Unguided Deer Hunts

Unguided deer hunts defined within MAHA does not mean no guidance of where to hunt. The two Association partners, Jon Nee and John Wenzel, will offer ideas right to the point of where to park the truck, step out and hunt with the only difference between the two partners is where the Association hunter wants to hunt. For most of Kansas and all of Iowa, Association hunters will talk to John Wenzel. For southeast Kansas and all of Missouri, hunters will get ideas from Jon Nee.

In the case of both Jo(h)n's they have and do walk every piece of land in their respective area as the overall Association acreage is too much for any one of them to handle in total. Over the years the division that exists today between the two partners evolved from what land needed to be worked when either one or the other was available. That further evolved into each settling into the area they have as a means of keeping consistency over the land and the landowner's use of that land.

The payback to the Association hunter is that it is only the two Jo(h)ns that cover as much land as they do throughout the year. They see plenty of deer and they talk to a lot of landowners. Then as what may be a single advantage above all that there are a good handful of bird hunters that feed the two Jo(h)ns the bucks they have put up through the season.

The short answer is that every unguided deer hunter in the Association will their first year as well as whenever they break into a new to them state or region will get recommendations based on what the two Jo(h)ns have learned through the year. After that, as a small payback to those that send in harvest pictures, those hunetrs receive back the latest logbook entries of bucks as seen by the two Jo(h)n's, the landowners they talk to and bird hunters. Never do the two Jo(h)ns tell where any Association hunter harvested a deer as part of the trust between all.

Between the recommendations of where to hunt, the Association local lodging listing and the private land that is leased within the region of best return, most unguided deer hunts go well with or without a tag filled.