Episode #8 - Lock-down is about over. Great hunting the week of Thanksgiving

Published: 2019-11-24
Episode page
Duration: 57 min

In this episode

archery-season

Don plans to focus his scouting efforts so he’s ready when archery season reopens Monday morning after gun season closes. 5:33

artificial-insemination

For artificial insemination with frozen buck semen, does are given a series of hormone shots to synchronize their estrous cycles so they can all be bred at once. 17:38

bedding-areas

When is the best time to start hunting close to bedding areas: pre-rut, main rut, or lockdown? 33:52

bedding-cover

Terry notes that depending on topography and prevailing wind, even a thick, nasty piece of woods may not be a good bedding spot if the winter wind blows into it. 38:26
With food plots planted, how does Ryan hold mature bucks through the winter? 36:32

books

Don’s two Whitetail books make popular Christmas gifts and are available at chasinggiants.com or higginsoutdoors.com. 45:57
Don personally autographs every book shipped out to customers. 46:11

buck-harvest

Patrick Simpson saw a buck chasing a doe for two days, endured cold rain and sleet in a Lone Wolf climber, and shot the buck around 8:30-9:00 that morning. 6:14

buck-scent

Don believes a buck can smell a doe in heat from at least a mile away, giving nearly every buck a chance to breed her. 15:01

buck-sighting

Don saw one mature buck cruising an open field in search of does, calling it the best buck he’d seen, even amid the lockdown phase. 7:47
Terry saw a 125-inch buck in search mode with its nose to the ground and no does present in the field. 18:48

captive-deer-research

In twenty-five years working with a captive research deer herd, Don saw only one doe come into heat in October and give birth to an early fawn the next spring. 16:17

consulting-demand

Terry notes Don’s land-consulting demand grew significantly after his 2017 harvests of the bucks Trump and Smokey. 52:45

consulting-logistics

Terry advises listeners interested in Don’s consulting to reach out early so trips can be grouped by region, since late-season requests may miss already-completed swings. 55:33

consulting-process

Don requires an aerial photo and answers to about ten questions from prospective clients before ever charging them for a consulting visit. 54:10

creation

Terry frames the doe fawns’ weight-based estrus timing as evidence of God’s created design, rather than a mysterious ‘secondary rut.’ 13:54

doe-breeding

Don says it’s extremely rare for a wild doe that comes into heat to not get bred that cycle. 14:41

doe-fawn-estrus

Don believes more doe fawns come into heat in January than any other month, since that’s when most reach breeding weight. 13:20
What is the conversation about doe fawns not coming into heat until they reach a certain weight? 12:23

doe-urine

Terry says Real World customers who are deer breeders use medicine to chemically induce does into early estrus so they can bottle doe urine before natural season. 17:12
Commercial doe-urine collectors give does the same hormone drug used in artificial insemination to induce early heat, letting them sell ‘doe in heat’ urine earlier for hunters. 17:55

ehd

Terry reports deer numbers are down in his Eastern Illinois hunting area this year, partly due to an EHD outbreak, though less severe than the 2012 outbreak. 2:21

food-plot

Don’s Ohio property team cleared a 10-acre food plot atop the property’s high ground and planted it in Real World Deadly Dozen around September 1. 41:56
Next year Don plans to plant soybeans in the Ohio food plot, falling back to a Deadly Dozen fall plot if they’re wiped out. 43:27
Don’s Ohio food plot seed was planted into dust around September 1 and got no meaningful rain for about three weeks. 43:57

gun-season

Don’s decades-long gun season tradition is driving properties morning and evening to gauge hunting pressure and watch for trespassers. 4:54

hunting-discipline

Terry notes that shooting a merely 130-140 inch deer on public land just to say he did it on public ground isn’t the kind of goal Don is chasing. 22:46
Terry describes enduring two days in the stand, including cold rain around 35-36 degrees, leaving him stiff but still committed to sitting again the next day. 32:29
Don praises Terry for driving up sick last weekend and hunting through terrible weather over a plowed field. 33:04

hunting-plan

Terry’s plan for the next morning is to hunt the northeast side of a bedding area on a southwest wind, where he typically sees eight to nine does. 19:13
Terry hopes his target buck, captured on two trail cameras overnight, will be searching the downwind side of the thicket the next morning. 20:28

listener-questions

Listeners can submit questions at chasinggiants.com, and used questions earn a free T-shirt. 28:57

master-class

Don announces his Whitetail master class dates as March 14 and April 4, with details available at chasinggiants.com. 46:37
The master class begins Friday evening with a social hour at Don’s place from six to nine featuring pizza and pop. 46:50
The Saturday portion of the master class includes a walk to the exact tree stands where Don shot his mature bucks. 47:36
Master class students reported their buck sightings during the rut doubling after applying what they learned about wind and stand placement on Don’s property. 51:22

morning-hunts

When does Don stop hunting mornings? 39:29

november-rut

Don considers the first and last weeks of November the two best times to kill a good buck; the two middle weeks are much tougher when bucks are locked with hot does. 10:50
With the rut just around the corner, what is the best time to be in the stand to maximize time in the field? 30:03

off-season-content

Don plans to cover off-season topics later in spring and summer, including questions from young people wanting to break into the hunting industry. 29:17

ohio-hunting

Don plans to drop his daughter at the Indianapolis airport after Thanksgiving and then continue to his Ohio property, arriving after Ohio’s gun season has started. 40:43

ohio-property

Don and a business partner bought a 160-acre Ohio property in summer, closing on it in July. 41:22

outdoor-writers

Don states many outdoor writers spread false information about whitetails. 16:34

post-season-scouting

Don is eager for gun season to end so he can inventory which bucks remain on the properties he can hunt, to focus on the best ones next year. 20:59

public-land

Don wants to kill a Boone & Crockett-class buck on public ground someday and is always scouting for that opportunity. 21:27
Don wouldn’t trade 170-inch-plus bucks on private land for a 150-inch buck on public ground. 22:55
Don wants to kill a Boone & Crockett buck on public land before he retires his bow. 23:06

public-land-scouting

Don has been walking public land looking for big buck sign and potential stand sites as part of his pursuit of a public-land booner. 21:52
Don is researching new public hunting areas on Google Earth, some more than an hour from home, in his search for a public-land booner. 22:05

rut-myths

Don dismisses the outdoor-writing claim that the most dominant doe comes into heat first in late October and triggers the rut, calling it garbage. 16:47

rut-observation

Don believes many hunters give too much credence to what they personally observe in the woods, mistakenly assuming it reflects what’s happening everywhere during the rut. 3:05
Don observed more hot does locked down with bucks in open fields over two days than all season, showing personal observations don’t reliably indicate the rut’s true phase. 7:25

second-rut-myth

Don doesn’t believe a true ‘second rut’ exists, despite common hunter talk about it. 12:57

stand-placement

Terry explains that understanding how a buck behaves under a specific wind direction—learnable only by walking the property—is the real secret behind stand placement taught in the master class. 49:24

supplemental-feeding

Since supplemental feeding is legal in Ohio, Don’s team installed three large feeders on the newly acquired property. 42:08

thanksgiving

Don wishes listeners a happy Thanksgiving, urging them to prioritize family while still hunting since it’s an excellent time to kill a giant buck. 56:13

thanksgiving-week

Don has said for years that Thanksgiving week is a great time to kill a giant buck. 9:05
An Ohio bowhunter named Roger told Don decades ago that Thanksgiving week was the best week of the year to kill a giant buck. 9:10
Terry advises hunters with Thanksgiving week off to get in the woods instead of watching football, since bucks will be out cruising. 30:44

thanksgiving-weekend

Don recalls that roughly twenty years ago, for five consecutive seasons, the biggest buck he saw from a tree stand each year came during Thanksgiving weekend. 11:10

Deer activity

unnamed buck (sighting) 2:01
unnamed buck (harvest) 6:22
unnamed buck (sighting) 6:30
unnamed buck (sighting) 7:47
unnamed buck (sighting) 18:48
unnamed buck (trail-camera) 20:20
unnamed buck (harvest) 40:02
unnamed buck (harvest) 49:48
Smokey (harvest) 51:42
Trump (history) 52:45
Smokey (history) 52:45

Listener questions

Question: What is the conversation about doe fawns not coming into heat until they reach a certain weight? 12:23 — asked by Terry

Answer: Don explains a doe fawn’s first estrous cycle happens once she reaches about 80 pounds, regardless of a fixed calendar schedule. 12:43

Question: With the rut just around the corner, what is the best time to be in the stand to maximize time in the field? 30:03 — asked by John Seeger

Answer: Don says the best week to see the most bucks in November is roughly November 5th through the 12th. 30:16

Question: When is the best time to start hunting close to bedding areas: pre-rut, main rut, or lockdown? 33:52 — asked by Nick Scorpino

Answer: Don typically waits until around November 1st before moving in, then hunts the downwind edges of bedding cover on morning hunts to avoid alerting deer too early. 35:14

Question: With food plots planted, how does Ryan hold mature bucks through the winter? 36:32 — asked by Ryan Steel

Answer: Don explains Ryan likely lacks secure bedding cover; without feeling safe, mature bucks will bed a mile away and only travel to food after dark. 36:45

Question: When does Don stop hunting mornings? 39:29 — asked by Patrick

Answer: Don keeps hunting mornings until December 1, then switches to evening hunts only for the rest of the season. 39:54

Sponsors this episode

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Lone Wolf Treestands
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Terry reported deer numbers down in his Eastern Illinois area, partly from a milder EHD outbreak than 2012, while Patrick Simpson endured cold, sleety weather to shoot a buck he’d watched chasing a doe for two days. Don argued personal woods observations often mislead hunters about the rut’s true phase, noting he saw unusually many locked-down does over two days. He reiterated his long-held view that Thanksgiving week, along with early November, offers the best odds at a giant buck, crediting a tip from Ohio bowhunter Roger decades earlier, and dismissed the idea of a true ‘second rut,’ attributing January breeding activity to doe fawns reaching estrus weight. He also debunked outdoor-writer claims about dominant does triggering the rut, and Terry described how doe-urine collectors and AI breeders use hormones to induce early estrus. Don discussed pursuing a Boone & Crockett buck on public land, his new 160-acre Ohio property, and upcoming master class dates of March 14 and April 4.

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