Episode #36 Peak Rut Update, Warm Weather, maybe a little election and religion

Published: 2020-11-09
Episode page
Duration: 66 min

In this episode

bedding-cover

• Terry relayed that friends Dave and JP of Pro Talk Outdoors had a farmer accidentally mow all their bedding cover this year. 16:07

crop-damage

• Terry described a neighbor’s cows getting loose onto his home farm and trampling roughly two acres of his double-cropped soybean and oat field. 13:53
• Terry relayed that Joe Boesing in Southern Indiana had three acres of Real World Wildlife Products beans accidentally picked by a combine. 16:22

cull-buck

• Don reported removing two cull bucks from his farm that weekend, though overall deer activity was unusually slow for the time of year. 4:23

culling

• Don said he culls hard, aiming to remove around ten bucks a year off his 120-acre farm to favor genetically superior bucks. 42:30
• Casey Virgin asked how aggressively Don would run a cull program on mature bucks unlikely to become desirable trophies. 37:53

deer-management

• Don said his farm’s top buck used to be around 150 inches most years with a 170-class buck only every three or four years, but now he gets a 170 every year. 41:36

election

• Don stated his belief that the 2020 election was corrupt. 55:01

faith

• Terry challenged fellow Christians to put as much effort into sharing their faith and helping others as they were putting into election arguments. 50:23

giveaway

• Don announced a giveaway of one free attendance at each of the three Whitetail MasterCourses being held next March, as thanks to podcast and YouTube supporters. 27:12

health-update

• Terry asked Don if he was feeling better after being unwell. 26:05

hunting-report

• Terry and Jonathan hunted the home farm with no results, and Terry’s trail camera reports showed no daylight buck activity over the prior three days. 3:06

land-management-guide

• Don announced his new land management guide was headed to the printer within the next week and would be bigger and better than previous editions. 65:02

listener-engagement

• Don encouraged listeners to submit questions at chasinggiants.com, noting that submitted questions used on the show earn the sender a Chasing Giants T-shirt. 46:15

lockdown

• Don explained that as bucks come out of lockdown, mostly younger yearling bucks will pass hunters’ stands while mature bucks stay tight with does and are hard to kill. 8:07
• With a big temp drop coming, will mature bucks be locked down, and what should hunters expect this coming week? 5:35

mentoring

• Terry said getting Jonathan a buck this season would feel like an accomplishment beyond what he deserves. 14:33

personal-priorities

• Terry said he’d nearly reached the point of not caring whether he killed a buck in Kentucky this year, given a difficult 2020 that included a knee injury. 14:21

prayer-request

• Terry asked listeners to pray for Mark Abbott, a friend and supporter of the podcast facing heart concerns and an upcoming procedure. 62:03
• Terry asked for prayers for a 19-year-old former softball player he coached who was diagnosed with cancer this summer and is undergoing chemo. 62:16
• Terry asked for prayers for his grandfather, who has colon cancer and is about to start chemo after an upcoming procedure. 62:40
• Don relayed that a listener in Wisconsin or Michigan going through a custody battle, who hadn’t seen his kids in about a month, had requested prayer. 63:15
• Don relayed that a listener foster family, financially stressed while pursuing adoption of a third sibling child, had requested prayer. 64:07

rut-report

• Terry asked where people can follow Don’s rut report and whether it’s posted anywhere besides Facebook. 25:21

social-media

• Terry directed listeners to follow Don on the Chasing Giants YouTube channel and on Higgins Outdoors social media via Instagram and Facebook. 65:58

trail-camera

• Zach Hartnagel asked why daylight photos of target bucks increase after Halloween while nighttime photos of those same bucks seem to decrease. 35:09

video-announcement

• Don announced his next video would document a targeted buck’s full life history from age one and a half through the year he shot it, including the shot and recovery footage. 64:51

voting

• A listener told Don he wished the podcast would use its platform to encourage hunters to vote, citing a claim that 50% of hunters don’t vote. 46:46

wind

• Don compared a buck’s use of wind to X-ray vision, letting him effectively see into cover by scent alone. 10:47
• On properties he manages, Don’s core rule was never to hunt or even enter a stand with the wrong wind, regardless of which bucks were being targeted. 11:34
• Don warned that hunting a stand just once with the wrong wind can burn it for good, especially with a mature buck. 11:51
• Don noted that once a mature buck pinpoints where a stand is, he will be alert for the hunter every time he passes through afterward. 11:57
• Terry asked Don to discuss the importance of wind and how to play it for the rest of the season. 8:39
• Terry asked until what point in the season Don stays on the downwind side of cover before shifting closer to food sources. 12:47

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (harvest) 3:41
• unnamed buck (harvest) 4:16
• unnamed buck (management) 18:03
• unnamed buck (trail-camera) 19:36
• unnamed buck (trail-camera) 20:56
• Smokey (harvest) 41:56
• Mel (harvest) 42:02
• unnamed buck (history) 62:35

Listener questions

Question: With a big temp drop coming, will mature bucks be locked down, and what should hunters expect this coming week? 5:35 — asked by Terry

• Answer: Don said the lockdown phase would be in full effect by the next weekend, with mature bucks locked tight to hot does. 5:46

Question: Terry asked Don to discuss the importance of wind and how to play it for the rest of the season. 8:39 — asked by Terry

• Answer: Don said most hunters can recall exactly where they shot their top bucks but couldn’t tell you the wind direction that day, showing how overlooked wind is. 9:22

Question: Terry asked until what point in the season Don stays on the downwind side of cover before shifting closer to food sources. 12:47 — asked by Terry

• Answer: Don said he stays on that downwind cover strategy until about December 1. 12:51
• Answer: Don added that on afternoon hunts he stays downwind but positions closer to the feeding area than on morning hunts. 13:11

Question: Zach Hartnagel asked why daylight photos of target bucks increase after Halloween while nighttime photos of those same bucks seem to decrease. 35:09 — asked by Zach Hartnagel

• Answer: Don explained that bucks range further within their home range at night during the rut, so they’re simply less often in front of a given camera. 35:45
• Answer: Terry said he hadn’t personally observed that nighttime photo slowdown and thought there were too many variables to pin down a clear cause. 36:47

Question: Casey Virgin asked how aggressively Don would run a cull program on mature bucks unlikely to become desirable trophies. 37:53 — asked by Casey Virgin

• Answer: Don explained that, per Bronson Strickland’s research, hunters typically shoot the best-genetic buck in each age class first, which is why he culls the opposite way. 40:35
• Answer: Don said he culls hard, removing roughly ten bucks a year from his 120-acre farm to favor better genetics. 42:30
• Answer: Terry suggested Casey recruit a veteran or a kid hunter to shoot the cull bucks, turning the mop-up work into a positive experience for someone else. 45:44

Question: Terry asked Don if he was feeling better after being unwell. 26:05 — asked by Terry

• Answer: Don said he wasn’t at 100% but was improving a little more each day. 26:07

Question: Terry asked where people can follow Don’s rut report and whether it’s posted anywhere besides Facebook. 25:21 — asked by Terry

• Answer: Don said he only posts the rut report on his Higgins Outdoors Facebook page because typing there is easier than on Instagram. 25:26

Sponsors this episode

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

Terry and Jonathan hunted their home farm without results, and trail cameras showed no daylight buck activity for three days, while Don removed two cull bucks despite generally slow deer movement. Don discussed wind, comparing a buck’s sense of it to X-ray vision, and said he never hunts a stand with the wrong wind since one bad-wind sit can burn it for a mature buck permanently. He explained his downwind-of-cover strategy holds until about December 1, after which afternoon sits shift closer to food. Don said lockdown would be in full effect by the next weekend. Listener questions covered why daylight photos of target bucks rise after Halloween while night photos drop, and how aggressively to run a cull program favoring genetics over trophy potential; Don said he removes about ten bucks yearly from his 120-acre farm. Prayer requests covered Mark Abbott’s heart procedure, a young cancer patient, Terry’s grandfather, and two listener families.

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