Episode 228 - Is Iowa Really the Best State?

Published: 2024-06-30
Episode page
Duration: 65 min

In this episode

antler-growth

• Don has been getting trail camera photos showing some bucks with antler growth well ahead of normal and others tracking with the expected season timeline. 1:43

bad-ag-advice

• A listener’s local ag store told him to spray water hemp in Gen-two soybeans with 2,4-D, but Terry caught it in time and stopped him. 12:16

battery-release

• Real World is on the verge of releasing new trail camera batteries. 61:16
• Terry says they hope to announce within days that the new batteries are live on the website. 61:26
• After searching for an Energizer alternative, Don found a cheaper lithium battery brand that performed as well as Energizer in side-by-side camera testing. 63:10
• Don says the new battery shipment is expected to arrive around July 6. 63:33

bedding-habitat

• Chad Timmer asked whether Don has ever planted browse species directly in his bedding areas for deer. 52:53

bobcat-population

• Jesse Fromm asked whether the resurgence of bobcats in Illinois provides any advantage, given effects on turkeys and fawns. 56:02

browse-pressure

• A 25-acre ag soybean field less than 20 feet from Don’s food plot got only some browsing while his plot was being destroyed by deer. 3:47

chemical-advice

• Don tells listeners to follow his and Terry’s advice or their chemical dealer’s, but not to blame the hosts if unlisted advice fails. 16:36

chris-yates

• Terry reports that Chris Yates is currently in Africa hunting a lion with a bow. 18:25

corn-cross-pollination

• Terry explains that true side-by-side corn variety comparisons become unreliable once corn cross-pollinates, unlike green leaf matter tests. 7:13

corn-pollination

• Don explains corn pollen can blow on the wind a mile or more, which is how cross-pollination between varieties occurs. 8:28

doe-harvest

• Justin Sheer asked whether the age class of does harvested actually matters for herd management. 39:45

doe-harvest-plan

• Don plans to harvest five to ten does this fall on his farm, far more than he’s ever taken there before. 31:24

doe-management

• Terry asked Don how he decides whether a doe is bedding on his property or a neighbor’s. 41:04

family-health-update

• Jeremy Sluder asked Don for an update on his daughter Andrea, saying he was praying for a good report. 27:13

food-plot-prep

• Jeremy Sluder asked how Don prepares a plot overtaken by pigweeds for fall planting, including mowing, spraying, and tillage timing. 27:20

health-kick

• Don has gone five straight weeks without any soda or candy as part of a health kick. 47:32

herbicide-application-order

• Don warns against mowing a plot before spraying it, since the chemical needs to land on standing plants, not clipped growth. 35:05

humic-acid

• Enes Miller asked if Terry also takes humic acid and whether that could explain their different tick experiences. 45:17

illinois-bobcat-regulations

• Don believes more bobcats are shot illegally in Illinois than are taken legally under the limited permit system. 58:05

illinois-dnr

• Don criticizes the Illinois governor’s appointed DNR director as having no outdoor, hunting, or fishing interest whatsoever. 25:35

illinois-hunting-regulations

• Don says he cannot own a suppressor at all in Illinois and cannot supplemental feed deer outside of hunting season. 44:07

insurance-issues

• Don’s insurance will not cover a PET scan for his daughter despite her cancer history, though it is the scan needed to detect remaining cancer. 51:35

iowa-dnr

• Don credits the Iowa DNR for listening to its constituents and prioritizing resident deer hunters. 22:45

iowa-hunting-regulations

• Iowa’s long-standing party hunting rule no longer applies to non-residents, ending the practice of a nonresident hunter tagging a deer under a resident’s tag. 19:51

iowa-trail-camera-regulation

• Iowa hunters pushed back so hard against a trail camera ban on state-managed land that the legislature backed off the change. 21:16

kentucky-hunting-regulations

• Terry notes Kentucky allows supplemental feeding, letting hunters bait does to a feeder near a barn without disturbing the property. 43:00
• Terry notes Kentucky hunters can also use suppressors during rifle season for low-intrusion doe management. 43:32
• Terry notes Kentucky now allows baiting during season but bans feeding outside of season, calling it backwards. 44:16

kentucky-natural-resources

• Terry worries about a push to move Kentucky’s natural resources oversight under the Department of Agriculture, fearing it would become as bad as other states. 26:22

lyme-disease

• Terry advises getting on a doxycycline-type antibiotic within 48 hours of a tick bite to prevent Lyme disease from taking hold. 50:00

milorganite

• Applying Milorganite to his soybean plot worked so well that Don saw no deer there for over a week afterward. 4:28
• Terry jokes about packaging and selling Milorganite under a branded bag called “Code Brown.” 9:21 (light moment)

newsletter

• Terry says an email blast will go out and encourages listeners to sign up for the newsletter to learn when the batteries are available. 64:03

nutrient-content

• After deer were pushed off the soybeans, Don’s corn plot was devastated by browsing while his neighbor’s adjoining ag cornfield showed no damage at all. 6:17

ohio-property

• Don will travel to Ohio to work on the 430-acre property, where Austin will plant the food plots. 0:58
• Don’s partner Ron will travel in from West Virginia, and Wes Delks will help him set things up on the Ohio property. 1:07

podcast-phone-line

• Enes Miller asked for the phone number to call and listen to the podcast, since his old number stopped working. 45:23

property-sale

• A potential buyer from New York is coming to see Don’s Ohio property. 1:16

soybean-food-plots

• Don’s Gen-two soybean plot was getting hammered by deer worse than ever before, requiring him to replant it three times. 3:09

switchgrass

• Switchgrass needs to reach the four-leaf stage before spraying any chemicals on it if no pre-emergent was used. 14:30

switchgrass-establishment

• Don’s standard advice is to not even go look at a newly planted switchgrass field for thirty days. 13:37

switchgrass-planting

• Dennis Isaacs asked whether a deer-beneficial cover crop could be broadcast in August, and whether to kill it with herbicide before spring green-up. 36:02

tick-exposure

• Despite being out in the woods and fields all spring, Don has only found about two ticks on himself all year. 49:02

trail-cameras

• Terry announces that trail camera deployment season is about to begin for the show’s traditional July 4 week. 0:38
• Don usually waits until July 1 to deploy trail cameras but got an early start this week because of his packed schedule. 1:20
• Don closes the episode saying he’s going to go put a couple more trail cameras out. 64:34

vehicle-purchase

• Terry recommends Chris Yates in Kansas City after getting a GMC vehicle price cheaper than anywhere else he could find. 18:46
• Terry tells listeners to call Victory Chevrolet in Buick for vehicle purchases. 19:27

volunteer-corn

• Terry plans to spray his soybeans to kill volunteer corn that came up after mowing leftover corn stalks. 10:35
• Don explains volunteer corn typically pollinates poorly, resulting in cobs that are not full of kernels. 11:12

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (sighting) 5:29

Listener questions

Question: Jeremy Sluder asked Don for an update on his daughter Andrea, saying he was praying for a good report. 27:13

• Answer: Don says his daughter Andrea finished radiation a couple weeks ago and is currently in a holding pattern awaiting a scan. 27:58
• Answer: Don says Andrea will get a scan in late fall or winter to determine if she is cancer free. 28:37

Question: Jeremy Sluder asked how Don prepares a plot overtaken by pigweeds for fall planting, including mowing, spraying, and tillage timing. 27:20

• Answer: Don says his approach is to spray the overgrown plot at least twice before planting. 30:34
• Answer: Terry advises keeping the plot mowed through summer so pigweed and hogweed never go to seed. 32:35
• Answer: Terry says to wait about ten days after spraying before disturbing the soil, so weed roots are fully killed. 33:02

Question: Dennis Isaacs asked whether a deer-beneficial cover crop could be broadcast in August, and whether to kill it with herbicide before spring green-up. 36:02 — asked by Dennis Isaacs

• Answer: Don says frost seeding is inferior to waiting for warm soil and a clean, weed-free seedbed before planting switchgrass. 36:39
• Answer: Don recommends planting oats as the cover crop, since most oats winterkill before spring. 38:27

Question: Justin Sheer asked whether the age class of does harvested actually matters for herd management. 39:45 — asked by Justin Sheer

• Answer: Don dismisses age-based doe selection theories as internet nonsense that sounds good but doesn’t work in practice, since doe age can’t be told by sight. 40:53

Question: Terry asked Don how he decides whether a doe is bedding on his property or a neighbor’s. 41:04

• Answer: Don says the first criterion is that the doe must be mature. 41:23
• Answer: Don says assuming a doe consistently beds on one property is total nonsense, since she may split time between properties. 41:14

Question: Enes Miller asked if Terry also takes humic acid and whether that could explain their different tick experiences. 45:17 — asked by Enes Miller

• Answer: Terry confirms he also started taking humic acid around the same time as Don but doesn’t think it’s connected to his tick problems. 48:10

Question: Enes Miller asked for the phone number to call and listen to the podcast, since his old number stopped working. 45:23 — asked by Enes Miller

• Answer: Don gives the working Emtek number, 8143229362, and says to dial extension 20 to listen. 46:27

Question: Chad Timmer asked whether Don has ever planted browse species directly in his bedding areas for deer. 52:53 — asked by Chad Timmer

• Answer: Don says he has planted shrub species for deer but considers it his biggest habitat failure. 53:23
• Answer: Don says deer browse planted shrubs off as fast as he can plant them. 53:33

Question: Jesse Fromm asked whether the resurgence of bobcats in Illinois provides any advantage, given effects on turkeys and fawns. 56:02 — asked by Jesse Fromm

• Answer: Don recounts seeing three bobcats together in a blind with Steve Shields last year, showing how common they’ve become. 57:15
• Answer: Don concludes bobcats are roughly a wash for deer, with both negatives from fawn predation and positives from rabbit control. 59:14

The episode covered deer damage and food plot management, with Don describing his soybean plot being replanted three times after heavy browsing while a nearby ag field stayed nearly untouched, and Milorganite application stopping deer visits for over a week. Terry and Don discussed corn cross-pollination, volunteer corn from mowed stalks, and switchgrass timing before spraying. They reviewed state hunting rules, including Iowa’s ended nonresident party-hunting practice and a reversed trail camera ban, plus concerns about Illinois and Kentucky wildlife oversight. Don shared that he plans to harvest five to ten does this fall. A prayer update came from Jeremy Sluder, with Don reporting his daughter Andrea had finished radiation and awaited a fall or winter scan. Listener questions covered pigweed control, cover crops, doe age selection, bedding behavior, humic acid and ticks, bedding-area browse plantings, and bobcat effects on turkeys and fawns. New trail camera batteries were expected around July 6.

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