Public Land Missouri Whitetail

[ncstatehunter]

Hunted rifle season last year on public land in NW Missouri. Was on deer and at least one of the 3 of us saw a shooter every day. Found a hot little woodlot between fields that we ended up taking 3 bucks out of 3 straight days, an 8 pt and two 10 pts. That was late in the evening of day 2, first thing morning of day 3 and mid-morning of day 4. Seemed to be more pressure in the mornings than evenings and even then I would only say opening morning compared to anything I deal with back in NC public land when it comes to hunter pressure. There are lots of little sub-100 acre pieces of public that I'll say don't overlook.

 

[Trey Arentz]

I went out the first week of November. Good amount of hunters but there was a ton of untouched spots that were good.

 

[woodson]

Lifelong Missourian. I have hunted from the Arkansas line to the Iowa line and from St. Louis to Kansas City where I live now.

Missouri is a great state in terms of public opportunities in either state owned/managed "Conservation Areas" or National Forest like the Mark Twain National Forest. You will not be alone. Our tags are cheaper than almost all bordering states such as Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kentucky and they are all over the counter and not a lottery. We also have ~800,000 Firearms hunters a year for the November portion and it is the biggest outdoorsman event in the state, much like Michigan, Wisconsin, or Minnesota. Every hunter and their brother-in-law loads up an ATV and a pallet of Busch Light and heads to deer camp (which I honestly don't hate for the tradition and family time).

Archery season before rifle season is good. Scout ahead of time and commit to an area. There are good deer numbers on every CA state-wide. Camp near the area you are hunting. Watch every video from "The Hunting Public" on Youtube and you will have a great tactic crash course.

Another little known fact is that you can dive into the fray of gun season with archery equipment if you purchase a firearms tag. If you can find an Archery-Only Conservation area near other large blocks of public land that are open to general firearms, you have now found yourself hunting a refuge. Read the regulations carefully regarding hunter-orange, allowed-methods, etc if you try this. I usually move to my spots within city-limits or on the fringe to archery hunt during gun season as there is so much pressure, and this works almost every year.

It can also pay dividends to hunt any remaining food or food plots in the weeks after Christmas as deer become very concentrated on food sources.

PM me about your candidate areas once you have dates and regions narrowed down and I will give you some guidance.

 

[Hunting716]

Great info here guys! I appreciate everyone's honesty. I am planning a week hunt, probably during bow season to either North East Missouri, or Northern Kentucky this year. I just haven't decided which state yet. If anyone has any pros vs cons on these two states please let me know. Sorry to hijack your post CREilly.

 

[MOSO 300]

I will be hunting bow season in Missouri this fall for the first time. Looking forward to something different than my Virginia roots. Probably be hunting on or close to ft Leonard Wood. Any good places to look into around that area?

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I am from that area and hunt family owned stuff there still. It’s heavy timber area and for wood hold LOADS of deer. Lots of mark twain surrounding the area. Low pressure during archery, Missouri still lets you rifle hunt the rut so it’s pretty busy during rifle season


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[MOSO 300]

Lifelong Missourian. I have hunted from the Arkansas line to the Iowa line and from St. Louis to Kansas City where I live now.

Missouri is a great state in terms of public opportunities in either state owned/managed "Conservation Areas" or National Forest like the Mark Twain National Forest. You will not be alone. Our tags are cheaper than almost all bordering states such as Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kentucky and they are all over the counter and not a lottery. We also have ~800,000 Firearms hunters a year for the November portion and it is the biggest outdoorsman event in the state, much like Michigan, Wisconsin, or Minnesota. Every hunter and their brother-in-law loads up an ATV and a pallet of Busch Light and heads to deer camp (which I honestly don't hate for the tradition and family time).

Archery season before rifle season is good. Scout ahead of time and commit to an area. There are good deer numbers on every CA state-wide. Camp near the area you are hunting. Watch every video from "The Hunting Public" on Youtube and you will have a great tactic crash course.

Another little known fact is that you can dive into the fray of gun season with archery equipment if you purchase a firearms tag. If you can find an Archery-Only Conservation area near other large blocks of public land that are open to general firearms, you have now found yourself hunting a refuge. Read the regulations carefully regarding hunter-orange, allowed-methods, etc if you try this. I usually move to my spots within city-limits or on the fringe to archery hunt during gun season as there is so much pressure, and this works almost every year.

It can also pay dividends to hunt any remaining food or food plots in the weeks after Christmas as deer become very concentrated on food sources.

PM me about your candidate areas once you have dates and regions narrowed down and I will give you some guidance.

That is about as high quality info as you can get on Missouri right there...


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[magstar67]

Woodson is right on the money.

 

[Trav40MA]

Hi guys, A group of 4 of us are coming out to Missouri from Massachusetts the last week of October 2020 for a DIY archery hunt. We have pretty much narrowed it down to the Mark Twain Lake area or Deer Ridge CA area. Any suggestions on those areas would be great! We are looking for good time with chances for some nice bucks and even filling some doe tags. I’m not looking for waypoints or anything like that just some info that may help a guy coming from halfway across the country Hahahaha!. Thanks for whatever you may be willing to let me know guys.
Travis

 

[Trial153]

Hi guys, A group of 4 of us are coming out to Missouri from Massachusetts the last week of October 2020 for a DIY archery hunt. We have pretty much narrowed it down to the Mark Twain Lake area or Deer Ridge CA area. Any suggestions on those areas would be great! We are looking for good time with chances for some nice bucks and even filling some doe tags. I’m not looking for waypoints or anything like that just some info that may help a guy coming from halfway across the country Hahahaha!. Thanks for whatever you may be willing to let me know guys.
Travis

Welcome to the site. I think

 

[psu927]

def. interested in this as well

 

[Trav40MA]

Thanks....I think... Hahahaha. I’m guessing that’s because of the Massachusetts address but I’m from the NW corner on the border of NY and VT. We are just regular “ normal” joes out that way.

 

[morten]

Does anyone have recent experience with archery MO public land whitetail hunting? I've read some older threads about it on here. How much hunting pressure do areas get in the archery season. I'm not afraid to put in extra effort to get away from people if it's possible.

I've been escouting some CA's in the North West - North Central part of the sate and there seems to be some options.

Does anyone have recent experience with archery MO public land whitetail hunting? I've read some older threads about it on here. How much hunting pressure do areas get in the archery season. I'm not afraid to put in extra effort to get away from people if it's possible.

I've been escouting some CA's in the North West - North Central part of the sate and there seems to be some options.

 

[morten]

Does anyone have recent experience with archery MO public land whitetail hunting? I've read some older threads about it on here. How much hunting pressure do areas get in the archery season. I'm not afraid to put in extra effort to get away from people if it's possible.

I've been escouting some CA's in the North West - North Central part of the sate and there seems to be some options.

Ive been thinking of a bow hunt in north central MO as well this fall. Did you go an if so what was your opinion?

 

[*zap*]

Archery only areas can be fairly good during regular firearm season but you need a firearm tag to archery hunt. Most folks that have a firearm tag are going to firearm hunt. Less hunters and the firearm pressure in the surrounding areas may push deer onto the archery only area. Another option may be to archery hunt those areas with your archery tag hard the days right after firearm season.

 

[Trav40MA]

Hi Trey.
Curious what the rough date was you shot that beautiful buck!? I will be going on the diy hunt October 20-30. Couple guys are grumbling about it being to early !? Thoughts?
Thanks

 

[morten]

Archery only areas can be fairly good during regular firearm season but you need a firearm tag to archery hunt. Most folks that have a firearm tag are going to firearm hunt. Less hunters and the firearm pressure in the surrounding areas may push deer onto the archery only area. Another option may be to archery hunt those areas with your archery tag hard the days right after firearm season.

Thanks Zap. Good idea. I will look up the archery only areas and see what i can find.