Deer Hunting
Deer hunting key points relative to this Association and state regulations of Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. This article is an overview only. More details are at the links at the bottom of the page and always just a telephone call away at 913 773 8110.
What we hear the most from Association hunters is the flexibility they gain of being abe to deer hunt a selection of spots, any time during the season being able to fine tune their deer hunting down to the details of moon phase.
Deer hunting in Mid-America Hunting Association is within the state regulations. This includes the only restrictions in terms of racked bucks is that we do not have any point restrictions within MAHA. With the self guided hunter that is willing to pay to hunt private land he is self regulating in that he is after his personal best deer working up to trophy deer ranking. What we offer is deer hunting free from competition on more than one lease for season long hunts.
Currently, Missouri in selected counties is the only state of our three state area inclusive of Kansas and Iowa that has a point limit beyond the minimum visible rack requirement for a buck tag.
Our approach allows every do it yourself hunter to enjoy a hunt to his own definition of the hunt. The youth hunter may harvest any racked buck or doe included on any tag as well as the trophy hunter may seek that best yet trophy rack.
We further do not have any doe harvest requirement. We do our best to encourage as many hunters as possible to harvest a doe or two each season. In this regard and that of trophy versus non-trophy whitetail we conduct our hunts recognizing that any quality management program needs to begin at the state level as anything we would attempt on non contiguous acreage less than several square miles would be futile.
Additionally, through the years some of our best relationships have been with those that first seek a good deer hunt on private land free of competition with the hope of a trophy whitetail while all the long realizing what reality there is in deer hunting and that being the hunt itself should be prime. Those that define success solely as a trophy scoring book buck are welcome and we hope will also enjoy the day in the field seeing the many lesser bucks as well.
Dedicate To Whitetail Deer Hunting
Meet Association hunter, Gary. He travels a bit to hunt. Takes time to scout and purses Whitetail deer and spring turkey covering Missouri, Iowa and Kansas. This deer is just one of several he has harvested and not his largest either. We do not focus on the trophy aspect of deer hunting. Our objective is the quality of the hunt.
His deer hunting account for this buck:
I had another great year of hunting but didn't get to spend as much time hunting on MAHA since I had a trip to British Columbia planned in September and had also drawn a one-in-a-lifetime Shiras Moose tag in Wyoming. I did pass several nice bucks before taking this really good buck in [location deleted]. I also was able to bird hunt in [location deleted] and was amazed at the quantity and quality of buck I ran into out there. Thanks to the staff for all of the help they are and patience they must have to keep up with busy reservations. Have a great holiday, Gary.
To deer hunt with us begins with a telephone conversation where we will ensure what we offer is what the hunter believes us to be so as not to have any surprises later.
The second part of that initial conversation is to ensure that we can work together and if we agree it is then a matter of payment by check or credit card, sending in the release of liability form and we respond with identification card, vehicle marker and a welcome letter that has instructions for making reservation via a membership only telephone number and instructions for access our lease maps on the members web site.
Once a deer hunter has the maps in his hands it is a whole lot easier to talk about where to go deer hunting for what he is after in terms of habitat and state. We will encourage him to pre season scout if he can and if he cannot, he can trust us to recommend where to deer hunt as we are a business not a deer hunting club. As a business our customer service attitude is to insure a return membership. We recognize hunters will only renew their membership if they have a good deer hunt. That is what we are after.
In any case of anyone making his first deer scouting or hunting trip we would talk first by telephone a recommend a number of properties as a jump start. That deer hunter may then go to his favorite aerial web site. and draw down his own aerials and make a priority of work plan of which leases to scout or deer hunt first to last.
In general for deer scouting plans, schedule 2 hours per 1/4 section of land to walk through and 6 hours if planning on trimming trees for stand.
Under our deer hunting approach each deer hunter makes a telephone reservation to an individually numbered deer lease and his motivation for making that reservation is to ensure we know where he is deer hunting so we do not let anyone else overlap his hunt.
Hunting Lease Land Maps
A sample of one of our land lease maps sheets.
We post all available deer lease land maps to our web site. as a means to ensure timely distribution to all members as land contracts change throughout the year. Generally, there are 200 map sheets to cover all leases and each has a variable amount of acreage per map sheet dependent upon how far we can reduce it in size and still keep it large enough for the bifocal generation to read it.
Each lease on each map sheet is numbered and a hunter would make a reservation to that numbered property he wants to hunt. Not all lease land is available for whitetail hunts, our wetlands for example are for duck hunting only. We also have lease land in less productive deer hunting localities and these leases would be for some better upland bird hunts. The bottom line is that we have more deer hunting lease land than deer hunters to hunt them.
The central midwest road structure set at one mile road grids makes for more 1 mile square sections at 640 acres or less than that of more acreage.
Some aerials of what central mid-west whitetail country looks like. The initial reaction form many not familiar with our trophy deer country is to immediately assess this as poor ground not well suited for trophy deer due to a lack of trees. That is not the case as each of these three leases has already produced in the truck at least one very good scoring rack over recent seasons. Kansas, Iowa and Missouri deer hunting is not based on trees.
The yellow text gives description of the size of each lease and that a deer hunter would reserve for a day's hunt or more or less at his discretion.
This larger aerial without any text shows what is common in the better trophy areas in terms of land use and habitat. This we describe local as an east-west running half section. It is 320 acres of land mostly under agriculture, at the time of posting with milo and alfalfa with some pasture and some prairie hay. The north-south line in the middle is an old railroad track raised bed.
What is important to recognize is our Kansas, Iowa and Missouri area that is well known for its trophy deer is within farm country. This same area is the "Great Plains" the Great Plains is an area of great agriculture. For anyone that requires further proof that areas of great agriculture produces trophy deer will find the great majority of record book deer listing in counties of 45 to 55% agricultural land use.
Most come to realize that for the better deer hunting first comes food and then the deer will make use of any available cover. The aerial above shows just that.
When deer hunting with us the hunter will travel directly to pre hunt reserved property park his truck, step out and hunt. The first couple of hunts that hunter will feel a hesitation in his gut as he will be stepping onto private land where he personally has not met with the landowner. That hesitation will disappear with experience and learning to trust the maps we issue.
Our maps are direct copies of the updated county road maps and are the very same one used by the local sheriff, county utility Co-Ops, township road crews, rural restate agents and the current ongoing 911 upgrade of naming all roads and posting road signs.
Once arriving at our leases the hunter will find our unique Association signs giving confidence the right property has been reached.
We will do our very best to provide the most opportunity possible for all do it yourself deer hunters to enjoy the self guided deer hunt of their choice and the trophy deer or not so trophy of a deer of their choice. Our effort will be to select the best habitat we can lease within the regions of Kansas, Missouri and Iowa that has a history of whitetail deer production. The rest is left to the deer hunter.
Mid-America Hunting Association members who would like to link up with other members to share a hunt or more may do so through the buddy hunt list.
The buddy hunt list is a year round gathering of members names, hunting interest and telephone numbers. All on the list are sent a copy and anyone on it should feel free to call any other and compare hunting styles, vacation times and any other coordination point to team up for a hunt.
Traveling Deer Hunters
No one is left to flounder. the two Association partners, Jon Nee and John Wenzel, will get all new Association hunters where they need to be right to the spot of where to park the truck, step out and hunt.
This Michigan hunter did well.
Hi John, Attached is a picture of my first bow kill deer with MAHA in [location deleted]. I should've waited a few more days, I saw some bigger deer later on. I had a great two week hunt. My hunting partner waited for the bigger ones, but could not get them close enough. Can't wait until next season. We are planning on doing some scouting in the spring. Are there areas in [location deleted] that are over looked by deer hunters that we could focus on? Please advise. Steve