Don Higgins Hunt - 191" Buck with New Mathews Lift X Compound Bow

Good information Don I still have a buck to tag for Indiana

I'm 59 and just really started learning this big buck quest. Bruce Carell a mutual friend of ours has been a blessing as well as the Chasing giant team. God Bless!

Thanks for sharing Don.

Thanks the humility.
We are all students of his creation.

Been waiting for this video. Congratulations Don! Great information. I’m always soaking up your knowledge. Laughing at your 2025 bow and 1965 sight though. If it works, it works haha

Awesome buck

This is fantastic brother!!! 👏

Amazing buck Don. Congratulations. God bless.

Congratulations! I’ve been following you for quite a while and I know that you are one of the best big buck hunters around. I’ve hunted deer for nearly 40 years in S. IL and I also have started using trail cameras. I am conflicted about cell cameras giving hunters an unfair advantage and violating the “fair chase” doctrine. You seem to have no issue with it. Any thoughts?

Dream Big brother 🙏

Congrats, I know it’s been mentioned before but what is that unconventional sight you are using. I am an ASIO customer for life I have had deer look up at me and if I don’t move they just go about their business. I have not had the same experience with other popular camo. Amazing camo.

Congrats Don!. Great video and explanation. Bonus, you shot it on my birthday.

I need directions on where to submit a question that will ruffle all kinds of feathers

Well done Don on a great buck! Thanks for the helpful pointers. Hope you and your family have a great Thanksgiving!

I did not see that trick coming Don .with the rattling. Congratulations 🎊

Takes much of a man to admits his faults. Especially when it comes to hunting! Hats off to you on another fine buck!

Congratulations I enjoyed that story

Farm is under surveillance 😢

What Kind of sight is on your bow?

How high up was the stand you shot him from?

Great video Don, nice to hear dedicated and successful whitetail hunters like you, still are learning from mistakes, I shot a mature buck in Kansas this year back, he was walking,AND using a tension release on a walking deer is tougher, should have stopped him, found him but coyotes ate 100 lbs,my fault cost him, as hunters we try to do better

Congrats Don! Awesome Buck and awesome story! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for telling about how u Kell this deer. U can learn a lot sometimes.

Don, on the podcast right after you killed him, I remembered you saying you pulled a tactic out that you haven’t done in a long time and knew it had to be rattling. That’s something I learned from your book whitetails icons when Gabe spoke about doing it early season on a bedded Buck 👍

Awesome buck makes our southwest coues deer look tiny.

Congrats don 👏

I'm just glad he has 200 inch deer at his place.... go hunt NY or Pennsylvania and then come talk to me... u take these ppl out there elements there just like mr. Average...

Don you are a master deer hunter. great detail and info here. shot a buck years ago on edge of a cover field with a two-blade fixed broadhead right through his ribcage. never even hit a rib and "swear to God" he walked a couple of steps and bent down to eat again, then fell over within 10 yds of hit. didn't even dare nock another arrow as afraid he'd bolt. sharpness of your broadheads pays off dividends in spades.

Did you remember to send the tooth in this time after shooting him?

Awesome job Don ! but even after 47 years of strictly bowhunting, I could NEVER go hunting with a bow I just got that morning !!! No matter how good I shot it, in just a couple of hours... I guess it's all Mental for me...the more familiar I am with my equipment, the more confidence I have, and the better I will shoot. In fact the last Bow I had, was for 16 years ! Killed a lot of Big Bucks with it too, but I guess Bow Companies wouldn't like me, because I wouldn't be promoting an 'New Bow" every year, just to make a video. God-Bless !

Congratulations, Don on another awesome Buck with great information and great storyline !!

Well if you start stopping them here’s a tip that I promise is tried and tested use a higher pitch sound vs a lower pitched sound. The higher pitch “Meeep” sound stops them first time. The lower pitch version doesn’t always work first attempt.

Congratulations! I appreciate you talking about what went right as well as what went wrong. That’s how we all can learn and get better. 👏👏👏

when in doubt back out! Love your content Don. God has blessed you for sure

several key take aways for me - never give up the wind - it amazes me how many people hunt a spot with the wrong wind thinking some spray or machine is going to magically cover their human scent - the other honestly, I wished you hadn't shared - and that's getting his picture by CELL CAMERA that morning and knowing where he was bedded by that picture prior to hunting him - yes I know we all do this - the problem is this is the type of information they use to eliminate cell cams and honestly I understand it - even a non-cell camera would have required you to check that camera that day or morning to get that information. it's hard to argue this isn't using electronics to aid in a hunt and I use them -

I’m a big fan but when your sponsored you probably should get video of the hunt…

Don, congats on your buck, I listen to all of your podcasts and have for several years.
Tools such as cell cams can sure give you an advantage, as stated in the video. Personally, we all have to make the decision of what is fair chase; although still legal.
As an official measurer for Pope and Young as well as Boone and Crockett, over the years, they have had to look in tools such as range finding sights and cell cameras.
Cell camera use, as you described, is not considered fair chase. With technology advancing like it has in the last decade, deer have the odds stacked against them. And the state game agencies don't seem to care. You're not alone, I think many other hunters would do the same thing because they can.
I'm sure you still could have found success on this buck but it may have taken you a few more hunts or some encounters to zero in on him.

Congratulations Don!

What is that Sight???

Fantastic video. Some great tips. Thank you Don for all the info you provided. Amen

Your humility, and realistic approach to hunting, is an inspiration to all hunters. Thanks for sharing your pursuit.

What sight is that don?

Shooting at walking animals vs making a noise to make them stop while bow hunting is a quandary and a debate that will never end. I have always shot critters while they walked instead of making a noise to make them stop. I started out bow hunting rabbits and pheasants, there were no deer then where I lived, with a long bow 65 years ago when I was 6 years old. Over the years I just somehow learned to shoot walking animals and how to lead them. I learned to hunt from reading field and stream and the golden rule back then was we should never shoot an arrow at an alert deer so, making a sound to stop a deer breaks that rule because it puts a deer on alert, so I've never done that. I also learned to throw footballs to s running teammate leading them correctly and likewise did the same thing throwing to a second baseman turning a double play. The problem with alerting the deer is that once they stop, there's a high percentage chance that at the next sound they will either drop or turn away thus making the accuracy of the shot more difficult. I don't think there is a right or wrong either way and each bow hunter has to decide what's best for them and know their own limitations.

I'm not aware of all state laws but in the case of Minnesota (where there are no regulations against cell cams), using knowledge of a bucks current location via cell cam photo to "take" (kill or pursue) is against the law via their radio communications restrictions. I'd encourage folks to be aware of possibly less than black and white regulations where they are hunting in relation to this.