Episode #244 - October Lull? Don and Terry See Bucks Moving in Mid October

Published: 2024-10-20
Episode page
Duration: 68 min

In this episode

antlerless-tag

• Terry said Don helped him get one extra antlerless tag for Illinois this year. 16:23

buck-density

• Matthew asked roughly how many miles separate 170-inch bucks in states like Illinois, Iowa, or Ohio. 47:25

charity

• Terry said they paid around $20,000 in family bills just in the past week. 31:56

chasing-giants-tv

• Terry said Chasing Giants TV releases a video every Friday where Don and Joe discuss what they’re seeing. 60:15

coyote-hunting

• Don said his grandson Walker went three-for-three on coyotes during the opening morning of youth season. 9:49

deer-management

• Don said he has created a sanctuary, protects his deer, and feeds them through winter. 29:58
• Austin asked whether Illinois farmers should report deer crop damage to the Farm Bureau/DNR survey or ignore it, given raccoons cause similar damage. 21:57

doe-harvest

• Don said he has shot two does so far this season and would like to shoot 12 to 15 total. 15:49
• Mark asked whether October mornings are a good time to harvest does or if he should wait until later in the season. 45:51

ehd

• Terry said one of his properties thirty minutes away lost at least 75% of its deer to EHD this year. 29:00

election-joke

• Don joked that he hopes to help put an end to communism on November 5th. 20:13 (light moment)

firearm-calibers

• Terry said the firearms episode will cover popular new calibers like the six millimeter ARC and the new .400 round. 18:09

firearms-episode

• Terry announced Chasing Giants will produce an extra weekly episode with Brenton focused specifically on firearms, alongside their normal show. 17:32

firearms-partnership

• Terry announced that Chasing Giants has partnered with Brenton Firearms, whose Nick Carpenter Terry has known a long time. 16:45

homecoming-buck

• Garrett asked how often mature bucks return to their summer range to check does, and how to keep a target buck around. 38:51

hunting-anecdote

• Terry said Don’s stomach growled loudly the entire sit, sounding like his grandmother’s old coffee percolator. 2:41

hunting-community

• Terry said the hunting community is divided, quick to declare anyone doing things differently is wrong. 55:00

hunting-conditions

• Don said dry, quiet woods let them hear bucks rubbing trees and deer approaching well before seeing them. 3:20

hunting-plan

• Terry said he plans to hunt all weekend with Don despite a forecasted south wind, trying to kill a target buck before the rut. 6:32
• Don said he has a plan, not yet shared with Terry, to try to get Terry a shot at a good buck the next day. 6:42

hurricane-relief

• Terry announced Lester’s Feet has received many hurricane relief donations and already sent the first check to start the relief project in East Tennessee. 30:29

late-season

• Don said more unfamiliar bucks show up on his property during the late season than during the rut. 44:10

life-advice

• Miller asked what advice Don and Terry would give their twenty-something selves about deer hunting and life. 32:24

miscanthus

• Don said whenever they post about Miscanthus, people falsely call it invasive. 12:57
• Terry said he plans to make a Chasing Giants TV video after the season addressing the false claim that Miscanthus is invasive. 13:29

personal-plans

• Terry said he is looking forward to having lunch with Joe Johnson and Al Foster the next day. 7:26

podcast-milestones

• Terry said the podcast is nearing 250 episodes and about 2 million individual IP addresses have downloaded it since it began. 56:18

podcast-production

• Terry said he’s experimenting with AI software that processes the podcast in about 45 seconds to strip out pauses and filler words. 58:52

prayer-time

• Terry said the Sunday Night Prayer Time segment is also published separately as its own video at 7 PM Sundays on the Chasing Giants YouTube channel. 59:49

public-land-hunting

• Logan asked how Don hunts public land successfully given other disrespectful hunters and access challenges. 50:15

rut-report

• Terry said they’re trying to figure out how to merge Don’s rut report into the weekly Friday video. 60:28

social-media

• Don said social media is the culprit, since anyone can run a YouTube channel, blog, or podcast and say whatever they want about someone else. 55:44

social-media-backlash

• Terry said he deleted over 100 comments, including people calling each other names, after backlash to the viral hunting video. 12:45

trade-show

• Terry said Brenton will be exhibiting at the FAE-sponsored Midwest Sportsman’s Classic in Shipshewana. 19:06

trail-camera

• Don said trail camera photos showed a group of young coyotes chasing deer, which explained why deer he saw were spooked and running. 9:21

trail-footage

• Don said they got good video footage of a promising up-and-coming buck along with several does from one of his better stands. 1:56

viral-video

• Terry announced that a viral video reel had reached about 2.2 million views and 19,000 likes. 11:21
• Don said the viral video was sent in by a customer, David Myers, showing his son during youth season. 11:56

voting-plan

• Terry said the only reason he’ll travel back to Kentucky during the rut is to make sure he votes. 20:22

wind-direction

• Terry said the wind was out of the south all weekend but shifted to a light southeast quarter that evening, making for a great hunt. 1:38

youth-season

• Don said during the three-day youth season they hunted six sits, seeing deer on five but bucks on only one due to unusually warm weather. 7:55
• Terry reported that friend Patrick Simpson brought his son Bryson along and Bryson got a buck on Saturday night during youth season. 10:09

Deer activity

• the up and comer (hunt) 3:49
• unnamed buck (hunt) 4:18
• Zacchaeus (harvest) 6:59
• unnamed buck (harvest) 41:42
• unnamed buck (history) 48:15

Listener questions

Question: Austin asked whether Illinois farmers should report deer crop damage to the Farm Bureau/DNR survey or ignore it, given raccoons cause similar damage. 21:57 — asked by Austin

• Answer: Don said the Illinois Farm Bureau, tied to insurance interests, has meddled in deer management for decades and is the most powerful lobby in the state. 22:35
• Answer: Don proposed splitting Illinois’ buck season into early and late seasons, requiring a doe be tagged before a hunter can take a second buck, to boost doe harvest. 26:02

Question: Miller asked what advice Don and Terry would give their twenty-something selves about deer hunting and life. 32:24 — asked by Miller

• Answer: Don said his top advice would be to buy as much land as possible, calling it the best investment regardless of the economy. 32:52
• Answer: Terry said his advice would be that his career only took off once he stopped climbing the ladder for himself and started practicing servant leadership. 34:04

Question: Garrett asked how often mature bucks return to their summer range to check does, and how to keep a target buck around. 38:51 — asked by Garrett

• Answer: Don explained mature bucks sometimes briefly revisit their summer range chasing a hot doe, almost always within 24 hours of November 7th. 40:11

Question: Mark asked whether October mornings are a good time to harvest does or if he should wait until later in the season. 45:51 — asked by Mark

• Answer: Don said October mornings are fine for shooting does, but where on the property matters more than the time of day. 46:35

Question: Matthew asked roughly how many miles separate 170-inch bucks in states like Illinois, Iowa, or Ohio. 47:25 — asked by Matthew

• Answer: Don said the closest known 170-inch buck to his farm is about 20 miles away as the crow flies. 48:26

Question: Logan asked how Don hunts public land successfully given other disrespectful hunters and access challenges. 50:15 — asked by Logan

• Answer: Don said he isn’t very successful on public land himself, but advised getting far from other hunters since mature bucks also avoid people. 53:16

Prayer Time

Scripture: Acts
Theme: Peter’s restoration and bold witness after denial
Darryl Monk reflected on Peter denying Christ three times and later being restored, illustrated by Peter’s Spirit-filled declaration in Acts 4 that salvation comes through Jesus, encouraging listeners to find courage to profess their faith when tested. 65:43

Sponsors this episode

• ASIO Gear

Terry and Don opened discussing a good hunt with a favorable evening wind shift, good buck-and-doe footage from one of Don’s stands, and how dry, quiet woods let them hear deer approaching. Don recapped youth season: six sits with deer on five but bucks on only one due to warm weather, plus trail camera evidence of young coyotes chasing and spooking deer. A viral video of a customer’s son had reached about 2.2 million views but drew backlash forcing Terry to delete over 100 comments, prompting broader talk about social media dividing the hunting community and false claims that Miscanthus is invasive. They announced a new firearms-focused weekly episode partnering with Brenton Firearms. Listener questions covered reporting crop damage to the Farm Bureau, advice to their younger selves, mature buck movement near summer range, timing for doe harvest, and distances between 170-inch bucks. Darryl Monk led a prayer on Peter’s restoration.

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