Forget the Rut: Killing Giants in Early Season with Brandon Epperson

Brandon Epperson kills big deer in September while everybody else is waiting on November. 60 cell cams across four states, 12 of them on one 10-acre core area, and a 200" velvet buck to show for it.

We sat down with Brandon (Homegrown Outdoors, KY) and got into why the rut can be dry as a bone, why the ugliest grown-up cattle pasture on the road might be the best door you ever knock on, how he times alfalfa for opening weekend, and Jay's bold claim that the best food plot in Kentucky is a corn pile. Plus Kentucky's one-rule-change-away gun season debate, midday hunting, and why old bucks get lazy.

Clayton, Graham, and Jay with Brandon Epperson. Laid back, no script, just deer talk.

Want to see the faces behind the voices? The full video version is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HAMIWd965mk

CHAPTERS

00:00 Meet Brandon Epperson

06:04 Why he kills early and skips the rut

07:51 Best big buck state: KY, IN, OH or IL?

08:29 Leasing vs. buying hunting ground

12:49 Do big bucks actually die in food plots?

17:42 Running 60 cell cams in 4 states

20:57 Plant this if you want a buck opening weekend

24:36 Soil is the whole game

26:09 Why trashy fields beat pretty food plots

27:15 The 200" velvet buck: 12 cameras, 10 acres

31:38 "The best food plot in Kentucky is a corn pile"

36:08 What hunting other states teaches you

38:40 Kentucky's gun season problem

43:03 Calling: only when you can see him

44:45 The best access plan in Kentucky

49:41 The 10am–2pm window

51:24 Why old bucks get lazy

53:16 Never plant the same thing twice

57:04 Did hunting TV create the food plot craze?