Episode #94 - Late Season is Here! Change Your Approach

Published: 2021-12-06
Episode page
Duration: 69 min

In this episode

captive-deer-herd

• Don says running a captive deer herd for twenty-five years is why he feels strongly that rut timing is consistent year to year. 11:23

cell-cameras

• Terry advises hunters to pull SD cards from cell cameras now, since relying only on cell transmission can cause missed pictures of deer. 14:11
• Don states cell cameras are generally unreliable, with most of them being plain junk that misses photos. 14:21
• Don says cell cameras remain a great but imperfect tool and sees a market opportunity for a company to build a better one. 16:09
• Terry jokes that hunters will pay a thousand dollars yearly for a new Mathews bow but skimp on quality cell cameras. 16:39 (light moment)

chasing-giants-collage

• Terry announces he will close picture submissions for the 2022 Chasing Giants family collage after one more week. 39:04

church-invitation

• Don invites any local listener looking for a church home to join him as a guest at Salad Rock Chapel in Sullivan, Illinois. 29:34

consulting-business

• Don says premium feeder or plot-screen products often get cheapened once mass-market demand appears, even though many buyers will pay for quality. 48:31

consulting-season

• Don shares that he is now busy traveling for his consulting business and barely has time to catch his breath. 7:29

consulting-workload

• Don recounts clearing all his emails before a consulting trip and coming home that evening to 141 new emails in one day. 32:37
• Don says he is now dealing with over 200 messages a day, making it hard to recall who he spoke with weeks earlier. 32:50

feed-type

• Terry says he prefers rolled corn over whole shell corn because it digests better in a deer’s gut. 46:27

feeders

• Alex Graham from Troy, Ohio asks what kind of deer feeder is best, gravity or spin type, and what size to use. 41:38

food-plot-planning

• Terry plans to skip an elevated blind on a ridge next year and instead plant corn in a V-shape to walk into a brushed-in ground blind for late season. 53:14

ground-blinds

• Jason Hesselberg from Saline, Michigan asks whether Don and Terry ever hunt from ground blinds when no good tree exists. 49:18

hunting-pressure

• Terry notes that Illinois had just closed its second firearm season and that Kentucky’s and Ohio’s seasons were also over, adding to hunting pressure. 3:28
• Don states November brings more human traffic in the deer woods than any other month, pushing mature bucks to lay low. 4:13

late-season

• Don states that early December, after the rut and before deep winter cold, is the toughest time of year to kill a mature buck. 1:32

late-season-feeding

• Terry recommends mixing protein and fat into corn feed during late season instead of feeding plain corn. 44:05

late-season-strategy

• Terry suggests hunters use the current lull as a chance to rest and be ready to hunt when conditions improve rather than forcing time in the woods. 5:20
• Don recommends hunting food sources during brutal cold snaps, saying every deer, mature buck or fawn, will be on its feet at the last hour of daylight then. 6:35

lesters-feet

• Terry announces Lester’s Feet cannot host its planned raffle because the value of donated prizes now requires a charitable gaming license it lacks. 26:32
• Terry asks listeners to connect him with any nonprofit holding a charitable gaming license willing to partner with Lester’s Feet on a raffle. 27:21

listener-shoutout

• Don shares that listener Mitch Myers, whom he knew from Facebook, showed up at his church after being invited via the podcast. 29:10

live-event

• Don announces that he and Terry will record a live Chasing Giants podcast at Bluegrass Feed and Seed in Guthrie, Kentucky the following Friday. 34:23
• Don announces he is doing a seminar in Clare, Michigan the following Thursday, December 16. 35:40

losing-a-target-buck

• Jacob Osborne from Oklahoma asks how to stay motivated after his father-in-law unknowingly shot the buck he was targeting. 60:36

master-courses

• Don explains that two Saturday master-class dates have very few openings left and two Thursday classes still have about eight to ten spots each. 31:00
• Don calls out Weston Whitetail from Shipshewana, Indiana and Duane Miller from Tuscola, Illinois to contact him with their intended class date after sending deposits without one. 32:03

miscanthus

• Don states Real World Giant Miscanthus is a fully non-invasive, sterile plant that does not spread on its own. 56:24

october-lull

• Don advises that during the October lull, knowing a target buck’s bedding area and getting close to it gives a hunter a real chance. 2:28

plot-screens

• Nick Scarpino from Baldwin, Missouri asks whether switchgrass, Giant Miscanthus, or cedar trees is best for screening newly opened food plot edges. 53:55

podcast-purpose

• Terry states that if the podcast wins even one person to Christ, that counts as success regardless of download numbers. 30:18
• Don says they measure success differently than most of the hunting industry, valuing lives touched over antler inches. 30:28

podcast-support

• Terry says the single biggest thing listeners can do to support the show is leave a review or rating. 67:24

real-world-training

• Terry teases that Real World training content with special guests, covering supply chain effects on the food plot industry, is coming soon. 67:52

rut-timing

• Terry relays that a well-known deer biologist, Doctor Deer, claimed the rut was late this year because rut timing is controlled by moon phase. 9:37
• Don argues the rut is actually triggered by the pineal gland near a deer’s eye registering daylight length, not moon phase. 11:09

trail-camera

• Don reports that three target bucks he hoped survived Illinois’s last day of firearm season were caught on his cell cameras still alive. 18:20

trail-camera-inventory

• Terry says checking trail camera inventory right after gun season to see what survived is almost as important as summer inventory. 18:05

trail-cameras

• Terry tells listeners it’s a great time to change trail camera batteries and pull SD cards before bitter cold sets in. 17:42

Deer activity

• Smokey (harvest) 2:33
• Trump (harvest) 2:38
• unnamed buck (harvest) 2:44
• unnamed buck (trail-camera) 4:38
• unnamed buck (sighting) 8:20
• Hurley (history) 63:34
• the fork ton buck (harvest) 65:41

Listener questions

Question: Alex Graham from Troy, Ohio asks what kind of deer feeder is best, gravity or spin type, and what size to use. 41:38 — asked by Alex Graham

• Answer: Don recommends gravity tube feeders, sized high-capacity so they only need refilling about once a month. 42:16

Question: Jason Hesselberg from Saline, Michigan asks whether Don and Terry ever hunt from ground blinds when no good tree exists. 49:18 — asked by Jason Hesselberg

• Answer: Don says he used to ground hunt more but rarely does now, preferring trees. 49:45
• Answer: Terry says he ground hunts often, including killing this year’s buck from the ground. 50:35
• Answer: Don adds that the key with any setup, ground or tree, is staying well hidden. 52:38

Question: Nick Scarpino from Baldwin, Missouri asks whether switchgrass, Giant Miscanthus, or cedar trees is best for screening newly opened food plot edges. 53:55 — asked by Nick Scarpino

• Answer: Don says Giant Miscanthus is hands-down the best plot screen, far outperforming trees. 55:05
• Answer: Terry adds that planting Miscanthus is more work than switchgrass but pays off better long term. 57:15

Question: Jacob Osborne from Oklahoma asks how to stay motivated after his father-in-law unknowingly shot the buck he was targeting. 60:36 — asked by Jacob Osborne

• Answer: Don says he can’t recall a target buck of his own ever being shot by someone else, but stresses no one owns a deer. 61:09
• Answer: Terry says it has happened to him and admits hunters get emotionally invested in a chased deer. 62:24
• Answer: Don encourages Jacob that this adversity builds character and will make future success sweeter. 64:45

Sponsors this episode

• Real World Wildlife Products

Don and Terry covered why early December is hard for killing mature bucks, with hunting pressure from closed Illinois, Kentucky, and Ohio firearm seasons pushing deer to lay low, and Don recommending hunters target food sources during hard cold snaps instead. Terry pushed back on a claim relayed from Doctor Deer that moon phase drives rut timing, siding with Don’s view that daylight length via the pineal gland controls it, a view Don grounded in twenty-five years running a captive herd. They discussed trail camera upkeep, calling cell cameras useful but often unreliable and urging listeners to pull SD cards before deep cold. Terry announced Lester’s Feet’s raffle was blocked by licensing requirements and asked for nonprofit contacts. Listener questions covered feeder types, ground blind versus tree hunting, plot screening with Giant Miscanthus, and encouragement for a hunter whose father-in-law shot his target buck. Don and Terry also shared upcoming events and class scheduling details.

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