Episode #248 - Big Buck Down! Wes Delks Joins Us to Discuss UHAUL

Published: 2024-11-17
Episode page
Duration: 58 min

In this episode

360-hunting-blinds

• Terry announces that 360 Hunting Blinds will unveil a new product exclusively at the Shipshewana Show instead of at Harrisburg. 53:05

antler-genetics

• Don states nutrition determines how close a buck gets to its genetic antler ceiling but can never push it past that ceiling. 38:06
• Kirsten Tepe from Oakland City, Indiana asks what breeders feed captive deer to reach over 1,000 inches of antler and whether Real World products could increase antler size. 34:53
• Terry asks whether nutrition merely helps a buck reach its genetic antler ceiling or actually raises that ceiling. 37:09

bedding-identification

• Brandon Carroll from Chestertown, Maryland asks how to distinguish doe bedding from buck bedding during postseason scouting. 43:52

consulting

• Don notes that for repeat consulting clients, the second property they buy is always way better than the first. 21:50

drone-ethics

• Don points out that landowners do not legally own the airspace above their property, making drone flights hard to restrict. 32:04
• Terry argues it should be considered trespassing, and is ethically and morally wrong, to fly a drone over someone else’s land to scout it. 32:53

drone-regulation

• Don hopes a state representative addresses the lack of legal limits on drone flights over private property. 32:28

farm-hunting

• Don explains that Wes Delks and Terry are both hunting on his farm for a few days to help with deer management, including shooting does and bucks. 0:46

farm-management

• Don recalls a late-season hunt where he saw 17 bucks in one sit, a turning point that got the wheels turning on his farm. 20:25

food-plots

• Terry describes planting Miscanthus strips inside CRP bedding to funnel deer movement when they exit toward food. 49:02
• Tim Brown from Carrollton, Illinois asks why deer prefer browsing in an open harvested ag bean field over his food plot planted with the same soybean variety. 46:40

gun-season

• Don plans to put as little pressure as possible on his property during gun season and let gun pressure push deer onto his land. 12:36
• Don predicts that gun season will bring rut activity to a screeching halt in Illinois this year. 13:17

hunting-discipline

• Wes describes hunting his target buck only twice in the first twenty days because he was struggling to get the wind he needed. 11:46

indiana-buck

• Terry plans that after the ASIO break, Wes will talk about closing the deal on his Indiana target buck. 2:46

iowa-deer-classic

• Don announces he will be presenting at the Iowa Deer Classic this winter. 38:55

kansas-whitetail-summit

• Don announces an event in Kansas called the Kansas Whitetail Summit, though he doesn’t recall the exact date. 39:02

land-management

• Wes tells consulting clients they must ask whether they can access cover from multiple directions when evaluating a farm’s potential. 17:00
• Wes describes balancing two properties of a farm he calls holdability and huntability when managing deer movement. 27:20
• Don believes less than 1% of deer hunters in North America would have given Wes’s original farm a second look. 20:56

lockdown

• Don states there is at least another week of lockdown remaining in the rut. 3:18
• Don explains that whenever a doe comes into heat, a mature buck—and often multiple bucks—will lock down with her. 5:28
• Don explains that bucks locked down with hot does in out-of-the-way places become very difficult to kill. 6:05
• Don clarifies that not every buck in the woods is locked down, even at the peak of lockdown. 6:35

mentorship

• Don says Wes, at 33, already knows more about setting up properties and killing big deer than Don did at 43. 22:43

podcast-banter

• Terry asks Wes what it’s like to hear the podcast tell embarrassing stories or poke fun at him when he isn’t there to defend himself. 1:23

property-purchase

• Terry notes that Wes and his wife bought a new property and put significant hard work into it. 2:54

rope-scrapes

• Zane Baldwin from Hastings, Nebraska asks why deer stopped hitting his rope scrape after chewing the end frayed, and how to fix it. 39:58

rut-behavior

• Don states that from his captive-deer experience, a buck can smell a hot doe from at least a mile away. 8:17

rut-observation

• Don says he has seen numerous hot does with bucks out in the middle of open fields during daylight this week. 5:40
• Don recounts that he and Al Foster saw bucks with hot does in wide open fields while driving to scout property this week. 5:59

shipshewana-show

• Terry announces the Shipshewana Show, the Midwest Sportsman’s Classic by FAE, as an event listeners heard about the previous week. 2:30

speaking-events

• Don announces he will be speaking at multiple events this winter with a brand-new presentation based on real-world farm experience. 38:40
• Don announces he will be speaking at Mount Hope, Ohio in January. 39:22

sunday-night-prayer-time

• Terry reminds listeners to stay through the closing credits because Wes Delks is hosting this week’s Sunday Night Prayer Time. 53:27

trail-camera-strategy

• Wes says that on his farm, missing a target buck’s trail-camera picture for three straight days means the buck isn’t there anymore. 28:19

weather-forecast

• Don forecasts that deer movement will become more favorable toward the end of next week as temperatures cool. 3:49

wes-delks-humor

• Terry jokes that instead of the usual toilet-paper prank, people should donate diapers to Wes Delks since he now has two young children. 2:07 (light moment)

wind-conditions

• Wes recalls an unprecedented ten-day stretch of easterly winds in late September in Indiana that disrupted his hunting plans. 11:20

wind-management

• John Simoneau from Clifton, Illinois asks how to hunt a buck that uses the same daylight trail regardless of wind direction in December and January. 49:43

Deer activity

• U Haul (harvest) 11:35
• U Haul (trail-camera) 17:33
• U Haul (management) 17:43
• U Haul (trail-camera) 18:10
• Brandon Epperson buck (history) 18:26

Listener questions

Question: Terry asks Wes what it’s like to hear the podcast tell embarrassing stories or poke fun at him when he isn’t there to defend himself. 1:23 — asked by Terry

• Answer: Wes says he doesn’t get to jab back on the podcast, but that’s part of having fun with good friends. 1:33

Question: Kirsten Tepe from Oakland City, Indiana asks what breeders feed captive deer to reach over 1,000 inches of antler and whether Real World products could increase antler size. 34:53 — asked by Kirsten Tepe

• Answer: Don says feeding a deer Real World products won’t make it bigger since antler size is determined entirely by genetics. 35:31
• Answer: Don adds that proper nutrition simply allows a deer to reach its full genetic antler potential, not exceed it. 36:07

Question: Terry asks whether nutrition merely helps a buck reach its genetic antler ceiling or actually raises that ceiling. 37:09 — asked by Terry

• Answer: Wes says achieving big antlers requires age, nutrition, and genetics together. 37:20
• Answer: Wes explains that in the captive deer world, genetics produce thousand-inch antlers, but deer still must be fed properly to reach that potential. 37:26

Question: Zane Baldwin from Hastings, Nebraska asks why deer stopped hitting his rope scrape after chewing the end frayed, and how to fix it. 39:58 — asked by Zane Baldwin

• Answer: Don suggests there are certain scents you can apply to a rope scrape that will make deer want to chew on it. 41:07
• Answer: Wes says the same thing happened on his farm, so he just hung a second rope next to the frayed one, calling the spot ‘double rope’. 41:48
• Answer: Wes recommends hanging a new rope right next to the old chewed one rather than replacing it. 42:03

Question: Brandon Carroll from Chestertown, Maryland asks how to distinguish doe bedding from buck bedding during postseason scouting. 43:52 — asked by Brandon Carroll

• Answer: Don says a bigger, longer bed found in the snow is likely a buck’s bed. 44:39
• Answer: Don says he pays zero attention to differentiating doe and buck beds when scouting a new property, calling that distinction overrated. 45:00
• Answer: Wes says he narrows a bedding buck down to a several-acre area rather than one exact spot. 46:25

Question: Tim Brown from Carrollton, Illinois asks why deer prefer browsing in an open harvested ag bean field over his food plot planted with the same soybean variety. 46:40 — asked by Tim Brown

• Answer: Don explains deer naturally prefer feeding in big open areas, especially at night. 47:33
• Answer: Don suggests switching the food plot to Real World soybeans to see a difference in deer preference. 48:03
• Answer: Don says he would not mow the surrounding CRP, but would instead change what’s planted in the food plot. 48:40

Question: John Simoneau from Clifton, Illinois asks how to hunt a buck that uses the same daylight trail regardless of wind direction in December and January. 49:43 — asked by John Simoneau

• Answer: Don says an unpressured buck will give up the wind more than a pressured one, which is likely why this buck ignores wind direction. 51:25
• Answer: Wes agrees there’s a direct correlation between hunting pressure and how much a buck respects the wind. 52:02
• Answer: Wes references an article by Al Foster about finding the ‘weak spot’ when hunting a high-pressure area. 52:16

Prayer Time

Scripture: James
Theme: joy-in-trials
Wes encourages listeners chasing a specific deer not to base their joy on circumstances, big bucks, or people, but on the Lord as the baseline of strength, citing James 1:2 on finding steadfastness through trials, then prays for unselfish generosity, safe travel mercies for traveling hunters, and gratitude that the whitetail brings people closer together. 55:27

Don and Wes discussed rut lockdown, with Don noting mature bucks locking down hot does even in open fields during daylight, though not every buck was locked down, and predicting at least another week before movement improved with cooler temperatures. He planned minimal pressure on his own farm during gun season, expecting gun pressure elsewhere to push deer his way. Wes shared consulting advice on evaluating farms for cover access and balancing holdability with huntability, and discussed his target buck U Haul, tracked closely since 2021 through habitat improvements and finally killed November 13. Listener questions covered whether nutrition could raise a buck’s genetic antler ceiling (it can’t, only help reach it), fixing a chewed rope scrape by hanging a second rope, distinguishing buck and doe beds, and hunting a buck that ignored wind direction. Wes closed the episode hosting a prayer segment on finding joy through trials.

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