Don Higgins / Higgins Outdoors

12/10/2025

These are the kind of photos and messages that keeps me pushing forward

“Just wanted to send you this and tell you thanks again for the property consultation. I’ve never experienced hunting like this year and I’m pretty sure we have our deer and all the neighbors deer as well on our properties. It’s my sons first season and this is his second deer (first buck) already. He is seven.”

12/10/2025

Being a good steward is more than planting a food plot to hunt over. It’s about providing a diversity of quality food sources during the time when wildlife need it most. If you don’t have some food left in your plots in the spring, you need to expand your plots if possible to help wildlife survive the winter.

12/09/2025

This year’s late season weather is exactly the conditions that make Generation-2 soybeans shine. Spring is a long ways off and if this weather continues the deer are going to be struggling to find quality food sources in the coming weeks. Growing giants requires year round nutrition. There simply are no shortcuts.

12/07/2025

Congrats to good friend and consulting client Alan Miller on his great Ohio buck. Alan had this to say -

“Good afternoon Don I had the opportunity at getting another shot at the buck I hit earlier this season with only getting one lung he survived and gave me another chance yesterday morning! When you showed up on the farm, our top bucks were around 135 to 140“ after implementing your plan our farm improve more and more each year I’m truly blessed to be able to shoot the biggest buck of my life thank you for all your knowledge and guidance over the years🙏”

12/06/2025

I’m going to venture a guess that more hunters have killed a 200” buck than have passed a legit 180” buck. Do you agree? Sometimes the limit on what a property can produce is dictated by what the hunter can let walk.

12/05/2025

This is exactly why drones need to be outlawed with severe penalties for violations. They are the last nail in the coffin for mature bucks

District 9 officers recently completed an investigation involving several hunters who utilized a drone to pattern, scout, and harvest a white-tailed buck. The investigation also revealed several other hunting violations. After receiving several complaints about a drone following a well-known deer daily, conservation officers launched an investigation to identify who was flying the drone. During the course of the investigation, officers discovered the operator’s identity, that the drone had been flown regularly, and the day the deer was harvested, all with the intent of locating and patterning the deer. Many of the photos taken the days leading up to and the day of harvest were of that particular deer. Officers also discovered the subjects had shot the deer over bait and trespassed to retrieve the downed deer. All subjects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in the court of law.

Indiana conservation officers remind the public that drones cannot be used to search for, scout, locate or detect deer during the hunting season and for 14 days prior to the hunting season. Drones may be used to locate and recover legally taken deer.

For more information on deer hunting regulations please visit:

https://www.eregulations.com/assets/docs/resources/IN/25INHD_LR5.pdf

12/04/2025

Here is another successful consulting client who had this to say -

“Took only 15 minutes this AM. He walked by right where you predicted at only 10 yards”

After consulting on several hundred properties over the years, I am now convinced that the value in hiring a good consultant is for their ability to envision how a property can look and hunt in the future. Most deer hunters who own land have a good idea of what the deer currently do on their property. This knowledge which often came from years of observation has a major influence on their thought process as they try to improve their property. When a good consultant shows up, it is his first time seeing the property and his thoughts are not influenced by past experiences and observations.

When I walk a clients property I notice what the deer are currently doing and will note how that can be exploited but more importantly I am looking at how I can change the property to make the deer do what I want them to do for my client to have a better chance of getting target bucks in range of his stands.

Most clients see what the deer are doing today and try to take advantage of those existing habits and patterns. I envision the property in the future after my suggestions have been implemented. Those changes will alter current deer patterns and make them more advantageous for the client. It has struck me that it is this ability to envision how a property will look in the future and how those changes will impact deer patterns that is the value in hiring a consultant.

As a prey species a deer will traverse or utilize a property to his advantage to detect danger. A landowner has the opportunity to turn the tables and manipulate his property to the hunters advantage. This is done a number of different ways such as getting deer to bed on the property more frequently, influencing how many daylight hours a buck spends on the property, creating situations where a buck is comfortable moving in daylight but his travel route takes him past a stand location with great access and also allows hunting it with a wind direction that the buck likes. Land ownership represents a huge advantage but few fully maximize the opportunity.

12/03/2025

Consulting season is underway!

11/30/2025

Always striving to get better. This week most of the Chasing Giants consulting team will be starting their visits with landowners across the country but we have been preparing for this all year. Last summer the entire team met for two days of learning from each other. Bobby Worthington, David Elliott, Caleb Gehman and Derek Burkholder all were in town for both a classroom session and an in field walk and discussion on Don Higgins property. We discussed countless topics and each consultant on our team took turns sharing how we would handle various situations and property layouts. I’m sure that we all came away with some new ideas that we will implement on our clients properties this consulting season.

We have also listened to our past clients who have often hired other consultants before hiring us. The two biggest complaints we have heard are, lack of a good written plan and poor (or no) follow up from the consultant after their property tour. These are two areas where we have worked for years to stand out and we will continue to set ourselves apart in these and other areas. Our clients get a detailed written plan and a marked aerial photo of their property. The consultant who does the property visit keeps these on his computer for future reference to communicate solid advice to the client long after their visit. In fact these follow up communications are unlimited.

There are a couple of other things that sets our group apart. One is the success of our clients. I am confident that our clients tag more Boone and Crockett bucks every season than the clients of other consultants, quite possibly all other consultants combined. That’s a big statement but the proof is there. Also, our clients get significant discounts from our sponsors. It is literally possible to save enough money on blinds, cameras, camo, seed, mineral, trees, feeders, treestands, planting drills, etc to more than pay for the consultation. With our diverse group of consultants from around the country, we strive to have an option for every property and every budget. Reach out to us and we will be happy to give you a quote for your property.

11/29/2025

With the daily Rut Reports in November and the fact that I hunted more than ever, I got a little behind on sharing photos and testimonies from consulting clients. I will start sharing a afew without going overboard on them. Here is one -

"Hi Don, I got Mr Dagger tonight! He came out in to my Gen2 soybeans around 3:30. I’ll send a pic from the field tonight and then we’ll get more tomorrow in daylight. Thanks for all input and help in making our farm a great place to grow and hunt bucks!"

11/29/2025

What factors have the greatest impact on deer movement? The moon? The temperature? The barometer? Weather fronts? and I dug into this topic on a recent episode of podcast