Missouri Firearms Deer Hunting
Missouri deer hunting reputation suffers greatly from being an over the counter deer tag state. Those that think Missouri trophy deer hunting is poor have made a mistake.
Along with this picture came the report he had seen larger bucks than this one on our lease land. Such as are our hunts, it is easy to see a trophy whitetail , hard to put that buck in the truck.
The kind of deer we would all like to harvest, few do even though many such bucks are seen.
Even with our promotion of Missouri deer hunting we also recognize trophy success is at best between 8 and 12%.
Missouri firearms deer hunting is during the peak of the rut in the middle two weeks of November and with over the counter tag purchase allowing all to hunt every season.
More and more hunters are coming to realize that just because Missouri is an over the counter tag state that does not mean poor quality whitetail's. This is especially true for those that seek to enjoy the hunt for the hunt itself rather than the more competitive approach of pure trophy whitetail hunt for that once in a lifetime monster buck.
While that monster buck will quick fire any of our hearts the reality is there are far more quality racks out there than those above 160 to the 200 category. The reality for many is that while we all want that trophy racked buck, whitetail deer hunting is more a matter of being able to enjoy the day in the field. And, with the knowledge that the potential for a trophy whitetail deer is there, however it is the enjoyment of deer hunting, in the woods as a whole that makes for the better deer hunting trip. Missouri deer season provides just that without the angst of draw tags and deer management unit restrictions.
This is all the more important to those starting a youth deer hunter or a wife that more seeks the day with her husband than to harvest a wall hanger. Another growing category is the three generation family deer hunting group of grandfather, son and grandson where the day together is better than any deer hunt alone and when the grandson harvests any deer that deer is a trophy.
With our approach to each fair chase do it yourself hunter and family may seek the whitetail of their choice be it the trophy of a lifetime or the enjoyment of a new deer hunter getting his first buck regardless of rack size. We seek to ensure the quality of the hunt in terms inclusive of trophy production to the more meaningful memory making activities of all the other days that will be in the field beyond that one day when the rack is the only importance. Missouri deer hunting allows for this and of the entire process of scouting, the hunt and harvest of the deer of choice.
Missouri Deer Country
Flat grain fields along wooded drainage's.
Missouri's deer hunting is managed aggressively with state efforts seeking to reduce the doe count with unlimited over the counter cheap antlerless tags. That effort combined with a point restriction zone makes Missouri deer hunting a productive proposition right now and it will get better in the years to come. After all, Missouri is surrounded by Illinois, Iowa and Kansas. The genetic base is present, the herd strongest of all the surrounding better known states and the Department of Conservation effort to increase rack quality will continue to make it a better whitetail deer hunting destination for years to come.
All these advantages do combine into producing a popular deer hunting season, that is firearms, much more so than Missouri's archery or muzzleloader. Especially opening weekend, with the appearance of the one weekend a year deer hunter.
These increased hunter numbers do apply pressure to the land and recent opening weekend aerial surveys by the MDC show that most of these deer hunters attempt to stalk rather than stand hunt.
With the amount of cover that Missouri has this only adds advantage to those in the stand and in those stands well selected through scouting. The larger number of causal deer hunters moving about simply pushes the bucks already predisposed to move with this deer season during the peak rut.
Missouri does have deer hunting management units. However, they are not restrictive to hunter land access as in Kansas or Iowa with their tag specific to a deer management unit. Missouri's over the counter deer tag is good state wide and the deer management units are simply a means for separating regions. The management units used as survey tools to monitor herd levels and harvest rates and the benefit has been the increased doe tag issue and point restriction zone.
Missouri has over the counter state wide deer tags and a conservation department set to manage quality makes Missouri far more deer hunter friendly to those that want to deer hunt than the draw states. This continues for those that want to return for Missouri spring turkey hunting being able to turkey hunt the same area as for deer season. Combining this twice a year boots on the ground experience will result in more frequent observations of game patterns that typically results in increased success on successive years.
Missouri does suffer a regionally split identity concerning trophy deer hunting.
South central Missouri is heavily rolling being the upper region of the Ozark Mountains and as such have plenty of steep hills, heavily tree covered habitat and crop farming is greatly limited. While this region appears to be great deer habitat the reality is that food availability is limited and racked bucks from this region are considered to have spindly racks and less likely to hit the record books.
Contrasting this is north and central south west Missouri where the land is more suited to crop farming and the rainfall supports a lot of large grain fields. This contrast in food availability demonstrates itself in the P&Y and B&C books as well as the Missouri Big Bucks Book. It is these areas that account for the well known racks Missouri has produced. The problem then surfaces that these regions appear to have far too few wooded areas. That issue is frequently raised by the new to the Missouri deer hunter.
In spite of our large whitetail success gallery and many hunter letters from those that have hunted the north and the southwest along with the habitat and scouting section of this web site we are often confronted by the new Association deer hunter complaining about the lack of trees on the lease land we recommend that he hunt.
What that deer hunter must come to realize is that food is the primary consideration for whitetail and cover the second. As any central and western Kansas hunter will tell of the 18 inch high plumb thicket in short prairie grass can hold a racked buck unseen until stepped on, that is as long as that minimal cover is near a food source.
Missouri's whitetail deer habitat is better as the many creek, stream and river bottoms have a mixture of grass, brush and trees that may not support a tree stand, but do hold loafing racked bucks right near their food source. The issue is then which scrub patch to hunt.
We have seen many times over the years that deer hunting the small wood patch that is isolated from direct observation of any road or farm yard to be the one to hunt. And, that is not necessarily the largest wood patch, it is the wood or brush area where the bucks can be left alone that should be sought after.
Hunting these locations will as often as not produce either sex deer as Missouri has far more such locations than deer to occupy. Finding that right spot that holds that trophy whitetail is the challenge the Missouri deer hunter is most frequently in search of. That is the deer hunter we seek, the one that truly wants to make his own self guided deer hunting success.
Another Hunt Another Report Card
MAHA Office staff,
I am writing in regards to my fall firearms trips to [location deleted]. Lets start with the [location deleted] opener. First of all, I finally got to meet the owner of our club after 4 years, and as it turned out, I met up with Jon twice in a week. We got our first choice in [location deleted] where I killed a 160 class buck last year. My brother Dan, and my son Austin and I were very excited in anticipation of opening morning. Austin had a case of buck fever when a large racked buck with stickers came by chasing a doe first thing. His shot missed, and he was bummed. We never saw another trophy class buck in three days, and we all filled our tags on the last day of our hunt with some smaller buck., we also thinned out the doe population a little. We donated the 5 deer to the local butcher who in turn has a local church with people in need.
We also had the camp shared with another familiar club member who frequently sends in pics of him and his family, [name deleted]. Their group was excited the night before opening day, not only for the hunt, but his son had a state playoff football game on Fri night. Although the game did not end well, their hunt was successful as well taking a nice buck. It was good to see a father spending some quality time with his children.
On to [location deleted] for the firearm opener it was. Little did we know that a major blizzard was going to hit on the second day. When we got there the day before season, we were setting stands in 65 degree weather, then on the opener, the rains set in and the temps started to fall.
Before we left, I had set some pretty lofty goals of trying to wait out for a Boone and Crocket class buck. I passed on three bucks in the 140’s, one on the first day in the rain, and two more during the blizzard. The weather put a complete halt to most of the deer movement, however after the snow quit, and the winds quit blowing, the deer started to move again. It was on my last day when I decided to take a medium sized 8pt. and a doe.
I had two friends along who are not in the club, they hunted the WIHA (public land) in the area and did quite well also. All three of us filled our buck tags, and doe tags. As you can tell by the pics, the deer were frozen solid when we loaded them up for the ride home. I had the camper, atv, and all the deer loaded on the f350. (Ford should be interested in using this pic for their advertising campaign) Needless to say, we got a lot of looks during our 12 hour drive home to [home state deleted].
We had super time despite the weather, and can’t wait for turkey season this spring. A great big thank you goes out to Shaun, Jon, and John for all your hard work to make this club run so smooth.
Sincerely and God Bless, Rex