Episode #58 - Burning Native Grass Tips and Great Questions from 3rd Master Class

Published: 2021-03-28
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Duration: 79 min

In this episode

360-hunting-blinds

Don plans to replace his five 6x6 blinds on his farm with the larger new 7x7 360 blinds to give himself and guests more room. 16:58

antler-scoring

An older gentleman told Don that historically in the captive deer industry, a buck scoring 140 inches at two years old or 170 at three years old had very good odds of eventually breaking 200 inches. 73:06

arrow-penetration

Eric, a first-year hunter from Northern Illinois, asked about arrow and broadhead setup after getting poor penetration with a light mechanical setup. 50:46

arrow-weight

Eric followed up asking whether Terry pays attention to overall arrow weight or front-loads weight to improve penetration. 59:52

buck-age

Fred Zink asked how to know whether a three- or four-year-old buck is likely to grow into a larger 170-180+ class deer. 71:51

bush-hogging

Don says bush hogging switchgrass is far inferior to burning it, and that if he couldn’t burn a stand, he wouldn’t even plant it. 10:49

consulting

Don says it’s a thrill every fall when his phone buzzes with texts from clients sending pictures of bucks they shot using his advice. 25:59
Al Foster asked how many years Don has been doing farm consulting. 32:21
Al Foster asked what frustrates Don most and what he likes most about his consulting trips. 32:30

deer-decoys

Calvin from Illinois asked why Don and Terry never talk about using deer decoys. 49:13

deer-nutrition

Josh from West Virginia asked how much nutrition young versus old does keep for themselves versus give to a growing fetus. 62:20

deer-recovery

Don recalled that after shooting the deer, he took a two-hour nap before going to retrieve it, which everyone thought was crazy. 2:17

enlist-beans

Terry announced they reallocated some test Enlist bean product for sale after the original online allotment sold out due to high demand. 19:13

fire-break

Don always puts a 10-15 foot wide clover strip around the edge of a switchgrass stand as a fire break to help control the burn. 7:38

hinge-cutting

Jim Moore asked Don for his honest opinion on the good, bad, and ugly of hinge cutting for timber management. 45:03

hunting-blinds

Terry is working with his friend Kyle Harmon of Team Radical, who lives about fifteen minutes from the lease, on the property’s blind work. 17:59
Terry plans to move one blind and add another, focused on creating good entrance and exit routes for hunters using the stands. 18:16

hunting-ethics

Don says the platform he’s been given gives him a responsibility to challenge hunters to think about ethics in their equipment and shot choices. 58:23

hunting-goals

Ian asked what Don wants to accomplish next in his hunting career after already killing multiple 200-inch deer. 23:56

lesters-feet

Terry announced the Lester’s Feet online raffle is nearly ready, with a company covering costs for free so 100% of raffle proceeds go to families with sick kids. 13:49
Terry reported that they have already dispersed over $9,000 to families through the charity effort, with more to come. 15:41
Terry credited Cornerstone Equipment for sending a skid loader for free to help unload a donated load of lumber for the charity. 15:24

life-advice

An audience member asked Don and Terry what life advice they’d give to younger kids listening, outside of hunting. 67:20

miscanthus

Don says his roughly 12-foot-tall Miscanthus grass produces flames reaching over 50 feet and roars like a tornado when it burns. 9:32

oak-trees

Don now protects young oak trees from prescribed burns by bush-hogging the grass down at least 20 yards away from the trees before burning. 11:28

prescribed-burning

Don recalled that when he set a controlled burn a couple years earlier, about 20 vehicles including three fire trucks showed up after he called the fire department first. 8:04
Don announced that if the wind cooperates, he and Terry will do a controlled burn the afternoon after the class, and attendees are welcome to stay and watch. 8:54

property-buying

Greg from Michigan asked what to look for, and avoid, when buying a future hunting property. 74:49

rope-scrapes

Todd Covey asked whether there’s a right or wrong time to reset a rope scrape once it’s been up for a year. 76:44

scouting

Mark Jackson from Indianapolis asked how much attention Don pays to scrapes when scouting in Iowa and whether he builds stand placement around them. 21:20

switchgrass

Don recommends burning switchgrass every two to three years because the saplings that sprout are still small enough for the fire to kill them. 6:49

taxidermy

Terry drove to the taxidermist and picked up Don’s mounted buck Mel, hauling him to the master class for attendees to see for the first time. 2:00

terrain-features

Ian asked how Don would read terrain features and hunt three big ridges on his property. 23:47

thermals

Jared from Illinois asked why Don and Terry never discuss thermals, especially near rivers, when talking about hunting the wind. 27:28

truck-damage

Terry got his truck’s insurance adjuster to look at a busted taillight and door ding after backing into a mailbox after last week’s class. 12:54

truck-durability

Don joked that a Chevy truck wouldn’t even have gotten dented from the mailbox collision. 13:32 (light moment)

urban-deer

Damon Marling asked why big bucks tolerate people in urban areas while intrusion is considered so harmful on rural hunting farms. 42:04

weather

Terry noted a small chance of late rain was forecast for the next day, but expected the property tours to finish beforehand. 78:17

Deer activity

Mel (history) 2:00
Smokey (history) 8:16
unnamed buck (harvest) 43:56
Mel (history) 73:28
Smokey (harvest) 73:43

Listener questions

Question: Mark Jackson from Indianapolis asked how much attention Don pays to scrapes when scouting in Iowa and whether he builds stand placement around them. 21:20 — asked by Mark Jackson

Answer: Don said he uses terrain features, not scrapes, to choose stand locations, and wind direction to decide when to hunt them. 22:01

Question: Ian asked how Don would read terrain features and hunt three big ridges on his property. 23:47 — asked by Ian

Answer: Don said to stay high on ridges since wind swirls too much in the bottoms to hunt effectively. 24:30
Answer: Don’s trick is to set up where his wind blows down a ravine, since the funnel narrows toward the top. 24:48

Question: Ian asked what Don wants to accomplish next in his hunting career after already killing multiple 200-inch deer. 23:56 — asked by Ian

Answer: Don said the older he gets, the more he enjoys helping other people succeed rather than chasing his own next trophy. 25:22
Answer: Don also said he’d still like to shoot a giant on public land and has leads on possible bucks to chase this year. 26:30

Question: Jared from Illinois asked why Don and Terry never discuss thermals, especially near rivers, when talking about hunting the wind. 27:28 — asked by Jared

Answer: Don said thermals tie into wind play and react differently depending on whether the terrain is hilly or flat. 30:37

Question: Al Foster asked how many years Don has been doing farm consulting. 32:21

Answer: Don estimated he’s been consulting for about ten or twelve years. 32:26

Question: Al Foster asked what frustrates Don most and what he likes most about his consulting trips. 32:30

Answer: Don said the people he meets are, without a doubt, the best part of consulting. 32:47
Answer: Don said the most frustrating part is also people, since he knows how little he started with and sees unrealized potential on some clients’ land. 33:31

Question: Damon Marling asked why big bucks tolerate people in urban areas while intrusion is considered so harmful on rural hunting farms. 42:04

Answer: Don said bucks everywhere seek the most secure bedding area available; urban bucks just have smaller sanctuary zones relative to what they grew up with. 42:32
Answer: Terry illustrated with a poached Northern Kentucky giant buck that lived among houses because no safer sanctuary was available nearby. 43:56

Question: Jim Moore asked Don for his honest opinion on the good, bad, and ugly of hinge cutting for timber management. 45:03 — asked by Jim Moore

Answer: Don said he’s not a fan of hinge cutting because he believes hunters can be better stewards of their timber. 45:45
Answer: Don acknowledged hinge cutting makes instant cover but said he must leave the farm in good shape for his grandsons’ future, so he avoids it. 46:39

Question: Calvin from Illinois asked why Don and Terry never talk about using deer decoys. 49:13 — asked by Calvin

Answer: Don said from experience that for every mature buck a decoy attracts, it spooks about 25 others, so he avoids them. 49:49

Question: Eric, a first-year hunter from Northern Illinois, asked about arrow and broadhead setup after getting poor penetration with a light mechanical setup. 50:46 — asked by Eric

Answer: Don said heavier arrows fly better, are more forgiving, and penetrate deeper than light setups. 52:22
Answer: Don also keeps his shots short, rarely over 30 yards and usually under 20, to ensure clean kills. 53:40

Question: Eric followed up asking whether Terry pays attention to overall arrow weight or front-loads weight to improve penetration. 59:52

Answer: Terry recommended working with a local archery shop to test different arrow setups for penetration rather than guessing online. 61:05

Question: Josh from West Virginia asked how much nutrition young versus old does keep for themselves versus give to a growing fetus. 62:20 — asked by Josh

Answer: Don said a good deer mineral needs a two-to-one calcium-to-phosphorus ratio, and most marketed minerals fail this test. 64:08
Answer: Don said young does put much more of their nutrition toward their own still-growing bodies, while older does mainly use it for maintenance. 64:54

Question: An audience member asked Don and Terry what life advice they’d give to younger kids listening, outside of hunting. 67:20

Answer: Don’s advice was to dream big, because God’s reality is bigger than anything a person can imagine. 67:53
Answer: Terry’s advice was to remember how it feels when someone helps you, and pass that same kindness on to someone else. 70:24

Question: Fred Zink asked how to know whether a three- or four-year-old buck is likely to grow into a larger 170-180+ class deer. 71:51 — asked by Fred Zink

Answer: Don relayed a captive-industry rule: bucks scoring 140 at two or 170 at three years old have very good odds of eventually breaking 200 inches. 73:06
Answer: Don cited Mel as an example, pushing 160 inches at two years old and already over 200 by three years old. 73:28

Question: Greg from Michigan asked what to look for, and avoid, when buying a future hunting property. 74:49 — asked by Greg

Answer: Don said what’s around a property matters more than what’s on it, since neighboring land can make or break its hunting potential. 75:27
Answer: Don gave an example: a small five-acre field next to a thousand-acre no-hunting sanctuary can be dynamite hunting ground. 75:35

Question: Todd Covey asked whether there’s a right or wrong time to reset a rope scrape once it’s been up for a year. 76:44

Answer: Don said once deer start hitting a rope scrape, it never needs to be reset again, not even the following year. 77:18

Terry brought Don’s mounted buck Mel to the master class for attendees to see. Don covered prescribed burning of switchgrass, recommending burning every two to three years, planting a clover firebreak, bush-hogging near young oaks, and calling burning far better than bush hogging alone; a controlled burn was planned after class if wind allowed. Terry gave updates on lease blind work with Kyle Harmon, a charity raffle that had already distributed over $9,000 to families, and a truck mishap Don joked a Chevy would have shrugged off. Listeners asked wide-ranging questions: stand placement relative to scrapes and terrain, wind and thermals, hinge cutting, decoys, arrow weight and broadhead penetration, doe nutrition, evaluating young bucks’ scoring potential (citing Mel’s growth), what to look for in a hunting property, and resetting rope scrapes. Don also reflected on the responsibility of his platform and his growing satisfaction in helping other hunters succeed.

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