Episode #240 - If Don Was DNR, How He Would Make Illinois Better Than Iowa

Published: 2024-09-22
Episode page
Duration: 59 min

In this episode

200-inch-buck

• Don’s first 200-inch buck appeared 20 yards from his stand within twenty minutes of an evening hunt, right where midday disturbance had occurred. 38:11

andrea

• Andrea’s Thursday scan results came back good with nothing to be concerned about. 25:17

announcement

• Wes Delks and his wife Madison welcomed a second child, a son named Wilbert Albert Crockett Delks, at eight pounds ten ounces. 10:14

antler-point-restrictions

• Don opposes antler point restrictions, preferring to manage Illinois deer quality through age structure regulation instead. 49:36

apparel

• Chasing Giants Higgins Outdoors will soon release new apparel, expected on the website within a week or two. 31:21
• Proceeds from new Lester’s Feet apparel will go back to the foundation. 31:42

chasing-giants-tv

• Chasing Giants TV released its first video, Joe Miles’ Kentucky hunt from last year, and has released short videos daily since. 13:20
• Terry previews upcoming Chasing Giants TV videos this week from Bobby Worthington, Josh Anderson, Brian Kraft, and Chris Yates. 57:59

cpo

• Don believes Illinois’s conservation police officers do a fantastic job despite being part of the DNR system he often criticizes. 55:24

deer-behavior

• Ray Miller asks whether a mature buck will investigate a mid-day disturbance near his sanctuary within hours, often in daylight, on low-pressure farms. 35:33

dnr-reform

• Don would split Illinois’s two-buck limit into early and late season bucks, requiring a doe tag before the second buck. 50:11
• Don would limit nonresident hunters in Illinois, at least during archery season, since the state currently has no limitation. 51:11
• Don would bring in a top biologist such as Bronson Strickland or Gary Alt to help manage a state’s deer herd. 53:06
• Nate Miller asks which state DNR Don would want to head and how he would manage it. 48:20

doe-harvest

• Dave Least asks whether it’s better to shoot does early before they’re bred or if timing doesn’t matter. 32:08

drought

• Terry’s alfalfa was completely torched brown by the summer’s heat and drought. 7:57

ehd

• Don is worried he hasn’t seen his number-one target buck or another buck on camera in ten days to two weeks amid EHD concerns. 1:33

feeder

• Terry has run two cameras on his prototype feeder and hasn’t had a raccoon get close to it yet. 9:10

feeding

• Terry’s deer ate roughly 2,000 pounds of feed from two feeders in under two weeks amid the drought. 8:48

food-plot

• Terry oversowed his soybean plots with Real World Forge Oats right before a rain to try to establish late-season food. 6:30
• Don recommends diverse, nutrient-dense food plots so deer can balance their own diet across different plants’ vitamins and minerals. 46:08

grandson

• Don bought his grandson Walker three tame, halter-broke shorthorn heifer calves, and Walker now happily walks them around with new halters. 23:02

harvest

• Terry shot a 10-year-old buck on Don’s property that would never have qualified as legal under an antler point restriction. 49:31

illinois-dnr

• Don wishes Illinois allowed supplemental feeding and mineral outside hunting season, similar to Iowa or Indiana’s regulations. 47:33

mens-retreat

• Don plans to help with a men’s retreat alongside Brent Henderson this Friday and Saturday, then check cameras to track his target buck. 57:01

nutricrave

• A drone flew over Don’s NutriCrave corn plots about ten days earlier and broadcast seed to overseed them. 6:51

nutrition

• Matt Markway asks what to use for herd vitamins in Illinois since mineral can’t be put out there. 44:33

oklahoma

• Duane Miller asks about Oklahoma’s regulation releasing captive deer for CWD-resistant genes and whether Boone and Crockett or Pope and Young would stop recognizing deer from that state. 27:24

public-land

• Don would run trail cameras on all five public-land areas and hunt whichever one holds the biggest buck rather than avoiding pressure. 41:25
• Don walked away from hunting a known giant buck on public land in another state out of respect for the hunter who found it. 41:50
• Andy Hendrix asks how Don would hunt if given five equally good public-land areas to choose from. 40:54

real-world

• Don and his business partners bought another 383-acre property in Ohio. 9:41

soybean-breeding

• Don and Duane visited a soybean breeder in Missouri whose patch held 3,000 different soybean varieties. 3:00

target-buck

• Don plans to reveal his target buck’s unique name and hunting plan on next week’s episode. 5:17

winter-wheat

• A neighbor told Don that at least 50 acres of winter wheat will be planted next to his farm, helping keep deer fed. 7:37

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (trail-camera) 1:33
• unnamed buck (hunt) 38:11
• unnamed buck (sighting) 41:50
• unnamed buck (trail-camera) 49:07
• unnamed buck (harvest) 49:31

Listener questions

Question: Duane Miller asks about Oklahoma’s regulation releasing captive deer for CWD-resistant genes and whether Boone and Crockett or Pope and Young would stop recognizing deer from that state. 27:24 — asked by Duane Miller

• Answer: Don says the genetic release likely won’t produce widespread giant bucks across Oklahoma but will have some real impact overall. 28:35
• Answer: Don applauds Oklahoma for thinking outside the box instead of following blanket eradicate-all-deer policies used elsewhere to fight CWD. 29:55

Question: Dave Least asks whether it’s better to shoot does early before they’re bred or if timing doesn’t matter. 32:08 — asked by Dave Least

• Answer: Don says timing doesn’t affect whether the doe was already bred, but as a land manager it’s better to shoot her early since she’ll have eaten less food. 32:34

Question: Ray Miller asks whether a mature buck will investigate a mid-day disturbance near his sanctuary within hours, often in daylight, on low-pressure farms. 35:33 — asked by Ray Miller

• Answer: Don tells Ray he’s a thinker and admits the disturbance-then-investigate pattern might be a real, previously unconsidered tactic. 37:02
• Answer: Don recalls his first 200-inch buck showed up within 20 yards of a midday disturbance just hours later, supporting Ray’s theory. 38:25

Question: Andy Hendrix asks how Don would hunt if given five equally good public-land areas to choose from. 40:54 — asked by Andy Hendrix

• Answer: Don says he’d run trail cameras on all five areas and hunt whichever holds the biggest buck, not avoiding areas due to pressure. 41:25

Question: Matt Markway asks what to use for herd vitamins in Illinois since mineral can’t be put out there. 44:33 — asked by Matt Markway

• Answer: Don recommends diverse, nutrient-dense food plots so deer can naturally balance their own vitamin and mineral intake. 46:08

Question: Nate Miller asks which state DNR Don would want to head and how he would manage it. 48:20 — asked by Nate Miller

• Answer: Don says he’d head Illinois’s DNR and opposes antler point restrictions, preferring to manage quality without dictating what hunters shoot. 48:55
• Answer: He’d also split the buck limit into early and late season tags, requiring a doe be taken before the second buck, to improve age structure. 50:11

Don and Terry covered drought and EHD stress on their properties: Don hadn’t seen his top target buck or another buck on camera in ten days to two weeks, alfalfa on Terry’s place was torched brown by heat and drought, and Terry’s deer went through roughly 2,000 pounds of feed from two feeders in under two weeks. They discussed food plot efforts including oversown Forge Oats and a drone reseeding NutriCrave corn plots. Listener questions drove much of the episode: Duane Miller asked about Oklahoma releasing CWD-resistant captive deer, Dave Least asked about timing doe harvests, Ray Miller asked about mature bucks investigating midday disturbances, Andy Hendrix asked how Don would hunt five public-land areas, Matt Markway asked about herd vitamins without mineral, and Nate Miller asked which state DNR Don would run. Don answered by opposing antler point restrictions, favoring age-structure management, splitting Illinois’s buck limit, and recalling his first 200-inch buck appearing near a midday disturbance.

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