Flexibility
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Bow hunting at 15 years old with his first 140
class P&Y buck. |
Bow hunting with MAHA provides the archery
hunter a great amount of flexibility. Archery season starts the September 15 and ends January 15 covering all phases of the rut. This season also overlaps with both
firearms and muzzleloader in the neighboring states where MAHA maintains hunting
lease land.
The long season allows for easy vacation
week planning and with MAHA, hunters are only limited to the amount of days they
can fit into their schedule. This means every hunter can hunt a day, weekend,
week or weeks they have time to hunt. This scheduling may be of consecutive days
or of several separate weeks spread throughout the season. Compare
this schedule planning flexibility with a guide service where the guide
determines when space is available for a hunter.
Choices
The long archery season also allows for picking
the season of the rut to hunt. Early, peak and trailing rut phases may be chosen
or all three possible for the very lucky to have that much time.
The concurrent and consecutive seasons in
neighboring states allows for selecting a multi state hunt with a number of
weapon system combinations or sticking with archery equipment.
Other considerations include that Missouri
offers a two deer, two turkey either sex archery tag. Kansas and Iowa archery season is
during the peak of the rut in the middle two weeks of November with the rifle
season after the peak.
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Terry from the Carolinas with his best
to date central mid-west whitetail. |
Off Road
A small issue, but one frequently asked,
is the use of 4 wheelers. All lease access for scouting and hunts are by foot. Save the limited
space in the truck driving out for all the deer stands owned. Every one of them
may be used and it is a lot easier to go to a stand than to always have to move
a stand. In most cases a 4 wheel drive truck will be all that is required to
pick up a trophy deer, in other cases a two wheel hand cart will be more than necessary.
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Habitat
A representative example of the trophy deer hunting habitat extremes to be found
in the Kansas, Missouri, Iowa area. |
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Bow hunting within either open or
wooded terrain is the choice of the hunter. Each of these photos is from
two different historically productive areas where bow hunters have
harvested trophy quality whitetail deer. |
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Most for the money...
The land MAHA leases, while not selected with just for archery hunting in mind,
is selected within the historic good production regions in each state. A review
of the county acreage maps of MAHA lease land locations shows that we do not consider
all regions of the state equal in terms of production. And, once within those
regions, the land we select to lease is based on its habitat quality. In any
given year we will reject more than 70% of all the land we look at and what we
do contract for the hunter will never be disappointed for its habitat quality.
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Buck H., from Arkansas and a hard ridge
runner deer hunter simply enjoys hunting in different places rather
than spending every season in the same woodlot.
Dennis, a Wisconsin native, told us his
home sate does not compare to the central mid-west whitetail deer
hunting.
Rick a local member with several hunt
options shows his best in a lifetime whitetail he ever harvested and
it came from an Association lease. |
MAHA Archery
For the hunter that really wants to hunt and hunt on
his own MAHA offers a range of possibilities that may seem a bit too much to
take in at one time. While MAHA is not a guide service we will not allow anyone
to flounder and that kind of service begins with the first telephone call when
we will sort out what may be your best options. We also have a past track record
of success with matching non-resident hunters to their habitat of choice (as
best as is available in the central mid-west) that is close to what they are
accustomed to in their home state. This eases the first time central
mid-west hunter into what we hope will be an adventure and not apprehension.
| Deer
Hunter/Member Assessment Finally getting
around to writing you and share my impressions of MAHA.
I joined the club in April [last year] after I came
across your organization on the internet. I had made two
hunts in the area the club has ground in MO and IA. I
hunted with a group of individuals who bought land and a
single house near [location deleted], IA and formed a
small scale club like MAHA. They had access to some
pretty good land but I felt like I could only access it
through a friend that was part of the group and I wanted
more control of my own destiny. I was a bit skeptical at
first but after looking over much of your website I made
the call to join and am very happy that I did.
As a person in business myself I want to compliment
you on the way you represent the organization. I have
found everything you represent on the website and in the
personal interview to be true. The people in the Midwest
are great. We stayed at the Lakeview Motor Lodge in
Trenton, MO last year and after 10 days there felt like
we’d know some of the people for years. Your website
scouting sections and advice to the eastern big woods
hunters was spot on. I don’t know how many times I’ve
read some of those articles but I never get tired of
them. I’m not a true trophy hunter yet but I absolutely
agree with your observation that when good hunters get
on ground with trophy potential, they’ll push themselves
to target bigger bucks each year. I also like the way
you represent what the club is and is not. It was a lot
of work to scout the ground from 1,000 miles away but I
have come to really enjoy this part of the hunt during
the off season. I have learned the tools that are
available and have been pleased with the assessments of
the ground I have been able to make with a combination
of aerials and topographic maps. People look at me kind
of funny when I pull up my maps on a plane or at lunch
during work but this is the next best thing to being
there hunting. I plan to be a part of the club for many
years and like the fact that you plan to be around a
long time as well. I think it’s really important to
remind people that you are training the future owners of
the business and feel good every time you share info on
the next generation of owners. I know you don’t make
referrals based on casual interest and I think that’s
the right approach but if you need the perspective of a
fairly new member from a heavily hunted eastern state
like Pennsylvania I’m more than willing to share my
positive experience. Keep my email address on file or
leave a message at my office number below and I’d be
more than happy to give an honest account of my
experience.
Bob H |
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