Don Higgins / Higgins Outdoors

Don Higgins / Higgins Outdoors Higgins Outdoors is a multi-faceted business offering a variety of services and products

A lot of people mistakenly think that I kill all of my bucks off my farm but that is actually not the case. One of my pe...
08/21/2025

A lot of people mistakenly think that I kill all of my bucks off my farm but that is actually not the case. One of my personal deer hunting goals is to kill a giant on public land. Every year I chase down leads and hang cameras on public land. Right now I have cameras on three different public properties with plans to add cameras to another one in the next week or so. Even though only a small fraction of my efforts are geared towards public land, I bet I spend as much time searching for a target buck on public than most hunters who exclusively hunt public lands. I have come to realize that for every public land giant that exists there are several thousand acres of territory for him to hide. I just got this bucks photo this morning and he is the best buck I have gotten a picture of on public land all summer. He is a long way from being what I am looking for. Killing a 180”+ on public land might be the hardest deer hunting goal I ever set and the one I never achieve.

Check out the latest video on where I compare the two best trail camera brands that I have ever tested. As a bonus ther...
08/20/2025

Check out the latest video on where I compare the two best trail camera brands that I have ever tested. As a bonus there are several trail camera photos of good bucks I have gotten over the years.

Finishing up the Oct-Nov issue of Whitetail Life magazine. Are you a subscriber? Go to the website to get a sample copy ...
08/19/2025

Finishing up the Oct-Nov issue of Whitetail Life magazine. Are you a subscriber? Go to the website to get a sample copy and see what we are all about. One of the most popular columns is the “Land Management Circle” where readers submit questions and each question gets answered by 3 different whitetail consultants. There is also a “Whitetail Science” column written by Dr Bronson Strickland. Available by subscription only.

If you listen to the Chasing Giants podcast you have heard me talk about my food plot program and how I use a drone to o...
08/18/2025

If you listen to the Chasing Giants podcast you have heard me talk about my food plot program and how I use a drone to overseed my corn and soybean plots. I am getting some questions about who I use for this service so I am going to share info for a couple of local guys that offer this. Please contact them directly with any questions.

Miles Kolpin - Effingham/Altamont
618-553-0580

John Kaufman - Arthur
217-254-2467

For you guys hunting permission properties these drones are a great way to seed a cover crop into standing corn and soybeans which also serves as a foodplot. A lot of farmers will let you seed a cover crop if you pay for the seed and planting. It’s a win-win for you and the landowner.

Green Prairie Seed Co in Arthur, Illinois is a great source for all your seeds and they even custom blend any mix you want. Call them at 217-543-3467

Not to beat the topic of "culling" to death but I checked a camera yesterday and had these two bucks on it. Both of thes...
08/17/2025

Not to beat the topic of "culling" to death but I checked a camera yesterday and had these two bucks on it. Both of these photos were taken the same day. I know the better buck is a 3 yr old and I suspect the other one is as well (although admittedly he could be a 2yr old). Soooo ...

On most properties, the bigger of these two bucks gets shot this fall as a 3yr old and the lesser one lives to grow to 4, 5, or 6 yrs old. Along the way he breeds a few does each year. That is exactly the situation across most of the whitetails range today.

On my property, I will be trying to get the lesser buck killed this year (even if he is a 2yr old) and the better one is off-limits. When implementing a buck management program like this, there is no denying which buck will be bigger at maturity. We can argue or make excuses or quote biologists or internet experts or studies or whatever we want to do but it is undeniable that at maturity, the better 3 yr old in these photos is going to be better than the lesser one 99.99% of the time, provided both avoid injury or illness.

So lets just avoid the whole debate regarding genetics and stick with the facts. Protecting the best 3 year old bucks on a property while targeting the lesser ones, will result in bigger mature bucks down the road regardless of what impact it has on the local genetics. You (along with your neighbors) do have control over which bucks have a chance to reach maturity and which ones don't. These two photos do a great job of making a point that I try to drive home to my consulting clients.

What a deadly combination! giant miscanthus hides the access to this overlooking a plot of Generation-2 soybeans. Loo...
08/15/2025

What a deadly combination! giant miscanthus hides the access to this overlooking a plot of Generation-2 soybeans. Looks like a great place for a giant buck to get his last supper! Bring on October!

Antler growth is about done for this year. Soon they will be shedding velvet and shifting to their fall ranges. Bring on...
08/13/2025

Antler growth is about done for this year. Soon they will be shedding velvet and shifting to their fall ranges. Bring on October!

Another warm summer evening out hoping to video a velvet giant. Sitting in the first row of corn overlooking a double cr...
08/10/2025

Another warm summer evening out hoping to video a velvet giant. Sitting in the first row of corn overlooking a double crop soybean field swatting corn flies. I’m ready for October!

Deer hunters have a growing list of whitetail consultants to choose from today. Our group strives to be the very best in...
08/09/2025

Deer hunters have a growing list of whitetail consultants to choose from today. Our group strives to be the very best in a number of ways. We start by providing the best plan using proven practices to help you reach your property’s ceiling. The detailed notebook that we give our clients is unlike anything that you get elsewhere. The unlimited follow up correspondence is unique in the industry and our list of industry discounts is second to none and can save our clients enough money to more than pay for the consultation.

In this photo I am participating in a zoom meeting with the other members of the team. We work together to discuss ideas and situations to make sure that our clients get the very best plans possible. I personally assembled this group to not only meet the growing demands for our services but also to have options available for every budget. Our goal is always for our clients to kill the biggest buck of their life within a few years of our visit. Our success rate is second to none.

We already have a substantial list of clients to visit next winter and are hearing from folks daily. For a free quote to have us consult on your property and turn it into a whitetail paradise, reach out to me privately.

You can lower your goals to match your effort or raise your effort to achieve your goals.
08/08/2025

You can lower your goals to match your effort or raise your effort to achieve your goals.

08/07/2025

Ok, Ok, I know I am a day later than promised but here is a video of the buck we have been following in recent videos. He is 5 years old here and based on the one shed antler I found the next spring, I estimated his score at 186" here. As you can see he had a pretty bad limp and I considered shooting him because of that but instead decided to roll the dice and let him walk. In the next video we will see how that worked out and share some interesting insight into not only this buck but another that I had several years of history with.

There’s nothing like sitting in a soybean field sweating and swatting bugs on a hot summer evening waiting on velvet gia...
08/07/2025

There’s nothing like sitting in a soybean field sweating and swatting bugs on a hot summer evening waiting on velvet giants to show up. For some of us, deer season never ends.

Address

Gays, IL
61928

Website

https://www.realworldwildlifeproducts.com/

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