters, we are already counting down the days until next season!

05/13/2026

Full house in the bean field!

05/09/2026

Solace in the hardwoods 🦌