Episode #15 - Passion vs. Discipline

Published: 2020-02-15 Episode page Duration: 62 min

In this episode

buyafarm

• Don endorses the Monroe County farm listing, saying he’d want it himself but only skips it because it’s too far from home, urging someone to buy it. 42:14
• Don provides contact information for listing agent Wayne Keller regarding the Monroe County farm property. 43:46

career-advice

• Don plans to devote a full episode to advising young people who want to get into the hunting industry, a topic he frequently gets questions about. 36:32

chasing-giants

• Don announces listeners who submit a question or topic suggestion at chasinggiants.com will receive a free Chasing Giants T-shirt. 61:04

coyote-hunting

• Terry notes that when hunting coyotes at night, wounding and downing one often draws in more coyotes. 46:29
• Terry recalls being in a blind with Don when a coyote appeared before dark and Don let it come in, so their deer hunt turned into a coyote hunt. 48:32
• Terry poses a scenario to Don: with little shooting light left while hunting a target buck, a coyote walks out—what do you do? 47:21

culling-deer

• Terry plans to devote a future spring episode to methods of culling deer, calling it the most misunderstood topic in the hunting industry. 36:01

deer-research

• Don allows university researchers to live-trap deer on his property, part of a study around the Lake Shelbyville area of Central Illinois. 26:09

discipline

• Don believes that discipline, not passion, is what separates hunters who consistently kill big bucks from equally passionate hunters who do not. 11:33

episode-16

• Terry announces the next episode, episode 16, will release in a few days. 62:07

faith

• Terry recalls Don’s belief that God blesses people who put others first before themselves. 8:24

false-accusation

• A neighbor falsely claimed that Don had found his buck, claimed it as his own, and posted pictures of it on Facebook. 55:30
• Don denies ever taking or claiming the neighbor’s buck, challenging him to show any Facebook picture proving it. 55:43

farm-management

• Don states that over roughly twenty-five years of managing his farm with food plots, the quality of bucks there has steadily improved. 28:51

fetal-programming

• Don learned that Dr. Bronson Strickland of Mississippi State University’s Deer Lab discussed fetal programming in a podcast, aligning with Don’s own views. 18:30
• Terry clarifies that buck fawns are pushed out of their birth area to prevent them from breeding with their mother or sister. 25:06
• Joel Miles asked whether supplemental feeding and mineral use mainly benefit neighboring properties, since young bucks disperse away from their birth farm. 20:17

hunting-success

• Don states that four of his top five bucks have come since 2015, after more than forty years of hunting, even though he now hunts less each year. 16:18

mature-buck-behavior

• Don states a mature buck’s greatest need is freedom from human intrusion, preferring a small isolated patch of cover over a large woods with hunter pressure. 43:22

mentorship

• Don describes mentoring a young man on the drive to Wisconsin who sought advice about pursuing the same hunting-industry career. 9:37

personal-loss

• Terry attended the funeral of family friend Donna Stewart, who died from injuries sustained in a car accident in late December. 3:06

podcast-mission

• Don states the podcast’s mission is to share what’s made them successful, emphasizing that discipline produces consistent big buck success. 17:44

predator-control

• Nick Wright asked for thoughts on predator control and keeping hunting pressure off his properties. 44:14

property-selection

• Don explains that the best deer-hunting properties are isolated and free of neighboring hunter pressure, rather than large heavily wooded tracts joined to other woods. 42:54

publication

• Don announces he submitted a new article to Deer and Deer Hunting magazine this week making the point that young males relocate to prevent inbreeding. 24:41

quietkat

• Terry recommends the QuietKat electric bike as a tool that lets hunters access their property quietly, enabling game-changing moves like checking cameras without pressuring deer. 34:41
• Don notes the QuietKat bike’s main advantage is that it is quiet and leaves no scent trail on the ground while riding to a stand. 35:07

shed-hunting

• Don warns that hunters who rush out shed hunting as soon as they see a social media post push bucks off prime bedding and food, pressuring them and reducing the odds of finding the antler. 12:53

smokey-buck

• Terry describes seeing a Facebook user accuse Don of editing a photo of Smokey’s antlers to make them look bigger. 3:57
• Local people claimed Don’s bucks Smokey and Trump were $10 pen-raised deer he had released rather than wild kills. 5:17

sportsmanship

• Don recounts helping a neighbor recover a buck the neighbor had shot that ran onto Don’s property, reflecting his commitment to good sportsmanship. 53:46

target-buck

• Terry recalls a target buck he and Don had history with, where Don called and told him not to come hunt because conditions weren’t right, so they waited before harvesting it. 15:13
• Terry says serious hunters want a documented history with a specific buck over multiple years before taking the shot, rather than harvesting an unfamiliar deer. 56:21

trespassing

• Don recounts offering neighbors a $100 reward for every trespasser caught and arrested on a leased property previously treated as public ground. 59:21
• Amos Hershberger asked the best way to keep trespassers off a newly purchased property, especially since he lives two hours away. 49:33

whitetail-master-course

• Don explains he started the Whitetail Master Course, giving farm tours, after realizing there was demand from people asking to see his property firsthand. 31:32

whitetail-productions

• Terry plans to appear on the Whitetail Productions podcast to discuss consumer behavior and marketing trends in the hunting industry. 37:10

Deer activity

• Smokey (harvest) 5:12
• Trump (harvest) 5:12
• fork time buck (harvest) 14:55
• Smokey (history) 28:57
• unnamed buck (hunt) 54:13

Listener questions

Question: Joel Miles asked whether supplemental feeding and mineral use mainly benefit neighboring properties, since young bucks disperse away from their birth farm. 20:17 — asked by Joel Miles

• Answer: Don explains research by Dr. Carl Miller showing does kick off yearling buck fawns, who then relocate five to twenty miles from where they were born. 21:51
• Answer: Don adds that if the doe is killed, the pattern reverses and 90% of the time those buck fawns stay in the area where they were born. 22:30
• Answer: Don advises that the doe to cull is the one that gave birth to a buck fawn, since that fawn is more likely to stay on the property if she is removed. 23:37
• Answer: Don says widespread supplemental feeding across a state means more deer benefit from fetal programming, so it’s worth encouraging neighbors to feed too. 27:33

Question: Nick Wright asked for thoughts on predator control and keeping hunting pressure off his properties. 44:14 — asked by Nick Wright

• Answer: Don describes hiring a trapper who, combined with his own bow hunting, removed 17 coyotes from his 120 acres in about sixty days. 44:57
• Answer: Don says predator control is necessary but the method matters, favoring night calling with thermal or infrared optics from a distance to avoid disturbing deer. 46:10

Question: Terry poses a scenario to Don: with little shooting light left while hunting a target buck, a coyote walks out—what do you do? 47:21

• Answer: Don says it depends on the stand; if it’s a spot he’s hunting a target buck, he’ll let the coyote walk rather than risk spooking the buck. 48:00
• Answer: Terry adds that the decision depends on location; near a bedding area they’d lay off, but a transition-area stand might warrant taking the coyote. 48:15

Question: Amos Hershberger asked the best way to keep trespassers off a newly purchased property, especially since he lives two hours away. 49:33 — asked by Amos Hershberger

• Answer: Don advises coming down hard on the very first trespasser caught, since word spreads and leniency invites more trespassing. 50:44
• Answer: Don says there are no free passes: the first offender gets the law and an attorney letter to set the tone. 51:26
• Answer: Terry recommends building a relationship with the local game warden, who understands serious deer managers and wants to catch trespassers. 51:53
• Answer: Terry suggests placing a cell camera at entry points so a trespasser alert can be sent to the game warden even from two hours away. 52:12

Sponsors this episode

• buyafarm.com
• 360 Hunting Blinds
• QuietKat
• Real World Wildlife Products
• Vortex
• Lone Wolf
• Mathews

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