Episode #215 - Could 2024 be a fantastic antler growing season?

Published: 2024-04-07
Episode page
Duration: 56 min

In this episode

24d

• Don explains that 2,4-D is a contact herbicide for broadleaf weeds that will not harm grass. 21:46

andrea

• Don reports Andrea’s tumors were removed and sent for biopsy, with results still pending and expected Monday. 9:14
• Don says once Andrea gets through her battle, she’ll be on top of helping other people with her heart of gold. 11:05

andrea-hamilton-fund

• Terry announces Lester’s Feet started helping its first other family through the new Andrea Hamilton Fund this past week. 10:10

antler-growth

• Terry says if the current year keeps shaping up well it could be an enormous antler year, provided the age structure is there. 32:13
• Amos Hershberger asks what Don expects for antler growth this year given Ohio’s mild winter and early green-up. 27:23

average-deer-hunter

• Frank Zabato asks Don to define what he means by ‘average deer hunter.’ 23:09

back-surgery

• Terry says his back surgery led him to cut therapy short, leaving him with little core strength. 3:08

climbing-sticks

• Don prefers one-piece climbing sticks over multipiece strap-around systems for hang-on stands. 3:48

consulting

• Don took his grandsons home Wednesday morning, then drove to a land consultation in Indiana about an hour from their house that same day. 0:50
• Terry says he finished his last two consulting plans and mapping, officially wrapping up his plan season. 5:53
• A land manager client mailed Don a book with a handwritten note about finding a deeper understanding of God’s love through it. 15:11
• Don plans to do more consulting work and a presentation for the guys at a client’s deer camp property in Northern Indiana. 15:28
• Terry says he adds a devotion to the last page of his consulting plans, and a client called wanting to discuss the devotion rather than the plan. 16:45
• Don had two conversations this week, with Mark Lester and Wes Delks, about making their consulting different from and better than any other consultant. 17:41

cornerstone

• Terry announces they had their soft opening at Cornerstone in Frankfurt. 5:41

deer-herd

• Don pulled tree stands off two properties because the local deer herd is in such pathetic shape that no shooter buck has come close in a long time. 1:30

donation

• Terry invites listeners to contribute to or donate in honor of someone who battled breast cancer through the new fund. 10:43
• Terry recounts that someone made a very large, unearmarked donation to Lester’s Feet, telling them to use it wherever God opened a door. 11:42
• That unearmarked donation came within $1,600 of the cost to buy a property for a ministry to children and battered women in Sri Lanka. 12:47
• Terry says the Sri Lanka property closed this week after about three months of due diligence verifying the deed and arranging a safe way to transfer funds internationally. 13:41

herbicides

• Terry asks Don to briefly explain what simazine, quinclorac, and 2,4-D are for listeners unfamiliar with the chemicals. 20:36

hunting-style

• Terry notes that he and Don have never claimed to be mobile hunters. 4:16

ladder-stands

• Terry says he and Don need a variety of ladder stand heights for a new application they’re still figuring out. 2:27
• Don says he now much prefers a ladder stand and feels a lot safer in it than climbing screw-in steps. 3:02
• Terry says he’d much rather have a ladder stand with a chain wrapped around it every day than climb tree steps. 3:37

live-podcast

• Terry says they may try to do a live podcast while Don and his buddies are in town next week and invites interested listeners to message him. 53:21

maximizer-mineral

• Duane Lee Yoder asks under what circumstances to feed Maximizer Plus mineral versus regular Maximizer Mineral and the new deer block. 33:13

mineral-comparison

• Daniel Bortex asks what Don thinks of an ‘over 160’ deer mineral product and whether he’d compare it to Maximizer. 38:21

new-truck

• Don says he’s already close to five weeks and 7,000 miles on his new truck, and jokingly told Chris Yates to order his next one right away. 6:59

product-research

• Terry asserts no other company has put as much research into their deer nutrition products as Real World has. 46:08

property

• Don plans to put three or four stands up on the new 98-acre property he bought. 1:43

property-management

• Terry argues shooting a deer and setting up a well-managed property are two different things. 26:36

purina

• Don says Purina once tried to get exclusive rights to Real World’s Expect Healthy Deer technology, which he cites as proof of the product’s legitimacy. 47:51

quinclorac

• Don advises spraying quinclorac while grasses are short and young, not after foxtail matures and heads out. 21:19

shed-hunting

• Daniel Bortex asks whether Don would allow a shed hunting dog on his property. 38:12

stand-preparation

• Don says he realized with age it’s better to have stand sites prepared ahead of season rather than banging around hanging a stand in-season. 5:07

supplemental-feed

• Nathan Beiler asks how much supplemental feed and minerals would help deer on Don’s farm given his strong food plot program. 48:11

switchgrass

• Lance Lake asks whether he needs to spray Simazine again this spring on his second-year switchgrass, or just use Quinclorac and 2,4-D. 19:12

turkey-hunt

• Don plans to work around the farm until Friday, when he’ll head to Kentucky for his inaugural turkey hunt. 52:35
• Don, at 60, is finally going on his first turkey hunt, joined by buddies Al Foster and Joe Johnson. 52:46

turkey-hunting

• Don jokes that if he shoots one of the ‘pea brain’ turkeys, he may never hunt them again. 55:24 (light moment)

turkey-scouting

• Don jokes that turkeys are ‘the stupidest stinking birds’ after a hen wandered right past him while scouting his new property. 54:37 (light moment)

turkey-season

• Terry notes shed season is about wrapped up and turkey season is open for much of the season. 0:39

weather

• Don reports getting a bunch of rain earlier in the week, almost three inches on Monday and Tuesday, which the ground needed. 1:01
• Don’s remaining Wisconsin consulting visits were canceled after a big snowstorm left drifts blocking farm access. 6:31

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (harvest) 15:48
• unnamed buck (sighting) 32:20

Listener questions

Question: Lance Lake asks whether he needs to spray Simazine again this spring on his second-year switchgrass, or just use Quinclorac and 2,4-D. 19:12 — asked by Lance Lake

• Answer: Don says it depends on stand quality — a good first-year stand may not need the pre-emergent, while a poor stand still needs simazine plus 2,4-D cleanup. 19:36

Question: Terry asks Don to briefly explain what simazine, quinclorac, and 2,4-D are for listeners unfamiliar with the chemicals. 20:36

• Answer: Don explains simazine is a pre-emergent sprayed before green-up to prevent weeds, while quinclorac is a contact grass herbicide that only kills select grasses like foxtail and crabgrass. 20:50

Question: Frank Zabato asks Don to define what he means by ‘average deer hunter.’ 23:09 — asked by Frank Zabato

• Answer: Don defines the average deer hunter as someone in the middle third who thinks about hunting occasionally but isn’t seriously scouting or working at it year-round. 24:54

Question: Amos Hershberger asks what Don expects for antler growth this year given Ohio’s mild winter and early green-up. 27:23 — asked by Amos Hershberger

• Answer: Don says the mild winter and early spring green-up have set the stage for a fantastic antler-growing season so far. 28:35

Question: Duane Lee Yoder asks under what circumstances to feed Maximizer Plus mineral versus regular Maximizer Mineral and the new deer block. 33:13 — asked by Duane Lee Yoder

• Answer: Don says Maximizer Plus with its Expect Healthy Deer technology is most critical from about May through September, during the antler-growing period. 33:54

Question: Daniel Bortex asks whether Don would allow a shed hunting dog on his property. 38:12 — asked by Daniel Bortex

• Answer: Don says he isn’t a dog person but would probably allow a well-trained shed dog on his property. 38:42

Question: Daniel Bortex asks what Don thinks of an ‘over 160’ deer mineral product and whether he’d compare it to Maximizer. 38:21 — asked by Daniel Bortex

• Answer: Don says if a competing mineral is really that great, the company should post its analysis tag so it can be compared. 44:00

Question: Nathan Beiler asks how much supplemental feed and minerals would help deer on Don’s farm given his strong food plot program. 48:11 — asked by Nathan Beiler

• Answer: Don says supplemental feed and minerals do the most good where soils are poorest, since deer on nutrient-rich soils already get most of what they need from plants. 48:47

Terry and Don covered stand and property updates, faith-driven giving, and food-plot chemical questions. Don pulled stands off two herds too weak to produce a shooter buck, planned three or four stands on his new 98-acre property, and discussed favoring ladder stands and one-piece climbing sticks over screw-in steps, partly due to Terry’s limited core strength after back surgery. Terry recapped consulting season wrapping up and their Cornerstone soft opening, plus the Andrea Hamilton Fund’s first assisted family and a large unearmarked donation that helped close a Sri Lanka ministry property. Listener questions addressed simazine, quinclorac, and 2,4-D timing and use, defining an ‘average deer hunter,’ antler-growth expectations tied to Ohio’s mild winter, shed dogs, competing mineral products, and where supplemental feed helps most. Don also mentioned heading to Kentucky for his first-ever turkey hunt with friends Al Foster and Joe Johnson, joking about turkeys’ low intelligence.

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