Episode #78 - People ask questions but do not like the answers!

Published: 2021-08-16
Episode page
Duration: 69 min

In this episode

birthday

Don states his birthday is August 16, that he was born in 1963, and he will turn 58. 1:14

bronson-strickland

Don recalls that doctor Bronson Strickland appeared on episode 31 and Don had no idea Strickland already promoted a similar management plan. 21:59
Bronson Strickland responded that not only does the management approach work, but he had written a book about it. 22:22

buyafarm

Terry mentions the BuyAFarm.com featured property is 175 acres, near his own hunting lease. 45:15
Terry tells interested listeners to call Todd Hewing about the featured property. 45:39

class-reunion

Don attended his fortieth high school class reunion the night before recording. 1:32
Don encourages people to attend their class reunions despite hesitancy about seeing old classmates. 1:53

clover-management

Terry compares clover mowing to alfalfa, noting the third cutting reportedly has the highest feed value. 59:01
d w sword asked whether mowing or spraying clover, per National Deer Association claims, is better for plot quality. 57:06

covid

Don calls returning COVID mandates a government overreach and says he opposes mandatory vaccination policies. 37:29
Terry states that whether someone gets the vaccine is none of his business and his own choice is none of theirs. 39:13

cull-buck

Don prefers the term ‘management buck’ over ‘cull buck’ since it is better received, even though he means the same thing. 3:14
Terry claims celebrity hunters have misused the term ‘cull buck’ to excuse settling for a lesser deer on the last day of a hunt. 18:00

culling

Don explains that with six three-year-old bucks on his property he plans to kill four of them and let the best two live to five or six years old. 6:38
Don claims that on the right property, culling the bottom end of each age class can increase the size of top-end bucks. 5:59

deer-management

Don asserts his management-buck approach has nothing to do with changing the genetics of the wild herd. 3:34
Don states there is no valid argument against his position since it’s not about genetics but about letting the best bucks in each age class live. 5:01

farm-history

Terry notes that Don shot two two-hundred-inch deer on a 120-acre farm a few years apart, with years in between where no deer was killed. 7:39

humor

Terry jokingly declares the cell-camera segment sponsored by his wife, Casey, after admitting to her that he’d been wrong. 24:35 (light moment)

inspiration

Don shares that an American pole vaulter whose father passed away writes his name on her shoe before every vault. 34:46

iowa

Don plans to head back to Iowa this week to continue scouting. 66:18

land-management

Terry says he still gets excited seeing unknown bucks show up, but land management now intrigues him more than hunting itself. 55:30

property-improvement

Terry plans to have friend Austin Raisor bring a mini excavator to dig trenches around his property for yard and French drains. 65:22

spike-bucks

Curtis Martin asked what causes spike bucks and whether hunters should shoot them or let them go. 47:27

trail-cameras

Terry relays an idea from an unnamed hunter to set a cell camera’s time-lapse for once or twice daily just to confirm the camera is still working. 26:26
Terry relays that Exodus told him their camera app shows a file number so users can check for sequential gaps instead of pulling the SD card. 28:19
Don says his Exodus cellular camera has worked flawlessly through its second year of use. 30:23
Don reports his Iowa public-land cell cameras have plenty of does and fawns but no buck approaching 150 inches. 67:15
Chris Chapman asked if trail cameras hinder hunting’s unknown-factor thrill, and whether Don or Terry would hunt an unfamiliar property without camera intel. 49:36

Deer activity

Joey (harvest) 10:15
Trump (harvest) 10:15
unnamed buck (management) 12:46
Smokey (harvest) 19:08
Mel (hunt) 19:31
six by five (hunt) 19:43
unnamed buck (management) 20:21
old guy buck (harvest) 54:21
Mel (harvest) 67:48

Listener questions

Question: Curtis Martin asked what causes spike bucks and whether hunters should shoot them or let them go. 47:27 — asked by Curtis Martin

Answer: Don explains spikes can result from late birth, poor nutrition, or genetics, with no way to know for certain which caused it. 48:04
Answer: Don states he does not advocate culling yearling bucks at all, so spikes are not cull bucks. 48:15

Question: Chris Chapman asked if trail cameras hinder hunting’s unknown-factor thrill, and whether Don or Terry would hunt an unfamiliar property without camera intel. 49:36 — asked by Chris Chapman

Answer: Don admits he misses the old unknown-factor thrill but still doesn’t want to give up his trail cameras. 52:22
Answer: Don says while hunting new Iowa ground without camera history, the next buck he sees could easily be one he has no pictures of. 53:24
Answer: Terry adds they still get excited by unknown bucks, but personally he’s more drawn to the land management side of hunting. 55:30

Question: d w sword asked whether mowing or spraying clover, per National Deer Association claims, is better for plot quality. 57:06 — asked by d w sword

Answer: Don agrees that keeping clover mowed produces a more tender plant that never matures to seed. 57:36
Answer: Don strongly disagrees with the National Deer Association’s recommendation to spray rather than mow clover. 58:17

Don explained his preference for the term ‘management buck’ over ‘cull buck,’ arguing it wasn’t about changing herd genetics but about letting the best buck in each age class live, citing his plan to kill four of six three-year-olds on his property while sparing the top two. Terry noted celebrity hunters had misused ‘cull buck’ to justify settling for lesser deer late in a hunt, and recalled Don shooting two two-hundred-inch deer on a 120-acre farm years apart. Listener questions covered the causes of spike bucks (Don blaming late birth, poor nutrition, or genetics, and declining to cull yearlings), whether trail cameras dulled hunting’s unknown-factor thrill, and whether to mow or spray clover, with Don favoring mowing over the National Deer Association’s spraying advice. Don also planned a scouting return to Iowa, where his cell cameras showed no bucks near 150 inches.

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