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 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

Don and Terry covered late-season strategy: once the rut ends, target bucks settle onto a prime food source and need a cold front to get moving before dark, so Don stressed picking hunt days carefully. He recommended planting major grain sources like corn and soybeans rather than relying on small rut plots, and described placing cameras on food sources for new properties this time of year. Both discussed herd management, with Don naming about four cull bucks he hopes to tag this season and planning to fill one tag now while holding the second for January. They tied this to Real World’s new “All In” slogan, emphasizing consistent management for proper age structure. Listener questions addressed consulting for neighboring landowners, whether a mature-buck killing skill ceiling exists, camera placement, and bowhunting difficulty on small tracts versus internet content. Terry also shared the death of a colleague and several upcoming seminar and event dates.

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