Episode #41 - Don and Terry start a new December Series called “Make A Good Spot Great!”

Published: 2020-12-07 Episode page Duration: 68 min

In this episode

audience-engagement

• Don reports he is now fielding two hundred to two hundred fifty contacts a day via text, email, Facebook, and phone. 58:41

bedding-area

• Robbie asks how he can compete with an untouched 50-acre bedding sanctuary in the middle of his 200-acre property. 45:27

business-philosophy

• Terry states that Real World Wildlife Products would rather turn down a sale than tell customers something wrong, since a bad recommendation costs repeat business. 57:17

captive-deer-research

• Paul asks how much Don learned from his herd of pinned deer that translated into his hunting success. 37:22

christmas-list

• Terry announces that next week he and Don will each compile a non-sponsored Christmas gift-idea list of products they personally find useful. 35:14

deer-behavior

• Roger Rothhaar, a legendary Ohio whitetail hunter, told Don that a mature buck will walk 100 yards out of its way to use an open gate rather than jump a fence. 21:54
• Don explains that for the first two weeks of December, post-rut bucks often stay bedded until dark before walking to food, causing very limited daylight movement. 25:53

film-school

• Terry announces the new film school has session dates set for May 15 and August 21. 29:30

food-plot

• Don recommends starting a Miscanthus planting strip 20 yards out from the stand, leaving an open shooting lane between the tree and the grass. 21:33
• Don notes clover stays green under snow and outlasts frost-killed alfalfa, making it more attractive to deer in late season. 27:31

funneling

• Terry recalls watching Don remove a metal clip from a high-tensile fence and tie the wires together, lowering it to funnel deer through a low crossing point. 20:17
• Don relays that well-known hunters in Northern Missouri and Iowa line round hay bales to funnel deer along field or woods edges. 22:58

habitat-management

• Don explains that dropping junk trees and piling brush can push deer twenty to thirty yards closer to a stand fairly easily. 13:49
• Don advises pushing deer closer via winter habitat work so that the key to success is getting deer funneled to an easy shot distance. 14:31
• Terry describes pushing dead trees into a brush wall along a field edge on his property last summer to redirect deer movement. 23:57

harvest

• Don confirms he shot the buck from just a few yards away. 9:26
• Don notes the two bucks he shot this year were combined less than 20 yards total distance from his tree. 13:13
• Don shot the buck Joey just fifteen minutes into his first hunt, less than 48 hours after predicting the perfect conditions. 42:01

master-class

• Don announces a speaking engagement in Northeast Ohio in early January where he will teach for three days. 28:36
• Don announces Chaz Cohoon of Troy, Missouri as the winner of the free pass to the March 20 master class. 62:13

podcast-schedule

• Terry announces the podcast will keep airing weekly through the end of the year instead of reverting to biweekly, due to strong listener demand. 2:40

stand-placement

• Don recommends using wire fence panels to block deer movement and funnel them past a stand at close range. 17:43
• Don reveals the stand he shot Joey from had sat unused in the woods for two years, waiting for the right conditions. 43:39

switchgrass

• Ryan asks for the difference between Real World Switchgrass and Real World Bedding in a Bag. 47:10
• Ryan asks what to plant for bedding in bottom ground that floods in spring but is dry the rest of the year. 48:04
• Ryan asks what seed rate to use for switchgrass bedding versus screens, and whether it differs from Bedding in a Bag. 48:49
• Ryan asks why Real World’s website recommends at least five acres before planting a switchgrass bedding area. 53:13
• Ryan asks whether he should frost-seed switchgrass into a recently clear-cut, wide-open timber area for bedding. 55:25

trail-camera

• Terry floats the idea of raffling off trail cameras that perform well in his ongoing cell-camera durability test. 63:23
• Terry says two of the cell cameras he is testing have performed so badly he wouldn’t give them to his worst enemy. 63:31
• Terry plans to bring all tested trail cameras back to Kentucky after the season for a controlled durability trial on a soccer field using a QuietKat bike or side-by-side. 64:54
• Don says he owns just one cellular trail camera, an Exodus he bought last summer. 65:54
• Don says his Exodus cell camera, running since September on its original batteries, is still reliably sending photos from a hard-to-reach property. 66:16
• Terry reports his Exodus trail camera still shows about 97 percent battery life on an Illinois bean field, still performing strongly. 66:25

tree-stand-placement

• Don recommends first choosing the hunting location, then finding the best available tree there rather than seeking a mythical perfect tree. 12:38

viral-video

• Terry notes the viral mailbox video is expected to surpass 300,000 views by the next day. 2:59
• Terry points out the video has almost 300,000 views but only 4,500 likes, urging viewers to like it and comment. 8:02
• Don says roughly 90 percent of feedback on the viral video has been positive despite a vocal negative minority. 3:35
• Don recounts confronting a critical commenter and offering to take him to the exact tree where the buck in the video was shot at his master course. 4:03

Deer activity

• Mill (harvest) 9:18
• Mel (harvest) 13:19
• Joey (harvest) 13:19
• Joey (harvest) 42:01
• Joey (hunt) 43:39

Listener questions

Question: Paul asks how much Don learned from his herd of pinned deer that translated into his hunting success. 37:22 — asked by Paul Cerrita

• Answer: Don says his 25-year captive deer herd taught him that deer’s feed intake changes dramatically between summer and winter, along with lessons on genetics and behavior. 37:57

Question: Robbie asks how he can compete with an untouched 50-acre bedding sanctuary in the middle of his 200-acre property. 45:27

• Answer: Don advises Robbie not to compete with the natural sanctuary but to focus food plots on his own acreage to pull deer out of it. 45:53

Question: Ryan asks for the difference between Real World Switchgrass and Real World Bedding in a Bag. 47:10 — asked by Ryan Unlore

• Answer: Don explains Real World Switchgrass is a single grass species, while Bedding in a Bag mixes switchgrass with Indian grass and big bluestem. 47:48

Question: Ryan asks what to plant for bedding in bottom ground that floods in spring but is dry the rest of the year. 48:04

• Answer: Don recommends switchgrass, noting it can tolerate brief flooding of a few days but not extended weeks-long flooding. 48:17

Question: Ryan asks what seed rate to use for switchgrass bedding versus screens, and whether it differs from Bedding in a Bag. 48:49

• Answer: Don recommends four pounds of switchgrass seed per acre regardless of whether it’s for screening or bedding, mixed with pelletized lime for even spreading. 50:10

Question: Ryan asks why Real World’s website recommends at least five acres before planting a switchgrass bedding area. 53:13

• Answer: Don explains five acres gives bedded deer enough buffer from the dangerous field edge, unlike smaller patches. 53:24

Question: Ryan asks whether he should frost-seed switchgrass into a recently clear-cut, wide-open timber area for bedding. 55:25

• Answer: Don says never plant native grasses like switchgrass or Miscanthus under timber canopy; they need full sun, comparing it to trying to grow corn in the woods. 55:36

Sponsors this episode

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

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