Episode #146 - Late Season Decisions and Tactics

Published: 2022-12-04 Episode page Duration: 82 min

In this episode

archery-hunting

• Trevor Hagen asks whether Don and Terry think the difficulty of archery hunting on smaller tracts gets enough attention compared to internet hunting content. 63:53

buck-dispersal

• Research shows that yearling bucks in farm country typically disperse five to twenty miles from where they were raised, Don notes. 37:31
• Don theorizes that mystery bucks appearing in late season are ones that spent their first winter as fawns on his farm before dispersing, then return during harsh winters. 38:05

consulting

• Don describes visiting a nice Southern Indiana property enrolled in the WRP program, where he’s proposing wetland construction ideas. 9:41
• Don is heading to Mississippi and Illinois this coming week for consulting visits. 11:36
• Ray and Aden Miller, consulting clients turned friends, asked Terry follow-up questions this week about scent-control underwear. 12:33
• Terry advises listeners to sign up early for dream-team consulting visits since slots fill up quickly. 13:14
• Jordan Blummer from Strasburg, Illinois asks whether Don and Terry have ever consulted on adjacent landowners’ properties and how they approach that. 49:40

deer-hunting-goals

• Ryan Kimler asks whether, after seventeen seasons without killing a mature buck, there’s a natural skill cutoff in deer hunting, like in basketball. 53:09

event-announcement

• Don announces a benefit supper and seminar for an Amish school on December 16 in Vestedburg, Michigan. 4:17
• Don will take part in a field day January 27-28 with Real World distributor Tag Out Technique in Plymouth, Indiana. 5:03
• Don and Terry will host a live Chasing Giants podcast on February 2 in Middlefield, Ohio with Ray and Aden Miller. 5:59
• Don will give a seminar for JB’s Feed and Supply in Millersburg, Ohio on February 3. 6:37
• Don will speak at a Heartland Outdoors dinner seminar on February 16 in Fall City, Nebraska. 7:05
• Don will speak at the Whitetail Management Summit in Salina, Kansas on February 18. 7:45
• The Whitetail Management Summit will feature Don, Dr. Bronson Strickland of the Mississippi State Deer Lab, and consultant Wes Delks as speakers. 7:55

food-plots

• Don recommends planting major grain food sources like corn and soybeans for late season, not just small food plots used during the rut. 24:39

future-planning

• Don says he’s already gearing up for next season by knocking on doors for future hunting permission this week. 43:44

herd-management

• Don plans to target does with twin buck fawns during herd management, shooting every one he can find this season. 26:51
• Don has a target list of about four management bucks he plans to have shot this season, focusing on bucks unlikely to become trophies. 27:45
• Don plans to fill his first management buck tag immediately and hold his second tag until January, hoping bad weather draws in new bucks. 28:13
• Terry clarifies the culling advice means targeting the weakest buck within each age class, not every eight-pointer. 29:21
• Terry states that producing giant bucks requires proper age structure in the deer herd, achieved only through consistent management. 33:17

hunting-permission

• Don recounts asking an unfamiliar landowner if he knew his late grandfather Raymond Watkins, discovering the man’s grandfather had been his Sunday school teacher. 15:03
• Don gained hunting permission on three properties this week but won’t hunt any of them since other hunters he knows already have access. 16:17
• Terry sent an introductory letter to an unfamiliar landowner on a property adjoining his Illinois hunting ground before shotgun season. 16:25

landowner-relations

• Terry recommends starting with trail cameras or coyote hunting as a low-commitment way to build a relationship and eventually gain fuller property access. 17:30
• Terry recommends staying in year-round contact with landowners rather than reappearing just before hunting season. 17:55

late-season

• Don explains that once late season arrives, target bucks stop traveling like they did during the rut and key in on a prime food source. 20:19
• Don says hunters need a cold weather front to push bedded late-season bucks onto their feet before dark. 22:09
• Don emphasizes that late-season hunters must be highly selective about which days they hunt, since there’s little room for error. 22:37
• Terry notes that once farmers chisel-plow certain Illinois fields on his properties, there’s no reason for deer to remain there. 24:01
• Don typically gets to his afternoon late-season stand two to two-and-a-half hours before dark, going even earlier in worse weather. 40:35
• In extreme cold, Don hunts right on the edge of the food source rather than bedding areas since deer are piling directly out of cover. 41:34
• Don uses late-season stand time to reflect on habitat projects and plan improvements for next season. 44:02

master-class

• Don plans to show photos of the mature bucks living on his farm this year only at his in-person Master Class, not on the Internet, to prevent misuse. 32:16

muzzleloader

• Terry plans to host a guest hunting late muzzleloader season on his home farm to try to kill a specific management buck. 80:31

personal-loss

• Terry shares that a 37-year-old Japanese engineer colleague passed away this week from a rapid form of stomach cancer. 78:59
• Terry learned at the viewing that his late colleague had actually been attending Bible study with other Japanese families at a local church. 80:08

podcast-growth

• Terry reports the podcast’s listenership has grown dramatically over the past few weeks. 0:58
• Terry attributes the podcast’s download growth largely to listeners recommending the show to others. 81:05

quietkat

• Terry got his QuietKat e-bike stuck in soft, unfrozen chisel-plowed dirt hidden under fresh snow while cutting across a bean field to his stand. 42:23
• Terry announces they’ll be demoing a new generation QuietKat bike this year after receiving their new bikes. 62:44

real-world

• Terry announces Real World will publish the hosts’ full event calendar on the Real World website, keeping it updated. 9:07
• Terry announces Real World’s new brand slogan for this year, All In, reflecting that giant bucks require commitment across multiple management phases. 33:42

scent-control

• Don jokes that scent-control underwear needs washing at least once every two weeks to stay effective for deer hunting. 12:48 (light moment)

schedule-change

• Terry announces the show now records Saturday nights so episodes can upload earlier Sunday, ready right after church. 1:54

switchgrass

• John Soteros asks what he can do to get deer to use his five-to-seven-acre Real World Switchgrass patches for bedding more. 73:32

trail-cameras

• Terry received email permission from the landowner to hang trail cameras on the adjoining property after introducing himself by letter. 17:18
• Don recommends using years of trail camera history to recognize individual bucks by age three, when serious management targeting should begin. 30:52
• Clint Cross asks how Don is placing trail cameras this time of year—only on food sources, on travel trails, or another approach. 59:05

weather

• Terry notes the same winter storm system dumped around five feet of snow near Buffalo and the Finger Lakes region. 43:11

youtube-growth

• Don observed that the show’s YouTube-only views have more than doubled compared to about a month earlier. 1:20

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (management) 27:45
• unnamed buck (hunt) 80:31

Listener questions

Question: Jordan Blummer from Strasburg, Illinois asks whether Don and Terry have ever consulted on adjacent landowners’ properties and how they approach that. 49:40 — asked by Jordan Blummer

• Answer: Don says he’s fine consulting for neighboring landowners and actually prefers when neighbors work together rather than against each other. 50:18
• Answer: Terry adds he wouldn’t take a neighboring landowner’s project without his existing client’s buy-in, since customers become a trusted circle. 52:10

Question: Ryan Kimler asks whether, after seventeen seasons without killing a mature buck, there’s a natural skill cutoff in deer hunting, like in basketball. 53:09 — asked by Ryan Kimler

• Answer: Don tells Ryan the mature bucks he wants are confirmed present, meaning they’re killable, so he needs to change his approach rather than give up. 54:22
• Answer: Terry adds it might be that Ryan’s mature bucks only show up on camera at night, meaning his property needs changes to get them there in daylight. 55:59

Question: Clint Cross asks how Don is placing trail cameras this time of year—only on food sources, on travel trails, or another approach. 59:05 — asked by Clint Cross

• Answer: Don explains that for a new property this time of year, he’d key trail cameras on food sources since deer will use them the rest of winter. 59:35
• Answer: Terry adds that trail camera locations, like stand locations, can be developed and refined over time, not just placed once. 61:00

Question: Trevor Hagen asks whether Don and Terry think the difficulty of archery hunting on smaller tracts gets enough attention compared to internet hunting content. 63:53 — asked by Trevor Hagen

• Answer: Don says he knows land-management video creators who never show themselves shooting truly mature bucks with a bow despite promoting bowhunting tactics. 64:38
• Answer: Terry says the hunting industry, from his eighteen years inside it, is fundamentally about entertainment rather than education. 67:52

Question: John Soteros asks what he can do to get deer to use his five-to-seven-acre Real World Switchgrass patches for bedding more. 73:32 — asked by John Soteros

• Answer: Don advises keeping food separate from bedding cover so bucks must move to feed—that forced movement is what makes them killable. 74:21
• Answer: Terry adds that the switchgrass bedding style they recommend should be so thick that nothing else could grow inside it. 76:11

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