Episode 175 - June Food Plot Update

Published: 2023-06-25
Episode page
Duration: 65 min

In this episode

announcement

• Don announces Dr. Strickland will be a guest on the podcast next month and invites listeners to submit questions in advance. 30:35

auction

• Todd Hewing told Terry he’d warned podcast listeners the auctioned property might go cheap, and it did — he ended up buying it himself. 25:57
• Todd Hewing told Don the property sold for only a little over a thousand dollars. 26:38

babe

• Don plans to try to kill Babe this season if the buck is still alive, though he hasn’t seen him all summer. 51:23
• Ed from Albany, Georgia asks Don whether Babe is an easy buck or a tough buck to hunt. 50:05
• Terry asks Don whether Babe travels as far as Mel did. 50:38

bedding-cover

• Jeremiah also asks whether diverse bedding cover is just as important as diverse food plots. 38:18

blind-setup

• Terry plans to assemble his new blind at home before hauling it out to replace one of the older blinds on his property. 63:56

browse-pressure

• Terry experienced severe browse pressure on his soybean plot from deer and turkey after nearby alfalfa dried up. 10:51

bush-hogging

• Terry plans to start bush hogging around July 4th before putting out trail cameras, to avoid mowing fawns and prevent foxtail from triggering false camera photos. 24:01

chinkapin-oak

• Don says if he had to pick the acorn deer prefer most, it would be the chinkapin oak, despite its small size. 55:27

clover

• Don plans to drill clover seed this fall with his Genesis drill and frost seed again next spring to rebuild a good clover stand. 20:50

criticism

• An anonymous listener from Slippery Rock, PA asks how Don handles being called an elitist and slandered for pursuing mature deer. 42:39

deer-nutrition

• Dr. Strickland has explained that deer adjust their diet, including mineral consumption, based on what nutrients they need. 30:30

doe-mortality

• Heath from Freetown, Indiana asks about doe mortality after finding a dead doe that died mid-birth next to his kids’ swing set. 35:06

drought

• Don reports the drought is still ongoing in Central Illinois as of late June, with hope for rain from an approaching front. 1:37
• Don believes the current drought actually began last fall, when rains stopped shortly after the corn crop matured for harvest. 18:17
• Terry observed via farm-equipment YouTube channels that last year’s harvest went smoothly with no mud, supporting the theory drought began the previous fall. 21:28

faith

• Don states everybody will be a believer one day, and smart people will become believers before they die. 49:37

fall-food-plot

• Grady also asks how to prepare fall food plots for planting Deadly Dozen. 30:57

feeder

• Terry plans to assemble a new 750-pound feeder and a new 360 blind this week in preparation for trail camera season. 62:46

giant-buck

• Terry reports spotting his first giant buck sighting of the year in an undisclosed location, after getting a call and glassing the deer. 62:23

giant-ragweed

• Jeremiah Kraft from Mason, Michigan asks Don to elaborate on deer eating and bedding in giant ragweed on his property. 37:57

herbicide

• Terry says he’s been extremely happy with the Stallwart residual herbicide he tested this year, finding it worked better than last year’s Harness Extra. 7:59
• Terry asks Don to compare this year’s Sure Shot herbicide to last year’s Resicore, since Don felt it was less effective. 6:11

jealousy

• Terry recounts overhearing golfers at a company outing accuse a highly skilled amateur golfer of never working and coming from money, illustrating jealousy-driven criticism. 47:22

mineral-intake

• Don reports several other hunters, including a couple in Iowa, told him their deer showed increased mineral intake this year. 29:53

miscanthus

• Terry reports his newly planted Miscanthus rhizomes, previously a worry, are now sprouting sprigs and shoots everywhere after recent rain. 15:02
• Don’s newly planted Miscanthus germination rate improved from about 10% to roughly 15-20% after recent rains. 15:54
• Don advises not giving up on Miscanthus plantings even if germination looks poor after the first year. 16:54

mowing

• Don plans to mow his short clover plot with a zero-turn mower, expecting fawns are unlikely to be bedded there and that he’d easily spot one if present. 23:28

nutri-crave-corn

• Don says his Nutri-Crave Corn test plot looks fantastic despite drought stress. 2:39

oak-trees

• Ed asks which oak trees Don would plant for food on a property with few oaks, and whether deer like dwarf chinkapin acorns. 52:05
• Terry asks which oak trees hold their leaves the longest, useful for tree stand cover. 56:37

pin-oak

• Don notes pin oaks are prone to galls and chlorosis, especially in high-pH soil, which can turn them yellow, sickly, and eventually kill them. 59:00

property-auction

• Don announces he and his partner have contracted with Kaufman Realty for an absolute, no-reserve auction in August on his Ohio hunting property. 24:43
• The Ohio property up for auction spans 174 acres in Washington County and will be ready to hunt immediately upon purchase. 25:04

property-purchase

• Don plans to travel to Ohio later in the week to close on a smaller adjoining property that gives him access to his new 40 acres. 61:15

raccoons

• Don recounts that Kyle Heuerman witnessed a long line of raccoons emerging one after another from his switchgrass, supporting his theory raccoons destroyed his turkey nests. 11:47

rain

• Terry reports most of Central Ohio got rain today and over the past week, helping the drought situation there. 2:02

residual-herbicide

• Don recommends a good residual herbicide program for soybeans and corn rather than relying on spraying over the top later. 9:06

seed-quality

• Duane Hopkins says even the best-germinating seed can’t succeed if the weather doesn’t cooperate. 22:21
• Don explains that seed problems are rarely due to bad seed, since if only one grower in a large seed lot has an issue while others don’t, it points to local conditions. 22:40

shingle-oak

• Don recommends shingle oak over pine or cedar evergreens for tree stand cover, considering it easier to hide in than conifers. 57:34

social-media

• Don says after adopting a policy of blocking rather than arguing with critics, he actually gained roughly 1,500-2,000 more social media followers. 45:30

soil-charge

• Terry plans to convert his half-acre soil charge plot into equal halves of Dixie Dozen and Deadly Dozen this year. 31:52

song-lyrics

• Terry cites a country song lyric stating that whether you thank or blame him, everyone will eventually face and answer to God. 48:58

soybeans

• Don discovered his soybeans are being heavily browsed by rabbits from an adjacent switchgrass field that’s loaded with them. 4:32
• Terry replanted beans into his failed plot by switching plates on his corn planter and running three bags of beans over the existing field. 12:44
• Don recalls that in 2012, during a severe drought, his soybeans tripled in size within sixteen days once rain finally arrived while he was moose hunting in Alaska. 14:06
• Don advises not giving up on soybean plots since they can put on significant growth once rain returns, especially in September. 14:38

supplemental-feeding

• Terry suspects the increase in ticks and flies he’s observed on trail camera deer may be linked to reduced supplemental feeding under Kentucky’s new rules. 29:41
• Grady Hostetailer from Sugar Creek, Ohio asks whether Don and Terry recommend supplemental feeding deer this time of year and what benefits it provides. 27:08

trail-cameras

• Don says he’s excited to start putting out trail cameras, planning to begin about a week from the recording date. 61:39

turkey

• Terry observed over 60 turkeys feeding in his alfalfa and bean field one evening. 10:58

yearling-does

• Terry notes yearling does can get bred later in the season, resulting in fawns being born later than typical. 23:48

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (sighting) 35:06
• Babe (hunt) 50:12
• Smokey (history) 50:12
• Trump (history) 50:12
• Mel (history) 50:56
• Babe (hunt) 51:23
• unnamed buck (sighting) 62:05

Listener questions

Question: Terry asks Don to compare this year’s Sure Shot herbicide to last year’s Resicore, since Don felt it was less effective. 6:11 — asked by Terry

• Answer: Don says Resicore worked great on everything last year, but this year’s Sure Shot controlled broadleaf weeds well while allowing more grass through, possibly due to weather. 6:38

Question: Grady Hostetailer from Sugar Creek, Ohio asks whether Don and Terry recommend supplemental feeding deer this time of year and what benefits it provides. 27:08 — asked by Grady Hostetailer

• Answer: Don says if supplemental feeding were legal on all his farms, he would do it every single day, confirming it currently is legal. 27:30

Question: Grady also asks how to prepare fall food plots for planting Deadly Dozen. 30:57

• Answer: Don advises keeping weeds suppressed through spraying or continual ground work as the key step in preparing fall plots like Deadly Dozen. 31:03

Question: Jeremiah Kraft from Mason, Michigan asks Don to elaborate on deer eating and bedding in giant ragweed on his property. 37:57 — asked by Jeremiah Kraft

• Answer: Don says deer love eating giant ragweed, but it’s only palatable to them in summer when the plant is green and actively growing. 38:25

Question: Jeremiah also asks whether diverse bedding cover is just as important as diverse food plots. 38:18 — asked by Jeremiah Kraft

• Answer: Don says he values diverse bedding cover, favoring thick wooded cover and switchgrass, though giant ragweed doesn’t provide comparable winter cover. 39:37

Question: An anonymous listener from Slippery Rock, PA asks how Don handles being called an elitist and slandered for pursuing mature deer. 42:39 — asked by anonymous

• Answer: Don says he gives people their voice but blocks them when they cross the line, aiming to treat others the way he wants to be treated. 44:32

Question: Ed from Albany, Georgia asks Don whether Babe is an easy buck or a tough buck to hunt. 50:05 — asked by Ed

• Answer: Don classifies Babe as middle-difficulty, not super easy or tough, ranking him between Smokey and Trump. 50:12

Question: Terry asks Don whether Babe travels as far as Mel did. 50:38 — asked by Terry

• Answer: Don says Mel is a good comparison for Babe — Babe didn’t travel as far, but Mel’s habits made him neither easy nor tough. 50:56

Question: Ed asks which oak trees Don would plant for food on a property with few oaks, and whether deer like dwarf chinkapin acorns. 52:05 — asked by Ed

• Answer: Don recommends swamp white oak as the best oak for deer food production. 53:13

Question: Terry asks which oak trees hold their leaves the longest, useful for tree stand cover. 56:37 — asked by Terry

• Answer: Don says shingle oak and pin oaks hold their leaves best through winter, making them ideal for tree stand cover. 57:09

Question: Heath from Freetown, Indiana asks about doe mortality after finding a dead doe that died mid-birth next to his kids’ swing set. 35:06 — asked by Heath

• Answer: Don says he’s never witnessed a difficult doe birth in 25 years with captive deer, estimating fewer than one in a thousand whitetail births kill the doe. 35:59

Don and Terry compared drought conditions across their regions, with Terry noting recent rain had helped Central Ohio while Don’s Central Illinois plots remained stressed, though his Nutri-Crave Corn still looked strong. Both discussed heavy browse pressure — Don’s soybeans hit by rabbits from adjacent switchgrass, Terry’s beans by deer and turkey after nearby alfalfa dried up, with over 60 turkeys seen in his field. Terry replanted beans using his corn planter, and both encouraged patience with drought-stressed soybean and Miscanthus plots, recalling a 2012 drought recovery. Don announced an absolute no-reserve auction of his 174-acre Washington County property through Kaufman Realty, and noted Todd Hewing bought the earlier-auctioned property himself for just over a thousand dollars. Listener questions covered herbicide comparisons, supplemental feeding, ragweed as deer forage, oak species for food and cover, and doe birth mortality. Don discussed Babe’s difficulty ranking and his plan to hunt him this season.

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