Episode #132 - 2022 Buck Forecast Part 1

Published: 2022-08-29
Episode page
Duration: 77 min

In this episode

bachelor-groups

• Terry notes that summer bachelor groups of bucks are very patternable, typically bedding in the same area, which has given him good hunting success. 76:00

banter

• Wes jokes that despite Don’s kind introduction, he can’t take him seriously wearing that hard hat. 16:35 (light moment)
• Don clarifies that the recurring ‘love swing’ joke started with Wes and that he and Terry have no real issue with tree saddles, despite listeners assuming otherwise. 38:20
• Wes jokes that the spot to see him shirtless is next to a billboard sign depicting Terry as a ballet dancer. 37:29 (light moment)

bedding

• Terry states that increasing bedding cover, as Wes emphasized, is a universally good strategy for any property before managing deer or age structure. 71:27
• Don tells consulting clients that killing big deer consistently requires hunting properties where those deer already live, meaning landowners must provide bedding. 72:00
• Don reiterates that staying out of bedding cover is the one universal tactic that works on every property. 73:50

booner

• Wes relays Don’s advice that if you want to kill a Boone and Crockett buck, you have to hunt where one actually lives. 29:22

buck-behavior

• Tyler Thompson from Deer Creek, Illinois asks whether the ‘same time, same place’ pattern for returning bucks applies all season or only certain phases. 55:30

buyafarm

• Terry notes Don wanted this week’s BuyAFarm segment to feature a smaller, more affordable property with potential rather than the usual multimillion-dollar acreages. 58:48

charity

• Terry reports that his organization paid out almost $5,055,000 to families this week, funded entirely by donor contributions. 51:58

consulting

• Terry relays that Todd Covey is already seeing more deer on his property from strategies implemented during Don’s consulting visit. 2:29

cover

• Wes reports adding roughly 7-8 acres of tree planting and 17 acres of switchgrass this year, bringing his property to over 25 acres of new cover. 23:13

dream-team

• Terry announces that Don will survey his newly added dream team of consultants before giving his buck forecast this year. 4:14
• Terry announces that next week another dream team member will appear to share their buck forecast, kept secret as a surprise for listeners. 74:27
• Don lists the dream team’s geographic spread: Mark Lester in Iowa, Bobby Worthington in East Tennessee, Terry in Kentucky, Wes in Indiana, and Don himself in Illinois. 74:58

food-plots

• Don states all his fall food plots this year were planted in the locations he had planned since spring, unaffected by flooding. 4:48
• Don says people are in too big a hurry planting fall food plots too early, and he typically waits until Labor Day weekend to plant his own plots. 5:22
• Terry shares that leaving standing corn through winter while mowing funnel paths has successfully funneled deer within bow range on his property. 7:42
• Terry identifies planting too early into brief moisture before a hot dry spell as a common food plot mistake, since swelling seeds without follow-up moisture die before establishing. 8:02
• Terry warns that food plot blends with mixed seed sizes settle in the bag, so failing to stir before spreading causes uneven hot spots of brassicas. 9:49
• Don says if breaking up a plot like Tony’s approach, he’d use Miscanthus instead of switchgrass because it screens better in a narrower strip. 46:09
• Don explains that a buck exiting into a small half-acre plot crosses it quickly, unlike in a larger plot where he lingers longer. 48:07
• Easton Gruber asks if Don screens only the edges of feeding areas or splits them with switchgrass lines between clover, Deadly Dozen, soybeans, and corn. 45:52

genesis-drill

• Terry announces Don sells the Genesis drill and urges listeners wanting one for frost seeding to order soon given ongoing supply chain delays. 53:22

human-intrusion

• Wes explains that after not hunting the new property at all last year, by January he had 25-30 deer regularly feeding at his feeder, far more than the property had ever held before. 24:11
• Don explains that building trust with deer requires a hard-line no-intrusion stance for about ten years, which develops several generations of deer conditioned to feel safe. 26:34
• Don adds that he’s driven equipment within 10 yards of bedded or watching deer without spooking them, as long as he keeps moving and doesn’t stop to make eye contact. 42:35
• John Marasky from Campbellsport, Wisconsin asks how to balance human intrusion from food plot maintenance work against disturbing deer on his small 30-acre property. 39:42

kentucky

• Terry says Kentucky’s deer season is approaching and he has one more week before he’ll be sitting in a tree stand. 1:11
• Terry plans to be in a tree stand in six days when Kentucky’s season opens on Saturday. 75:46

landowner-relations

• Wes shares that he and his wife Madison invited the local conservation officer, who previously hunted the property, and his family over for dinner to build a friendship. 24:45

listener-gift

• Don explains that listener and friend Todd Covey, who runs a dipping company, sent him and Terry custom Chasing Giants hard hats. 1:33

listener-gifts

• Terry mentions listeners have sent various gifts like YETI coolers and flashlights, in addition to Todd Covey’s hard hats. 74:03

logging

• Wes says that although loggers cut into his corn, it worked out well by creating greens between cover and standing grain he plans to leave. 27:35

nutricrave-corn

• Brad Hemmire asks whether Don strategically plants NutriCrave corn around certain stands to funnel deer along the edges. 65:50

permission-strategy

• Wes shares that making maple syrup each February with his wife Madison has become a great icebreaker for asking neighboring landowners permission to tap their maple trees. 35:04

personal-update

• Don shares that after feeling better, he spent a full day planting food plots and put up a new flagpole at his house with his daughter and son-in-law. 3:12
• Terry shares that a young Japanese coworker was recently diagnosed with fast-moving stomach cancer and may be too sick to fly home to Japan. 52:29

property-search

• Wes describes compiling a list of 30 to 40 properties in his target county using onX and plat maps while searching for his farm. 20:35

scouting-mistakes

• Don comments after seeing a social media video that a hunter camping right next to an exposed water tank near his tree stand has no real chance of killing a mature buck there. 73:17

southern-fall-blend

• Terry announces Real World’s new southern fall blend pilot program, noting hunters in southern states have much more planting time than those up north. 5:51

trail-cameras

• Don reports checking about half a dozen trail cameras this week with no big surprises. 3:46
• Wes reports having nine bucks over 140 inches on camera across his Indiana and Kentucky properties this year. 30:10
• Wes notes that last year in Illinois and Kansas he had almost 30 bucks over 140 inches on camera, triple this year’s count. 30:18

wes-delks

• Don recalls that what struck him about Wes from the start was that he never tried to impress him with big buck stories, unlike many young hunters. 13:28
• Don recounts that Wes and his wife Madison bought into The Real World business about four years ago and moved to Illinois. 14:03
• Don shares that Wes is an outspoken Christian unafraid to offer the blessing even among much older men at the table. 14:34

Deer activity

• Smokey (harvest) 13:11
• Trump (harvest) 13:11
• unnamed buck (hunt) 18:54
• Two sixteen (history) 19:07
• unnamed buck (hunt) 30:54
• unnamed buck (trail-camera) 32:06
• unnamed buck (sighting) 43:15

Listener questions

Question: John Marasky from Campbellsport, Wisconsin asks how to balance human intrusion from food plot maintenance work against disturbing deer on his small 30-acre property. 39:42 — asked by John Marasky

• Answer: Don explains that human intrusion matters most in bedding cover; deer are used to routine equipment sounds, but disturbance in bedding areas is where intrusion becomes a real problem. 41:07
• Answer: Don adds that he’s driven equipment within 10 yards of bedded or watching deer without spooking them, as long as he keeps moving rather than stopping to make eye contact. 42:35

Question: Easton Gruber asks if Don screens only the edges of feeding areas or splits them with switchgrass lines between clover, Deadly Dozen, soybeans, and corn. 45:52 — asked by Easton Gruber

• Answer: Don says if breaking up a plot like Tony’s approach, he’d use Miscanthus instead of switchgrass because it screens better in a narrower strip. 46:09
• Answer: Don adds that a buck exits a small plot quickly, so smaller broken-up plots may not hold deer feeding as long as one big open plot. 48:07

Question: Tyler Thompson from Deer Creek, Illinois asks whether the ‘same time, same place’ pattern for returning bucks applies all season or only certain phases. 55:30 — asked by Tyler Thompson

• Answer: Don confirms the same-time-same-place pattern holds all season, though November is a wild card since a mature buck’s routine breaks once he hooks up with a hot doe. 55:56

Question: Brad Hemmire asks whether Don strategically plants NutriCrave corn around certain stands to funnel deer along the edges. 65:50 — asked by Brad Hemmire

• Answer: Don advises against placing a blind inside a cornfield plot because wind direction is unpredictable there, making it hard to know where a mature buck will approach from downwind. 66:39

Don and Terry were joined by guest Wes, who described his search for a hunting property, including compiling a list of 30 to 40 candidates using onX and plat maps. Wes said this year he added new tree plantings and switchgrass, bringing the property to over 25 acres of new cover, and that after not hunting it at all last year, by January 25-30 deer were regularly using a feeder there. He reported nine bucks over 140 inches on camera this year across Indiana and Kentucky, down from almost 30 last year in Illinois and Kansas. Don reiterated that staying out of bedding cover is the one universal tactic across properties, and the two discussed common food plot timing mistakes. Listener questions covered balancing food plot work against disturbing deer, whether to screen feeding areas with switchgrass, and if the same-time-same-place buck pattern holds all season, which Don said it generally does except in November.

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