From Nashville
Backcountry Shooting Preserve sits outside Glasgow, Kentucky — about 90 minutes north of Nashville, almost all of it on I-65. It is the closest thing to a genuine covey hunt that a Nashville hunter can reach and still be home for dinner.
The drive is 90 minutes and it is an easy one
North on I-65 out of downtown Nashville, across the state line at Portland, past Bowling Green, and off at Glasgow. Roughly 85 miles, and the last stretch is two-lane Kentucky farm road rather than anything technical. From Nashville International (BNA) add about twenty minutes on the front end.
- Downtown Nashville — about 1 hr 30 min
- Nashville International Airport (BNA) — about 1 hr 50 min
- Brentwood / Franklin — about 1 hr 20 min
- Hendersonville / Gallatin — about 1 hr 15 min
- Bowling Green, KY — about 30 min
Morning hunts start around 8:30–9:00 AM, which means leaving Nashville around 7:00. Afternoon hunts begin with lunch at the lodge and hit the field around 1:00 PM — a comfortable late morning departure.
What the extra half hour buys you
There is closer hunting than this, and we would not pretend otherwise. What is worth saying plainly is what a day at Backcountry actually looks like, so you can decide whether the drive earns itself.
We hunt over 220 acres of native warm-season grass, forbs and conservation plantings — ground managed for the way quail actually live rather than for the convenience of putting birds out. What comes out of it are coveys. A typical half day produces 12 to 18 covey rises, and you will cover real miles between them behind field trial broke pointers that stand steady through the point, the flush, the shot and the retrieve, with English cockers cut loose from the dog wagon to do the flushing and bring every bird back to hand.
You will also have the place to yourself. One party hunts the preserve at a time — your guide, your dogs, your coveys, nobody else’s truck in the lot. And the bag is unlimited, with your birds cleaned and iced for the ride home at no charge.
Day trip or stay the night
The day trip
A half day — roughly two and a half to three hours in the field plus a sit-down lunch at the Farm House Lodge — is our most-requested booking and works cleanly out of Nashville. Leave at seven, hunt, eat, and be back across the line by mid-afternoon. Half days start at $2,500 Monday through Thursday for a party of up to four hunters.
The overnight
If you would rather not make the drive twice in a day, The Champions Hunt is an afternoon hunt, a night at the Farm House Lodge, and a morning hunt — with a hand-cut steak dinner over open flame, bourbon and cigars by the fire once the guns are put away, and a hot country breakfast before you go back out.
A longer season than you are used to
Tennessee hunters are often surprised by this one: Kentucky licensed shooting preserves may take bobwhite from August 15 through April 15. That is eight months, not the roughly November-to-February window most people plan around. More on the Kentucky preserve season.
And no hunting license is required to hunt with us. Backcountry holds the Kentucky shooting preserve permit, which covers you as our guest — Tennessee residency makes no difference.
Come up and hunt
Dates go quickest on weekends and through the holidays, so book earlier than you think you need to. Call or text and we will find you a day.