Episode #27 Season is closing in. Final prep work is being done along with addressing some hurt feelings.

Published: 2020-08-10
Episode page
Duration: 83 min

In this episode

archery-season

• Don warns that if archery harvest keeps surpassing gun-season harvest in states like Illinois, hunters risk eventually losing days from their seasons. 77:25

buck-forecast

• Don announces the next episode of Chasing Giants will feature a buck forecast based on trail-camera intel gathered across several counties. 12:44

cell-cameras

• Terry has spent $1,500 of his own money on six cell cameras to test them side by side. 19:27
• Terry’s plan is to run his cell-camera test in Kentucky for about three to four weeks before moving top performers to Illinois. 20:23
• Terry expects the last two cameras in his cell-camera test to arrive early next week, giving him preliminary data for the next episode. 82:57

crp-program

• Bob asks what to plant before signing a CRP contract requiring periodic mowing, so bedding cover isn’t completely wiped out for deer. 40:00

distributor

• Real World gained a new distributor, Phillips Seed Farms in Kansas, which has roughly 200 dealers, expanding product access across the Plains States. 3:27

doe-genetics

• Bob asks how to identify which does should be culled versus kept when managing herd ratio, given uncertainty about doe genetics. 48:40

duane

• Don says he and Real World lean heavily on Duane’s knowledge for developing and improving products. 2:45

fall-food-plots

• Brian Scott asks what he can broadcast into standing soybeans before harvest so another food source is ready once the beans are gone. 57:43

fetal-programming

• Terry asks listeners to send in fetal-programming questions, labeled accordingly, to save for a dedicated episode with the upcoming guest. 82:20

food-plots

• Kevin Thayer plants two rows of soybeans with one left open, then uses a built cultivator to prep the field before double-cropping. 37:13
• Don highly recommends an ‘extreme blower’ seed attachment that fits a gas leaf blower, throwing food-plot seed much farther than a hand crank spreader. 61:54

guest-announcement

• Don announces Dr. Bronson Strickland of the Mississippi State Deer Lab has agreed to come on as a guest in the coming weeks. 81:30

hunting-ethics

• Al Foster refused to use deer scent, considering it an unfair advantage over a buck’s biggest defense, its nose. 66:33
• Don says ethics is a personal choice and it disgusts him when people excuse behavior by saying ‘if it’s legal, it’s okay.’ 71:28
• Terry says the real issue in hunting culture is that people are worshiping the creation instead of the Creator. 74:19
• Terry disagrees with Don, arguing there is real evil in the hunting industry driven by the pressure to land sponsors or get on TV. 79:48
• Jacob asks whether modern hunters, obsessed with gadgets and social media, are losing touch with nature and the true reality of hunting. 65:00

hunting-industry

• Terry argues the biggest misconception is that hosts hunt full-time for free; most people in the industry actually came into it with their own money. 9:35

illinois

• Don explains Illinois timber enrolled in a management program with a forester’s plan is taxed at a much lower rate than recreational property. 35:37

injury-recovery

• Terry says he is three weeks post-surgery and the physical therapy he’s doing is absolutely brutal. 13:51
• Terry says the worst part of recovery is still being dependent on someone else to drive him anywhere. 15:25
• Terry’s goal is to be walking without crutches by opening day, the first Saturday of September in Kentucky. 16:57

land-ownership

• Terry says he has family property of about 130 acres and is not leasing any property this year. 9:07

leasing

• Don says he has one piece of leased ground this year. 9:21
• Terry says he and Don gave up all their hunting leases because the leases weren’t providing a good return. 9:23

mentorship

• Don credits mentor Al Foster, a North American Whitetail writer who consistently killed big bucks, with shaping his early hunting outlook as a teenager. 65:46

morning-hunting

• Don says he won’t hunt mature bucks on October mornings because for every buck killed that way, roughly fifty are spooked and ruined. 26:03

plans

• With the seminar tour over, Don plans to catch up on chores around the farm and home and hopes to find a giant buck this fall. 1:54

public-land-hunting

• Don says he has hunted public ground for years, including killing his first buck there, and still runs cameras and plans to hunt public land again this year. 8:32

sacrifice

• Don explains he made real sacrifices, including not living in a new house, to afford his hunting land. 8:47

scouting-plan

• Don plans to spend the coming week checking trail cameras and then glass in the evenings to find or confirm bucks. 13:24

season-countdown

• Terry notes he only has about three weeks left before season while Don has about seven in Illinois, and time is flying by. 1:24

seminar-tour

• Don says he wrapped up his summer seminar tour, having traveled to Ohio, Michigan, and Kansas since the last episode. 1:43
• Did any off-the-wall questions come up during the seminar tour, or was it pretty normal? 4:53

sponsorship-ethics

• Don’s Facebook post’s real message was that he only represents, recommends, or talks about products he’d actually buy himself. 6:17

trail-cameras

• Terry offered to lend his friend trail cameras to help pinpoint where his giant buck could be hunted safely in the evenings instead of risky mornings. 31:05

tree-saddle

• Terry recounts that the tree-saddle joke started because he and Don were just poking fun at Wes Delks. 6:32
• Terry jokes that a six-hour tree-saddle ‘wedgie’ isn’t for him, even if it works for other hunters. 6:42 (light moment)
• Wes tried the tree saddle for part of October, but abandoned it in the closet by the time the rut started. 6:57
• Wes told Terry that with tree steps already placed, he can climb up and get set in his lightweight lone-wolf stand faster than he could with the tree saddle. 7:37

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (harvest) 8:32
• unnamed buck (trail-camera) 25:05
• Smokey (hunt) 29:00
• unnamed buck (trail-camera) 30:43

Listener questions

Question: Did any off-the-wall questions come up during the seminar tour, or was it pretty normal? 4:53

• Answer: Don says nothing was too unusual, though a guy in Ohio asked about expandable broadheads and Don may have upset some people with his answer. 5:10

Question: Bob asks what to plant before signing a CRP contract requiring periodic mowing, so bedding cover isn’t completely wiped out for deer. 40:00

• Answer: Don recommends dividing grass plantings into thirds and burning only a third per year, so most bedding cover always remains standing rather than being wiped out at once. 44:37
• Answer: Terry adds that Don only burns one of his three native grass fields per year, rotating every three years, so bedding always remains on the property. 45:52

Question: Bob asks how to identify which does should be culled versus kept when managing herd ratio, given uncertainty about doe genetics. 48:40

• Answer: Don’s rule of thumb: whenever a hunter can shoot a doe accompanied by two button bucks, take it, since that removes buck fawns least likely to disperse. 52:39
• Answer: Terry recommends setting up separate feeding spots away from target-buck stand sites specifically for doe harvest, to avoid pressuring prime hunting areas. 53:19

Question: Brian Scott asks what he can broadcast into standing soybeans before harvest so another food source is ready once the beans are gone. 57:43 — asked by Brian Scott

• Answer: Terry advises waiting until soybean leaves start changing color before broadcasting oats or brassicas into standing beans, so sunlight can reach the cracked seed and it germinates. 59:11

Question: Jacob asks whether modern hunters, obsessed with gadgets and social media, are losing touch with nature and the true reality of hunting. 65:00

• Answer: Don answers that hunters are stewards entrusted with big game herds for a time, and owe it to the next generation to leave the resource in better shape than they found it. 68:36
• Answer: Terry warns that when a target buck becomes an obsession, big deer make good people really bad, leading to jealousy and lost priorities. 75:36

Sponsors this episode

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

Terry and Don caught up as season approached, with Terry about three weeks out and Don about seven in Illinois. Don recapped wrapping his summer seminar tour through Ohio, Michigan, and Kansas, plans to catch up on farm chores, and a new Kansas distributor for Real World. Terry recounted the tree-saddle joke aimed at Wes Delks, who abandoned the saddle by rut for his faster lone-wolf setup. Both discussed dropping their hunting leases as poor returns, Illinois timber tax programs, and land sacrifices Don made to afford his ground. Don warned against hunting mature bucks on October mornings due to spooking risk, and previewed a trail-camera-based buck forecast next episode. Terry gave a brutal post-surgery recovery update and detailed his $1,500 six-camera cell-camera test. Listener questions covered CRP burn rotations, doe culling strategy, and broadcasting into standing beans, alongside a broader discussion of ethics and stewardship in hunting culture.

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