#288 2025 Buck Forecast: EHD Devastation, Trail Cam Insights & Hard Truths About Trophy Bucks

Published: 2025-08-31
Episode page
Duration: 67 min

In this episode

antler-growth

• Don recalled that the buck he shot in 2023, named Babe, was six years old but had lost about five inches from the prior year due to a poor growing season. 15:54

asio

• Terry explained that ASIO is cheaper than competing camo brands because Joe sells direct to consumers with no retail markup, not because of lower quality. 56:51
• Don said ASIO cuts the wind just as well as the expensive brands he’s worn, plus offers extra useful features. 58:42
• Emmanuel also asked how ASIO Gear compares to other camo brands such as Sitka and Scentlock. 52:59

buck-forecast

• Terry announced that Don would give his buck forecast for the upcoming season during this episode. 0:31
• Don’s buck forecast is that many hunters will kill bucks in the 130 to 160 inch range this year, though top-end giants remain rare. 21:32
• Terry asked Don to explain the origin of the buck forecast segment and give new listeners a rundown of what it is. 15:15
• Terry asked whether anything could still change Don’s forecast this late in the year, or if it was locked in. 22:21

buck-maturation

• Don said if a buck is ever going to become a giant, hunters can typically tell by the time he’s three years old. 19:01

buck-patterns

• Don said he had more bucks on his farm this summer than ever before, unlike typical years when bucks don’t summer there. 24:41

camo

• Don said he has worn many kinds of camo over the past fifty years, including high-dollar brands. 58:17

captive-deer

• Don said he knows for certain that at least two big names in the whitetail industry have shot some of their deer inside a fenced pen. 50:08
• Don said he doesn’t regret having had captive deer, and would likely do it again given what he learned. 43:18
• Jerry McCormick from Tyler, Texas asked Don whether, given the hate he receives, he regrets ever having had captive deer. 42:32

charity

• Terry recalled that he and Don auctioned their bows for charity together last year at Shipshewana. 7:48
• Terry said he and Don use their auctioned bows to raise money for the Lester’s Feet charity. 10:16

chasing-giants-tv

• Terry announced that he and Don will run tests on Chasing Giants TV to see if a product helps push soybean pods along despite the drought. 59:08

cold-tolerance

• Terry said he has low blood pressure and gets cold very easily, needing heavier ASIO layers than most hunters. 57:49

compound-bow

• Don decided to hunt with his compound bow this season instead of the recurve because he wasn’t shooting the recurve well enough. 6:22

cwd

• Don said he told people early on not to report sick deer to the DNR because doing so would ruin their hunting property for a decade or more. 38:31
• Don said more deer die from cars and EHD than from CWD, agreeing with what he said Ted Nugent stated on Rogan’s show. 37:45

deer-behavior

• Terry joked that just when you think you’ve figured deer out, you become more confused than ever. 28:13 (light moment)

dnr-reporting

• Terry asked whether Don would report his dead deer to the local DNR if it happened on his property. 36:01

doe-harvest

• Terry’s plan for the season is to focus on killing some does. 3:54
• Terry said one remodeled spot has a feeder near the barn where shooting a doe won’t push deer into his sanctuary. 4:01
• Don speculated the unusual buck patterns might be linked to him having shot all the does on his farm the previous year. 25:00

ehd

• Terry recalled that EHD didn’t set in on his Illinois farm until the first week of September in a prior year, making this year’s early Ohio outbreak alarming. 23:17
• Don said this year’s EHD outbreak started a full month to six weeks earlier than typical. 23:50
• Don’s advice for hunters hit by EHD is to stick with the plan and do the right thing regardless of what the state game agency does. 31:47
• Terry asked what advice Don had for hunters in the middle of an EHD outbreak right now, wondering what they should do. 30:56
• Terry asked whether Don would walk his property searching for deadheads with bad smells but no camera activity, or just wait. 36:26

food-plots

• Terry recommended applying Mike’s Mighty Micros to fall food plots once they germinate and get some leaf growth to boost tonnage despite lost growing time. 60:06
• Emmanuel Gingerich from Macon, Missouri asked how long Deadly Dozen seed can be planted before the seeds decay in dry conditions. 52:10

humility

• Don said the older he gets, the more he realizes how little he knows about deer, and he still learns from serious consulting clients. 28:43

hunting-plan

• Terry planned to wait until the rut and late season to hunt his farm because habitat remodeling reduced his bachelor groups this year. 3:37

hunting-strategy

• Terry’s strategy for new permission ground is to hang a cell camera, let it soak, then pack in a stand and hunt the very first time he enters. 12:30

kentucky

• Terry said he starts Kentucky archery season that week, with the whole state opening the first Saturday in September. 1:22

mathews

• Terry noted that Don remains loyal to his Mathews Z9, which he believes is the best bow ever made, keeping it ready at all times. 7:12
• Don said last year’s Mathews bow didn’t arrive until October 9 due to a manufacturer delay. 8:00
• Don said Mathews has treated him well for more than two decades, nearly twenty-five years, so he feels obligated to try each new bow. 8:27
• Don said his new bow shot dead-on right out of the box last year, hitting the bullseye on the first arrow with no sight adjustment. 9:24

new-property

• Don said he got permission on a new property where there are rumors of a giant buck in the neighborhood. 11:49

prayer-request

• Don asked listeners to pray for Jason Beachy, owner of JB’s Feed in Ohio, who received bad health news that week. 60:36
• Terry added a prayer request for Brent Henderson, who was having open heart surgery that week after a heart catheter procedure. 61:07

recurve

• Don said he has a long-standing desire to kill one giant buck with a recurve bow. 4:41
• Don decided not to buy the borrowed Black Widow recurve because he thinks it’s too short for him. 6:49

rut-funnels

• Don referenced Bobby Worthington’s concept of rut funnels, spots that seem dead all season but produce giants once the rut kicks in. 42:10

rut-stands

• Russ Casda from Oak Forest, Illinois asked if a stand can be mediocre or bad all season yet reliably produce a mature buck during the rut. 40:27

scouting

• Don said he scouted the new property and picked two tree stand locations he can hunt from regardless of wind direction. 13:01

trail-cameras

• Don checked several trail cameras on Labor Day weekend before recording to confirm predictions he’d already formed about the season. 0:51
• Don said he has 55 trail cameras deployed and plans to move about a dozen of them in the next few days. 10:52

trophy-hunting

• An anonymous Indiana listener asked whether a TV hunter with a huge trophy room of giant bucks is simply elite or paying for access to deer. 47:19

velvet

• Don observed on his cameras that only one buck had shed velvet so far, which he called about typical for the date. 2:04
• Terry said he cares more about which buck he’s hunting than what stage it’s in, so he has no special desire to kill a velvet buck. 2:40
• Terry joked that their friend Brandon Efferson seems to kill a velvet buck every month. 1:59 (light moment)
• Don said he wanted to kill a velvet buck when younger but lost that desire about twenty years ago. 2:52

Deer activity

• Zacchaeus (harvest) 9:38
• Babe (harvest) 15:54
• King David (harvest) 58:03

Listener questions

Question: Terry asked Don to explain the origin of the buck forecast segment and give new listeners a rundown of what it is. 15:15

• Answer: Don said that by end of summer he has a good handle on the forecast, not in numbers but in terms of antler growth being average, better, or worse than average. 15:29

Question: Terry asked whether anything could still change Don’s forecast this late in the year, or if it was locked in. 22:21

• Answer: Don said EHD is the wildcard that could still change things, noting it has already been devastating in Southeastern Ohio. 22:27

Question: Terry asked what advice Don had for hunters in the middle of an EHD outbreak right now, wondering what they should do. 30:56

• Answer: Don advised sticking with your management plan, not lowering standards on bucks, and doing the right thing regardless of state agency inaction, using extra time to improve habitat. 31:47

Question: Terry asked whether Don would report his dead deer to the local DNR if it happened on his property. 36:01

• Answer: Don said he would absolutely not report dead deer to the government, saying Illinois’s DNR manages numbers and people, not the deer herd. 37:05

Question: Terry asked whether Don would walk his property searching for deadheads with bad smells but no camera activity, or just wait. 36:26

• Answer: Don said he would not walk his property looking for dead deer, preferring to wait until shed season to protect his sanctuary from intrusion. 36:37

Question: Russ Casda from Oak Forest, Illinois asked if a stand can be mediocre or bad all season yet reliably produce a mature buck during the rut. 40:27 — asked by Russ Casda

• Answer: Don said this is common because bucks simply expand their existing home range during the rut in search of does rather than roaming into unfamiliar territory. 41:27

Question: Jerry McCormick from Tyler, Texas asked Don whether, given the hate he receives, he regrets ever having had captive deer. 42:32 — asked by Jerry McCormick

• Answer: Don said he does not regret having captive deer and would likely do it again, since they taught him things a wild herd never could. 43:18

Question: An anonymous Indiana listener asked whether a TV hunter with a huge trophy room of giant bucks is simply elite or paying for access to deer. 47:19

• Answer: Don said he doesn’t believe one hunter can consistently kill 200-inch deer year after year without outside help, no matter how much money he has. 49:20

Question: Emmanuel Gingerich from Macon, Missouri asked how long Deadly Dozen seed can be planted before the seeds decay in dry conditions. 52:10 — asked by Emmanuel Gingerich

• Answer: Don said seed stays viable far longer than people think, noting some native grass seeds can lay dormant in soil for fifty years and still germinate. 53:32

Question: Emmanuel also asked how ASIO Gear compares to other camo brands such as Sitka and Scentlock. 52:59

• Answer: Don said ASIO keeps him just as warm as the pricey brand he used to wear, while offering a better pattern, quieter fabric, and more thoughtful extras. 54:42

Prayer Time

Scripture: Zechariah
Theme: small beginnings and short-term goals
Wes encouraged listeners to set short-term goals in hunting, business, and faith, citing Zechariah 4:10 not to despise small beginnings as steps toward long-term success. 66:08

Scripture: Philippians
Theme: pressing on toward the goal
Wes shared Philippians 3:14 about pressing on toward the prize of God’s calling, praying listeners find mental toughness to keep pursuing their goals through Christ. 66:28

Theme: prayer for strength and short-term goals
Wes prayed thanking God for the day’s blessings and asked that Chasing Giants listeners be given strength and mental toughness to set and pursue short-term goals this season. 66:41

Sponsors this episode

• ASIO Gear

Terry had Don deliver the show’s annual buck forecast: many hunters would likely take bucks in the 130-160 inch range, with top-end giants still rare, and Don flagged an early EHD outbreak as the main wildcard, noting it had already hit Southeastern Ohio hard. Don advised hunters facing EHD to hold their management standards, keep doing the right thing regardless of state agency response, and not report sick or dead deer to the DNR. Listener questions covered why mediocre stands can still produce rut bucks, whether TV giants reflect skill or paid access, and Deadly Dozen seed longevity. Don also discussed 55 trail cameras, new hunting permission tied to a rumored giant buck, no regrets over past captive deer, and comparing ASIO camo favorably to pricier brands. The episode closed with prayer requests for Jason Beachy and Brent Henderson, and Wes’s reflection on pursuing short-term goals.

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