Episode #259 Apple Tree Spacing in Deer Plots

Published: 2025-02-09
Episode page
Duration: 77 min

In this episode

age-structure

• Terry notes that without neighbors pressuring the property line, a landowner can actually control which deer live to an older age structure. 12:43

bedding-behavior

• Don believes some individual deer return to bed in the same specific spot repeatedly under certain wind conditions, though not the exact same bed daily. 54:36

bedding-cover

• Royce Corbin asks about an online expert promoting grain sorghum as bedding instead of switchgrass. 32:06

captive-deer

• Don recalls captive deer reacting calmly to a coyote near their pen but flipping out and bouncing off fences when a dog appeared instead. 50:23
• Did years in the captive deer industry help Don’s success as a whitetail hunter? 45:59

cell-phones

• Is having a cell phone in the hunting blind a good thing or a bad thing? 26:54

charity

• Terry recounts that Mount Hope show fundraising came within about $600 of covering a family’s uncovered breast cancer treatment costs. 7:53

chris-jordy

• Don says friend Chris Jordy of Heart Jay Outfitters in North Dakota sent him a T-shirt. 42:45
• Chris Jordy’s group is fighting ridiculous CWD regulations and laws in North Dakota and is well organized in battling their state game agency. 42:55

clear-cut

• Don explains clear cutting lets sunlight reach the ground, promoting weeds that create prime deer bedding cover. 40:16
• Don says his business partners recently bought a 383-acre Ohio property that was clearcut years ago and has become a deer haven. 39:48

consulting

• Don says every day on the consulting trail is a blessing because of the people he meets and each new property he sees. 10:55
• Don plans to visit a couple properties in Michigan and one near the show in Shipshewana that week. 60:47
• Don says he thinks he can get everyone on his consulting waiting list done by spring. 62:25

food-plots

• Adam Katz asks about enhancing a green-to-grain food plot transition with a pinch point or scrape. 43:22

fruit-trees

• Don describes four special disease-resistant apple varieties sold by Jay Gingerich’s Gingerich Tree Farm: Raptor, Red Dawn, Jehovah’s Choice, and Steady Eddie. 15:13
• Don credits apple breeder Andy Andreas with years of work developing these disease-resistant, large-growing fruit trees. 15:26
• Don recommends always planting clover at the base of fruit trees to double up the food source underneath them. 17:15
• When walking a property and seeing different opportunities, how does Don decide how many fruit trees to use? 13:51
• How far apart does Don plan the Gingerich fruit trees when laying out a grid? 16:32

higgins-hot-seat

• Don asks listeners with Higgins on the Hot Seat question ideas to write them down and drop them at the Lester’s Feet booth. 60:06

high-fences

• Could state agencies legally limit or ban high fences on private deer properties? 55:05

illness

• Don tested positive for influenza B after missing the Mount Hope show he had promoted for weeks. 1:17

jet-lag

• Terry describes experiencing extreme jet lag a day and a half after returning from an eleven or twelve day overseas trip. 9:07

late-season

• Don advises the client be careful about burning buck tags late season since the food and territory could hold new bucks. 12:57
• Don expects new bucks never seen before to show up on the property every winter once late season arrives. 13:13

live-podcast

• Don announces a live podcast will happen next week. 59:37

mathews

• Don says Mathews was absolutely ecstatic when told the bows would be auctioned off for Lester’s Feet. 22:08

mount-hope-show

• Don says they will make an effort to be back at the Mount Hope venue next summer. 1:37
• Don says he put Ray Miller on the spot to fill in during the missed sermon, and Ray still gives him grief about it. 2:49

podcast-history

• Don notes the podcast has only taken one other week off in 259 weeks, that time because he was in Japan. 3:38

property-design

• Don describes a 120-acre Illinois property he is planning that is surrounded on three sides by a 10,000-acre no-hunting sanctuary. 11:33
• Don predicts the client on this new property will kill booner bucks nearly every year given the surrounding sanctuary and county history. 12:26

scrapes

• Don says he would rather plant a burlapped pin oak tree near a stand than build an artificial scrape structure. 44:42

shed-hunting

• What’s the difference between multiple people walking a consulting client’s property during hunting season versus shed hunting on it? 36:38

shipshewana-show

• Don relays that Derek reported extra vendor booths were added in the arena walkway because the Shipshewana show hall ran out of floor space. 19:58
• Don estimates around 200 vendors, including many of the podcast’s good friends, will be at the Shipshewana show. 20:06
• Don announces they will auction his two out-of-print, sold-out books at Shipshewana, with all proceeds going to Lester’s Feet. 20:38
• Don and Terry will also auction their brand new Mathews bows, the ones they shot their bucks with this year. 20:57
• Don says Brenton will display the new ASIO Rapt Brenton rifle in their booth at Shipshewana. 22:47
• Don announces three sixty will unveil a brand new product during the live Thursday podcast at Shipshewana. 24:18
• Don announces Friday night’s Shipshewana show will feature campfire stories with the Wensel brothers. 25:03
• Don says last year’s feedback was that there wasn’t enough time to spend with guests like Bobby and the Wessel brothers. 24:53
• Don notes the Shipshewana show will also feature a man who climbed Mount Everest, professional fishermen, and Team Radical doing elk and predator hunting. 26:00
• Don announces Ty Miller will lead Sunday Night Prayer Time at the conclusion of the podcast during the Shipshewana event. 63:03

timber-harvest

• Don advises clients to have a logger come in and cut every tree they want, but require them to also take the less valuable species. 40:52
• What is the difference between a timber harvest and an aggressive TSI cut? 36:24

trail-cameras

• Don invites the caller who criticized his trail camera use to come debate him live at the Thursday podcast. 30:54
• Don jokingly offers a free Chasing Giants hat to the caller if he shows up to debate him. 31:13 (light moment)

travel

• Don jokingly tells listeners not to go to Key West, Florida. 5:07 (light moment)

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (hunt) 30:05
• Abby (history) 52:22
• Annie (history) 53:07
• Smokey (history) 54:02

Listener questions

Question: When walking a property and seeing different opportunities, how does Don decide how many fruit trees to use? 13:51

• Answer: Don says it depends on available food space; if space is limited, he avoids burning acreage on fruit trees and instead uses small pockets. 14:00

Question: How far apart does Don plan the Gingerich fruit trees when laying out a grid? 16:32

• Answer: Don keeps the Gingerich fruit trees spaced 30 feet apart. 16:38

Question: Is having a cell phone in the hunting blind a good thing or a bad thing? 26:54

• Answer: Don says many bucks have been saved because hunters were distracted on their phones and missed seeing them approach. 27:26
• Answer: Don says having his phone helps him sit much longer in the stand than he otherwise would. 27:40

Question: Royce Corbin asks about an online expert promoting grain sorghum as bedding instead of switchgrass. 32:06 — asked by Royce Corbin

• Answer: Don notes grain sorghum is an annual that must be replanted every year, unlike switchgrass. 33:10
• Answer: Don concludes grain sorghum does not come close to matching switchgrass as bedding cover. 34:39

Question: What is the difference between a timber harvest and an aggressive TSI cut? 36:24 — asked by JC Whitet

• Answer: Don explains a timber harvest logs trees for lumber, while TSI (timber stand improvement) kills low-value species to favor better trees. 38:24

Question: What’s the difference between multiple people walking a consulting client’s property during hunting season versus shed hunting on it? 36:38 — asked by JC Whitet

• Answer: Don says consulting-visit walk-throughs happen on unfinished properties needing habitat work, unlike shed hunting on already-finished properties with no need for extra pressure. 37:59
• Answer: Don argues going in just to shed hunt risks pushing a buck onto a neighbor’s land, gaining the hunter nothing. 38:14

Question: Adam Katz asks about enhancing a green-to-grain food plot transition with a pinch point or scrape. 43:22 — asked by Adam Katz

• Answer: Don says the green-to-grain transition tactic definitely works. 43:41
• Answer: Don describes placing a stand where a soybean plot meets a greens plot so deer cross back and forth in front of it. 44:03

Question: Did years in the captive deer industry help Don’s success as a whitetail hunter? 45:59 — asked by Mike Carey

• Answer: Don believes typical captive deer farmers are more knowledgeable about whitetails than even experienced hunters. 46:53
• Answer: Don cites learning from captive deer that they eat three to four times more in late summer than in winter. 47:33

Question: Could state agencies legally limit or ban high fences on private deer properties? 55:05 — asked by Josh Combs

• Answer: Don doubts fence bans could hold up in court given other legal exceptions like security and agricultural fencing. 55:53
• Answer: Don blames poor state game agency management for driving landowners to build fences in the first place. 57:16

Prayer Time

Scripture: John
Theme: why bad things happen to good people
Ty Miller reflects on a local tragedy and the question of why bad things happen to good people, tracing suffering to free will and universal sinfulness. Citing John 9’s man born blind, he explains Jesus redirects the disciples from asking why to asking what God would have them do, then prays listeners embrace action and trust over doubt. 71:26

Don explained he’d missed the promoted Mount Hope show after testing positive for influenza B, with Ray Miller filling in on preaching duty, and noted the show’s fundraiser came within about $600 of covering a family’s uncovered breast cancer treatment costs. Terry described lingering jet lag from an eleven or twelve day overseas trip. Much of the episode previewed the Shipshewana show: added vendor booths, roughly 200 vendors, an auction of Don’s out-of-print books and their new Mathews bows benefiting Lester’s Feet, a Wensel brothers campfire night, and a live Thursday podcast debate invitation for a caller critical of trail camera use. Don discussed consulting work, including a 120-acre Illinois property bordering a large no-hunting sanctuary, disease-resistant Gingerich apple varieties spaced 30 feet apart, clear-cutting for bedding cover, and captive-deer behavioral observations. Listener questions covered fruit tree spacing, phone use in blinds, grain sorghum versus switchgrass bedding, and high-fence legality. Ty Miller closed with a prayer on suffering and trust.

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