Ep. 204 - Hinge Cutting - Don Critiques Specific Projects

Published: 2024-01-21 Episode page Duration: 66 min

In this episode

adrenaline-rush

• Aaron McGraw asks whether Don still feels an adrenaline rush after the shot and kill, having killed multiple 200-inch bucks and many bucks scoring 170-190 inches. 19:59

baptism

• Terry announced he plans to drive three hours the next afternoon to baptize a podcast listener who asked him to perform the baptism after battling personal struggles. 61:18

chainsaw-safety

• Don recounted that Gabe Shafner, one of the best deer hunters he knew, was killed shortly after retiring when a falling ash tree he was cutting struck him. 47:32
• Terry warned that habitat cutting should be done in January and February before green-up, cautioning that rotten limbs can fall straight down as trees tip. 48:42

cold-weather

• Terry observed that plummeting temperatures, similar to the cold snap around last Christmas, are again driving deer to pile into food sources during this current cold stretch. 2:37

consulting-revisit

• Wayne Gays asks what typically prompts Don to return to a property for a second consulting visit and whether it’s just to tweak the original plan. 56:30

consulting-visit

• Don said that on his way home from Florida he has a consulting visit planned on the Kentucky-Tennessee line with a longtime acquaintance. 60:28
• Don announced that the following week he plans to travel to Missouri and Iowa to evaluate some properties. 60:52

corn-mowing

• Don explained he waits for the ground to freeze before mowing his standing corn with a skid loader, so the ears aren’t pushed down into the mud. 1:31

crossbow-policy

• Mike Kelly asks whether, once he can no longer draw a compound bow due to age, he should switch to a crossbow or give up hunting. 49:48

dealer-summit

• Don announced a Real World dealer summit March 4-5 in Arthur, Illinois, featuring a seminar from Dr. Bronson Strickland and a live Chasing Giants podcast with bingo. 15:56

deer-sighting

• Don recounted sitting in a blind one frigid afternoon and seeing over 50 deer, including 16 to 20 different bucks, all feeding on his NutriCrave corn plot. 2:14

dnr-policy

• Kyle Mason asks how frustrated Missouri hunters might push back against unfavorable DNR regulations and whether real change is achievable. 52:01

faith

• Don said that lasting satisfaction, unlike the fleeting rush of a big kill, only comes through Christ, a lesson he says he has lived out repeatedly. 23:41
• Don shared a line he once heard in a sermon, If you’re not dead, God’s not done, saying it has stuck with him ever since. 64:53

girdling

• Terry recommended girdling bigger trees that lean into neighboring trees as a safer way to kill them without dropping them, avoiding a dangerous chainsaw cut. 46:54

habitat-transformation

• Don described transforming a worthless five-acre woodlot by cutting trees and planting oak seedlings; the very next spring he found eight shed antlers there for the first time. 44:23

hack-and-squirt

• Dusty Esseck from Highlandville, Missouri asks Don’s thoughts on the hack-and-squirt method for killing trees, noting Don seems to favor cutting over hinge cutting. 25:30

hinge-cutting-critique

• Don criticized most hinge-cutting projects, saying the biggest problem is that most people doing it have no idea what species of tree they’re actually cutting. 29:38
• Don noted that in one pictured example the fallen trees were piled so low and dense that a deer could not possibly get through the resulting carpet. 29:15
• Don argued that if a tree is considered worthless enough to hinge cut, it should simply be removed and replaced rather than left alive still shading the ground. 31:42
• Don criticized a pictured hinge-cut setup built around a plastic water tank, saying it needing to be manually refilled makes the whole layout an invitation for human intrusion. 38:24
• Don described a pictured hinge-cut area as an absolute ecological disaster, yet noted it would still do nothing but funnel deer movement around it. 35:12

hinge-cutting-funnel

• Terry suggested a hinge-cut tree dropped beside a food plot could serve as a living barricade, routing deer past a nearby stand for a strong pinch point. 33:52

master-classes

• Don announced two remote master classes this year: March 23 in Spencerville, Indiana, and April 6 in New Richmond, Wisconsin. 17:09

pope-and-young

• Blake Marcus asks whether raising the Pope and Young minimum score from 125 to 140 inches for whitetails would make a difference in deer herds nationwide. 57:55

savage-impulse

• Terry described building a Savage Impulse rifle, noting its straight-pull bolt action rocks backward instead of lifting vertically like a traditional bolt gun. 12:06

speaking-engagement

• Don announced a speaking engagement on February 2 in Hopkinton, Iowa, hosted by two Real World dealers partnering together for the event. 14:46

trail-camera

• Don announced a friend’s company is developing a new trail camera aimed at beating Reconyx on both performance and price, rather than competing on cheapness. 8:45
• Don said he visited the new camera company’s factory, which employs more than 50 people including former military and former NASA engineers. 9:20

trail-camera-industry

• Don said he has personally tried his hardest to convince established trail camera companies to build a true high-end camera, but none were willing to do it. 11:17

vortex-customer-service

• Terry said he called Vortex about his new rifle setup and within seconds received a recommendation for the right mounts and rings. 12:33

vortex-history

• Don recalled meeting Vortex representatives at their booth during the very first ATA Show he attended, roughly twenty years ago, before Vortex was well known. 13:07

vortex-partnership

• Terry announced Whitetail Master Academy, Master Class, and consulting clients will receive an exclusive Vortex coupon code following the hosts’ work with Vortex at their annual meetings. 11:34

whitetail-management-summit

• Don announced a Whitetail Management Summit February 9-10 at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells, hosted by distributor Extreme Custom Food Plots with Scott and Tanya, featuring Dr. Bronson Strickland. 17:38
• Don announced a second Whitetail Management Summit March 9 in Greenwood, Delaware, hosted by East Coast distributor Eastern Outdoors, marking his first time speaking in Delaware. 18:07

whitetail-summit

• Terry announced their friends are putting on the Whitetail Summit in Wisconsin Dells, organized by Scott Finandall, with more details and a possible coupon code to come. 15:12

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (sighting) 2:14
• unnamed buck (harvest) 20:28
• unnamed buck (history) 20:49
• unnamed buck (trail-camera) 43:47
• unnamed buck (history) 44:23
• unnamed buck (harvest) 51:20

Listener questions

Question: Aaron McGraw asks whether Don still feels an adrenaline rush after the shot and kill, having killed multiple 200-inch bucks and many bucks scoring 170-190 inches. 19:59 — asked by Aaron McGraw

• Answer: Don says his heart rate still picks up a little when a giant approaches, but the rush is nothing like it was when he started hunting; lasting satisfaction comes through Christ, not deer. 22:42

Question: Dusty Esseck from Highlandville, Missouri asks Don’s thoughts on the hack-and-squirt method for killing trees, noting Don seems to favor cutting over hinge cutting. 25:30 — asked by Dusty Esseck

• Answer: Don calls hack-and-squirt a fantastic, underused tool, often better than hinge cutting; a hatchet chop filled with herbicide kills the tree, needing one hack on small trees or several on larger ones. 26:45

Question: Mike Kelly asks whether, once he can no longer draw a compound bow due to age, he should switch to a crossbow or give up hunting. 49:48 — asked by Mike Kelly

• Answer: Don says he would not hesitate to switch to a crossbow if he could no longer shoot a compound, though he opposes crossbows for able-bodied hunters during full archery season. 50:06

Question: Kyle Mason asks how frustrated Missouri hunters might push back against unfavorable DNR regulations and whether real change is achievable. 52:01 — asked by Kyle Mason

• Answer: Don says meaningful regulation change takes years, significant fundraising, and a hired lobbyist, but the biggest challenge is uniting hunters despite a loud, vocal minority opposing progress. 55:56

Question: Wayne Gays asks what typically prompts Don to return to a property for a second consulting visit and whether it’s just to tweak the original plan. 56:30 — asked by Wayne Gays

• Answer: Don explains most repeat consulting visits happen because the client purchased a different property, not because they’re revisiting the same one. 56:39

Question: Blake Marcus asks whether raising the Pope and Young minimum score from 125 to 140 inches for whitetails would make a difference in deer herds nationwide. 57:55 — asked by Blake Marcus

• Answer: Don says raising the minimum score would make no real difference, since a 140-inch archery buck is now an easily achievable goal for most Midwest hunters. 58:14

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