Episode #26 - Don tackles two controversial topics CULLING and AGING BUCKS

Published: 2020-07-27
Episode page
Duration: 74 min

In this episode

bedding

• Don recommends hunting mature bucks on the exact property where they bed rather than on adjacent land. 71:04
• Don believes the odds of killing a specific mature buck drop to about 10% if you hunt one property over from where it actually beds. 71:22

buck-aging

• Don is firmly convinced no one can accurately judge a buck’s age from a photo once it passes three and a half years old. 54:23
• Terry says there are only two reliable ways to know a buck’s true age: trail camera history since it was young, or sending an incisor to DeerAge.com. 56:02
• Brian Elements asks how to judge a buck’s age from body size versus antler mass, since deer bodies vary as much as people’s do. 49:51

buck-forecast

• Don has posted an annual buck forecast on his blog for the past two or three years and it has been spot on. 4:20

community-support

• Terry received over 100 private support messages on Instagram and Facebook from people he had never met after his surgery. 14:57

consulting

• Don’s consistent goal for every consulting client is that they have the chance to shoot the biggest buck on their farm every year. 45:18

culling-bucks

• Amos Hershberger asks what Don thinks about culling bucks that don’t show potential as two- or three-year-olds. 23:04

deer-management

• Don estimates he has raised the score of the top-end bucks on his property by about 20 inches over the last decade. 28:01
• Don keeps certain stands on his farm untouched, reserved only for the biggest, most mature bucks rather than cull bucks. 44:24

doe-factory

• Don says human intrusion, not doe overpopulation, is the number one factor that ruins hunting properties. 64:53
• Sam Carrozza asks whether Don believes in the ‘doe factory’ phenomenon and what can be done to reverse it on his property. 63:45

family

• Terry’s 14-year-old son has been a huge help around the house during his recovery. 17:18

farm-chores

• Don sold his beef cows this year, which freed him from cutting hay all summer. 2:53

food-plots

• Don says he has the best soybean food plots he has ever had this year. 6:01
• Don expects to have his best food plots ever if he can get good fall plots planted. 6:35

listener-questions

• Listeners can submit questions through chasinggiants.com, which redirects to higginsoutdoors.com. 8:56
• Don sends a free Chasing Giants T-shirt to listeners whose submitted questions get used on the show. 9:14

podcast-schedule

• After a listener asked for more frequent content, the hosts started releasing a short podcast every weekend. 73:15

seminar-tour

• Don plans to start his seminar tour this week, heading to Ohio first and then Michigan. 1:39
• Don will be in Kansas the following week for another seminar stop. 1:50

surgery

• Terry received a donor ligament in his knee surgery, handled the same way as an organ donation. 10:59
• Terry’s goal is to cut his average knee rehab time so he can walk within two weeks. 14:15
• Terry wants to be able to walk by opening day of Kentucky archery season. 14:29

youtube-channel

• Don’s Higgins Outdoors YouTube channel launched in early June and is not yet two months old. 72:11

Deer activity

• Smokey (harvest) 27:33
• Curly (history) 37:56
• the old guy (harvest) 39:50
• Uno (harvest) 53:00
• unnamed buck (harvest) 59:41

Listener questions

Question: Amos Hershberger asks what Don thinks about culling bucks that don’t show potential as two- or three-year-olds. 23:04 — asked by Amos Hershberger

• Answer: Don agrees with experts that culling cannot change a wild deer herd’s genetics, since deer disperse too widely across the landscape. 25:28
• Answer: Don explains that the best yearling bucks are almost always the best two-year-olds, and that trend continues through each older age class. 30:03

Question: Brian Elements asks how to judge a buck’s age from body size versus antler mass, since deer bodies vary as much as people’s do. 49:51 — asked by Brian Elements

• Answer: Don states he personally does not believe a buck’s age can be determined from a photograph alone. 52:03

Question: Sam Carrozza asks whether Don believes in the ‘doe factory’ phenomenon and what can be done to reverse it on his property. 63:45 — asked by Sam Carrozza

• Answer: Don says he does not believe in the doe factory concept at all. 64:26
• Answer: Don believes hunting pressure and human intrusion, not doe overpopulation, cause declining sightings of mature bucks. 64:42

Sponsors this episode

• Mathews Archery
• Three 360 Hunting Blinds
• Vortex Optics
• Lone Wolf Treestands
• Real World Wildlife Products
• QuietKat
• BuyAFarm.com

Terry gave a health update, noting his knee surgery used a donor ligament handled like an organ donation, that his goal was to walk within two weeks and be ready for opening day of Kentucky archery season, and that he’d received over 100 supportive messages from strangers plus help from his 14-year-old son. Don discussed his seminar tour starting in Ohio and Michigan, then Kansas, his strong soybean food plots, and his new Higgins Outdoors YouTube channel. The bulk of the episode covered listener questions: Amos Hershberger on culling, which Don said cannot change wild deer genetics since good yearlings tend to stay the best through each age class; Brian Elements on judging age from body size, which Don said isn’t reliably possible past three and a half years old; and Sam Carrozza on the ‘doe factory’ idea, which Don rejected, instead blaming human intrusion for declining mature buck sightings.

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