Chasing Giants Podcast #141 - Scrapes are hot… So is the weather!

Published: 2022-10-31
Episode page
Duration: 68 min

In this episode

antler-development

• Kirk Stillwell asks: once a clean eight-pointer adds a point like a drop tine as a four-year-old, what are the odds it keeps adding non-typical points as it ages? 40:21

buck-behavior

• Don explains that in warm weather, bucks that would normally cruise for two hours instead stay up only about twenty minutes before bedding back down. 5:33

buck-forecast

• Don says his pre-season buck forecast predicted a down year, and the mature bucks he’d typically expect to see simply aren’t showing up. 10:31

deer-management

• Terry clarifies that culling smooth eight-pointers targets the elite right side of the bell curve for world-class deer, not the average 150-inch target buck most hunters pursue. 42:44
• Don says his experience with captive deer showed that the better bucks within an age class remain the better bucks in the next age class as they mature. 44:02

event

• Don announces a one-day ‘Whitetail Summit’ event on February 18 in Salina, Kansas, hosted by the local Real World Wildlife Products distributor. 25:36
• The Whitetail Summit will feature speakers Don Higgins, Wes Delks, and Dr. Bronson Strickland, with a catered barbecue lunch, for about $60 with limited capacity. 25:53
• The Whitetail Summit is organized by Phillips Seed Farms, a Real World Wildlife Products distributor in Kansas; Jeremy there can help with tickets. 26:57
• Terry gives the ticket phone number for the Whitetail Summit event as (785) 949-2204. 26:21

food-plots

• Don recommends diversifying food plot offerings so hunters aren’t caught without the deer’s preferred food type when temperatures shift unexpectedly. 13:25

food-sources

• Don confirms that when temperatures run above normal deer favor green food sources, and when below normal they favor grain, guiding where to hunt. 12:07

habitat-management

• Colin Cole asks what Don and Terry would do differently on their properties if they were starting over, knowing what they know now. 57:06

hunting-strategy

• Don advises hunters to be in the woods early and late every day during the warm pre-rut spell, since midday buck movement is unlikely. 3:11
• Don emphasizes the first and last hour of daylight as the most important time to be in a stand during warm weather. 3:51
• Terry says he packs gear every day of the rut to be ready for an all-day sit, especially when hunting in Illinois. 4:31

land-purchase

• Ryan Danbocker asks whether to buy an unexceptional but close-to-home property for habitat projects and family time, versus waiting for a farther, better hunting property. 51:55

listener-connection

• Terry describes meeting a listener from Western Kentucky at his kids’ marching band state championship and talking for fifteen minutes mostly about church rather than hunting. 22:59

listener-questions

• Don shares the mailing address for Amish and Mennonite listeners without internet to submit podcast questions: Real World Wildlife Products, PO Box 5555, Arthur, Illinois 61911. 28:05

lockdown

• Don states the lockdown phase, arriving once a cold spell hits, is in his opinion the toughest time of the year to intentionally kill a giant buck. 6:45

mountain-lion

• Don reports that Illinois DNR tranquilized a radio-collared mountain lion just outside Springfield after it wandered from Nebraska through southern Iowa. 17:53
• Don notes mountain lions periodically appear in Illinois, citing DNR shooting one in a man’s barn a couple years earlier, and that DNR does not secretly release them. 20:17

podcast-plan

• Terry plans to be in Illinois next week and says he and Don will figure out how to record the podcast from there. 66:38

scrape-activity

• Don reports scrape activity was extraordinary this past week while checking trail cameras, though he saw no shooter bucks despite plenty of deer. 2:42

stand-access

• Devin Allen from Jonesboro, Arkansas asks how to secure a mature buck living in a small 1.5-acre timber patch surrounded by cut ag fields. 31:53

trail-cameras

• Brian Byers asks how Don and Terry handle trail camera time stamps that don’t auto-adjust for daylight saving time while minimizing intrusion. 46:57

whitetail-master-academy

• Don announces the Whitetail Master Academy subscription includes a monthly live Q&A session, similar to this podcast, open to members who join. 29:45

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (sighting) 31:53
• unnamed buck (history) 40:58
• Ryan’s buck (harvest) 52:52
• unnamed buck (trail-camera) 65:15

Listener questions

Question: Devin Allen from Jonesboro, Arkansas asks how to secure a mature buck living in a small 1.5-acre timber patch surrounded by cut ag fields. 31:53 — asked by Devin Allen

• Answer: Don recommends slipping in at night on an ATV or truck with lights and engine running to hang a stand, since deer tolerate slow vehicle noise better, then leaving quickly. 32:38

Question: Kirk Stillwell asks: once a clean eight-pointer adds a point like a drop tine as a four-year-old, what are the odds it keeps adding non-typical points as it ages? 40:21 — asked by Kirk Stillwell

• Answer: Don says the majority of clean, smooth-racked eight-point bucks at three years old stay that way for life, though some do add extra points as they age. 40:40

Question: Brian Byers asks how Don and Terry handle trail camera time stamps that don’t auto-adjust for daylight saving time while minimizing intrusion. 46:57 — asked by Brian Byers

• Answer: Don says Reconyx’s newer HyperFire trail cameras now automatically adjust for daylight saving time, so that’s no longer an issue. 47:35
• Answer: Don says the exact hour on a photo doesn’t matter much to him — what matters is the date being correct, since deer patterns repeat by date, not by the minute. 48:18

Question: Ryan Danbocker asks whether to buy an unexceptional but close-to-home property for habitat projects and family time, versus waiting for a farther, better hunting property. 51:55 — asked by Ryan Danbocker

• Answer: Don’s first reaction is to ask why Ryan couldn’t build his house on a different property with better deer potential, adding it’s ultimately Ryan’s own call. 53:20

Question: Colin Cole asks what Don and Terry would do differently on their properties if they were starting over, knowing what they know now. 57:06 — asked by Colin Cole

• Answer: Don’s biggest regret is planting fast-growing ash trees on his CRP ground since emerald ash borer has killed most of them; he’d plant far more shingle oaks instead. 58:53
• Answer: Don’s other regret was placement — he originally put food plots in the center of the property, which deer used but made the property very difficult to hunt. 60:11

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Don and Terry discussed hunting through a warm pre-rut spell, with Don advising hunters to focus on the first and last hour of daylight since bucks that would normally cruise for two hours instead stayed up only about twenty minutes before bedding down. Don noted scrape activity had been extraordinary despite no shooter bucks appearing, and said his pre-season forecast of a down year for mature bucks was holding true. He tied food selection to temperature, favoring green sources when warm and grain when cold, and recommended diversifying food plots accordingly. Listener questions covered securing a mature buck in a tiny timber patch, whether smooth eight-pointers stay clean as they age, trail camera time-stamp issues, and buying a nearby but unexceptional property versus waiting. Asked what he’d change knowing what he knows now, Don regretted planting ash trees killed by emerald ash borer and centering food plots in ways that hurt huntability.

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