Episode #273 - Clover Maintenance and Spring Planting

Published: 2025-05-18
Episode page
Duration: 70 min

In this episode

360-blind

• Terry describes a Chasing Giants TV farm tour video from Western Kentucky where a landowner anchored an elevated 360 blind extension kit atop a hill using concrete pylons and cables. 56:01
• Ryan Stel from Smithton, Illinois asks whether Don and Terry add extra anchors beyond the four provided rebar stakes to keep the 360 blind from blowing over. 52:40

biochar

• Don spread biochar on all his corn plots and is discing it into the soil so it isn’t just sitting on the surface. 7:55

chasing-giants-assurance

• Terry announces the Chasing Giants Assurance podcast will release the week of Father’s Day on Wednesday morning. 57:17

chasing-giants-tv

• A Chasing Giants TV video airing this week shows Don planting soybeans. 3:57

clover

• Vincent Trophy Whitetail from Sioux City, Iowa asks how and when to terminate a grass-overrun clover plot and replant it to clover by March 1. 31:12

clover-maintenance

• Don calls the idea that clover shouldn’t be mowed ridiculous, since unmown clover just becomes a weed patch. 35:45
• Terry announces a video on mowing clover is coming out within the next week. 36:41

corn-testing

• Terry asks what type of corn testing they’re pursuing against NutriCrave — green leaf, dried-down grain, or both. 17:55

cover-crop

• Don sprayed his overgrown rye cover crop and mowed it off about five days later once it dried up enough, then drilled soybeans into the residue. 4:47
• Don believes the leftover rye thatch will suppress weeds, hold in moisture, and help hide the young soybean plants. 5:05

creek-crossing

• Don spent five days renting a dump trailer and hauling roughly 25 loads of busted concrete from Corey and Andrea’s torn-down barns to fill a culvert for his new creek crossing. 6:05
• Terry asks why Don’s corn still isn’t planted, noting it was delayed by using part of the corn plot as access for the new creek crossing. 5:52

cwd

• Don asserts CWD has never actually jumped the species barrier, despite lawmakers using that fear to justify culling policy. 27:27

deer-management

• Eli Doyle asks Don and Terry’s thoughts on the Illinois bill loosening nuisance deer permit rules and what it would take for better deer management practices. 22:54

episode-announcement

• Terry announces the podcast is episode 273, airing May 18. 0:24

event-announcement

• Don announces he will be in Millersburg, Ohio on June 3 for a makeup event he missed last winter. 57:59
• Don gives event details: it will be held at JB’s Feed in Millersburg, Ohio, and asks people to call (330) 893-3684 to let them know they’re coming. 58:09
• Don jokingly describes the Millersburg event as part sermon, part seminar, and part ‘make fun of Don’ evening for the whole family. 58:28 (light moment)

faith

• Don says he gained a lot of faith in God after continuing to do the right thing through a difficult months-long situation where someone wronged him. 42:28
• Don recalls losing a verbally-agreed hunting lease when someone else slid in and leased it out from under him, but believes God was protecting him and doesn’t dwell on it. 43:37
• Terry says he’s proud of how much airtime believers are getting across sports, entertainment, and other aspects of life right now. 48:25

family

• Terry announces his daughter is graduating high school and they are about to become empty nesters. 57:32

fencing

• Terry recommends two-by-four welded wire fencing because it can be woven directly onto T-posts without needing clips. 3:30
• Terry asks whether adding four T-posts around the tree cage fence would stop the doe from pushing her head through. 2:26

foliar-feeding

• Terry learned the hard way that plants need to be dry when sprayed and need at least an hour before rain to fully absorb the nutrients. 9:20

food-plots

• Don plans that once his plots are planted, his next project is figuring out a better tree-cage fencing system. 3:51
• Terry finished planting all his plots, the earliest he’s ever been done. 9:38
• Terry asks whether planting corn is the last remaining spring food plot task or if more work is needed. 7:31

green-prairie

• Terry says Corey sent him videos of Green Prairie test corn being grown by contract growers on the agriculture side of the business. 15:49
• Don stays out of the Green Prairie side of the business, leaving it to Duane Hopkins, who has been with Kitchen Seed for twenty-five to thirty years. 16:58

hunting-industry

• Duncan Dobie, former editor of North American Whitetail, told Don he’s never seen anyone with a stronger sense of right and wrong who can’t stay quiet about it. 40:37
• Don says he can think of two big names in the hunting industry who claim to be Christian but are, in his view, absolute crooks. 46:50
• Frank Shannon asks Don to share the top one or two things he dislikes about the hunting industry. 36:49

illinois-legislation

• Don notes Chapin Rose’s nuisance-deer bill passed the Illinois senate 51 to zero, with every senator voting for it. 25:20
• Don previously worked with state senator Chapin Rose on a supplemental feeding bill that failed to pass a few years back. 24:56

illinois-regulations

• Don says because Illinois bans supplemental feeding, you have to deliver nutrients through food plots, and Mighty Micros is the ticket for that. 21:53

loyalty

• Don says some people in the hunting industry he thought were good friends had no loyalty, used him to open doors, and proved their word was worthless. 41:42

micronutrients

• Terry recalls the previous two episodes featured Dr. Aaron Gaines discussing micronutrients and minerals, followed by Mike Mitchell of Mike’s Mighty Micros discussing micronutrients in plants. 0:48

mikes-mighty-micros

• Mike Mitchell advised Terry to get fruit tree leaves fully wetted with Mike’s Mighty Micros and let them sit at least an hour before rain so nutrients aren’t washed off. 9:01
• Terry recommends mixing Mike’s Mighty Micros directly with Roundup during the first post-emergent herbicide pass on soybeans and spraying it across the top. 21:10
• Terry sprayed Mike’s Mighty Micros on wilted, unplanted tomato plants and found them standing tall and green the next day. 58:54
• Don jokes that he expected Terry to claim the tomatoes grew to the size of baseballs overnight from Mike’s Mighty Micros. 59:07 (light moment)

no-till

• Don hopes this is the last year he needs a disc, planning to go all no-till from here on out. 8:17

nutricrave

• Don states NutriCrave corn has more than double the calorie content of typical agricultural corn. 20:08
• Don says a buck eating NutriCrave corn instead of typical ag corn gets more than double the calories, helping it survive winter and set up for better antler growth. 20:18

nutrient-density

• Terry aims to maximize nutrients per bite the deer takes, not just per acre of food plot. 21:39

orchard

• Don attributes his year-old orchard trees’ fantastic new growth to spraying them with Mike’s Mighty Micros. 2:07

plant-biology

• Terry explains that once a plant matures and produces a seed head to reproduce, its nutrient level drops, so clipping keeps new growth nutrient-rich. 36:15

planting-equipment

• Terry notes their drill is heavy enough to punch through the rye residue so the soybeans get good soil contact. 5:25

platform-growth

• Terry admits that early in their platform’s growth, they sometimes fell into humiliating or mocking others for attention, and they’ve tried to mature away from that. 44:06

podcast-industry

• Terry believes society wrongly frames podcasts and shows as competing with each other, when most serious listeners follow several shows at once. 44:44

product-testing

• Don says he only promotes a product after using it firsthand and testing it against the competition. 13:27
• Terry asks Don what drives him to keep testing new products instead of sticking with what already works, and whether it’s pride. 11:41

rye

• Don avoids roller-crimping rye because it must be crimped at a precise growth stage, and waiting for that stage risks a rainy stretch that could set his planting back weeks. 14:57

shrubs

• Jonathan Vilches from Miami, Florida asks whether they should intentionally plant red osier dogwood shrubs for browse and cover, or let nature and prescribed fire handle it. 48:52

soybeans

• Don says with good soil moisture and warm temperatures, planted soybeans should emerge within five to seven days. 5:43
• Don says this year he’s going into Memorial Day weekend still planting soybeans, the latest he’s ever finished, versus his usual early-May completion. 9:44

sunday-night-prayer-time

• Terry announces Daniel Pifer’s Sunday Night Prayer Time will play at the conclusion of the episode. 59:18

test-plots

• Don recalls a fall test plot behind his house with a dozen suggested fall-planted seed varieties, calling it a huge waste of time because deer barely touched any of them. 13:02

trail-cameras

• Terry plans to get his trail cameras and battery packs ready to deploy by the July 4 weekend. 57:44

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (management) 1:32

Listener questions

Question: Terry asks whether adding four T-posts around the tree cage fence would stop the doe from pushing her head through. 2:26

• Answer: Don agrees he’ll likely add T-posts or switch to fencing with smaller squares to keep the doe out. 2:31

Question: Terry asks why Don’s corn still isn’t planted, noting it was delayed by using part of the corn plot as access for the new creek crossing. 5:52

• Answer: Don explains that after chisel-plowing the compacted plot from hauling concrete for the crossing, he expects to resume planting as soon as tomorrow afternoon. 7:20

Question: Terry asks whether planting corn is the last remaining spring food plot task or if more work is needed. 7:31

• Answer: Don says once the corn is planted, he’s done with spring plots. 7:37

Question: Terry asks Don what drives him to keep testing new products instead of sticking with what already works, and whether it’s pride. 11:41

• Answer: Don says he wants to be certain Real World is selling the best products, and if something better exists he wants to know it. 11:54

Question: Terry asks what type of corn testing they’re pursuing against NutriCrave — green leaf, dried-down grain, or both. 17:55

• Answer: Don says they’ll evaluate the grain against NutriCrave, predicting NutriCrave will outperform the test varieties. 18:08

Question: Eli Doyle asks Don and Terry’s thoughts on the Illinois bill loosening nuisance deer permit rules and what it would take for better deer management practices. 22:54 — asked by Eli Doyle

• Answer: Don argues a well-designed management plan could reduce the deer herd to a level tolerable for farmers while still satisfying hunters, rather than the current mismanagement. 28:44
• Answer: Don disputes the bill’s justification, saying the claimed $45,000 crop loss would mean an implausible total wipeout of 45 acres, and doubts it was solely deer damage. 26:42

Question: Vincent Trophy Whitetail from Sioux City, Iowa asks how and when to terminate a grass-overrun clover plot and replant it to clover by March 1. 31:12 — asked by Vincent Trophy Whitetail

• Answer: Don recommends not terminating the clover; instead spray clethodim, a selective herbicide that kills grass without harming clover. 32:16
• Answer: If starting over, Don recommends fall-planted oats since they typically won’t survive winter, leaving a dead mat to frost-seed clover into. 33:47
• Answer: Terry adds that a consistent mowing program is often a better first option than reaching for herbicide on a grassy clover plot. 34:25

Question: Frank Shannon asks Don to share the top one or two things he dislikes about the hunting industry. 36:49 — asked by Frank Shannon

• Answer: Don says his biggest frustration is that there’s no apprenticeship left — anyone with a desire can start a podcast or channel without paying dues. 38:10
• Answer: Don also dislikes that some low-integrity people have built public reputations they don’t deserve, deceiving fans who don’t know their true character. 39:58

Question: Jonathan Vilches from Miami, Florida asks whether they should intentionally plant red osier dogwood shrubs for browse and cover, or let nature and prescribed fire handle it. 48:52 — asked by Jonathan Vilches

• Answer: Don says red osier dogwood is a great plant for deer, offering excellent browse and cover. 50:27
• Answer: Don shares that despite decades of professional planting experience, red osier dogwood is extremely hard to establish because deer browse it down to the dirt. 51:20

Question: Ryan Stel from Smithton, Illinois asks whether Don and Terry add extra anchors beyond the four provided rebar stakes to keep the 360 blind from blowing over. 52:40 — asked by Ryan Stel

• Answer: Don says he’s never had a blind blow over despite living on the wide-open, extremely windy prairie. 53:08
• Answer: For a high-wind, field-edge blind, Don augers a deep hole, sets a hooked rebar rod in concrete, and cinches a cable from the tower to a turnbuckle on the rod. 55:22

Prayer Time

Scripture: 1 Corinthians
Theme: grace versus gatekeeping salvation
Daniel Pifer questions why Christians judge who God can save, citing harsh reactions to Jelly Roll’s public faith testimony. He warns against weaponizing scripture like 1 Corinthians without context, recalls how God used flawed biblical figures such as Peter, Paul, David, and Solomon, and prays for humility and grace instead of judgment. 62:27

Terry and Don covered spring food plot progress: Don sprayed and mowed a rye cover crop before drilling soybeans into the residue, expecting emergence in five to seven days, while corn planting was delayed by hauling concrete for a new creek crossing. Terry finished planting earliest ever; Don was still going into Memorial Day weekend, his latest finish yet. Both discussed Mike’s Mighty Micros, with Terry recommending mixing it into a first post-emergent Roundup pass and Don crediting it for orchard tree growth. They discussed NutriCrave corn’s higher calorie content, Illinois nuisance-deer legislation and CWD skepticism, and why clover should be mowed rather than left unmown. Listener questions covered killing grass in clover plots with clethodim, red osier dogwood’s difficulty establishing due to browsing, and anchoring 360 blinds against wind. Don reflected on industry disloyalty and finding faith through a difficult situation. The episode closed with Daniel Pifer’s prayer on grace versus judging others’ salvation.

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