Missouri 2014

[lostinstateforest]

So I am beginning the online scouting for an archery trip to Missouri in November 2014. This started off as a public land hunt, with the area yet to be determined, then a family friend mentioned they knew someone with a giant farm and I could hunt and of course that never panned out. Now I am back to researching public and considering a lease. So the question is with all quality public land Missouri is a lease worth it? Also how many acres would you want per hunter. I am use to hunting pretty large areas, so these couple 100 acre farms see small to me.
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[Edcyclopedia]

Here's a trip I did w/Zap last season...
I would hate to divulge Zap's spots but he may be of some help, look him up...

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18686&p=231212#p231212

[Zap]

Not the spongebob pics again......

[lostinstateforest]

Good read. Zap has offered help via pm previously. Its just so hard to narrow that state down. So much ground

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[Spysar]

My friend hunted there this year. Not sure quite where. He said EHD got quite a few deer last summer. When you pick your area, you might want to call the EPO to see how bad it was in that area. My buddy said there weren't that many deer where he went.

[backstraps]

My friend hunted there this year. Not sure quite where. He said EHD got quite a few deer last summer. When you pick your area, you might want to call the EPO to see how bad it was in that area. My buddy said there weren't that many deer where he went.

Sound advice here! I also had two friends go out this year. They have been hunting there for several years. They each said this was their last year for a while. EHD had the numbers so low, they only seen a small percentage of deer (in 10 days of hunting) than years past

[Bucky]

My friend hunted there this year. Not sure quite where. He said EHD got quite a few deer last summer. When you pick your area, you might want to call the EPO to see how bad it was in that area. My buddy said there weren't that many deer where he went.

The area I hunted in 2010 compared to this yr deer #s were also WAY down FYI

[ehlusive]

I know ehd had a lot to do with it but the slaughter of unlimited does has overall numbers down. I believe numbers will continue so suffer on our public lands till they change that. I recommend going to an area (public land) where you can only use your any deer tags, no bonuses. I know there are a few like this in the NW section of the state. Not sure about other areas.

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[lostinstateforest]

Wow... now I am even more confused. I might need to look at another state.

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[Zap]

I would look at the harvest #'s for the area that you want to hunt.

http://mdc.mo.gov/hunting-trapping/hunt ... arvest-map

Compared to past years #'s.

It looked to me like a 20% drop in numbers taken this season from last season, but I did not look that close.

Missouri has good info on harvest, everything is on their website.

[metropig]

I live and hunt in Missouri. I do most of my hunting in the NW part of the state. I found 4 deer on my 40 acres dead last year from EHD. This year I did not notice a reduction in deer on my farm. I know a lot of guys who did not have a good year but there were several factors in play that I think some of them did not take into account. The rut was later this year than I can remember it being in a long time. It timed out perfect for gun hunters but the weather did not. Opening weekend and into the week there were 30 mph winds. Most of the people I know did not go as many days and did not stay on stand as long as they normally would with better weather.

I killed a decent buck 2 days before gun season and I killed a nice buck opening day gun season with my bow. Most of the hunters I know tend to automatically think deer numbers are down if they don't have a successful season. Don't get me wrong I'm sure numbers are down in many areas because we did get hit hard last year with the EHD and a drought. However, I still think there is plenty of good hunting to be had in MO. The numbers should recover even more by the time you go next year.

There is a lot of good conservation areas to hunt in the state, especially if you are bow hunting. Some of them are bow only and even those that allow gun hunting can still be good if you're hunting before gun season opens. I would recommend hunting the northern half of the state. I would also recommend hunting conservation areas at least an hour away from the bigger cities like Kansas City and St. Louis. I live in Kansas City and the conservation areas within 30 min get hammered pretty hard.

I think if you do your homework and scout it you can have a very enjoyable hunt in MO.