Episode 1 - New Show Introduction and Don’s Unique Goal For 2019

Published: 2019-09-24
Episode page
Duration: 52 min

In this episode

2019-forecast

• Don predicts 2019 will be a down year for trophy bucks overall. 22:34

360-hunting-blinds

• Terry asks Don if he agrees the 360 blind’s window system is the best he’s ever seen. 34:20

blog

• Don says he will write a blog today covering the 2019 buck report from his trail camera observations. 50:34

buck-behavior

• Terry relays advice he once heard that a mature deer will pattern the hunter on a property before the hunter patterns the deer. 45:18

buck-mortality

• Don reports that the vast majority of mature bucks he had been tracking on camera vanished in 2019, unlike a typical year where only one or two go missing. 21:25
• Don theorizes the unusually wet, cool spring may have caused some bucks to contract pneumonia or illness and die. 21:34
• After Don posted about disappearing bucks on social media, hunters from across the Midwest reported the same phenomenon of previously tracked bucks vanishing. 22:09

cohost-selection

• Don explains he chose Terry as cohost because he witnessed Terry’s unquestionable integrity during a stressful shared situation about a year earlier. 14:28
• Don values that Terry isn’t a ‘bobblehead’ and will challenge him to become a better person and hunter rather than just agreeing. 15:20

conservation

• Don started his own conservation contracting business in 2002. 7:57
• As a conservation contractor Don planted tree seedlings, shrubs, and native grasses on thousands of acres across the Midwest. 8:03
• In one spring Don and his crew planted over half a million trees across seven states in the Midwest. 8:14

deer-maturity

• Terry asks Don to confirm that once a buck passes four years old, it becomes a different animal. 6:36

drought

• Terry observed drought-stressed alfalfa on his food plots stripped down roughly eight inches by heavy deer browsing this year. 26:15

ehd

• Southern Iowa, considered one of the best places for producing giant bucks, was being devastated by EHD at the time of recording. 23:32
• EHD outbreaks previously stayed in Eastern Kentucky, but new reports have surfaced in the county neighboring Terry’s, bringing the disease closer to home. 26:41

first-hunt-advantage

• Terry asks Don if this is why the first hunt of a stand is considered the best chance to kill a buck. 48:44

food-plot-nutrition

• Terry’s target buck, nicknamed t three, has eaten Maximizer complete feed from Real World Wildlife Products for as long as he’s had trail camera pictures of it. 37:42

goal-setting

• Don says goals shouldn’t be easy, and his hunting success is largely due to setting goals and sticking with them. 41:59
• Terry advises hunters not to lower or adjust their goal just for the sake of filling a tag. 42:38
• Don says he never let himself feel pressure to fill tags, even in years he went without killing a buck. 44:14

habitat-work

• Don believes his hands-on habitat establishment experience is unmatched by almost anyone else in the hunting industry. 8:24

hunting-philosophy

• Don stresses no two deer hunters have the same opportunities, so he does not compare himself to others. 13:29
• Don believes hunters are either constantly improving or getting worse, so failing to push yourself leads to stagnation. 44:58

hunting-pressure

• Terry says hunters must constantly adapt to minimize intrusion pressure or the deer will learn the hunter’s patterns before the hunter learns the deer’s. 45:30
• Don says human pressure saves more deer than anything, since hunters tip deer off before hunting even starts, causing the deer to change patterns. 48:29

illinois-whitetail

• Terry notes Illinois, where Don hunts and can kill two deer per year, is arguably one of the best whitetail areas in the world, even before the 2012 EHD outbreak. 12:03

kentucky-buck

• Don asks Terry to tell listeners about the buck he already shot in Kentucky. 35:52

listener-questions

• Don invites listeners to submit questions through a podcast submission form on his website, higginsoutdoors.com, for use on future episodes. 50:57

mature-buck-strategy

• Don says he really starts paying attention to a buck once it survives gun season as a three-and-a-half-year-old, since that age class is very vulnerable. 46:07

next-episode

• Terry announces they’ll sign off until after the season starts, with a good chance the next episode will be recorded outside the shed on Don’s property. 51:31

ohio-property

• Don now owns a property in Ohio and plans for one of his three season boomers to come from there, though he hasn’t seen a booner on camera there yet. 41:31

personal-history

• Don shot his first buck at age 16, forty years before this recording, and says chasing big deer has become his lifelong passion. 3:51

podcast-follow

• Don announces listeners can follow new podcast releases and accompanying content on his Facebook page, Higgins Outdoors. 50:07

podcast-format

• Terry asks Don what first made him want to get involved in creating this podcast. 1:34

podcast-launch

• Terry Peer launches the first-ever Chasing Giants podcast with Don Higgins, sponsored by BuyAFarm.com. 1:00

podcast-purpose

• Terry asks Don to sum up in a nutshell why they are doing this podcast. 10:48

public-access

• Three of Don’s top five bucks came from unmanaged properties with no food plots, obtained just by knocking on doors for permission with no lease fees paid. 5:15

public-land

• Don currently runs trail cameras on public ground, searching for a giant buck he could pursue there to test his skills. 5:31

real-world-wildlife-products

• Terry asks whether both he and Don would use a better product than their own if one existed. 9:20

scouting-pressure

• Terry warns that hunters hanging stands, trimming lanes, and setting mock scrapes right around opening day are putting heavy pressure on their hunting spots. 47:06
• Don admits he used to scout heavily and hang stands in September, but now stays out of the woods that month except to check trail cameras. 47:39

season-goals

• Don’s plan is to kill one booner in early October, one during the rut, and one in the late season. 41:07
• Terry asks Don what he has planned as the season opens. 39:35

stand-placement

• Don begins preparing tree stand sites in some cases two years before he ever hunts them. 46:32
• Don keeps his stands ready a full year ahead of time so he can slip in with the element of surprise rather than prepping right before season. 46:47

stealth-hunting

• Don says by the day he finally slips in to hunt a target buck, that deer has no idea it’s being hunted because he hasn’t been in there before. 46:53

trail-cameras

• Terry asks Don what activity and trail camera trends he’s seeing as opening week approaches. 18:39

treestand-vs-blind

• A listener question asks Don whether he prefers hunting from a tree stand or a box blind. 31:23

treestands

• Terry recommends Lone Wolf Treestands, calling them top shelf and the brand he and Don both actually use. 35:35

trophy-record

• Don’s top five bucks came from four different properties, with two of them taken on his own farm. 5:05
• Terry asks Don to confirm his top five buck average is just under 195 inches. 4:36

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (harvest) 23:11
• Smokey (harvest) 31:28
• unnamed buck (harvest) 33:32
• unnamed buck (harvest) 34:02
• t three (history) 36:55
• t three (trail-camera) 37:58
• t three (harvest) 39:02
• Trump (hunt) 42:18
• Smokey (trail-camera) 42:25

Listener questions

Question: Terry asks Don what first made him want to get involved in creating this podcast. 1:34

• Answer: Don wanted a podcast following one dedicated hunter through the entire year, rather than the single-topic format of typical hunting podcasts. 2:06

Question: Terry asks Don to confirm his top five buck average is just under 195 inches. 4:36

• Answer: Don confirms his top five average is just under 195, with two of those bucks scoring over 200. 4:43

Question: Terry asks Don to confirm that once a buck passes four years old, it becomes a different animal. 6:36

• Answer: Don agrees, noting a mature buck’s top priority becomes freedom from human intrusion. 6:41

Question: Terry asks whether both he and Don would use a better product than their own if one existed. 9:20

• Answer: Don agrees, explaining Real World Wildlife Products began because he wanted the best food plots on his own land and nothing better existed. 9:29

Question: Terry asks Don to sum up in a nutshell why they are doing this podcast. 10:48

• Answer: Don says the podcast’s purpose is to share factual, effective information that helps other hunters succeed, which he finds rewarding. 11:35

Question: Terry asks Don what activity and trail camera trends he’s seeing as opening week approaches. 18:39

• Answer: Don says he runs about 50 trail cameras across 20 to 25 properties in five or six Central Illinois counties to track mature bucks. 18:54

Question: A listener question asks Don whether he prefers hunting from a tree stand or a box blind. 31:23

• Answer: Don says he likes both, but prefers a tree stand in decent weather and a blind when conditions are cold or wet. 31:48

Question: Terry asks Don if he agrees the 360 blind’s window system is the best he’s ever seen. 34:20

• Answer: Don agrees, saying it’s the only blind type he uses and he now has five of them on his properties. 34:26

Question: Don asks Terry to tell listeners about the buck he already shot in Kentucky. 35:52

• Answer: Terry describes killing his target buck, nicknamed t three, on the evening of September 11 after years of tracking it. 39:02

Question: Terry asks Don what he has planned as the season opens. 39:35

• Answer: Don reveals his goal is to kill three boomer bucks in one season on three different properties at three different times of year. 40:56

Question: Terry asks Don if this is why the first hunt of a stand is considered the best chance to kill a buck. 48:44

• Answer: Don confirms, saying hunters educate deer quickly, which is why he sets up stand sites months or years in advance. 48:51

Sponsors this episode

• Real World Wildlife Products
• Vortex Optics
• Lone Wolf Treestands
• Mathews Archery
• three 360 Hunting Blinds
• QuietKat
• Reconyx

This debut episode introduced the Chasing Giants podcast, hosted by Terry Peer and Don Higgins and sponsored by BuyAFarm.com. Don shared his background as a lifelong deer hunter and conservation contractor since 2002, and explained his top five bucks came from four properties using no-cost permission and food-plot-free ground. He described his 2019 trail camera pattern of mature bucks unexpectedly vanishing, theorizing a wet spring may have caused illness, and noted growing EHD concerns in Iowa and near Terry’s area in Kentucky. Much of the discussion centered on hunting philosophy: setting ambitious goals, preparing stand sites years in advance to avoid educating deer, and minimizing human intrusion pressure. Don outlined his goal of killing three trophy bucks across three properties in one season. Terry recounted killing his target buck, nicknamed t three, on September 11 after years of tracking it. The episode closed with housekeeping about future content and listener questions.

Unofficial fan project. AI-synthesized from public episodes; may contain errors.