I've just walked down the row and shake the stalk and watch the pollen fall. The deer and raccoons got nice full ears to eat a few weeks later.

Applying the pollen anywhere on the silk if fine. If your corn is planted in a block of rows then just hand pollinating the outside stalks helps those ears along. But for one row of corn (like the row along my pea trellis) I snip off a portion of the tassel and tap it over the fresh silks like tapping ashes off of a cigarette. I do this each morning and again each evening when there is usually no breeze.

Like you I also leave the used tassel wedged into the leaf joint just above the ears. Sometimes a rogue tassel grows from the side shoots/suckers and I'll use those for their pollen too. Once the silks turn rusty looking the pollination process should be complete. I'll tie a ribbon or string around the very first stalk that has ears showing silk, these ears should ripen up first so I can judge the others for harvest timing.