Episode #131 - Don forms his own Dream Team

Published: 2022-08-22
Episode page
Duration: 81 min

In this episode

announcement

• Terry teases an upcoming announcement from Real World tied into a listener-submitted question. 5:25

asio-gear

• Terry says the ASIO Gear camo he’s received impressed him most for its stitching, zippers, and pattern quality. 37:38
• Terry says he’s replaced nearly every other piece of camo he owns with ASIO Gear because he’s so pleased with it. 38:02
• Don says Joe, of ASIO Gear, is a person of integrity who isn’t selling cheap junk for profit. 38:19

birthday

• Terry says he was traveling in the Carolinas with Penske and missed the chance to wish Don a happy birthday in person. 4:02
• Don says he turned 59 this past Tuesday. 4:14

bobby-worthington

• Don calls Bobby Worthington, whose name is well-known from North American Whitetail, the best deer hunter he’s ever met. 21:13

buck-forecast

• This year’s trail-camera-based buck forecast will be unique, differing from all previous years’ reports. 6:48
• Did you get pictures of a target buck this week? 6:07

competitors

• Don suspects rivals who criticize mixing cereal grains and brassicas are just trying to discredit him personally. 42:25
• Within days of Real World launching Miscanthus at the ATA Show, a rival consultant released a video discouraging people from planting it. 43:02

consulting

• Don says he must slow down after going 100 miles an hour in his consulting business for three years. 18:17
• Wes Delks, brought on two years ago, handled nearly 100 properties last winter on top of Don’s own workload. 18:37
• Don says he settled on three trusted people to join his consulting team, whose names listeners will recognize. 19:10
• Don names co-host Terry Peer as one of his new consultants, noting Terry’s wall full of big bucks. 19:17
• Don introduces Mark Lester, a founder of the Legends of the Fall TV series, as another new consultant. 20:09
• New consultants will draft written property plans that Don personally reviews and approves before they go to clients. 22:28
• Client plans will be mailed in a new 50-page bound consulting notebook Don designed this year with help from Anne Razor. 23:00
• Don criticizes many new online Whitetail consultants for lacking real hunting background, on-ground bucks, and agricultural experience. 24:21
• Terry observes that Don is walking away from money he could still earn in order to prioritize being home and slowing down. 27:04
• Don recalls convincing a reluctant Terry to join as a consultant by pointing out Terry knew more than many paid consultants. 27:50
• Terry plans to take on only a handful of consulting clients, roughly what he can count on two hands, unlike Wes and Don’s higher volume. 29:31
• Terry says a portion of his consulting fees will go straight to the Lester’s Feet Foundation. 31:54
• Don raised his consulting prices substantially, enough that some people will be surprised. 32:34
• Don commits to honoring his old rates for clients who hired him in the past, even as new prices rise. 32:51
• Terry notes the new consultants also bring different geography and hunting styles to fit different clients. 34:08

covid

• Don says he came down with COVID-like illness this week and pushed through to keep his commitment to listeners and sponsors. 1:12
• Don says Thursday was probably the sickest he has ever felt in his life. 2:12
• Don says his symptoms returned in the afternoon after checking trail cameras, leaving him with chills, a headache, and feeling terrible again. 2:53
• Terry jokes that any illness, even an ingrown toenail, gets labeled COVID these days. 3:08 (light moment)
• Terry recommends sick people just handle it themselves rather than chase official testing, saying that’s how people should deal with sickness now. 3:22
• Don says he strongly suspects he has COVID since it’s spreading in his area, but sees no need to get tested to confirm it for official statistics. 3:38
• Terry jokingly tells Don to stay away from his wife Robin so she doesn’t catch his illness. 80:26 (light moment)

deadly-dozen

• Deadly Dozen is nearly Real World’s top-selling product, close to surpassing soybeans, sold by the pallet. 43:19
• Don points to his Smokey and Mel hunting videos as proof his Deadly Dozen blend attracts and holds 200-inch bucks. 47:05

deer-management

• Don says the impact of crossbow use during archery season has driven the Illinois deer herd’s age structure downward. 75:41
• Don says Illinois sits between top-tier Iowa and average Indiana, and is trending downward toward Indiana rather than catching Iowa. 75:57
• Terry says he’d gladly give up September archery hunting in Kentucky in exchange for moving rifle season out of the rut. 76:47

dream-team

• Don says Wes is the newest consultant he’s known, for ten years, while he’s known everyone else on the team fifteen to twenty years or more. 35:33

family

• Don says his wife has stayed healthy and has been carrying the workload at home while he’s away and sick. 80:30

food-plot-mixing

• Don argues the mixing logic is flawed since even a single-species plot has plants competing with each other regardless of blend. 41:02
• Terry advises against self-mixing too many seed types since improper broadcast rates can cause overseeding failures. 44:56
• Terry explains Deadly Dozen’s seed-tag percentages are measured by weight, so a pinhead-sized seed can still make up a notable share of the bag. 45:40

food-plots

• Why is mixing cereal grains and brassicas in the same food plot blend not a bad idea? 40:07
• On over 500 acres, would you keep all your food plots in one spot? 56:02

hunting-access

• If Joe Biden had a giant buck and invited you to hunt with him, would you go? 56:23

hunting-regulations

• Would you support shortening archery season if it meant moving gun season outside the rut? 73:55

hunting-style

• Terry says he has more experience than the other consultants hunting over supplemental feeding and baiting. 34:48

lesters-feet-foundation

• Ray and Aiden Miller have been huge supporters of the Lester’s Feet Foundation through buying raffle tickets and donating. 14:38
• When Terry mentioned needing help with someone’s roof, Ray and Aiden Miller, from nearby Ohio, immediately offered to help. 14:51
• Terry mentions Mathews forfeited its own podcast segment time so the show could feature the Lester’s Feet Foundation story. 60:45
• Terry reports that the older brother in the charity video was baptized at church the same day this episode was recorded. 67:04

live-podcast

• Don plans to hold a live podcast with Terry at Ray and Aiden Miller’s place during his upcoming Ohio visit. 15:26

mark-lester

• Mark Lester moved his family from Illinois to Iowa to chase giant bucks. 20:23

master-class

• Don announces four spring master classes this year, down from six, with Dr. Bronson Strickland co-teaching two of them. 12:39
• Don sets master class dates as March 9, 11, 16, and 18, with Bronson Strickland teaching the first two. 12:48

mineral

• Terry recommends using a small electric bike like a QuietKat to check trail cameras and put out mineral without disturbing the property. 71:23
• Should mineral be placed in high-traffic deer areas away from where you hunt, even if that means frequent woods intrusion? 67:29

new-property

• Terry and Patrick gained hunting permission on roughly 500 new acres in Illinois, including a neighboring landowner’s property. 10:01
• The new property is bordered on two sides by 1,100 acres where hunting isn’t allowed, creating a refuge effect. 10:17
• The family granting hunting access is currently having a logger selectively cut the property. 10:26

podcast

• Terry recounts sleeping overnight in Don’s shed, 50 yards from the house, without ever seeing Don because of his illness. 1:46

real-world

• Terry teases an upcoming special announcement about a new 2022 Real World Wildlife Products pilot program. 38:52
• Don explains Real World’s three-step testing process: their own farms first, then pro staff nationwide, then a limited pilot program. 44:01
• Terry credits Duane Hopkins, calling him the head of Real World, for pulling off the Southern Fall Blend despite supply chain issues. 54:59

remote-event

• For the first time, Don will host a remote master class event in Middlefield, Ohio on February 4. 13:16
• Don’s friends Ray and Aiden Miller, whose Ohio properties he’s consulted on for years, are hosting the remote class. 13:23

retirement

• Don says he must slow down after three years of going full steam and spending many nights in motels each year. 4:45

scent-lure

• Terry used a rope-scrape scent lure Smokey gave him in North Carolina and got trail-camera photos of a buck within six hours of applying it. 9:11

seminar

• Don announces a December 16 seminar in Vestiburg, Michigan, benefiting an Amish school. 15:53
• Don will do a February 3 seminar for JB’s Feed and Supply, a Real World dealer in Millersburg, near Middlefield. 16:21

southern-fall-blend

• Terry announces a new limited pilot ‘Southern Fall Blend’, a 12-variety variation of Deadly Dozen made for southern land managers. 48:42
• Terry explains standard brassicas need colder weather to drop nitrate levels for palatability, which some southern areas never get. 49:05
• The Southern Fall Blend includes specific clovers that won’t survive Midwest winters but will flourish and attract deer all winter in the South. 50:26
• Terry is most excited that the Southern Fall Blend’s spring green-up will act as a turkey magnet for southern hunters. 50:43
• The Southern Fall Blend will be sold only on the Real World website; dealers will not carry it. 50:57
• Don met with Dr. Bronson Strickland on a Mississippi property this spring and picked his brain on the new blend’s formulation. 52:08
• Duane spent weeks calculating proper seed rates to fine-tune the new Southern Fall Blend. 53:17
• The Southern Fall Blend won’t ship until the week of August 29, so listeners are urged to order now due to limited supply. 54:04
• Real World is committed to the Southern Fall Blend, aiming for a full completed product next year if the pilot succeeds. 78:30
• Don says he already has Southern Fall Blend going in on a large scale on properties in Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina. 78:48

soybeans

• Is it true deer don’t digest soybeans well unless they’re roasted? 56:08

symposium

• Don will speak at a Kansas Whitetail symposium on February 23. 16:39
• Bronson Strickland, Don, and Wes Delks will all speak at the Kansas Whitetail symposium. 16:52
• Terry jokes that Wes will keep his shirt on for the business-casual Kansas symposium instead of showing off his abs. 17:44 (light moment)

well-wishes

• Terry says he and the show’s supporters will be praying for Don’s recovery. 80:22

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (trail-camera) 9:27
• unnamed buck (harvest) 21:41
• unnamed buck (harvest) 38:33
• Smokey (harvest) 47:20
• Mel (sighting) 47:28

Listener questions

Question: Did you get pictures of a target buck this week? 6:07

• Answer: Don confirms he has bucks to chase this fall. 6:12

Question: Why is mixing cereal grains and brassicas in the same food plot blend not a bad idea? 40:07 — asked by Scott Jackovich

• Answer: Don answers that plants always compete with their own kind too, so mixing cereal grains and brassicas is no different a problem than planting a single species. 41:23

Question: On over 500 acres, would you keep all your food plots in one spot? 56:02

• Answer: Don says no, he’d use about three large plots rather than many scattered ones, since limiting a deer’s food options increases hunting odds. 56:47

Question: Is it true deer don’t digest soybeans well unless they’re roasted? 56:08

• Answer: Don says roasted soybeans are more easily digested, but wild deer still eat and digest raw soybeans fine, so it’s no reason to avoid planting them. 59:10

Question: If Joe Biden had a giant buck and invited you to hunt with him, would you go? 56:23

• Answer: Don says he’d absolutely go shoot the buck regardless of his opinion of Biden. 60:01
• Answer: Terry says he wouldn’t care about the deer hunt and would instead want to share Jesus with Biden. 60:22

Question: Should mineral be placed in high-traffic deer areas away from where you hunt, even if that means frequent woods intrusion? 67:29 — asked by Derek

• Answer: Don says mineral just needs to be easy to access; deer will find it without needing the highest-traffic spot. 68:37
• Answer: Don says he only replenishes mineral twice a year rather than checking every week or two. 69:37

Question: Would you support shortening archery season if it meant moving gun season outside the rut? 73:55

• Answer: Don says he would take that trade, likely shortening the season’s end rather than its start. 74:57

Don explained he’d been fighting a COVID-like illness, including his sickest day ever, but pushed through to keep the show going, while his wife covered things at home and Terry led prayers for his recovery. Don, who turned 59, said he was scaling back after years of nonstop travel, announcing three new consulting team members alongside Wes Delks: Terry Peer, Mark Lester of Legends of the Fall, and Bobby Worthington. He detailed spring master classes with Bronson Strickland, a new remote Ohio event hosted by Ray and Aiden Miller, and several seminars. Terry unveiled a limited-pilot Southern Fall Blend food plot mix built for southern climates, crediting Duane Hopkins for solving supply issues. Listener questions covered mixing food plot species, mineral placement, and archery versus rifle season timing, with Don and Terry answering each in turn.

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