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Hunting & Fishing Missouri hunting

STLSteve86

Overtorquer
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 25, 2013
389
74
Looking for a place to go besides public ground for my dad and me. I am 30 minutes outside of St. Louis. We carry insurance policies. Any help would be great.
 
I have a couple of hopefully helpful suggestions.

You might consider extending your 30 Min radius. That is very close considering the size of SL metro area. Hardly out of the hood.

Might want to consider getting more specific. Are you looking to lease, hunt for free etc. Also what seasons and animals are you wanting to hunt? Ducks, quail, deer, varmints, squirrels etc.

Good luck with your quest.
 
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Most states have an online page or ten that private land owners list what type of land and what kind of hunting they allow on them. I browse the NC sites occasionally to see if there is anything that catches my eye. They list everything from daily to yearly on list sites.https://www.hlrbo.com/Search/Results/MO
 
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Rooster, due to the Midwest deer craze things like that seldom exist here. Almost all land, good and poor is leased and posted by NR's. Residents hunting for free or even at all is mostly a thing of the past unless they own land.
 
The link attached is all listings for open leases in Missouri. There were 600, I understand they probably won’t get to hunt for free unless they stumble upon the one landowner that isn’t interested in a lot of non locals. NC is the same where I live, all crop land and quite a bit owned by Mossy Oak and some other bigger name companies. Finding land to shoot or hunt is almost impossible in my area but there are some here and there if you look.
 
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I have a couple of hopefully helpful suggestions.

You might consider extending your 30 Min radius. That is very close considering the size of SL metro area. Hardly out of the hood.

Might want to consider getting more specific. Are you looking to lease, hunt for free etc. Also what seasons and animals are you wanting to hunt? Ducks, quail, deer, varmints, squirrels etc.

Good luck with your quest.

im in imperial, mo. The 30 minutes was just reference from where I am from St. Louis. I had 160 acre lease around Mark Twain that didn’t produce. Had a lot of pictures of farm dogs on my cameras.

looking for mostly woods to gun hunt and bow hunt deer and turkey. I would pay for processing and share the harvest if the land owner is interested.
 
From what I hear. The guys at the gun shop near me tell me to go to the local bars around where I would like hunt and buy a few rounds for the local guys or farmers and start sweet talking. I’m married and strait so maybe they were just messing with me lol.

thanks for the link rooster.
 
Most states have an online page or ten that private land owners list what type of land and what kind of hunting they allow on them. I browse the NC sites occasionally to see if there is anything that catches my eye. They list everything from daily to yearly on list sites.https://www.hlrbo.com/Search/Results/MO

I don’t know what to say. It worked. I was able to secure a good lease for my dad and I this year. Thanks again!
 
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Glad it worked out for you. Good luck and happy hunting this year. I’ve already started prepping my spot. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find a decent NC whitetail, IF such a thing exists as far east as we live.

Oh and glad you didn’t have to go trolling bars and buying drinks! That might get a little awkward.
 
Thanks. I will be going out to scout it here soon. There is great deer everywhere with the right setup. I was blessed for 20 years hunting 38 acres about 10min away from my grandparents lake house. I’m busting my ass now to try and pay off the house and buy some of my own ground. I want my son to have the same values I had growing up. Good luck this year
 
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Even though it's public, look into some of the national guard training areas around MO. we hunt a couple around the state, they're farther away, but often pretty decent hunting areas. We deer hunt an area up near Macon/Kirksville that always produces decent bucks, lots of deer, just a little more work than most are willing to do for whitetail in MO
 
Well my dad and I drove out to stover, mo sunday to look at the 700 acre farm. Nice set up but it may be a 50/50 chance we hunt it. The owner seemed to want to know the weekends we would like to hunt it and base his pricing off of that. Until I hear something I will continue the hunt for lease ground.
 
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Most lease prices in Midwest start at 10.00 per acre. They can go up or way up from there. If you do not lease for season you are just day leasing and others will hunt it when you do not which defeats the purpose of the lease.
 
Most lease prices in Midwest start at 10.00 per acre. They can go up or way up from there. If you do not lease for season you are just day leasing and others will hunt it when you do not which defeats the purpose of the lease.

I agree 100%. my intentions is to have hunting rights for a year like the other places I have leased. Since there is a house on the property and his family spending time there, I think it may complicate Our hunting strategies. This is his first time leasing his land for hunting so we explained how our leases have operated in the past. Right now the ball is in his court if he would like to come to terms.

Macon/Kirksville areas would be nice place to go and hunt. I’m trying find leases under 2hrs away so I can spend more time enjoying what I pay for.
 
I’ve friends that hunt the Midwest and while they get large enough acreage they have to specify which season(Gun,archery,mzl) as the Lease Holder sub-leases the others. He had asked if I was interested in the trip. His Lease Holder has the properties split into roughly 700-1000 acre parcels and only one hunter on each for each season. My friend has had his parcel for multiple years and he’s paying $3500-4000. I’m not sure if that’s a prevalent situation but where he leases it seems to be. It’s cheaper than an outfitter in that state but not exclusive and he’s picking stands, etc.

I say all that to maybe explain why the Lease Holder/Land Owner wants to know when you plan to hunt.

Thanks for the link Rooster. I’ve found most of my hunting land by word of mouth and now living in a large steep park the limiting factor is my own drive/ability but as my kids are approaching hunting age I’m starting my own search for private land.
 
I'm in the Springfield, Mo area.
If you are looking for a place to hunt, and enjoy hunting for hunting's sake... I don't think I can help. However...

If your goal is to put meat on the table, I have some suggestions. I like to think out of the box, so-to-speak and above all things I am flexible.

1. Urban deer
Missouri has a problem with urban deer. Up close to urban areas where they have plentiful food, cover and few predators (especially hunters) they multiply rapidly and the result is many get hit by cars & trucks.
-Mo Cons Dept did a study about 15 years ago to address the urban deer issue. They determined trapping & relocating wouldn't work, neither would hiring snipers, neither neutering. So they identified areas and opened urban archery seasons.
-Please don't laugh or get grossed out, but a freshly roadkilled deer is free meat lying very conveniently by the side of the road. Most often they have broken legs and generally some bruising or bloodshot meat, but the rest is free, usable.

Every September I call the local 911 dispatcher and get on the "deer list". Whenever someone hits a deer in my county, (they call the cops & file a police report for insurance) the 911 dispatch calls me & I go pick it up immediately. I have been doing this for more than 25 years. A quick stop by the Sheriff's office and they issue a Mo Cons Dept disposition form, making it legal to possess. I gut it right away, then butcher at home. Most of it goes to burger, jerky, or stew. I use every usable part of the deer, including the skin (I brain tan) the brain, tendons, bones, antler, etc. Sometimes the cop will wait and help load it into my truck.

Just a different way of doing things. I like to hunt, but this is just SO much easier...

Urban archery areas are, by definition, up close to the city. Like someone above suggested, if you can find someone who has them dang deer eating his ornamental shwubbewy, it might make a win/win situation, if you like to bow hunt.

Deer hit on the Interstate or high speed roads are generally pretty beat up. A deer hit by a semi is often mush and not worth the time.

Slower roads are better areas, as well as residential neighborhoods. Golf courses may be another deer high density area, and if you can wangle a deal to bow hunt on a golf course, perfect.
 
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I'm in the Springfield, Mo area.
If you are looking for a place to hunt, and enjoy hunting for hunting's sake... I don't think I can help. However...

If your goal is to put meat on the table, I have some suggestions. I like to think out of the box, so-to-speak and above all things I am flexible.

1. Urban deer
Missouri has a problem with urban deer. Up close to urban areas where they have plentiful food, cover and few predators (especially hunters) they multiply rapidly and the result is many get hit by cars & trucks.
-Mo Cons Dept did a study about 15 years ago to address the urban deer issue. They determined trapping & relocating wouldn't work, neither would hiring snipers, neither neutering. So they identified areas and opened urban archery seasons.
-Please don't laugh or get grossed out, but a freshly roadkilled deer is free meat lying very conveniently by the side of the road. Most often they have broken legs and generally some bruising or bloodshot meat, but the rest is free, usable.

Every September I call the local 911 dispatcher and get on the "deer list". Whenever someone hits a deer in my county, (they call the cops & file a police report for insurance) the 911 dispatch calls me & I go pick it up immediately. I have been doing this for more than 25 years. A quick stop by the Sheriff's office and they issue a Mo Cons Dept disposition form, making it legal to possess. I gut it right away, then butcher at home. Most of it goes to burger, jerky, or stew. I use every usable part of the deer, including the skin (I brain tan) the brain, tendons, bones, antler, etc. Sometimes the cop will wait and help load it into my truck.

Just a different way of doing things. I like to hunt, but this is just SO much easier...

Urban archery areas are, by definition, up close to the city. Like someone above suggested, if you can find someone who has them dang deer eating his ornamental shwubbewy, it might make a win/win situation, if you like to bow hunt.

Deer hit on the Interstate or high speed roads are generally pretty beat up. A deer hit by a semi is often mush and not worth the time.

Slower roads are better areas, as well as residential neighborhoods. Golf courses may be another deer high density area, and if you can wangle a deal to bow hunt on a golf course, perfect.

We have an urban deer issue here also. I have sent emails to the surrounding 120 and 240 parcels behind me. It is a huge risk for a land owner to take giving permission to hunt their land. I also carry liability insurance but it doesn’t seem to help. My parents live in a incorporated town that prohibits any form of projectiles to be shot. The deer are tearing everyones andscaping apart.

luxury areas here do pay for private companies to come in to thin the herds. The insurance they carry is 10mil
 
In areas where deer/car collisions are high, I would think the insurance companies would lobby for thinning the herd & reducing the payout?

Roadkill... It's what's for dinner!

I can take a fresh wet bloody deerskin and turn it into a piece of leather soft as a chamois.