Episode #246 - Don Says - Best November Hunting in 50 Years

Published: 2024-11-03
Episode page
Duration: 83 min

In this episode

bedding-areas

• A listener asks how to locate bedding areas on his pressured Indiana property without spooking deer through intrusion. 55:29

book-auction

• Terry announces a live auction of a signed, out-of-print two-book set at Shipshewana, with all proceeds benefiting Lester’s Feet. 47:28

election-day

• Don plans to tie his Sunday Night Prayer Time, recorded ahead of election day, into scripture about the coming election. 68:22

food-plots

• A West Tennessee listener managing a 1,000-acre tract with ag and cover crops asks what to plant in small food plots for diversity. 52:31

giant-buck

• Don relays that his friend Kyle Birch, hunting near the Missouri-Kansas line by Kansas City, had a hot morning and shot a giant buck. 23:39
• Terry announces that Brian Kraft’s son Clay just texted confirmation he shot a buck this morning believed to be over 200 inches. 65:18
• Terry says Brian Kraft’s typical buck could break into the top 10 typicals ever killed without a bow in Missouri. 67:29

harvest-goals

• Don’s season goal was to kill about 15 deer on his farm, mainly does, split across October, November, and the late season. 6:10

harvest-history

• Don recalls shooting his buck Mel on October 30, 2020, right before a warm spell shut down daylight deer activity in early November. 35:27

harvest-recap

• Don reports his October harvest tally: five deer taken, four does and the buck Zacchaeus, with November totals still to be determined. 6:30

homecoming-bucks

• Don explains the homecoming buck phenomenon: bucks that summered on a property but disappeared in fall return there searching for the first hot doe during the rut. 25:43
• Don says the homecoming buck return consistently happens one day either side of November 7, on the sixth, seventh, or eighth. 26:00

hunting-injury

• Terry recounts accidentally punching himself in the mouth with a carabiner left on his safety harness while removing his hoodie, leaving him bloody and swollen. 16:01

hunting-recap

• Terry describes hunting morning and evening from Friday through Monday but getting skunked on two hunts with no deer seen at all. 12:15
• Terry’s best sit that weekend was Saturday, when he saw four bucks including a roughly 142-inch 10 pointer as the biggest. 12:30

hunting-timing

• Don urges listeners not to wait, telling them now is go time and they need to be in the woods this week. 7:37

management-bucks

• Don plans to call a couple of roughly 170-inch management bucks on his home farm dead if they show up, though he may just video them. 7:17

october-lull

• Terry asks Don to confirm there is no fixed October lull, but rather weather dictates when bucks move throughout the month. 9:20

politics

• A minister at a church Terry visited had the courage to preach that it’s okay to dislike both candidates but Christians should still vote for morality. 69:45

quietkat-bike

• Terry notes that when farmers chisel plow their fields he can’t ride his QuietKat across them because he sinks about eight inches in the soft dirt. 13:59

rut-ending

• Don explains that when great weather sustains daylight rut activity for a long stretch, the rut can end abruptly, like a switch flipping, rather than tapering off. 36:51

rut-report

• Starting Halloween night, Don’s nightly rut report moves to the Chasing Giants TV social media pages and will feature reports from the wider hunting team. 17:13
• Don plans to post a short video every evening detailing what he saw, where he hunted, and his tactics for the next day. 18:07

sanctuary-size

• A listener with a growing 75-acre farm asks what percentage of a property should be sanctuary and whether to add fruit trees. 61:52

shipshewana

• Terry announces the Shipshewana Midwest Sportsman’s Classic will add breakout sessions across three days with small groups like the Wensel brothers, Al Foster, and Joe and Bobby. 45:17

trail-cameras

• Don says his cell cameras showed a sharp drop in deer activity during a three-day warm spell, with far fewer photos to delete than usual. 3:24
• Don says that running trail cameras starting July 1 is personally as exciting to him as hunting itself. 51:36
• Adam Norton from Ankeny, Iowa asks whether Iowa should ban trail cameras on public land and if there are benefits to doing so. 48:17

video-project

• Don plans to spend the coming days getting video footage from every one of his 19 tree stands rather than targeting a specific buck. 5:48

weather

• Don states that weather trumps everything in deer movement, more than the moon or the rut phase, a view he has held for years. 2:21
• Don says that if the forecast holds, this will be the best November weather for deer hunting he has ever seen in his life. 35:43
• Don asserts that weather is a huge factor in deer activity while the moon phase is only a tiny factor by comparison. 38:14

wind-direction

• Jeremy Marvel from Settlersville, Maryland asks why the wind at his stand consistently blows opposite the forecast direction. 57:44

Deer activity

• Zacchaeus (harvest) 6:30
• unnamed buck (sighting) 12:30
• unnamed buck (harvest) 23:39
• Mel (harvest) 35:27
• unnamed buck (harvest) 65:18
• unnamed buck (harvest) 67:29

Listener questions

Question: Terry asks Don to confirm there is no fixed October lull, but rather weather dictates when bucks move throughout the month. 9:20

• Answer: Don confirms weather trumps everything regardless of when a cold front arrives during October. 9:35
• Answer: Don clarifies their advice specifically targets Midwest hunters pursuing one particular mature buck, not general hunting. 10:27

Question: Adam Norton from Ankeny, Iowa asks whether Iowa should ban trail cameras on public land and if there are benefits to doing so. 48:17 — asked by Adam Norton

• Answer: Don says there are some benefits, since hunters would have to scout in person rather than rely on cameras. 48:46
• Answer: Don adds he’s unsure it’s fair to take away trail cameras from public-land-only hunters who already face disadvantages. 49:42

Question: A West Tennessee listener managing a 1,000-acre tract with ag and cover crops asks what to plant in small food plots for diversity. 52:31

• Answer: Don says he promotes diversity split between greens and grains, and since greens are covered, the listener should focus on grains. 52:46
• Answer: Don recommends planting Nutri Crave corn as his preferred grain option. 53:35

Question: A listener asks how to locate bedding areas on his pressured Indiana property without spooking deer through intrusion. 55:29

• Answer: Don recommends waiting until a winter snow has sat on the ground for several days, then scouting beds without disturbing deer. 56:19

Question: Jeremy Marvel from Settlersville, Maryland asks why the wind at his stand consistently blows opposite the forecast direction. 57:44 — asked by Jeremy Marvel

• Answer: Don says learning how wind behaves at each new stand is a never-ending process unique to that location. 58:22

Question: A listener with a growing 75-acre farm asks what percentage of a property should be sanctuary and whether to add fruit trees. 61:52

• Answer: Don says there’s no fixed rule, but his own preference is to make the sanctuary as large as possible. 62:29
• Answer: Don illustrates that on a 500-acre property he’d devote 450 acres to sanctuary and only 50 to food. 62:41

Prayer Time

Scripture: Proverbs
Theme: trusting-god-in-the-election
Don urges listeners to trust God rather than their own understanding as the election approaches, encouraging Christians to vote their values and praying for the nation’s leaders and families’ safety no matter the outcome. 81:06

Don argued weather trumps everything in deer movement, more than moon or rut phase, citing a sharp drop in cell camera activity during a three-day warm spell. He predicted the coming November weather could be the best he’s seen for hunting, and explained that sustained good weather can make the rut end abruptly rather than taper off, along with the homecoming buck phenomenon around November 7. October harvest stood at five deer, four does and the buck Zacchaeus. Terry shared a bloody carabiner mishap and a weekend with two skunked hunts but one strong Saturday sit with four bucks. Both relayed reports of other big bucks down, including one believed over 200 inches. Listener questions covered public-land trail camera bans, food plot grains, locating beds after snowfall, unpredictable stand winds, and sanctuary sizing on a growing farm. Don closed with a prayer urging trust in God around the election.

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