Episode #161 - Live from Last Master Class - Inside QuietKat E-Bike

Published: 2023-03-19
Episode page
Duration: 82 min

In this episode

antler-growth

• Terry observed that some breeders are now producing remarkably large-antlered yearling bucks in their first year. 68:01

atv

• Don observed that deer on his farm got used to seeing his ATV, and reacted with alarm when it appeared somewhere unusual. 25:55

buck-bedding

• Do bucks and does prefer bedding in wooded cover or switchgrass differently? 63:05

buck-personality

• How long had Don hunted before realizing each buck has a distinct personality, and what triggered that realization? 7:38

captive-deer

• Did captive-herd buck fawns without a twin grow bigger than those raised with a twin? 6:01

customer-fraud

• Real World Wildlife Products received three requests in one week from people falsely claiming military service to obtain military discounts. 3:58

deer-disease

• What’s the difference between CWD and EHD in deer? 66:24

ebike-market

• Justin Roach said the global ebike market grew from about $26 billion in 2018 to roughly $60 billion today. 17:10
• Justin Roach said forecasts predict 15% of the US adult population will own an ebike within the next ten years. 17:37

farm-history

• How long did Don hunt public land before acquiring his current farm? 68:25

fetal-programming

• Dr. Strickland’s book explains that fetal programming sets the genetic ceiling for how big a buck’s antlers can ever get. 6:57

food-plots

• Duane recommended using a bushel of oats as a cover crop with clover, keeping the drill’s oat seeding rate at 32 lbs/acre without adjusting for the added clover. 44:41
• What cover crop should be used to help re-establish clover plots being redone this year? 40:37
• At what grass-to-clover ratio should a plot be reseeded and mowed versus fully terminated and restarted? 42:13

frost-seeding

• Can clover be frost-seeded into snow that’s melting but the ground isn’t yet firm? 52:21

habitat-diversity

• Terry recommended maximizing diversity in food source and cover to appeal to bucks with different personalities rather than relying on a monoculture. 9:27

hinge-cutting

• Does hinge-cutting cedars keep them green longer and create better cover? 61:17

hunting-ethics

• An audience member said he walked away from a promising piece of ground after seeing a stand with chains and a trail camera, once he realized Don was hunting it. 77:35
• How have hunting ethics on public land changed since Don first started hunting there? 69:30

land-acquisition

• Don announced he recently acquired another 40 acres adjoining his property, which still needs significant development. 80:48

legacy

• Terry said Don Higgins’ legacy is that he’s too humble, always giving to others even when taken advantage of. 74:41
• If this were Don’s last season, what would he want to leave behind in the industry? 72:12

marriage-story

• Terry joked that his advice for young men is to just follow the woman you like home, recalling how he unintentionally trailed his future wife’s car after work. 12:04 (light moment)

master-class-hiatus

• Don plans to take a year off from home-farm master classes to finish property development projects before resuming. 81:18

mineral

• Terry said quality mineral supplements do more than boost antlers, also supporting herd health, parasite control, and doe lactation. 60:19

mineral-feeding

• If mineral feeding were legal in Illinois, would the bucks on Don’s farm look different? 59:17

miscanthus

• Terry explained that Miscanthus is hollow and burns like a chimney or butane torch, shooting flames high when lit in a strip. 47:19
• Terry recommended cutting Miscanthus down with a chainsaw and laying it flat before burning near power lines or cover to avoid tall flames. 47:36
• Is Don’s Miscanthus planter available for rent? 64:05

nutrition

• Terry recommended buying Dr. Strickland’s book on Amazon, which covers breaking through the antler ‘glass ceiling’ through management. 6:41

personal-story

• Where and when did Don and Terry meet their wives, and how long have they been married? 9:52

politics

• How does Don feel about Donald Trump’s expected indictment? 54:28
• Would Don fly a Joe Biden flag for a week if it guaranteed his target buck hit 200 inches? 56:12

quietkat

• Terry introduced Justin Roach, president of QuietKat, as a guest who would present about the company and take audience questions. 3:00
• Terry announced QuietKat has new models and that they’d just received a new Apex Pro bike the previous week that they planned to try out. 3:12
• Justin Roach said he and his brother Jake started QuietKat in 2012, launched their first product in 2013, and are based in the center of Colorado. 14:45
• Justin Roach said QuietKat was sold in May 2021 to Vista Outdoor, a conglomerate that also owns Federal Ammunition among other brands. 15:31
• Justin Roach said QuietKat’s founding mission was to build the most robust, capable ebike to replace or substitute a UTV or ATV. 14:09
• Justin Roach announced QuietKat’s new Rubicon model, a full-suspension bike that’s part of the Jeep family line. 21:09
• Don said switching to a QuietKat let him quietly ride to his stand and lay the bike down, eliminating the scent-alarm issue his parked ATV used to cause. 26:17
• Don said his friend Brad Davis, a known big-buck killer, convinced him a QuietKat was a game changer, which led him to buy one. 25:26
• Don said he drove his QuietKat through waist-high 30-inch-row bean fields to film Mel in velvet without damaging the plants. 27:51
• Don recommended buying QuietKat bikes directly from the company rather than through retailers, so buyers can get advice on the best model for their situation. 31:45
• Don said he parks his truck along a road and rides his QuietKat several miles to his real hunting spot so people think he’s hunting elsewhere. 31:20
• Justin Roach recommended installing a Tannus tire liner, which works like a pool-noodle-filled tube, to guard QuietKat tires against thorny terrain. 36:25
• Can the throttle and gearing sides be switched on the ebike? 26:48
• What is the range of QuietKat’s ebikes from base to higher-end models? 28:40

remote-master-class

• Terry said a remote master class held with friends Ray and Aden in northern Ohio was a big hit. 81:26
• Don said he’d like to hold future remote master classes in different regions of the country for consulting clients who can’t travel. 81:52

shed-hunting

• Don and Terry planned to let attendees shed hunt across two switchgrass fields the next day, since a burn was unlikely given the forecast. 4:51

show-format

• Terry announced that next week the show returns to its regular format, and home-farm master classes are officially over for now. 80:26

smokey

• Terry relayed that during a farm tour, someone asked Don whether Smokey stayed on the property because it was the only spot with switchgrass, prompting Don to reconsider. 8:46
• Don said Smokey was the only buck in his 30-plus years managing the farm that stayed year-round without joining a bachelor group. 9:07

switchgrass

• Has Don tried mowing a switchgrass field before burning it to control the fire better? 46:43

target-buck

• What’s Don’s plan for hunting this year’s target buck? 64:36

taxidermy

• Terry said Justin Nice mounted the two top deer heads and rebuilt the antlers on the bottom mount after they were dropped and shattered the previous summer. 2:41

whitetail-passion

• Justin Roach joked that everyone in the room shares the same ‘terrible disease’ of managing whitetails and chasing the biggest, most mature buck. 12:19 (light moment)

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (trail-camera) 5:24
• Smokey (harvest) 8:12
• Trump (harvest) 8:12
• Smokey (history) 8:46
• Smokey (history) 9:07
• Mel (trail-camera) 27:32
• Smokey (history) 63:40
• unnamed buck (management) 65:03

Listener questions

Question: Did captive-herd buck fawns without a twin grow bigger than those raised with a twin? 6:01

• Answer: Don said genetics, not nutrition, drove size differences among captive buck fawns since nutrition wasn’t a limiting factor there, unlike in the wild. 6:15

Question: How long had Don hunted before realizing each buck has a distinct personality, and what triggered that realization? 7:38

• Answer: Don said he’d hunted 25+ years before it clicked, pinpointing 2017 when he simultaneously chased Smokey and Trump, two bucks so different he used completely different approaches on each. 8:12

Question: Where and when did Don and Terry meet their wives, and how long have they been married? 9:52

• Answer: Don met his wife while cruising the streets of Shelbyville one evening, and they’ve been married 34 years. 10:09
• Answer: Terry has been married 22 years, having dated his wife almost four years before marrying. 10:34

Question: Can the throttle and gearing sides be switched on the ebike? 26:48

• Answer: Justin Roach said although throttles are conventionally on the left, riders can swap gearing and throttle sides to match their ATV or motorcycle setup. 27:17

Question: What is the range of QuietKat’s ebikes from base to higher-end models? 28:40

• Answer: Base models get about 20 miles per charge, while higher-end models reach up to 60 miles. 29:48
• Answer: On power level two, range roughly triples to about 100 miles per charge. 30:02

Question: What cover crop should be used to help re-establish clover plots being redone this year? 40:37

• Answer: Duane recommended getting a current soil sample first, calling it the foundational, best money you can spend before replanting clover. 41:27

Question: At what grass-to-clover ratio should a plot be reseeded and mowed versus fully terminated and restarted? 42:13

• Answer: Duane said you can’t afford to skip frost seeding at least three pounds of clover annually to offset natural plant mortality. 42:47

Question: Has Don tried mowing a switchgrass field before burning it to control the fire better? 46:43

• Answer: Don hadn’t tried it but thought it would work, suggesting keeping the mower about a foot off the ground. 46:48

Question: Can clover be frost-seeded into snow that’s melting but the ground isn’t yet firm? 52:21

• Answer: Duane said frost seeding into melting snow is fine as long as it isn’t sitting on two feet of snow that could blow away. 52:31

Question: How does Don feel about Donald Trump’s expected indictment? 54:28

• Answer: Don said nothing surprises him anymore and predicted opponents won’t allow Donald Trump to be elected again. 55:03

Question: Would Don fly a Joe Biden flag for a week if it guaranteed his target buck hit 200 inches? 56:12

• Answer: Don joked he’d absolutely not fly it, saying he’d use it for the bathroom instead. 56:19

Question: If mineral feeding were legal in Illinois, would the bucks on Don’s farm look different? 59:17

• Answer: Don said it likely wouldn’t make a huge difference since the farm’s soil is already among the richest available. 59:27

Question: Does hinge-cutting cedars keep them green longer and create better cover? 61:17

• Answer: Terry said cedars likely die when hinge cut, so it’s better to drop and let them die, piling them for cover near food plots. 62:39

Question: Do bucks and does prefer bedding in wooded cover or switchgrass differently? 63:05

• Answer: Don said he doesn’t see a broad buck/doe preference, but individual bucks like Smokey strongly favor one cover type—Smokey bedded in grass over 80% of the time. 63:40

Question: Is Don’s Miscanthus planter available for rent? 64:05

• Answer: Don said it’s actually a tree-seedling planter he uses for Miscanthus, recently bought, and he probably won’t rent it out but can point buyers to one. 64:10

Question: What’s Don’s plan for hunting this year’s target buck? 64:36

• Answer: Don said the buck is currently mid-180s and would need about 20 more inches, giving less than 50% odds of reaching 200. 65:03
• Answer: Don said if the buck is alive on October 1 and he decides to hunt it, his odds of killing it are better than fifty-fifty. 65:19

Question: What’s the difference between CWD and EHD in deer? 66:24

• Answer: Don explained CWD is caused by a misfolded prion protein similar to mad cow disease, while EHD is a midge-gnat-borne virus. 66:29

Question: How long did Don hunt public land before acquiring his current farm? 68:25

• Answer: Don said the farm was his grandparents’, where his mom was born, and he began converting it into a deer farm about thirty years ago after they passed away. 68:30

Question: How have hunting ethics on public land changed since Don first started hunting there? 69:30

• Answer: Don said last season he witnessed the worst display of sportsmanship between two public-land hunters he’d ever seen, souring him on public hunting. 70:10

Question: If this were Don’s last season, what would he want to leave behind in the industry? 72:12

• Answer: Don said he hopes followers see that he keeps his priorities in order and is encouraged to examine their own priorities too. 72:25

Terry hosted Justin Roach, president of QuietKat, who explained he and his brother Jake founded the ebike company in 2012, that it was sold to Vista Outdoor in May 2021, and detailed range, throttle-swap options, and the new Rubicon model. Don described switching to a QuietKat after his ATV kept spooking deer, crediting his friend Brad Davis for convincing him, and explained how he uses the bike to reach stands quietly and film deer like Mel without damaging fields. Listener questions covered Don’s target buck, then mid-180s with less than even odds of reaching 200, his farm’s history on his grandparents’ land, and his views on public-land hunting ethics. Don also discussed Smokey, his only buck to stay year-round without joining a bachelor group, favoring switchgrass bedding over 80% of the time. Terry covered antler genetics via Dr. Strickland’s book, Miscanthus burning safety, and mineral supplementation.

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