"Real World" review of Don Higgins Book
04-10-2007, 07:36 PM
#22
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Michigan/Ohio
Posts: 11,682
RE: "Real World" review of Don Higgins Book
I did get some great laughs at his descriptions of the "real world". 
I can tell you my "real world" is nothing like his either. You have to put your own flavor on your tactics for your "real world"
I fondsome "real world"in Ohio this year and KY
04-10-2007, 08:05 PM
#23
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Southern MD
Posts: 2,520
RE: "Real World" review of Don Higgins Book
I read the book but I found the book, "Precision Bowhunting" by John Eberhart to be much better. He covers bowhunting inmy type of real world with much more depth and detail. I have ordered his other book "Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails" too. His dvd's are excellent also.
I didn't really find Don Higgins book to be as informative as I was expecting I guess. My buddy really liked it when I loaned it to him so maybe it is more of what a particular person is looking for. It just didn't do it for me.
I didn't really find Don Higgins book to be as informative as I was expecting I guess. My buddy really liked it when I loaned it to him so maybe it is more of what a particular person is looking for. It just didn't do it for me.
04-10-2007, 09:05 PM
#24
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NY
Posts: 4,668
RE: "Real World" review of Don Higgins Book
OK........It's getting late and I have to work tomorrow so here it is.
These are some of the MANY things I found horribly wrong with this book.
He starts off right away with the axe grinding........first against other writers, then other hunters, then people in general........it gets old REAL fast.
He preaches the "real world" over and over and over and then says things like......
He wouldn't share 100 acres of land with even 1 other hunter and he would sooner just move on.
He shot a buck that was in a group of 3 that would all go P+Y and then shot another bigger one across the field later that month after passing up 13 shot opportunities at P+Y bucks including 2 more at each of the bucks that were in the group with the one he shot (all this after telling you the chapter before that a mature bucks memory is so great that doing anything other then sitting in dead silence in the woods is too risky because it may educate them and they will be gone...........I guess shooting and killing the guy they are walking with doesn't bother them though
He states he is confident that he will get a legit shot at a 150" buck EVERY year.
He states he missed a 140 class buck from one of his stands and then tagged a 170 class buck from it the next year (again, so much for the memory speech) and then the following year he saw his monster 200+ buck and 10 minutes after he left a 150 class buck walked by at 15 yards.....and again at 20 yards the next morning. Sounds like the "real world" to me
CONTRADICTIONS
He claims that you should have all your stands in place and all your stuff taken care of well in advance of deer season and avoid mucking up your hunting grounds by playing "catch up" by chasing deer and putting up new stands during the season..........Then he tells stories of how he killed a big buck (mentioned above walking with 2 others) because he saw them on his way out of the woods and hurried up and set up a stand on the treeline he thought they would follow............then he tells about how he set up a stand mid day with friends in a truck with the radio blaring and he was only in the stand for 10 minutes when the 200"+ buck he saw earlier was again 20 yards behind him...........he then tells of killing this buck from a 3rd stand that he put up a couple days later on a neighbor lady's property.
He had about 5 or 6 encounters with a 200"+ buck in a matter of days while hunting from 3-4 different stands put up in haste on the run but earlier he was preaching about not chasing deer by putting up stands according to where you see deer in season.........and that a mature bucks memory will keep it from wandering into danger anything more then once in a blue moon so you better take advantage
He claims that ethics are so important to him that he dedicated a whole chapter to the subject...........but then he was enraged that word got out about his pleading guilty to trespassing when he shot his big deer. He even tells about how one of the main reasons he took the plea was because he was assured no one would ever find out. I thought ethics were what we do when no one is looking?
He states over and over again how he did NOTHING wrong when he shot and retrieved his monster buck...........but then he pleaded guilty to the charges. Hmmmmmm. I don't know about you guys but I would NEVER plead guilty to a crime I didn't commit...........EVER.
He knew the buck was GIGANTIC and he is a very accomplished hunter yet he didn't even look for his arrow or any sign and chose to return hours later in the dark to look for the buck??............how many guys out there would not have at least checked the arrow to see what kind of hit you had on a buck of a lifetime?
The big buck
What the whole book was written about IMO...........a way to get "his side" of the story out in the public. The story speaks for itself and nearly everyone else agrees it was poor judgement to include it in the book......just done in VERY poor taste and he gripes over and over about the smearing of his reputation by unfounded statements........but has no problem doing it himself to all the people he blasts in the book. I'm sure if all parties had the chance to tell their version of what happened in a book they would all be different and frankly I just didn't care and wasn't interested.
He killed a huge buck and went back to retrieve it under cover of darkness to which he describes they didn't know they MIGHT have crossed a property line.............then he pleads guilty to trespassing and pays a fine but insists he did nothing wrong. [:'(]
Tree Stand Advice
Finally........something good right??............wrong. In a nutshell he says he likes stands in funnels where he can slip in and out undetected.........Ummmmmmmm, wow. Then he tells about how he piles up brush with tractors and builds fences to make deer move to his stands including making a hole in a fence and then raising the rest of it to make them cross at his stand..........That is a hunting strategy??
No Excuses
Telling of how he took so much time off of work to hunt that he wondered if he would still have a job when he got back..........and that he would move if the area he lived in wasn't good for trophy bucks..........and stating that you need to be willing to sacrifice other activities inculding job and family??..........You gotta be joking, I make WAY too much money to risk my career over a deer and I don't sacrifice my family for anything. Have fun with that.
I can't believe there is a chapter called "lessons from the deer pen" in a book about hunting in the "real world"
A 200 page hunting book and the topics of trail cameras, scents, the wind, and scent control got a total of 8 hodge podge pages at the end of the book almost as an after thought............calls are not even mentioned.
Finally, the use of the term "lesser" deer is insulting to the deer at best........and every hunter who doesn't have P+Y bucks crawling all over the place at worst.
These are some of the MANY things I found horribly wrong with this book.
He starts off right away with the axe grinding........first against other writers, then other hunters, then people in general........it gets old REAL fast.
He preaches the "real world" over and over and over and then says things like......
He wouldn't share 100 acres of land with even 1 other hunter and he would sooner just move on.
He shot a buck that was in a group of 3 that would all go P+Y and then shot another bigger one across the field later that month after passing up 13 shot opportunities at P+Y bucks including 2 more at each of the bucks that were in the group with the one he shot (all this after telling you the chapter before that a mature bucks memory is so great that doing anything other then sitting in dead silence in the woods is too risky because it may educate them and they will be gone...........I guess shooting and killing the guy they are walking with doesn't bother them though
He states he is confident that he will get a legit shot at a 150" buck EVERY year.
He states he missed a 140 class buck from one of his stands and then tagged a 170 class buck from it the next year (again, so much for the memory speech) and then the following year he saw his monster 200+ buck and 10 minutes after he left a 150 class buck walked by at 15 yards.....and again at 20 yards the next morning. Sounds like the "real world" to me
CONTRADICTIONS
He claims that you should have all your stands in place and all your stuff taken care of well in advance of deer season and avoid mucking up your hunting grounds by playing "catch up" by chasing deer and putting up new stands during the season..........Then he tells stories of how he killed a big buck (mentioned above walking with 2 others) because he saw them on his way out of the woods and hurried up and set up a stand on the treeline he thought they would follow............then he tells about how he set up a stand mid day with friends in a truck with the radio blaring and he was only in the stand for 10 minutes when the 200"+ buck he saw earlier was again 20 yards behind him...........he then tells of killing this buck from a 3rd stand that he put up a couple days later on a neighbor lady's property.
He had about 5 or 6 encounters with a 200"+ buck in a matter of days while hunting from 3-4 different stands put up in haste on the run but earlier he was preaching about not chasing deer by putting up stands according to where you see deer in season.........and that a mature bucks memory will keep it from wandering into danger anything more then once in a blue moon so you better take advantage
He claims that ethics are so important to him that he dedicated a whole chapter to the subject...........but then he was enraged that word got out about his pleading guilty to trespassing when he shot his big deer. He even tells about how one of the main reasons he took the plea was because he was assured no one would ever find out. I thought ethics were what we do when no one is looking?
He states over and over again how he did NOTHING wrong when he shot and retrieved his monster buck...........but then he pleaded guilty to the charges. Hmmmmmm. I don't know about you guys but I would NEVER plead guilty to a crime I didn't commit...........EVER.
He knew the buck was GIGANTIC and he is a very accomplished hunter yet he didn't even look for his arrow or any sign and chose to return hours later in the dark to look for the buck??............how many guys out there would not have at least checked the arrow to see what kind of hit you had on a buck of a lifetime?
The big buck
What the whole book was written about IMO...........a way to get "his side" of the story out in the public. The story speaks for itself and nearly everyone else agrees it was poor judgement to include it in the book......just done in VERY poor taste and he gripes over and over about the smearing of his reputation by unfounded statements........but has no problem doing it himself to all the people he blasts in the book. I'm sure if all parties had the chance to tell their version of what happened in a book they would all be different and frankly I just didn't care and wasn't interested.
He killed a huge buck and went back to retrieve it under cover of darkness to which he describes they didn't know they MIGHT have crossed a property line.............then he pleads guilty to trespassing and pays a fine but insists he did nothing wrong. [:'(]
Tree Stand Advice
Finally........something good right??............wrong. In a nutshell he says he likes stands in funnels where he can slip in and out undetected.........Ummmmmmmm, wow. Then he tells about how he piles up brush with tractors and builds fences to make deer move to his stands including making a hole in a fence and then raising the rest of it to make them cross at his stand..........That is a hunting strategy??
No Excuses
Telling of how he took so much time off of work to hunt that he wondered if he would still have a job when he got back..........and that he would move if the area he lived in wasn't good for trophy bucks..........and stating that you need to be willing to sacrifice other activities inculding job and family??..........You gotta be joking, I make WAY too much money to risk my career over a deer and I don't sacrifice my family for anything. Have fun with that.
I can't believe there is a chapter called "lessons from the deer pen" in a book about hunting in the "real world"
A 200 page hunting book and the topics of trail cameras, scents, the wind, and scent control got a total of 8 hodge podge pages at the end of the book almost as an after thought............calls are not even mentioned.
Finally, the use of the term "lesser" deer is insulting to the deer at best........and every hunter who doesn't have P+Y bucks crawling all over the place at worst.
04-10-2007, 09:17 PM
#25
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Michigan/Ohio
Posts: 11,682
RE: "Real World" review of Don Higgins Book
Finally........something good right??............wrong. In a nutshell he says he likes stands in funnels where he can slip in and out undetected.........Ummmmmmmm, wow. Then he tells about how he piles up brush with tractors and builds fences to make deer move to his stands including making a hole in a fence and then raising the rest of it to make them cross at his stand..........That is a hunting strategy??
(Not me)
He claims that you should have all your stands in place and all your stuff taken care of well in advance of deer season and avoid mucking up your hunting grounds by playing "catch up" by chasing deer and putting up new stands during the season..........Then he tells stories of how he killed a big buck (mentioned above walking with 2 others) because he saw them on his way out of the woods and hurried up and set up a stand on the treeline he thought they would follow............then he tells about how he set up a stand mid day with friends in a truck with the radio blaring and he was only in the stand for 10 minutes when the 200"+ buck he saw earlier was again 20 yards behind him...........he then tells of killing this buck from a 3rd stand that he put up a couple days later on a neighbor lady's property.
Finally, the use of the term "lesser" deer is insulting to the deer at best........and every hunter who doesn't have P+Y bucks crawling all over the place at worst.
04-10-2007, 09:27 PM
#27
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NY
Posts: 4,668
RE: "Real World" review of Don Higgins Book
ORIGINAL: Germ
You will find most guys do this, including the Drury Boys(Not me)
You will find most guys do this, including the Drury Boys
(Not me)
My buddy Joe Brooks does the car running trick, his barn looks just like Don's
That explains it the whole thread
Yea germ...........that's why the book sucked.........the other 50 things I mentioned had nothing to do with it
Nice try
04-10-2007, 09:30 PM
#29
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location:
Posts: 1,796
RE: "Real World" review of Don Higgins Book
I haven't even said anything yet.........saying someone's book is TERRIBLE is the most ridiculous and degrading comment you ever heard??
Are you a young kid (just guessing by the childish name calling)??
Are you a young kid (just guessing by the childish name calling)??
I thought it was TERRIBLE on many levels
Tell me how the book "helped" you.
I guess you only like it when Don does it though
How exactly??.........by convincing people not to tresspass??
That's not what Don says.
Don says it is geared towards the "everyday" hunter that works for a living. Did you even read the book?
So what "tactics" did he teach you that are gonna make you more successful?
And by the way Atlas, don't get your thong on backwards "Ouch", did you really read why he raises deer?
LT
04-10-2007, 09:30 PM
#30
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Michigan/Ohio
Posts: 11,682
RE: "Real World" review of Don Higgins Book
Meaning what?
My buddy Joe Brooks does the car running trick, his barn looks just like Don's
That explains it the whole thread
Yea germ...........that's why the book sucked.........the other 50 things I mentioned had nothing to do with it
Nice try
Yea germ...........that's why the book sucked.........the other 50 things I mentioned had nothing to do with it
Nice try