|
Deer Hunting
State Choices
Hunt Methods
Hunter Interests
Other Hunts
|
The PlanMid-America Hunting Association self guided deer hunts provide a range of private land and season options and amongst all the possibilities there does stand a superior approach that has gained the satisfaction of first year self guided deer hunt MAHA members. That self guided deer hunt approach is first to receive from the MAHA staff of John Wenzel or Jon Nee their recommendations of where to deer scout or hunt. The next step is to get from the hunter's favorite aerial website photos of the recommended leases. From those photos develop a priority of work listing of first to last whitetail farms to scout or hunt. When selecting from aerials of first to last farm to scout many hunters look for deer habitat alone and the amount of that habitat. The belief is that the more habitat the better the hunting. That view works to an extent. We would add to that analysis the additional decision criteria that type and size of habitat is not enough and location means as much or more. Location in this regard is identification of that deer habitat that is outside direct line of observation from roads, farm yards or other human presence. Upland bird hunters will identify quickly that many of the trophy bucks they put up while on a bird hunt are done so without regard as much to habitat type or size, but to those isolated spots from human observation and presence. This one additional decision criteria will further make valuable any preliminary review of aerial photos. The next step would be to scout or plan the hunt. The scouting plan would be to schedule one quarter section of land to walk through taking 2 hours per quarter section for every available day light hour of the scouting trip. The first walk throughs are just that to get a quick understanding for the differences between the aerial photos, where John and Jon have observed quality bucks or sign and develop a refinement to the land listing of where to hunt that fall. This cursory walk through should continue to the point of acquiring six parcels of potential hunting locations. From these six parcels return to the one the makes the top of the list and take a slower scouting effort in attempt to identify the golden nugget spots for stand placement. And, repeat until all six leases are well known as much as can be attained on a scouting trip. During this process the new MAHA hunter must remain open to the farms recommended by the two Johns have been recommended due to their success potential. It has long been recognized good hunts result from the right habitat within the right region of Iowa, Kansas and Missouri and that is what brings back membership renewals. That motivation is what keeps the two Johns working for the hunter. From scouting time to the actual hunt a lot can happen and movement patterns come and go. From those first six farms the hunter is cautioned that he picked those six farms due to his instincts and even though he has them listed one through six just because he picks one as number one that trophy may not. To that end when actually planning the hunt and subsequent deer hunting reservations schedule the first three farms in sequence the first three days of the hunt. After a day in stand any hunter would have a better appreciation of where to spend the remaining bulk of hunting time. Once that decision has been reached that hunter should commit to remaining at that one farm for the duration of the trip. What about the remaining three farms on his six farm list? The remaining three are the deer hunter's insurance that he will have a plan 'B' just in case the deer do not cooperate with his plan 'A', the first three farms. The process above is time consuming and the traveling deer hunter all the more pressed to make a good go of it. In that regard the first deer scouting and hunting efforts should concentrate to but one state and execute a thorough deer scout and hunt. To attempt the same level of effort in two states would more likely stretch a deer hunter too thin. Once a deer hunter has himself well established in one state then expansion to the second and subsequently to a third will maximize his flexibility. That cross state lines expansion is added to the deer hunters range of options by returning for a spring time turkey hunt and deer scouting trip and scouting just before the deer hunt itself. On those good years of trophy deer harvest, the deer hunter has the option on remaining for the rest of his deer hunt and scouting for future success rather than head home early. Eventually, that deer hunter will get to the point he is deer hunting two states each year with detailed knowledge of the leases he chooses to hunt and the golden nugget spots contain there within. This is one approach that has worked for the majority of MAHA's self guided deer hunts and hunters. As a self guided deer hunt organization each deer hunter may approach his deer hunt as he sees fit.
Missouri's FitMissouri with its state wide tags that may be purchased online every year by all hunters makes this approach successful more so than Kansas or Iowa. That advantage along with Missouri's four point one side deer hunting restriction zone allows the Missouri trophy and not so trophy hunter both hunting opportunity and deer quality. Kansas VariantThe challenge with Kansas deer hunting is the same as for Iowa as both are a tag draw state with tag issue not until June - July. This attenuates the value of late winter or spring deer scouting. Methods to manipulate the success at drawing the Kansas tag of choice in terms of the firearms tag that allows for up to four choices of management units is to put as the preferred location only one choice. By this approach if drawn the hunter knows where he will be hunting and may preseason scout with more confidence that the scouting will be where hunting - that is if given a tag. Another approach is to put one of MAHA's eight Kansas firearms deer hunting units down as each of the four tag options and thereby more than doubling the chances of getting a tag. Once tags are issue take a summer time scouting trip.
Iowa's LimitationIowa deer hunting like Kansas is by competitive draw. The distinction lies in that Iowa tags are less in number, more applicants and individual draw success rates lower than Kansas. Iowa like Kansas has a tag application period in May with tag issue in June. While there is plenty of time to scout from June to the hunt many do not scout the summer months due to thick vegetation and hot temperatures. This is an example that within a self guided hunt organization the hunter himself must pay the boots on the ground scouting price. More so the first year of membership than over subsequent years. Pay that price early and once established subsequent trips will come at far less of a scouting effort.
|
