Episode #122 - Extreme Heat Really Hurts the Doe and Fawns!

Published: 2022-06-20
Episode page
Duration: 90 min

In this episode

aging-deer

• Andre Miller from Auburn, Kentucky asks how Don ages deer from trail camera photos, referencing Mel being aged at four years old. 63:05

announcement

• Terry announces that the produced video of the Great Debate between Don and Tony has now been uploaded to the Chasing Giants YouTube channel. 11:18
• Don announces he is launching a subscription-based website called Whitetail Master Academy before this fall’s hunting season. 13:54
• Don says the platform’s Ask the Pros category will feature interviews with professionals, including Dr. Bronson Strickland. 16:15
• Don announces a seminar tour starting July 13 in Hamilton, Indiana, kicking off a run of East Coast stops. 70:53
• Don says every seminar stop on the tour will cover the same topic, Ultimate Whitetail Nutrition and Food Plots, with a Q&A afterward. 75:06

buck-scoring

• Terry mentions Tracy Dixon in West Virginia hosted a buck-scoring party that raised charity money and got kids involved. 55:02
• A listener asks how important it is to have a qualifying buck officially scored and entered into the record books. 52:29

consulting-season

• Terry explains he only gets a short window each year from June through July with intense consulting travel, calling it his crazy time of year. 1:49

drop-tine

• Josh Cerone from Riddut, Illinois asks whether a buck with drop-tine genetics only expresses the drop tine once in its life. 68:27

drought

• Don says a nearby storm dropped only four-tenths of an inch on his place while areas a few miles away received two to five inches. 4:48

ehd

• Don warns that current drought stress on deer could make them more susceptible to an EHD outbreak later in the summer. 29:54

fawn-mortality

• Don relays that his friend Travis Phelps, who has raised captive deer for ten years and had only lost four fawns total, lost six fawns in a single week to heat. 26:26

food-plots

• Don reports planting pumpkins after a listener’s question, and despite a severe drought the seedlings have emerged in his food plot. 2:51
• Terry reports that a hot week sped up his corn’s growth using stored soil moisture, with two of his test plots already knee-high. 4:13
• Listener Steve Swearing reports building productive food plots for a decade using only a weed whip and backpack sprayer. 76:40
• Don clarifies the show isn’t only for big-equipment owners, saying a garden sprayer and string trimmer can make a really nice plot, as Steve demonstrated. 82:22
• Steve Swearing from Pleasant Hill, Iowa asks the hosts to clarify throw-and-grow food plots after past answers turned into roller-crimper debates. 76:06

great-debate

• Don reports the debate video is drawing strong, positive engagement, with the most common comment praising how respectfully he and Tony disagreed. 12:10

habitat-diversity

• Don says diversity matters in cover as well as food, since wooded cover provides browse, hiding cover, and thermal cover in severe winters. 34:23

hunting-strategy

• Don says the key lesson from his 1986 buck was hunting where deer spend their daylight hours and recognizing what stage of the rut you’re in. 88:47

king-buck

• Ennis Miller asks the hosts to finally explain the running joke about the ‘king buck.’ 37:36

land-investment

• Don argues land is currently one of the best investments available, though a downturn could quickly make it worth far less than paid. 9:09

land-purchase

• Don describes an auctioned property near him selling for $9,600 after he expected around $8,000, and he refused to bid to $10,000. 6:07
• Terry advises land buyers not to rush into just any property, saying it should be the right one even if it takes patience and more money. 7:45
• Don calculates that paying roughly $10,000 an acre on the 47-acre auctioned property would have totaled about half a million dollars. 8:30

mineral

• Terry urges hunters in drought areas to put out true mineral, not a high-salt product, right now to offset stress heading into insect season. 35:45

safety

• Terry recalls climbing about 45 feet up an eight-inch-diameter poplar with a friend and no harness earlier in life, a risk he no longer takes. 43:16

safety-harness

• Ennis Miller asks what kind of safety harness Don and Terry use since a full harness feels restrictive to him. 37:18

sprayer

• Terry recommends the FIMCO boomless ATV/side-by-side sprayer for food plots, saying it works fantastically and has given him zero problems. 3:20

switchgrass

• Ennis Miller from Sullivan, Ohio asks why Don says big bucks like small cover patches yet also recommends switchgrass plots of at least five acres. 36:40

whitetail-master-academy

• Terry explains a top piece of feedback is that many fans cannot afford or find time for a master class or a consulting visit with Don. 19:01
• Don explains hunting channels on another outlet were recently shut down because the platform owners are unfavorable toward hunting, motivating full control of the new site. 21:11

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (sighting) 28:33
• Mel (history) 52:59
• Joey Buck (harvest) 64:43
• unnamed buck (harvest) 65:05
• unnamed buck (sighting) 69:40
• unnamed buck (sighting) 70:02
• unnamed buck (harvest) 86:08

Listener questions

Question: Ennis Miller from Sullivan, Ohio asks why Don says big bucks like small cover patches yet also recommends switchgrass plots of at least five acres. 36:40 — asked by Ennis Miller

• Answer: Don explains small patches attract bucks in heavily hunted areas hunters overlook, while large switchgrass fields are for owned property where you control human intrusion. 38:35

Question: Ennis Miller asks what kind of safety harness Don and Terry use since a full harness feels restrictive to him. 37:18 — asked by Ennis Miller

• Answer: Don says he uses an adjustable Treehopper safety belt rather than a harness because it’s easier to fit over thick winter clothing. 41:39
• Answer: Terry admits he used to skip harnesses but now promises his wife he’ll be safer, especially hunting alone out of state. 44:21

Question: Ennis Miller asks the hosts to finally explain the running joke about the ‘king buck.’ 37:36 — asked by Ennis Miller

• Answer: Terry recounts a seminar speaker’s claim that a buck photographed with a leg raised can’t be the area’s dominant deer, since a true dominant buck would never expose itself to a camera. 48:59

Question: A listener asks how important it is to have a qualifying buck officially scored and entered into the record books. 52:29

• Answer: Don says scoring is entirely a personal choice, though he’s had some of his own bucks scored to protect his credibility. 52:47
• Answer: Terry jokes there’s one type of person who avoids official scoring: those whose own tape measure stretches the score 20 inches longer. 54:36

Question: Andre Miller from Auburn, Kentucky asks how Don ages deer from trail camera photos, referencing Mel being aged at four years old. 63:05 — asked by Andre Miller

• Answer: Don says he ages deer using trail camera history rather than a single photo, since photos alone can’t reliably reveal a mature buck’s exact age. 63:37
• Answer: Terry adds there’s no way to reliably age a buck from body sag or brisket alone since every deer’s build differs. 66:25

Question: Josh Cerone from Riddut, Illinois asks whether a buck with drop-tine genetics only expresses the drop tine once in its life. 68:27 — asked by Josh Cerone

• Answer: Don says there’s no truth to the theory; a buck with drop-tine genetics can express the trait every year, not just once. 69:15

Question: Steve Swearing from Pleasant Hill, Iowa asks the hosts to clarify throw-and-grow food plots after past answers turned into roller-crimper debates. 76:06 — asked by Steve Swearing

• Answer: Don clarifies true throw-and-grow means zero prep before spreading seed, whereas Steve’s method with spraying and a weed whip counts as prep work. 80:35
• Answer: Terry notes the confusion stems from an actual product called Throw and Go, which is what they’d been referencing. 81:47

Sponsors this episode

• Lester’s Feet Foundation

Don and Terry covered drought stress across their properties, with Don noting a nearby storm dropped only four-tenths of an inch while areas miles away got two to five inches, and Don’s pumpkins still emerging despite the dry spell. Terry reported hot weather pushing his corn along using stored soil moisture. Don warned drought-stressed deer could be more vulnerable to EHD, citing a friend, Travis Phelps, who lost six fawns in a single week to heat after losing only four total in ten years of raising captive deer. Terry recommended applying true mineral now ahead of insect season. Don discussed a nearby auctioned property that sold for $9,600 after he expected around $8,000, prompting Terry’s advice to wait for the right property rather than rush. Don announced the debate video with Tony was posted to YouTube and drawing positive engagement, plus an upcoming subscription site, Whitetail Master Academy. Listener questions covered harness preferences, buck aging from trail cameras, and drop-tine genetics.

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