Don Higgins just wrote the best hunting article ever written.

WTNUT

5 year old buck +
First, I don't know Don, and would not recognize him in a lineup. We communicated some in the "old nameless forum" in connection with a few threads. I seem to recall us sparring on at least one issue, but don't recall for certain. I seem to think it was over the use of minerals in connection with wild free ranging whitetails. Therefore, we are not buddies, not enemies, and I would call him out if I thought he were way off base.

However, his article "Debunking Rut Myths" was published in the November issue of North American Whitetail. In my opinion ( which is normally worth one half of one cent ) it is the best and most accurate article ever published in a hunting magazine ( counting the ones I have read which are a lot over 40 years ).

If you have not read it, take the time to read it. I don't have a captive heard of deer, but I have some really nice farms where deer probably live in more of an undisturbed and ideal setting than 99 percent of the whitetail habitat in the U.S. Everything he writes and every opinion in that article is spot on in my experience. I also think so many of the freelance writers, T.V. personalities, and others in "the industry" are bought and paid for and will offer any opinion that might be needed. My favorite part is where he acknowledges he almost did not include the section on very few "new [mature] bucks" show up during the rut.

Many have killed more Boone and Crocket bucks than I. But, I can hold my own with most when it comes to the number of B&C whitetails harvested. If you want to learn about the rut, read his article and ignore the rest.

By way of example, I have had three really great bow hunters at my best farm the last few days. I know it has four B&C bucks calling it home most of the time, many more mature bucks, and probably over 40 deer per square mile on that property. We hunted four days with the full moon and super hot temperatures (November 3-6) and saw a spike, a four point, and two does between the four of us from the stand. Trail cams showed nearly every deer was active, but only at night. The activity was consistent with what we always see during the first 6 days of November, but it was taking place entirely at night.

I too was swept off my feet with the moon guide for a period of time, and I do have a lot of respect for Charles Alsheimer. However, when I took a step back and looked at the bigger picture I agreed with Don. The amount of daylight was trigger the rut and it was taking place at the same time every year. Other factors determined whether I witnessed the various phases.




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The more information I compile, the more I realize that areas hit rut at the same time each year. The timing may vary from local to local, but each micro area seems to be VERY consistent from year to year.


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Thanks for your observations. I also debated with him a little on the qdma forum. To his credit he was open enough to ask me to report back on my findings. I'll say a few things about him. I do think that he's a clever guy, an entrepreneur, a marketer, a good right winger, a great deer hunter. I went from not liking him a whole lot to starting to respect and like him the more I see. I think he's a hard worker also and I like that.

He's also not a big fan of bowhunting mornings in Oct. I disagree somewhat with the theory of new bucks during the rut. I think a few "relatively new" bucks pass through. He has my attention though, more than he used to. He nailed 2 awesome bucks last month.
 
Can you post a link? I tried to find it but was unsuccessful. I would like to read it...

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I think you have to buy the magazine ....


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it was a good article. Jeff Sturgis is a guy I know that pinned activity on the temp drop, wind speed, preceding a front, and barometric pressure change have your best chances on seeing daylight activity. I can personally say he is 10000000000% correct.
 
I hope Jeff is correct. Big temp drop here tomor morning , down to 18 degrees and wind will be 15-25mph and u can bet I’ll be lurking. However, today the 7th and 8th have been really active. Tonight, I saw one young buck run 10 doe’s around for 10 min. He could care less about feeding. One doe after another, non stop grunts. Was fun to watch, but nothing big came in.
 
I didn't read the article. I too had a few interchanges with Don on the old forum. He is a sharp guy that can argue his point well and is careful not to go too far overboard. He is in the industry and does carry some bias toward the products he sells and endorses. I too have a lot of respect for Charles Alsheimer. We both spoke at a local seminar a number of years back. He had some interesting theories when it came to moon phase and the rut and given the data available at the time there was some support for it. It is a great example of how the human mind tries to draw relationships. He formed a theory based on his anecdotal experiences and then went looking for evidence to support it, and sure enough he found it. Unconscious human bias always makes its way into the data. That is why science requires independent replication.

Further research and pretty much debunked his theory now and perhaps he hung on to it a little longer than he should have. None of that reduces my respect for him.

Thanks,

Jack
 
I was one the first guys to smack Don on the QDMA forums about his bedding in a bag advertisement.
He challenged me to do a side by side comparison. I didn't use his bedding in a bag because I don't like blue stem but I did test Real World Switch against CIR. No affiliation with the guy! but his switch grass is impressive. Hands down it beat the crap out of any other I planted for height and width. It's also priced comparatively.

I even went back and told him so. I can admit when I was wrong. :)
 
He's had several really good ones "Homecoming Bucks" and "How to beat a whitetails memory" are two other favorites of mine. A wealth of knowledge no doubt.
 
Lack of human intrusion is a video clip he discusses on YouTube and he’s spot on. I think that is extremely important!
 
He's had several really good ones "Homecoming Bucks" and "How to beat a whitetails memory" are two other favorites of mine. A wealth of knowledge no doubt.
I’ve seen the homecoming bucks but don’t remember the other one. Do you have a link for it?
 
I think he is a straight shooter. I did disagree with him recently about his statements that apples aren't what they are hyped up to be. Wrote and told him maybe he was using some of the 99.5% of apple varieties that don't work so well and if he had the right varieties he might see it differently. I like about him that though he may disagree he is willing to discuss others ideas. We are still off on the apples standing and we could both be correct. Apples could be low on the list on the properties he has seen but have been high on the list on the ones I have seen.
 
I’ve seen the homecoming bucks but don’t remember the other one. Do you have a link for it?

Can't find it directly but he references it here, essentially how past experiences shape a buck's behavior.

 
I think he is a straight shooter. I did disagree with him recently about his statements that apples aren't what they are hyped up to be. Wrote and told him maybe he was using some of the 99.5% of apple varieties that don't work so well and if he had the right varieties he might see it differently. I like about him that though he may disagree he is willing to discuss others ideas. We are still off on the apples standing and we could both be correct. Apples could be low on the list on the properties he has seen but have been high on the list on the ones I have seen.
In his defense, I value my apple and pear trees waaayyy more than the deer do on my property! With that said I have a buddy in Wisconsin with a camera on an Apple tree and I think every deer in the area swings by at some point.
also I have no idea who this guys is!
 
Don Higgins wrote the most out of touch, oblivious statement in a deer hunting article that I’ve ever read. He’s the reason why I never picked up another NA Whitetail magazine about 15 yrs ago.

On the other hand, he taught me that I’m not like a lot of deer hunters. And that was probably a valuable lesson. So, cheers, Don, you arrogant ...

ETA, what an epic bump.
 
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