Episode #221 - Crop Rotations for Food Plotters and Deer Water Holes

Published: 2024-05-19
Episode page
Duration: 59 min

In this episode

ai

• Don warns AI could let hunters manipulate footage to make a 150-inch buck appear as a 220-inch buck to gain more views. 48:08
• Jason Hesselberg asks how AI will change deer hunting, weapons, accessories, drones, and tree stands in the future. 44:23

announcement

• Terry announces he still doesn’t know what he’s doing about the job situation raised last week, but plans to navigate it in the coming weeks. 58:10

bucks

• Kobe Curtis asks Don and Terry their thoughts on having lots of bucks visible in spring and summer despite a popular industry figure calling it a bad sign. 29:42

captive-deer

• Don cautions that not every captive deer is a 300-inch giant — some are only 150 inches — a factor as significant as CWD resistance when releasing captive-bred deer. 41:53

consulting

• Don believes once a client hires him, his job is to help that person be as successful as possible without requiring they follow every recommendation. 4:24
• Terry recalls Don’s zero-tolerance rule for consultants: never push something on a customer, but listen to their goals and build a plan around them. 9:48

corn

• The corn year is the only time Don works the ground in his rotation, since a worked seed bed gives corn a much better stand. 20:10
• Don estimates fewer than 10% of North American food plotters really have the equipment and setup to justify planting corn. 25:21

crop-rotation

• Don rotates his food plots on a three-way cycle with corn, soybeans, and Deadly Dozen. 18:59
• Don mows cornstalks down close to the ground on frozen ground in late winter with a skid loader and bush hog mower before spraying and no-tilling the next crop. 21:12

cwd

• Don criticizes Illinois DNR for responding to a CWD-positive deer by using sharpshooters to wipe out every deer within roughly a two-mile radius for about five years, then walking away. 39:00
• Chris Couch asks what Don thinks of Oklahoma’s new law letting landowners pay to release captive-bred, CWD-resistant does into the wild. 35:50

deer-management-history

• Don recounts that quality deer management really started in Texas decades ago and slowly spread up to the Midwest and other parts of the country. 7:55

fencing

• Don consulted on 50 properties this year and only advised about five clients (roughly 1 in 10) to consider putting a fence on a property line. 3:58
• Don never pushes fences on clients; it’s a personal choice he simply throws out as a suggestion. 4:17
• Don argues a fence is a fence and why it’s there doesn’t matter, since the person who built it is simply trying to achieve their own goal, whether bucks or buffalo. 11:46

fruit-trees

• Scott Peters asks what fruit and nut trees to plant in a floodplain bottom to make his property more desirable for deer. 53:50

hunting-access

• Don says that recently, over about thirty days, he knocked on or sent letters to 20 out-of-state landowners seeking hunting permission and got none, unlike decades ago. 43:16

neighbor-relations

• Don says he always first promotes being a good neighbor and trying to work with your neighbor. 10:34

perennials

• Terry recommends evaluating perennial plots over multiple years in side-by-side comparisons rather than judging them after just one year. 16:35

potted-trees

• John asks how big of potted trees Don recommends for fall oak planting and whether they need to be watered. 49:19

reputation

• Don states unequivocally that an accusation he pinned deer and told a client to build a fence that ruined a neighbor’s property never happened. 36:55

soybeans

• Don personally planted soybeans in the same plot six years in a row with no problems. 24:50
• Todd Hewing has planted soybeans in the same plot for over twenty years without rotating, according to Don. 25:03
• Don waits to plant his soybean food plots until neighboring farmers plant theirs, since otherwise deer hammer his beans, and he’s had to replant twice this year. 56:57

switchgrass

• Don states Real World Wildlife Products’ switchgrass is completely sold out this year. 12:57
• A grower told Duane Hopkins the competing switchgrass variety is essentially a glorified cave-in-rock that establishes a better first-year stand than Real World, but Real World is superior by the second year and beyond. 14:42

water-holes

• Don isn’t opposed to water holes themselves, only to constantly refilling a water tank, since the resulting human intrusion causes more harm than good. 35:11

Listener questions

Question: Kobe Curtis asks Don and Terry their thoughts on having lots of bucks visible in spring and summer despite a popular industry figure calling it a bad sign. 29:42 — asked by Kobe Curtis

• Answer: Don’s approach is to build the best habitat possible — quality bedding cover free of human intrusion plus diverse, year-round food. 30:05
• Answer: Don doesn’t really care whether bucks show up on camera in summer, but he definitely wants them there in the fall. 33:56

Question: Chris Couch asks what Don thinks of Oklahoma’s new law letting landowners pay to release captive-bred, CWD-resistant does into the wild. 35:50 — asked by Chris Couch

• Answer: Don thinks Oklahoma’s plan is a good thing, and has long believed the answer to CWD lies in genetics or nutrition. 37:21
• Answer: Don says the key is that released deer must actually carry the CWD-resistance gene, since not all captive deer have it. 38:27
• Answer: Don says those released deer need to be tested for the specific CWD-resistance gene. 38:47

Question: Jason Hesselberg asks how AI will change deer hunting, weapons, accessories, drones, and tree stands in the future. 44:23 — asked by Jason Hesselberg

• Answer: Don predicts more fences will be built as it becomes harder to grow bucks to maturity, forcing people to extreme measures to keep young bucks alive. 46:13
• Answer: Terry thinks thermal imaging and drones are what will end up pushing the technological limits in hunting. 46:27

Question: John asks how big of potted trees Don recommends for fall oak planting and whether they need to be watered. 49:19 — asked by John

• Answer: Don says planting potted trees in the fall is a much better option than planting bare root trees in spring. 49:52
• Answer: Don says fall potted trees are the way to go, and watering is the least of your worries despite being more expensive. 53:19

Question: Scott Peters asks what fruit and nut trees to plant in a floodplain bottom to make his property more desirable for deer. 53:50 — asked by Scott Peters

• Answer: Don recommends persimmons and swamp white oak for a flood-bottom property. 54:43
• Answer: Don warns to avoid chestnut trees in wet ground since they need dry feet and low soil pH. 55:59

Don discussed his consulting philosophy on fencing, explaining he suggests fences on only about 1 in 10 properties, never pushes clients toward them, and prioritizes being a good neighbor first, while defending himself against an accusation that he’d pinned deer and ruined a neighbor’s land with a fence. He covered food plot rotation, cycling corn, soybeans, and Deadly Dozen, noting corn requires working the ground while beans can go years without rotation, and said few plotters are really set up for corn. He discussed switchgrass sellout and comparisons to competing varieties, and criticized Illinois DNR’s CWD sharpshooting response. Listener questions addressed spring buck sightings and habitat quality, Oklahoma’s new law releasing CWD-resistant captive does, AI’s potential future impact on hunting technology and fence-building, potted tree planting for fall oaks, and tree recommendations for floodplain properties.

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