Episode #249 - Another Big Archery Buck! Terry Peer and Don Higgins Discuss

Published: 2024-11-24
Episode page
Duration: 71 min

In this episode

buck-behavior

• Don noted that despite seeing deer and scrapes in his yard almost daily, he has never once seen a buck there in daylight. 60:51

buck-harvest

• Terry described standing on his ladder stand and shooting his buck at just nine to ten yards, watching it fall less than twenty yards away. 29:10

buck-history

• Don said the buck was truly unique, having done something he’d never seen any buck do, saving the details for the hunt video. 5:16

buck-naming

• Terry revealed he named the buck King David, inspired unknowingly by Don, who also unknowingly inspired the Lester’s Feet Foundation name. 6:08
• Terry explained he began naming bucks after biblical figures to create natural openings to talk about scripture’s relevance in life. 6:38

buck-score

• Terry clarified his buck didn’t score 191 like Zacchaeus, but rather around 167 inches. 28:48

cattle

• Don shared he simply prefers cows over venison and has been passionate about both cows and deer since childhood. 46:27

cattle-pasture

• Terry explained Wes Delks added cattle pasture mainly to push deer farther from road frontage and funnel them through a chosen wind corridor into a created pinch point. 49:14

clear-cuts

• Nate Miller, buying a property currently being clear cut, asked whether deer avoid such areas and how to improve them for deer. 50:13

clint-cross

• Terry shared that listener Clint Cross built a business converting old John Deere planters into food-plot equipment. 19:13

consulting

• Don observed that the clients who stick closest to his management plan are consistently the most successful at killing big bucks. 8:13
• Terry said their consulting process strategically plans every farm’s access points before designing food, cover, or stand locations. 49:55

consulting-team

• Don announced two new consultants, Caleb and David, are joining his team. 11:10
• Don noted the new consultants David and Caleb had already worked with him on roughly a dozen properties across multiple states last winter. 11:29

ehd

• Terry explained he lost the buck whose history he’d tracked for several years to EHD this year. 2:32

growing-season

• Terry said this was probably the best growing season for antler development that he could remember. 43:23
• Don agreed this may have been the best growing year for antlers in decades. 43:35
• A listener asked whether this year’s jump in high-scoring buck harvests stems from an exceptional growing season or growing social-media pressure against shooting young bucks. 36:12

hunt-production

• Terry committed to being honest and transparent in the buck’s hunt footage rather than staging or recreating scenes to make it look better. 4:52

hunt-video

• Terry announced Joe Miles’ Kansas hunt, never seen before, is slated to release on Chasing Giants YouTube in December. 5:48
• Terry mentioned Josh Anderson’s hunt and possibly releasing another hunt at the Shipshewana Midwestern Sportsman’s Classic in February. 5:58

instinctive-shooting

• Don recalled that for many years he shot bucks purely instinctively, without any sight, even while shooting a compound bow. 27:37

lesters-feet

• Terry explained Lester’s Feet, born from this podcast to help families with sick children, has grown a mission supporting families where the mother has breast cancer. 14:23
• Terry said a large donor gave Lester’s Feet the idea to redirect funds toward hurricane disaster relief for listeners’ communities. 15:17
• Terry announced Lester’s Feet, combined with a church love offering and listener donations, had raised $82,871.51 for hurricane disaster relief. 16:47
• Terry relayed that Devin Hurley’s church, after hearing about the Lester’s Feet relief fund on the Sunday Night Prayer Time segment, joined in donating. 16:22
• Don emphasized that 100% of money donated to Lester’s Feet goes to its intended recipients, with no administrative costs since the board is all-volunteer. 17:22
• Terry described Lester’s Feet vetting a family’s situation and directly paying their house payment so they could focus on the mother’s illness without financial stress. 20:12
• Don announced he’ll donate two of his books to be auctioned during a live podcast at the Shipshewana Show, with proceeds going to Lester’s Feet. 31:29
• Don announced the actual Lift X bow he used to shoot Zacchaeus will also be auctioned at Shipshewana, with proceeds going to Lester’s Feet. 31:49

mathews-bow

• Don recounted that after screwing on a sight fresh out of the box, his first arrow at fifteen yards hit the bull’s eye without adjustment. 23:02
• Terry clarified Don’s bow wasn’t a standard production model—Mathews had pre-tuned it to his exact specs, leaving only the sight to bolt on. 23:42
• Don shot Zacchaeus with his new Mathews bow the same day it arrived, taking it to the woods that evening. 24:38

moran-creek-outdoors

• Terry announced Chasing Giants and Lester’s Feet apparel is now available through partner company Moran Creek Outdoors. 34:11

pasture-management

• Nolan Franken asked why Don leaves his pasture and about twenty acres of row crop undeveloped for deer despite favoring converting every acre to food or cover. 45:15

rut

• Terry said the warm front that hit around November sixth through eighth suppressed the rut he and Don had anticipated, though many great bucks were still killed. 1:56

sanctuary-management

• Don explained that hunting inside a sanctuary even occasionally, as some clients do, negates its purpose as a sanctuary. 9:40

shipshewana

• Don confirmed the Shipshewana auction will take place February thirteenth through fifteenth. 34:06

social-media

• Terry asked whether social media pressuring hunters to become trophy hunters too soon is a good or bad thing. 39:48

trail-cameras

• Don relayed that Roger once told him a mature buck will walk a hundred yards out of his way to use an open gate rather than jump a fence. 59:42
• Mark Godfrey asked whether he should relocate a trail camera after a mature buck spots it and ‘wins the game.’ 56:44

weather

• Terry described waking to cold, windy weather with the season’s first snow on his truck in Illinois, sensing it signaled a great hunting weekend. 0:37
• Don recalled that rain and strong wind convinced him and Steve Shields to get breakfast in town instead of hunting that morning. 1:07

wes-delks

• Terry noted Wes Delks’ buck, nicknamed U Haul, was the first deer taken from what Wes had originally called ‘Higgins two point o.’ 48:56

wind

• Nolan Gingerling asked about deer movement on calm versus windy days, referencing Don’s rut report comments and his grandpa’s belief that wind suppresses movement. 54:29

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (harvest) 2:58
• King David (history) 6:08
• Zacchaeus (harvest) 24:38
• U Haul (harvest) 48:56
• unnamed buck (trail-camera) 60:12

Listener questions

Question: A listener asked whether this year’s jump in high-scoring buck harvests stems from an exceptional growing season or growing social-media pressure against shooting young bucks. 36:12 — asked by Chasing Dougherty

• Answer: Don attributed this year’s harvest jump mainly to exceptional growing conditions rather than social media’s slow influence, though he thinks social media plays a small role. 36:58

Question: Terry asked whether social media pressuring hunters to become trophy hunters too soon is a good or bad thing. 39:48

• Answer: Don called it a bad thing, saying social media wrongly makes hunters feel lesser unless they shoot a big buck, and that state agencies should better manage age-class and sex ratios instead. 40:21

Question: Nolan Franken asked why Don leaves his pasture and about twenty acres of row crop undeveloped for deer despite favoring converting every acre to food or cover. 45:15 — asked by Nolan Franken

• Answer: Don said keeping the pasture undeveloped preserves huntability—adding more cover would let bucks stay on the farm but make them much harder to actually kill. 47:19

Question: Nate Miller, buying a property currently being clear cut, asked whether deer avoid such areas and how to improve them for deer. 50:13 — asked by Nate Miller

• Answer: Don said clear cuts are actually some of the best deer habitat available, since deer readily work through and even bed within the fallen tops. 50:36

Question: Nolan Gingerling asked about deer movement on calm versus windy days, referencing Don’s rut report comments and his grandpa’s belief that wind suppresses movement. 54:29 — asked by Nolan Gingerling

• Answer: Don said he dislikes calm days because deer notice hunter movement more easily and scent behaves unpredictably, preferring a steady wind around eight to ten miles per hour. 55:28

Question: Mark Godfrey asked whether he should relocate a trail camera after a mature buck spots it and ‘wins the game.’ 56:44 — asked by Mark Godfrey

• Answer: Don said he’s had mature bucks appear on camera only once at a spot, believing they stay on the property but learn to specifically avoid that camera afterward. 57:28

Prayer Time

Scripture: Philippians
Theme: confidence and peace through consistent prayer
Terry reflected that spiritual confidence, like archery skill, grows through practiced repetition rather than one-time effort, citing Philippians 4:6-7 on presenting anxieties to God through prayer and thanksgiving to receive peace that transcends understanding, and prayed for strengthened faith, renewed focus, and identity firmly rooted in Christ. 68:52

Terry and Don opened discussing a warm front around November sixth through eighth that suppressed the rut they’d expected, though many great bucks were still killed, and both agreed this may have been the best antler-growing season in memory. Terry shared he’d lost a long-tracked buck to EHD, and named a new buck King David, continuing his practice of naming bucks after biblical figures to open conversations about scripture. Don recounted shooting Zacchaeus the same evening his new Mathews bow arrived, and Terry described killing his own buck at nine to ten yards, scoring around 167 inches. They discussed Lester’s Feet raising $82,871.51 for hurricane relief, two new consultants joining Don’s team, and an upcoming Shipshewana auction of Don’s books and bow. Listener questions covered social media’s effect on trophy hunting, leaving pasture undeveloped for huntability, deer use of clear cuts, wind’s effect on movement, and relocating a trail camera. Terry closed with a prayer on faith built through repetition.

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