Episode #187 - Do Trail Camera’s Spook Mature Bucks?

Published: 2023-09-17 Episode page Duration: 63 min

In this episode

andreas-battle

• Terry shared that Andrea recently went through the difficult experience of cutting her hair short amid her health battle. 61:10
• Andrea told Terry that rereading supportive comments from strangers lifts her up when she’s feeling down. 61:20

antler-growth

• Don said no one disagreed with his antler-growth assessment, calling it accurate based on his own observation. 8:41

audience-demographics

• Terry said only about two-thirds of his mostly-Amish event crowd hunted, and many hadn’t yet heard the podcast. 11:06

big-buck-harvest

• Terry reported that another 200-inch deer was shot about twenty-five minutes from him the night before recording. 7:47

buck-behavior

• Dalton Rockhold asked how to get his mature bucks, which show great nighttime activity, to move during legal shooting light. 55:55

buck-management

• Don said that whether to shoot a buck is a decision each hunter or land manager must make for himself based on his own goals. 17:50
• Parker Redicker asked whether he should shoot a mature buck whose antler growth declined this year, or let him go hoping for a rebound. 15:08

buyafarm-segment

• Terry announced a BuyAFarm.com segment with Wayne Keller would be worked in between listener questions. 15:00

community-support

• Terry said listener prayers and comments act like an unseen army of support for people going through struggle. 62:06

event-attendance

• Terry estimated his Tag Out speaking event crowd at 550 to 600 attendees. 2:45

faith

• Terry recounted that a young Amish man with a family asked him to step outside and pray after his talk at the retreat. 4:35

faith-journey

• Mark White shared that Andrea’s battle had strengthened his own faith, which wavered after a loss twelve years earlier before being renewed through prayer. 47:49

faith-testimony

• Mark White recounted that his six-year-old son, praying for the first time, asked God to heal Andrea and help the Hamilton family through their struggle. 48:18

friend-news

• Terry shared that his and Don’s friend Todd Covey’s father received serious bad health news this week. 60:23

fruit-trees

• Terry recommended listeners check out the Whitetail Master Academy’s educational videos on fruit trees. 54:25
• Mark White asked what fruit tree species to plant on his one-acre plot, how many, and how to arrange them for deer. 49:18

fundraising

• Terry reported that his Tag Out event raised $50,000 for families helped by the Lester’s Feet Foundation. 2:56
• Terry announced upcoming Lester’s Feet Foundation news will be released alongside the Shipshewana Show event in February 2024. 57:37

harvest-decision

• Terry advised that if a buck fits both individual and farm-wide goals, it’s fine to harvest him. 19:02

humor

• Terry joked that his vision of heaven has Saint Peter in a treestand with a rifle, telling arrivals to grab the truck because a deer’s coming out. 13:25 (light moment)
• Don joked that Ray and Aiden should join an ‘entertainment committee’ to supply jokes for the hosts to repeat. 13:58 (light moment)

legends-roundtable

• Terry said promotion for the ‘legends roundtable’ event would begin soon. 57:51

listener-feedback

• Terry said many listeners contacted the show saying Don’s assessment of poor antler growth and age structure matched their own farms’ observations. 8:29

listener-mail

• Terry reminded listeners that ‘Miss Janice’ opens and reads the show’s mail before the hosts see it. 11:33

listener-rewards

• Don said that listeners whose questions are used on the show receive a free Chasing Giants T-shirt. 10:35

listener-submissions

• Don said listeners without internet access can mail questions to Real World Wildlife Products, PO Box 55, Arthur, Illinois 61911. 10:15

podcast-format

• Terry said that in a couple weeks the podcast will shift to spending more time on in-season field and treestand updates. 9:19

podcast-growth

• Terry said there had been a huge spike in listener downloads over the past month. 9:04

property-acquisition

• Don said his Ohio property group bought two more properties, including a 75-acre tract he has never personally visited. 58:32
• Don said the group also bought a 430-acre property in Ohio that he plans to visit. 58:50

property-ceiling

• Don said any property can be improved with projects, but nothing can push it past its inherent ceiling. 45:04

property-limitations

• Terry said his family farm can only be hunted with one specific wind direction, limiting his opportunities there. 44:25

property-search

• Terry noted that Wes has owned his current hunting property for three years but has still not hunted it while dialing in his plan. 43:49

property-selection

• Jay Brandenberger asked whether a smaller parcel in Ohio or Illinois beats a larger, cheaper parcel in Minnesota or Wisconsin for growing mature bucks. 19:55
• Jack Bowers asked what property aspects Don prioritizes most when searching for land to grow and hold mature deer. 39:44

running-gag

• Don recounted that a fan at the event asked Al Foster whether the nearby shed was his ‘kissing booth.’ 14:17 (light moment)

season-timing

• Terry noted Illinois’s deer season opener was approaching while Kentucky’s season had already started, with dry conditions persisting. 1:08

social-media-questions

• Terry said the hosts get overwhelmed each year with one-off social media messages asking whether to shoot a specific deer. 17:07

speaking-event

• Don said his Friday-night speaking event drew attendees from ten states. 1:43
• Don and Wes Delks fielded audience questions for about two hours on Saturday morning after the men’s retreat talks. 2:19

sunday-night-prayer

• Terry noted that Devin Hurley’s Sunday Night Prayer Time video this week covered how all things work for good and God’s glory. 55:24

sunflowers

• Terry suggested sunflowers work best as a complementary food source in areas with little other food, not as a primary plot. 35:32
• Chase Myers asked whether sunflowers make a good food plot for deer. 32:50

tag-out-event

• Don recalled attending the very first Tag Out event years ago but had not returned since. 3:16

testimony

• Don told his audience that his current success only looks easy because of fifty years of effort, encouraging them to pursue their own goals. 6:30

trail-cameras

• Terry said trail cameras have sealed the fate of some bucks for hunters but likely also saved others from being shot. 39:18
• Don agreed that for every buck killed because of a trail camera, another buck was likely saved by one. 39:30
• Terry asked Don to explain his social media post about a trail camera spooking a mature buck. 36:02

velvet-shed

• Terry said all his tracked bucks except one had shed velvet by this point in the season. 59:55

video-production

• Don plans to stop at Ohio State University in Columbus to film a video with apple experts touring orchards. 59:04

youtube

• Don announced that Steve Shields filmed his Friday-night retreat talk and it will be posted to their YouTube channel. 7:02

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (harvest) 7:47
• Babe (management) 16:23
• unnamed buck (trail-camera) 37:34
• unnamed buck (sighting) 60:02

Listener questions

Question: Parker Redicker asked whether he should shoot a mature buck whose antler growth declined this year, or let him go hoping for a rebound. 15:08 — asked by Parker Redicker

• Answer: Don confirmed that a buck’s antler growth can bounce back in later years. 15:48
• Answer: Don said the shoot-or-pass decision largely depends on the quality of young bucks coming up behind the buck in question. 16:12
• Answer: Don affirmed bucks can rebound and even exceed their previous antler size in later years. 16:42
• Answer: Don added that he plans to have his own buck ‘Babe,’ now six years old, harvested this year given the strong young buck crop behind him. 16:23

Question: Jay Brandenberger asked whether a smaller parcel in Ohio or Illinois beats a larger, cheaper parcel in Minnesota or Wisconsin for growing mature bucks. 19:55 — asked by Jay Brandenberger

• Answer: Don explained that it’s not the property’s size or state that determines potential, but the specific property and what surrounds it. 20:50

Question: Chase Myers asked whether sunflowers make a good food plot for deer. 32:50 — asked by Chase Myers

• Answer: Don said sunflowers absolutely have a place for deer. 33:10
• Answer: Don noted sunflowers mature too quickly and get eaten before winter, when he most wants food available. 33:54

Question: Terry asked Don to explain his social media post about a trail camera spooking a mature buck. 36:02

• Answer: Don explained that in his trail-camera photos, a buck looked directly at the camera and spooked, causing the whole group to flee. 37:23
• Answer: Don added that some bucks tolerate trail cameras repeatedly while others never do, since the camera signals danger to certain deer. 37:59

Question: Jack Bowers asked what property aspects Don prioritizes most when searching for land to grow and hold mature deer. 39:44 — asked by Jack Bowers

• Answer: Don said isolation is huge — a property surrounded by non-hunted land protects deer from being educated by other hunters. 40:22
• Answer: Don added that property layout is the single most critical, unchangeable ingredient determining a property’s potential. 42:23

Question: Mark White asked what fruit tree species to plant on his one-acre plot, how many, and how to arrange them for deer. 49:18 — asked by Mark White

• Answer: Don recommends planting fruit trees around the edges of existing food plots to add extra pulling power at the same location. 51:29
• Answer: Don suggests about one-fourth of planted apple trees be crab apples since they bloom heavily and aid pollination. 52:12
• Answer: Don advises planting only grafted female persimmon trees, since regular seedlings often turn out male and never fruit. 54:01

Question: Dalton Rockhold asked how to get his mature bucks, which show great nighttime activity, to move during legal shooting light. 55:55 — asked by Dalton Rockhold

• Answer: Don said the bucks are likely bedding off Dalton’s property and only arriving after dark, so he needs to create bedding cover and reduce his own intrusion. 56:34

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