Episode #182 - Don’s Buck Management Plan for 2023

Published: 2023-08-13
Episode page
Duration: 64 min

In this episode

buck-management

• Don plans to shift from culling to broader buck management, shooting more management-age bucks this year than ever before. 23:52
• Don plans to shoot at least five bucks off his farm this season as a bare minimum, possibly six or seven, while hosting many guests including his grandsons. 24:39
• Terry asks Don what will happen if one of his grandsons is hunting and Babe walks out at 25 yards. 28:08

charity

• Terry describes leaving work to help arrange safe, untraceable extended-stay hotel lodging for a pregnant woman fleeing an abusive husband while she worked through the legal system. 3:24

charity-event

• Terry announces the fifth annual Hunters Bash charity event on September 12, running from 3 PM to 9 PM. 13:32

food-plots

• Don clarifies what he planted early was only a brassica plot-topper mix, not his full fall blend of cereal grains. 7:43
• Kyle from Team Radical posted a video agreeing that planting cereal-grain plots too early causes the same over-maturity problem discussed on the show. 10:19
• Terry observes that hunters with only bare-dirt food plots feel anxiety about needing to get something planted, driving early planting decisions. 11:31
• Don recommends hunters with bare food plots plant soil-building ‘soil charge’ blends in spring to cut weed competition and add nutrients before fall plantings. 11:57

habitat-help

• Don shares that Austin has helped him on the farm several times this spring and has quickly proven himself reliable and hardworking. 6:55

habitat-projects

• Terry plans to have Austin Razor come help set a tower blind on the farm the next day as part of ongoing habitat projects. 6:22

human-intrusion

• A listener asks how to make land improvements and check cameras while still minimizing human intrusion on the property. 43:42

information-sharing

• Don argues withholding big-buck information isn’t selfish, comparing it to not being obligated to let a friend ride your new motorcycle just because he wants to. 58:27
• Edward Miller asks how much information about big bucks he should keep to himself without being selfish. 57:10

land-access

• Don shares that he is losing hunting-permission properties every year and has been unable to find new farms to lease despite years of searching. 54:31

land-acquisition

• Don is considering buying a small seven-acre property, believing even a tiny parcel set up properly can hold at least one good buck a year. 54:51
• Caleb Miller asks whether it’s better to own 1,000 continuous acres or ten separate 100-acre farms spread across an area. 53:03

land-management

• Wes Delks wrote in Whitetail Life magazine that he bought a new farm in Indiana and has already had it for two hunting seasons. 40:32
• A listener beginning land management asks what priorities to focus on this summer and fall to set up next year’s success. 38:21

merchandise

• Terry announces that preorders for the Chasing Giants TV t-shirt will close within the next week. 16:37
• Terry announces ASIO Camo Real World hats arriving on the website this week, with dedicated Chasing Giants ASIO hats coming within a week or two. 63:38

personal-reaction

• Terry admits that seeing the abused pregnant woman made his only impulse to get in his truck and go find the man responsible. 3:53

podcast

• Terry notes that with roughly 35,000 listeners, he hopes Don’s eventual retirement from the podcast is closer to ten years away than tomorrow. 36:42

property-size

• Don explains a bedded buck’s proximity on a small property makes it much easier to hunt than one on a large tract. 56:49

resident-vs-nonresident

• Tom asks whether nonresident hunters who pay heavily to hunt are more selective about deer than residents paying little for their tags. 47:53

sanctuary

• Terry argues a bedding sanctuary should be treated as a property’s foundation, built before food plots or stands. 45:44

weather

• Don states he has never seen a year with both a bad spring and a bad fall growing season. 8:49

youtube

• Terry plans for the new YouTube channel’s income to feed back into the Lester’s Feet Foundation, growing the number of families helped. 20:04

Deer activity

• babe (sighting) 1:43
• Babe (hunt) 22:07
• Babe (hunt) 28:08
• unnamed buck (management) 30:42
• unnamed buck (management) 31:31
• unnamed buck (hunt) 32:29

Listener questions

Question: Edward Miller asks how much information about big bucks he should keep to himself without being selfish. 57:10 — asked by Edward Miller

• Answer: Don says it is not selfish at all to keep trail-camera and scouting information private, since finding mature bucks takes real personal effort. 58:21

Question: A listener beginning land management asks what priorities to focus on this summer and fall to set up next year’s success. 38:21 — asked by Alex Baines

• Answer: Don recommends listing every desired project, completing them all as fast as possible, then backing out and letting the property rest and mature. 39:41

Question: Tom asks whether nonresident hunters who pay heavily to hunt are more selective about deer than residents paying little for their tags. 47:53 — asked by Tom

• Answer: Don argues there shouldn’t be a resident-versus-nonresident conflict, since the real divide is between serious hunters and irresponsible ones regardless of residency. 48:34

Question: Caleb Miller asks whether it’s better to own 1,000 continuous acres or ten separate 100-acre farms spread across an area. 53:03 — asked by Caleb Miller

• Answer: Don says he’d much rather have ten separate 100-acre farms, since they draw from different deer herds and increase odds of finding a giant. 53:18

Question: A listener asks how to make land improvements and check cameras while still minimizing human intrusion on the property. 43:42

• Answer: Don says the key is location, not elimination: establish a sanctuary first and keep intrusive projects like food plots outside of it. 44:14

Question: Terry asks Don what will happen if one of his grandsons is hunting and Babe walks out at 25 yards. 28:08 — asked by Terry

• Answer: Don deflects, saying it’s a good question they’ll have to think about. 28:18

Don and Terry discussed planting timing, clarifying that only a brassica plot-topper had gone in early rather than the full cereal-grain blend, since planting too early causes over-maturity; Don suggested spring ‘soil charge’ blends for bare plots to build soil and cut weeds. Don described shifting from culling toward broader management, aiming to shoot at least five bucks this season, and said he’s losing hunting-permission farms yearly. Listener questions covered keeping big-buck scouting information private, land-management priorities, resident-versus-nonresident hunting ethics, owning scattered farms versus one large tract, and minimizing intrusion while working land, with Don favoring sanctuary-first setups. Terry asked what would happen if a grandson encountered Babe at 25 yards, which Don deflected. Terry also shared a personal story about helping an abused pregnant woman find safe lodging, and announced the Hunters Bash charity event and new t-shirt preorders closing soon.

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