The WHTL Podcast - Whitetail Deer Hunting Tactics, Stories & Expert Guests

In this episode of MDRN Whitetail, Don breaks down the principles that actually built a 49-year career chasing giants — not the tips everyone's already heard, but the ones he had to learn the hard way. We get into:
The "same time, same place" theory Don first wrote about in 2003 — and how tracking one buck's annual pattern for six straight years led to a first-morning kill
Why hunting "the fringes" isn't about staying on the edge of everything — and how a 2-acre patch of cover next to an elderly neighbor's yard produced a 200-inch buck
The October morning that broke Don of hunting mornings for over a decade, what he learned following a buck's tracks in the mud at first light, and the one condition that brings him back to a morning stand today
Why "time in a tree" isn't the success factor most hunters think it is — and how Don hunts fewer hours now than at any point in 49 years
How he handles tips on other people's target bucks, and why he's walked away from two 200-inch deer he could hunt right now
Whether you're running public land, a handshake permission property, or your own ground, Don's approach proves the same thing MDRN Whitetail is built on: the principles matter more than the property.
🎙️ Follow Don Higgins: HigginsOutdoors.com | Chasing Giants Podcast


Got a topic or guest you want to hear? DM me on Instagram: @mdrnwhitetail
Follow along on social!
IG - @modernwhitetail 
YouTube - @WHTLDEER
Thanks again for all of the support from our partners—none of this would've been possible without them!
-Buck Land Funding: https://www.firstbankers.com/bucklandfunding
-Hawke Optics | Use Code WHTL for 15% off: https://bit.ly/hawkeoptics_
-OnX: https://bit.ly/onX_Hunt
-Painted Arrow: ⁠⁠bit.ly/PaintedArrow
-Latitude Outdoors: https://www.latitudeoutdoors.com/

Welcome to the WHTL Podcast, your source for Whitetail Deer Hunting Tactics, Stories & Expert Guests. In this episode, we're back in the studio with Kaleb Greiner.
We Discuss:
Roughly half of summer bucks relocate before October in pressured country.
Cereal grains want to be six inches tall on opening day, not two feet.
The best summer camera in ag country sits 20 to 80 yards off a pond.
Deer walk through an open gate instead of hopping the fence beside it.
A creek drying up can move a buck straight to the nearest pond.
White oak acorns pull deer off green fields from September 15th on.
Raking leaves off an oak flat and broadcasting rye makes a green carpet.
Hunting one buck every sit beats bouncing between farms all season.
Mature bucks bed in five-yard waterways in the middle of cut fields.
Trading TSI and chainsaw work for permission opens doors money can't.
And So Much More!
Want to become a better whitetail hunter? Click the link below and sign up for the Whitetail Master Academy today!
https://bit.ly/WhitetailMasterAcademy
Follow along on social!
IG - @WHTLDEER
TikTok - @WHTLDEER
YouTube - @WHTLDEER
Thanks again for all of the support from our partners—none of this would've been possible without them!
Buck Land Funding: https://www.firstbankers.com/bucklandfunding
Hawke Optics | Use Code WHTL for 15% off: https://bit.ly/hawkeoptics_
OnX: https://bit.ly/onX_Hunt
Painted Arrow: ⁠⁠bit.ly/PaintedArrow
Latitude Outdoors: https://www.latitudeoutdoors.com/

Welcome to MDRN Whitetail — where woodsmanship and technology collide. I'm Cameron Derr, and I didn't learn to deer hunt from a mentor. I learned it from editing YouTube hunting content — first on The Tineman, then as Creative Director at Exodus Outdoor Gear, where I produced Trail Cam Radio (the Exodus Podcast, now WHTL), Whitetail Cribs, and hosted the Deer Gear Podcast. Every guest I edited became an unofficial teacher.
Since picking up a bow in 2016, I've killed 10+ bucks — including a couple 150 class Ohio bucks, 160-class Ohio giant, a 140-class North Dakota buck, and a full-velvet mid-160s 9-point — almost entirely by applying what I learned from other people's content. That's the whole premise of this show: the learning curve doesn't have to be as long as everyone says, if you know how to actually pull the "why" out of what you're watching and listening to.

Here's how MDRN Whitetail works:
Week 1 — a long-form conversation with a guest, opening with the same question every time: by the end of this episode, what should you learn?
Week 2 — myself and Tre Kerns break down last week's episode: what mattered, what we've tried, what actually works.
This show runs in conjunction with the WHTL Podcast — thank you to Jake.
Got a topic or guest you want to hear? DM me on Instagram: @mdrnwhitetail
Follow along on social!
IG - @modernwhitetail 
YouTube - @WHTLDEER
Thanks again for all of the support from our partners—none of this would've been possible without them!
-Buck Land Funding: https://www.firstbankers.com/bucklandfunding
-Hawke Optics | Use Code WHTL for 15% off: https://bit.ly/hawkeoptics_
-OnX: https://bit.ly/onX_Hunt
-Painted Arrow: ⁠⁠bit.ly/PaintedArrow
-Latitude Outdoors: https://www.latitudeoutdoors.com/

Welcome to the WHTL Podcast, your source for Whitetail Deer Hunting Tactics, Stories & Expert Guests. In this episode, we're back in the studio with Jason Michael.
We Discuss:
Mature bucks have distinct personalities, and each one has to be hunted differently.
A buck labeled nocturnal is usually only nocturnal on your 80 acres.
Red oaks carry the November acorn crop long after the white oaks are washed up.
Big public ground gets read faster with short probes than with mile-long loops.
Wind speed covers your entry noise better than wind direction ever will.
Sixteen hours of rain shutting off at midday can trigger the best sit of October.
Maples drop their leaves weeks before oaks, so pick your stand tree with November in mind.
In big terrain, thermals don't set up until roughly two hours after sunrise.
Deer bed on the edge of a block facing out, not in the dead center of it.
Respecting what a whitetail's nose can do changes how you hunt him.
And So Much More!
Want to become a better whitetail hunter? Click the link below and sign up for the Whitetail Master Academy today!
https://bit.ly/WhitetailMasterAcademy
Follow along on social!
IG - @WHTLDEER
TikTok - @WHTLDEER
YouTube - @WHTLDEER
Thanks again for all of the support from our partners—none of this would've been possible without them!
Buck Land Funding: https://www.firstbankers.com/bucklandfunding
Hawke Optics | Use Code WHTL for 15% off: https://bit.ly/hawkeoptics_
OnX: https://bit.ly/onX_Hunt
Painted Arrow: ⁠⁠bit.ly/PaintedArrow
Latitude Outdoors: https://www.latitudeoutdoors.com/

Welcome to the WHTL Podcast, your source for Whitetail Deer Hunting Tactics, Stories & Expert Guests. In this episode, we're back in the studio with Jeff Hopkins.
We Discuss:
A buck's tarsal gland leaves a scent fingerprint that bottled urine can't copy.
Frozen tarsal glands soaked in glycerin gel make your own dominant buck scent.
Wax paper under a mock scrape keeps your lure from soaking into the ground.
The direction a buck kicks scrape dirt tells you which way he's traveling.
A mock scrape carrying a stranger's scent makes the resident buck hunt you.
Two or three well-placed mock scrapes beat a farm covered in them.
Baking soda patted in with a sock outperforms any bottled field spray.
Nothing completely beats a deer's nose — you just make him think you're farther off.
A rub on both sides of a tree means he's working that line back and forth.
Rattling pays in a short pre-Halloween window, in 10 to 15 second sequences.
And So Much More!
Want to become a better whitetail hunter? Click the link below and sign up for the Whitetail Master Academy today!
https://bit.ly/WhitetailMasterAcademy
Follow along on social!
IG - @WHTLDEER
TikTok - @WHTLDEER
YouTube - @WHTLDEER
Thanks again for all of the support from our partners—none of this would've been possible without them!
Buck Land Funding: https://www.firstbankers.com/bucklandfunding
Hawke Optics | Use Code WHTL for 15% off: https://bit.ly/hawkeoptics_
OnX: https://bit.ly/onX_Hunt
Painted Arrow: ⁠⁠bit.ly/PaintedArrow
Latitude Outdoors: https://www.latitudeoutdoors.com/