Episode #56 RELOAD - Great discussion live from 2021 Master Class #1 - Terry answers some questions on cell cam test

Published: 2021-03-13
Episode page
Duration: 73 min

In this episode

cell-cameras

Terry did not run his cell cameras on instant upload during hunting season, only for testing. 3:56
Terry got so frustrated during his cell camera backyard test that he threw one of the cameras across the yard. 5:43
Terry recommends thoroughly understanding a cell camera’s settings and how it works before relying on it in the field. 8:07

charity-auction

Terry announces a shot cell camera with a broadhead stuck in it is being auctioned, requiring a bid over $100 donated to Lester’s Feet. 9:27

continuous-soybeans

A Missouri hunter with six years of continuous soybeans asks whether adding Deadly Dozen or deer salad as a cover crop helps prevent bean disease. 64:50

deer-fencing

Jeff Gibson asks how long a section of snow fence can be before it stops working and starts creating the opposite deer-funneling effect. 26:36

food-plot-timing

Terry recommends planting a small soybean plot about two weeks after local row-crop farmers to disperse deer pressure off it. 48:56
John from New Jersey asks whether to plant soybeans later so they stay green and palatable through September for the best buck activity. 47:08

hunting-ethics

Don recalls his mentor Al refused to use deer scents, believing it took an unfair advantage of a buck’s nose. 42:15
Al Foster asks Don what bothered him most about bowhunter ethics from years ten to twenty, and what bothers him most now, crossbows aside. 39:51

hunting-goals

Tyler Neal from Brownstown, Indiana asks Don how he set his hunting goals when starting out, including any long-term plan. 59:48

hunting-industry-pressure

Terry says guys are relying on hunting success to earn a living in the industry, which creates career-driven pressure. 44:17

iowa-hunting-trip

Don says the Iowa landowner and his wife rolled out the red carpet for his first visit to the property. 14:48
Don identified only two top-notch stand sites on the new Iowa farm, one needing a south-southeast wind and the other a west-northwest wind. 16:52
Don notes the Iowa farm has a road on two sides, giving him access from two directions. 17:49
Don used Google Earth to scout the second parcel behind the landowner’s house and spotted a promising southwest-facing area. 18:56
Don plans to return to the Iowa property the following Wednesday to hang two stands and check out the additional spot. 19:13
Don plans to wait until around July 1 to put trail cameras up on the new Iowa property. 19:24
The landowner reportedly told Don his township is the best township in Iowa for big bucks. 58:59

mentorship

Terry tells young hunters they must surround themselves with people who will challenge them in order to keep improving. 63:14

podcast-mission

Terry says the podcast’s mission is helping listeners, not worrying about who they might offend today. 45:15

shed-hunting

Terry went shed hunting on the trip but only found a deadhead that was too small to pack out. 1:43
Don’s master-class group found roughly ten shed antlers just walking the two properties the day before the podcast. 1:58
Terry asks Joe Johnson whether coyotes ever carry off shed antlers and chew on them, based on his dog’s shed-chewing habit. 23:33

sponsorship

Don announces the podcast has a new sponsor, Victory Chevrolet, despite having driven Fords his whole life. 10:43

switchgrass

Terry says switchgrass is such a high investment that it amortizes over many years, unlike cheaper annual food plot products. 55:05
Jeff Neal from Brownstown, Indiana asks how to convert fescue acreage to switchgrass, including whether to plant soybeans first. 52:18

trail-camera-history

Darren asks Don how he knows when a target buck ‘wants to be there’ at a stand, beyond scouting and trail camera photos. 37:02

trail-camera-strategy

A Michigan hunter asks whether it’s right to use trail cameras placed on tractor trails purely for buck inventory rather than stand selection. 51:26

tree-stand-access

An audience member built a rope system up a steep 150-foot ridge, bolting it to trees for safe access to his stand. 31:25

tree-stand-safety

An audience member recounted falling 24 feet backwards out of a tree in an accident in 2015. 32:03

truck-deal

Terry clarifies the truck deal lets buyers finance and trade in every year for $5, rather than requiring cash payment as he first assumed. 11:10
Terry warns there are about 26 Victory Chevrolet dealerships nationwide, so buyers must be careful to find the right one. 12:49
Don notes the dealership has three locations, one in Kansas and two in Missouri. 13:00

trump-buck

Kevin from Michigan asks Don to explain how he knew a stand location was the right spot to kill the buck Trump. 32:49

Deer activity

unnamed buck (trail-camera) 5:59
Smokey (history) 24:58
Trump (harvest) 34:41

Listener questions

Question: Jeff Gibson asks how long a section of snow fence can be before it stops working and starts creating the opposite deer-funneling effect. 26:36 — asked by Jeff Gibson

Answer: Don explains fence length can push deer up to about 100 yards fairly easily, but going further requires building a much taller, sturdier fence. 27:15

Question: Kevin from Michigan asks Don to explain how he knew a stand location was the right spot to kill the buck Trump. 32:49 — asked by Kevin

Answer: Don decided to commit to one property continuously rather than rotating between several, reasoning patience would let him get ahead of the wide-ranging, nocturnal buck instead of trailing behind him. 34:16
Answer: On the tenth hunt at that stand, the first deer Don saw all season was Trump, who emerged from a standing cornfield and walked to him, and Don shot him. 34:41

Question: Terry asks Joe Johnson whether coyotes ever carry off shed antlers and chew on them, based on his dog’s shed-chewing habit. 23:33 — asked by Terry

Answer: Joe Johnson says he’s never seen a coyote carry off a shed, but has seen coyotes strip fresh deadheads and rib cages over about a week without dragging the head away. 23:54

Question: Darren asks Don how he knows when a target buck ‘wants to be there’ at a stand, beyond scouting and trail camera photos. 37:02

Answer: Don explains that a mature buck tends to show up in the same place at the same time year after year, based on trail camera history. 37:37
Answer: Don uses the previous year’s trail-camera history so he’s already waiting on stand when the buck’s known window arrives, staying a step ahead instead of a step behind. 38:24

Question: Al Foster asks Don what bothered him most about bowhunter ethics from years ten to twenty, and what bothers him most now, crossbows aside. 39:51 — asked by Al Foster

Answer: Don says the best whitetail hunters he came to admire over time were consistently the most ethical ones, not those willing to do anything legal to kill a deer. 41:55
Answer: Don says what bothers him most today is the lack of good ethical role models in the hunting industry for young hunters to look up to. 42:50

Question: John from New Jersey asks whether to plant soybeans later so they stay green and palatable through September for the best buck activity. 47:08 — asked by John

Answer: Don recommends planting both soybeans and Deadly Dozen at their normal recommended times rather than early, since deer prefer young, tender plants. 48:35

Question: Jeff Neal from Brownstown, Indiana asks how to convert fescue acreage to switchgrass, including whether to plant soybeans first. 52:18 — asked by Jeff Neal

Answer: Don recommends planting soybeans first this year rather than switchgrass immediately, since site prep is critical for warm-season native grasses. 53:03
Answer: After harvesting the soybeans, Don recommends either frost-seeding or no-till drilling switchgrass directly into the soybean stubble. 53:57

Question: A Michigan hunter asks whether it’s right to use trail cameras placed on tractor trails purely for buck inventory rather than stand selection. 51:26

Answer: Don confirms that’s exactly his approach — he doesn’t need cameras to pick a tree, just to tell him which bucks are on the property and when. 51:40

Question: A Missouri hunter with six years of continuous soybeans asks whether adding Deadly Dozen or deer salad as a cover crop helps prevent bean disease. 64:50

Answer: Don shares that he’s personally had soybeans in the same plot for up to six consecutive years without issue. 66:45
Answer: Don says he’s not certain about disease prevention himself and points to Duane as the real expert on whether the cover crop helps. 67:01

Question: Tyler Neal from Brownstown, Indiana asks Don how he set his hunting goals when starting out, including any long-term plan. 59:48 — asked by Tyler Neal

Answer: Don says what helped him most was refusing to lower his standard once he set a goal, no matter how long it took to fill his tag. 61:00

The episode covered Don’s scouting of a new Iowa farm, where the landowner welcomed him warmly, and he identified two strong stand sites needing opposite winds, plus a second parcel spotted via Google Earth. He planned to return the following Wednesday to hang stands and to add trail cameras around July 1. Terry recounted a cell-camera backyard test that frustrated him enough to throw one, and both discussed food-plot timing, converting fescue to switchgrass via soybeans first, and camera use purely for buck inventory rather than stand picking. Listener questions covered snow-fence funneling limits, cover crops for soybean disease, and hunting goal-setting. Don detailed how patience and trail-camera history let him get ahead of the buck Trump, whom he killed on his tenth sit that season. Ethics came up too, with Don naming a lack of good role models as his current concern.

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