LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It's the start of Kentucky's deer hunting season. The next four-and-a-half months will be filled with hunters filling their deer tags, but there’s a need for patrol and enforcement.

Eastern Kentucky University said as the state sees high levels of hunting, fishing and ecotourism, there are large amounts of land law enforcement must be ready to patrol. 

"That is really important because, in the outdoor space where a lot of these park rangers and game wardens and so forth work and patrol, there can be injuries and illnesses, ATV accidents, hunting accidents, drownings, those kinds of things," said David Fifer, director of Eastern Kentucky University's Center for Wilderness and Outdoor Public Safety. "The certificates (are) designed in part to prepare them to be able to respond to those kinds of emergencies." 

He said last fall, EKU launched a new Conservation Law Enforcement certificate program, where students can become certified emergency medical responders. It’s a specialized training that had previously only been available in the state through the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"With deer season about to begin, the game wardens ... working for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife are going to be pretty active, making sure that people have permits, that they're using the appropriate kinds of firearms and following good hunter safety regulations and that they're not exceeding the limits that come along with those permits and not doing dangerous things like shooting from roadways or spotlighting deer or some of these other activities that are generally prohibited by law," Fifer said.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife said hunters harvested more than 140,000 deer in the 2023-24 season, the seventh-highest harvest on record and in line with harvest numbers from the last 10 years.