Permission Properties, Scrape Magnet Explained, and Our Health Journeys | Chasing Giants Ep. 315

Published: 2026-03-08
Episode page
Duration: 70 min

In this episode

bow-practice

• Mike Soyster asked how much time Don and Terry spend shooting their bows in and out of season, and whether they prefer typical or non-typical antlers. 40:44

chasing-assurance

• Terry recommends listeners check out his dad’s podcast, Chasing Assurance, which is covering a series on the apostle Paul. 59:19

corn

• Ed Solomon asked what pre- and post-planting steps and herbicide to use for planting Nutri-Crave Corn in a field currently in clover. 53:05

cwd

• Terry predicts more states will follow Canada and ban natural land-based lures as CWD policy tightens, motivating the synthetic scent business. 15:14

events

• Don announces he will speak on March 19 at the Christian church in Chelbina, Missouri. 59:47
• Don announces he’ll be at the Wisconsin Deer and Turkey Expo in the Extreme Custom Food Plots booth on Saturday only, at the end of March. 60:03

family-farm

• Terry’s wife is the fifth generation owner of their farm, which will remain in a family trust and never be developed. 40:03

farm-potential

• Jordan Brandenburg asked whether Don and Terry’s farms will ever consistently produce 190-plus bucks with occasional 220s, and what each farm’s ceiling is. 37:40

farm-quality

• Don says isolation is a key factor in his farm’s deer quality, something he didn’t realize was a diamond in the rough until thirty years of work there. 40:30

food-plots

• Terry advises not letting a small food plot be the first thing to sprout, since deer will swarm it as the only browse available. 52:02
• Terry says once he understood the benefits of overseeding, he stopped worrying about early plot sprouting attracting browse pressure. 52:53
• Don recommends spraying Resicore, a pre-emergent herbicide, over bare dirt right after planting corn to prevent weeds. 53:53
• Don strongly recommends doing a soil sample before starting any food-plot planting project. 56:48

fruit-trees

• Don advises not spraying fruit trees with Mike’s Mighty Micros until after the buds and blooms have set. 46:04
• Houston Gregory asked when to start spraying fruit trees with Mike’s Mighty Micros and whether to spray year-round. 45:34

girdling

• Tyler Swearingen asked what determines choosing to girdle versus clear-cut trees for deer bedding areas. 44:05

habitat-management

• Don’s controlled burn got out of control when the wind shifted and jumped a fire break, burning up a couple of trees. 3:56
• Don had Corey and Andrea helping with a controlled burn, with Andrea using a powerful backpack leaf blower to keep the fire under control before the wind shifted. 4:09
• Don plans to plant trees this year in the half of the field bordering his wooded sanctuary that he left unburned. 4:38
• Don is shifting his food plot from beside the wooded sanctuary to the middle of the switchgrass field to also serve as a fire break. 5:27
• Terry recommends girdling instead of dropping certain trees when you’re not skilled with a chainsaw. 45:00
• Terry warns that girdling creates widow-maker hazards, so hunters should stay cautious in those woods in the years afterward. 45:27

hawk-optics

• Terry says Hawk’s new 8x32 binoculars, shown to him by Cameron, are prized for being small and compact. 19:31
• Terry says of everything he’s ordered from Hawk so far, he’s most excited about the new compact binoculars. 20:21

health

• Don caught a virus from his wife and expects to have coughing fits during the episode. 1:04
• Don’s holistic doctor told him his biggest health issue was cardiac inflammation from fat stored around his organs. 31:01
• Don’s doctor warned him without a doubt he was going to have either a heart attack or a stroke if he didn’t change his diet. 31:31
• Don changed his diet to meats, fruits, vegetables, and salads with no dressing after his doctor’s warning. 32:31
• Don lost about 25 pounds without trying simply by changing his diet. 33:10
• Terry was diagnosed with a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis early last year but delayed treatment until after hunting season. 33:58
• Terry says his arthritis pain was gone within ten days of starting a carnivore diet, and he has lost 40 pounds since Christmas. 34:49

land-management-handbook

• Terry announces the land management handbooks have shipped and will be sold near production cost, not for profit. 57:26
• Don describes the land management handbook as a heavy paper, spiral-bound notebook meant to be kept in a truck or tractor. 58:54

listener-questions

• Terry plans to answer at least six or seven stacked-up listener and dealer questions in a segment sponsored by Midwest Land Group. 3:13

michigan

• Jay Thielen asked whether a proposed Michigan $1 buck tag would improve the state’s deer age structure. 48:23

permission-properties

• Terry plans to discuss permission properties on the episode. 2:30
• Wes Delks reportedly knocked on 120 doors in an out-of-state area, gained permission on 10 properties, and killed a nice buck there last year. 22:09
• Don has hunting permission on 26 different properties. 22:30
• Terry recounts how a landowner, after his clients stopped to help with escaped cattle, granted permission to cross a field and to hunt another tract entirely. 24:39
• Terry advises that pursuing permission properties requires tolerating rejection, since landowners will say no far more often than yes. 24:49
• Don says his fame often makes permission harder, not easier, since other hunters in the neighborhood resent him being on a property. 25:34

politics

• Don says he thinks Trump did a fantastic job at the State of the Union address. 45:51

scrapemagnet

• Terry announces they will discuss the ScrapeMagnet product on the episode. 2:50
• Don explains they sell the rope-scrape scent in gallon jugs and smaller bottles so people can try it without buying a full gallon. 8:53
• Terry says a key motivation for launching Scrape Magnet was giving Real World dealers something to sell in the off season to help cash flow. 12:18
• Don says they tested the rope-scrape scent last fall across nine states on 54 properties, including his own farm. 13:35
• Terry announces Scrape Magnet is live on the Real World website, with dealer inventory already at the Iowa Deer Classic trade show in Kansas. 17:09

smokey

• Don says Smokey is a fantastic person whose lures absolutely work for deer. 15:53

soybeans

• Matthew Montag asked whether planting soybeans later keeps green leaves available for deer later into summer and early fall. 49:11

sunday-night-prayer-time

• Terry announces Diane Daniel Pifer hosts this week’s Sunday Night Prayer Time segment. 59:26

trapping

• Don’s grandson Walker is interested in trapping, so they plan to run a trap line next fall. 16:05

travel

• Don still has upcoming trips this spring to Iowa and Missouri, plus about ten days of visits in Wisconsin. 1:42

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (trail-camera) 7:36
• Doubting Thomas (harvest) 13:42
• unnamed buck (harvest) 22:09

Listener questions

Question: Jordan Brandenburg asked whether Don and Terry’s farms will ever consistently produce 190-plus bucks with occasional 220s, and what each farm’s ceiling is. 37:40 — asked by Jordan Brandenburg

• Answer: Don doesn’t think his farm will get there; he believes he’s near his ceiling, which has plateaued since about 2020 with occasional 200-inch bucks. 38:22

Question: Mike Soyster asked how much time Don and Terry spend shooting their bows in and out of season, and whether they prefer typical or non-typical antlers. 40:44 — asked by Mike Soyster

• Answer: Don prefers character bucks and giant clean typicals over 190 inches, which he finds rarer and more impressive than non-typicals. 41:11
• Answer: Don shot more last summer while sharpening his recurve skills, about five days a week, but typically doesn’t shoot his bow much. 41:47

Question: Tyler Swearingen asked what determines choosing to girdle versus clear-cut trees for deer bedding areas. 44:05 — asked by Tyler Swearingen

• Answer: Don says the deciding factor is simply how much debris is already on the ground, since thinner timber allows dropping more trees than thick timber. 44:55

Question: Houston Gregory asked when to start spraying fruit trees with Mike’s Mighty Micros and whether to spray year-round. 45:34 — asked by Houston Gregory

• Answer: Don advises waiting to spray fruit trees until after the buds and blooms have set, since spraying during bloom introduces moisture that causes blight. 46:04

Question: Jay Thielen asked whether a proposed Michigan $1 buck tag would improve the state’s deer age structure. 48:23 — asked by Jay Thielen

• Answer: Don says a one-buck limit would be a strong positive for Michigan’s deer herd quality compared to the current two-tag limit. 49:01

Question: Matthew Montag asked whether planting soybeans later keeps green leaves available for deer later into summer and early fall. 49:11 — asked by Matthew Montag

• Answer: Don recommends planting soybeans when local farmers do, since maturity is driven by daylight hours and bean maturity group rather than planting date. 50:02

Question: Ed Solomon asked what pre- and post-planting steps and herbicide to use for planting Nutri-Crave Corn in a field currently in clover. 53:05 — asked by Ed Solomon

• Answer: Don tells Ed to spray and kill the existing clover before planting corn, since the clover has to be removed first. 53:32
• Answer: Don recommends spraying Resicore, a pre-emergent herbicide, over the bare dirt right after planting to prevent weeds for the season. 53:53

Prayer Time

Scripture: Matthew
Theme: treasure-and-the-heart
The speaker reflects on comparison and envy stirred up by tax season and social media, tracing it back to where one’s treasure lies. Drawing on Matthew 6:21, he says the heart follows treasure, and prays for guarding hearts against worldly comparison, choosing contentment and eternal treasure over earthly outcomes, and living generously to reflect Christ’s light to others. 64:23

Don, coughing through a virus, and Terry covered the launch of Scrape Magnet, a synthetic rope-scrape scent tested last fall across nine states on 54 properties, framed as giving Real World dealers off-season product amid tightening CWD lure restrictions. A controlled burn on Don’s farm jumped its break when the wind shifted, burning a couple trees, prompting plans to shift a food plot to double as a fire break and plant trees in the unburned section. Both shared health updates: Don changed his diet after a doctor’s heart-attack warning and lost about 25 pounds, while Terry’s rheumatoid arthritis pain eased on a carnivore diet with 40 pounds lost since Christmas. Terry discussed pursuing hunting permission despite frequent rejection, citing Wes Delks knocking on 120 doors for 10 permissions. Listener questions covered food plots, girdling versus clearing trees, and a proposed Michigan one-buck tag limit.

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