Missouri Muzzleloader Deer Hunting
Missouri's muzzleloader season is the middle muzzleloader season of our three states and offers colder weather, trail of the rut behavior and vacant land.
Jim
Mark
Missouri muzzleloader deer hunting is after the regular firearms season and overlapping archery in late November or early December. Missouri has been adjusting their modern and muzzleloader deer season and each hunter needs to check the current Missouri deer hunting regulations on the Missouri Department of Conservation web site.
Missouri allows only one-buck tag total for the regular firearms and muzzleloader seasons combined. If you do not fill your buck tag during the regular firearms season, you can use your firearms buck tag muzzleloader hunting.
For the Association Missouri lease land this is a highly underutilized season averaging few hunters. Without whitetail unit management restrictions and over the counter tags all pre season scouting will payoff later during the hunt. Or, the deer hunter can wait to the last minute to plan a Missouri muzzleloader deer hunt as under our system if allocated a membership that deer hunter will never be denied the opportunity to deer hunt.
During December with tree branches bare the deer are sensitive to movement and unnatural noises, especially after surviving the previous regular firearms season. To find that one trophy deer for a wall mount will mean a bit more walking during mid day. Aiding that stalking deer hunt is the weather this time of year in Missouri varies from 20 to 40 degrees and snow and rain are common making a warm up walk an anticipated daily event.
Missouri muzzleloader deer hunting during this period the deer tend to move little and settle down into the heavier cover and timber, especially in secluded areas where access is difficult by mud roads. For the avid muzzleloader stand hunter, sitting stand all day in thick cover can be productive, especially if the weather is cold because the herd and individual deer tend to move at different intervals of the day.
For those that don’t enjoy sitting long periods of time, working the edges of crop fields next to heavy cover or timber early morning or late evening can pay off, but wind direction is critical. Also, with quail and pheasant season at their peak, it’s not uncommon to have bird hunters on adjacent land jump bucks in your direction. If stalking is your style, just imagine how many ditches, crp fields and small patches of woods are available for hunters to prowl on.
A good example of what it means to hunt within the 55% agricultural land use region of Missouri where the better deer hunting is to be found. For every 1,000 acres we lease 550 with be in crop. Of the 450 acres remaining not all will be good deer cover. If 200 acres is good deer cover then we have a good deer lease. That good deer habitat will be where the tractor and plow cannot go and will be within the drainage's of the watersheds. That is the nature of central mid-west deer hunting leases where farming is very efficient and the deer have plenty of food to grow big.
How the deer herd up after the rut. This picture is from late in the Missouri muzzleloader season.
Depending on the weather conditions, the rut is usually at the tail end of its cycle during Missouri's muzzleloader, but rattling and grunt calls can still be very effective since many of the young doe will be in season.
Compared to a deer hunting guide services, a private deer lease or the hunter owning his own hunting land, MAHA self guided deer hunting has a tremendous flexibility being able to hunt 3 states for all deer seasons at will.
If a deer tag is filled in Kansas a drive of 1 to 2 hours to Missouri for a muzzleloader deer hunt is one more option to consider. If muzzleloader deer hunting for 3 or 4 days and don’t find a buck of choice, all can reserve another deer lease in the same area or relocate to another region in Missouri where the weather or habitat is more desirable.
David
Several years ago this hunter was recognized for holding out until the last day of the season and pulling a rabbit out of his hat with a 160 inch buck. This year was similar, but he switched locations mid way through the season to a farm that typically gets a lot of attention during the firearms season. The landowner tipped him to also check out an 80 acre farm across the street because there was a lot of pressure early from surrounding hunters and the tall crp grass was ideal cover for a big buck to hide out. David put up 2 tri-pod stands and saw what he was after the second evening, but it dropped into a ditch and slipped away in the tall grass. At dusk, on day nine this impressive buck presented itself with a 50 yard shot to make this hunters season a success.
