Bowhunting Public land in Missouri

[Kybowhunter64]

Been wanting to start taking couple trips a fall to Missouri to hunt public land. Ive never done any type of hunting outside my home state of Kentucky. Been wanting to start bowhunting public land in both Missouri and Illinois. Any of you fellas ever done any whitetail hunting public land in Missouri? More then likely id be sticking to the Eastern side of the state. I appreciate any input

 

[Steiny]

I've only bow hunted Missouri on a friends farm, however they have a whole lot of public ground and a whole lot of deer. Shouldn't be too hard to get onto some good hunting.
Check out the various tracts of mark Twain ground.

 

[Elite7]

I would look into the archery only areas and the best two weeks will be end of October and 1st of November

 

[Iowaguy]

Have you ever thought about Iowa. Good quality public land and a lot of deer!

 

[Stretcher_Jockey]

Have you ever thought about Iowa. Good quality public land and a lot of deer!

Doesn’t it take a few points to get a permit as a non-resident?

 

[R.K.]

Southern Missouri has smaller deer, and a lot of country to get lost in, but there is a boatload of public land. Good chance at a turkey, too.

Northern Missouri has limited public land, lots of agriculture, and some big deer mixed in. Eastern Missouri normally has more people, as well. Stay away from the major cities to find lower pressure.

 

[Dl1969]

Bow hunt before gun season and the orange army shows up,I’m up in northwestern Missouri and it gets a lot tougher on public once gun season starts,you’ll almost have public to yourself during archery season.

 

[bcar]

North Eastern MO would be some good hunting. Sugar Creek State Forest is a decent sized public tract near Kirksville MO.

 

[pre6422hornet]

Yes....

Lived in Kansas City for three seasons 2011-2013 and harvested 4 deer in the 3 years, all off public land, all within 10 miles of my doorstep ( NE Kansas City). 3 bucks and one doe. One buck and the doe were with Archery and the two others were with rifle. Remember Missouri has a 4 point rule to a side to be legal in much of the state, and where I hunted this rule was in effect. I could have taken a lot of smaller bucks during the archery season.

And the public land I hunted was almost 1000 acres and during Archery it was like my own 1000 acre farm. I NEVER saw another hunter, except during the rut I saw one maybe each year.

The walk from parking lot to the woods was almost a 1/2 mile, no bikes allowed, foot traffic only. The first buck I took was a 5.5 year old 140 incher that was close to 300 pounds live weight. Dragging him back to my truck 3/4 mile was not fun, but that is where the big guys live .

 

[LCH]

Yes....

Lived in Kansas City for three seasons 2011-2013 and harvested 4 deer in the 3 years, all off public land, all within 10 miles of my doorstep ( NE Kansas City). 3 bucks and one doe. One buck and the doe were with Archery and the two others were with rifle. Remember Missouri has a 4 point rule to a side to be legal in much of the state, and where I hunted this rule was in effect. I could have taken a lot of smaller bucks during the archery season.

And the public land I hunted was almost 1000 acres and during Archery it was like my own 1000 acre farm. I NEVER saw another hunter, except during the rut I saw one maybe each year.

The walk from parking lot to the woods was almost a 1/2 mile, no bikes allowed, foot traffic only. The first buck I took was a 5.5 year old 140 incher that was close to 300 pounds live weight. Dragging him back to my truck 3/4 mile was not fun, but that is where the big guys live .

What did you have to walk through the first 1/2 mile? CRP or crops? Sounds like a killer spot.

 

[pre6422hornet]

What did you have to walk through the first 1/2 mile? CRP or crops? Sounds like a killer spot.

Basically there was a 2 track that the farmer used to get his/her equipment back to crops that wound through small field of grass, CRP, or little woodlots.

The really great thing about Missouri is all the Army Corp of Eng land is open hunting and only walk in access. They allow the land to be farmed which helps the deer as well too.

The buck in front I have his 2013-2014 match set from and his left side from 2012-2013. In 12-13 he was a 165 inch stud. He went down hill as he looks old as heck here in this pic.



and this stud showed up in 2014. I moved to NM in Sept of 14 so I never hunted him.

 

[nmaggy84]

Southern Missouri has smaller deer, and a lot of country to get lost in, but there is a boatload of public land. Good chance at a turkey, too.

Northern Missouri has limited public land, lots of agriculture, and some big deer mixed in. Eastern Missouri normally has more people, as well. Stay away from the major cities to find lower pressure.

Southern MO has toads as well. Check out growingdeer.tv Taney and Stone County MO really can't get much more south. Just need to do some research and be willing to hike a ways in on public land. Also, Corp land is very easy to hunt. I hunt all corp of engineer land and kayak in.

 

[nmaggy84]

Been wanting to start taking couple trips a fall to Missouri to hunt public land. Ive never done any type of hunting outside my home state of Kentucky. Been wanting to start bowhunting public land in both Missouri and Illinois. Any of you fellas ever done any whitetail hunting public land in Missouri? More then likely id be sticking to the Eastern side of the state. I appreciate any input

Grew up in southern MO and have archery hunted here my whole life. I hunt all public land mainly Mark Twain in southern MO around Chadwick MO and more south. Just be willing to do some hiking in. I would archery hunt because once gun season is on its the wild west and the orange army floods in. Look at Corp land too, its very easy to Kayak or boat in and leave it at the bank and hike in with a stand on your back. The Hang and Hunt method is my favorite and a lot of Corp land you will never see other hunters there if your deep enough. I have hunted the same place on Corp land for years and have never seen another hunter and around September the Conservation Department Brush Hogs paths around the other edges. Be bear aware in southern MO too black bears are becoming very common.