About MAHA Deer Hunting

Overview

We have some of the best deer hunting to be had in the Mid West. Each year the deer populations continue to explode in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa. And its not just the quantity. Trophy opportunities, including record book bucks, are a reality (see the MAHA deer hunters photo gallery for just a few of the big bucks harvested on MAHA leases). We have deer hunting opportunities to satisfy the even the most discriminating hunter of every discipline, including firearms, muzzleloader, or bowhunter.

Species

Whitetail deer are available throughout Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. Mule deer are abundant in central and western Kansas.

Trophy Opportunities

Hunters from some states claim that their state has the best deer hunting, usually based on the sheer number of hunters, or the number of deer harvested. In the Mid West we judge our hunting quality by the book (i.e., Boone and Crockett, Pope and Young).

Fact: The largest non-typical whitetail on record (Boone & Crockett) is from Missouri, scoring a whopping 333+ inches! The trophy is on display in Kansas City, at the Brywood office of the Missouri Conservation Department.

Fact: Kansas ranks among the top trophy buck states, especially in recent years.

	23 of the top 100 typical whitetails, and 24 of the top 100 non-typical whitetails, including 6 of the top 10 non-typical whitetails listed in Pope & Young (archery trophies) records, have come from Kansas.
	28% (14) of the top 50 all time non-typical Pope & Young whitetails come from Kansas.
	The No. 2 all time non-typical Pope & Young whitetail was taken in Kansas, scoring 257 points.
	In the ten year period from 1984 through 1993 (what happened historically in previous decades has little bearing on hunting now), Kansas had as many deer entered into Boone and Crockett Club records (89), as all of states along the Atlantic coast plus the states of West Virginia and Vermont.

Fact: Few of these trophies were taken on public land.

Fact: Record book roles and the MAHA membership role share several of the same names, for Missouri, Kansas and Iowa bucks. MAHA only has some 650 members, many of which are not deer hunters. Try randomly polling 650 public land hunters and see if you find any record book entry holders.

Success

Most MAHA deer hunters, whether firearms, muzzleloader, or archery, manage to put themselves into shooting opportunities at deer every season. Most come home with deer, many with multiple deer, some with wallhangers.

Will all MAGBA deer hunters take big bucks each year? If we did, it wouldn't be called hunting, it would just be called shooting. If you want a guaranteed, or near certain shot at a record book buck, you will have to book a guided hunt on one of the famous managed herd properties like those found in Texas, Saskatchewan, or Michigan, but be prepared to spend $5,000 for a one week hunt. They will take you to the big ones and tell you when to shoot, or put you in a tree stand site they selected and hung, where you remain the shooter, but they did much of your hunting for you. And you may even get your name in Boone and Crockett or Pope and Young.

We don't provide guided hunts, and we don't have managed herds in high fenced ranch enclosures. And those hunts are okay if that's what your after, and even some MAHA members travel out of state for guided hunts. But, will you have the same true hunting experience and lasting satisfaction as the MAHA hunters who went out to a Mid West farm or wood lot, seldom coming home empty handed, and bag a big one on their own once in a while?

We can't guarantee trophy success, but we can guarantee private lease hunting with a reservation system, in two great deer hunting states, which removes many of the variables of deer hunting and puts your hunting success in your hands. This is why we offer some of the best deer hunting opportunity in the Mid West.

You don't have to kill big bucks to be successful. Kansas, Missouri and Iowa offer multiple permits, especially antlerless. Antlerless deer permits make it much easier to be successful and put venison in your freezer while performing necessary conservation functions of addressing overpopulation problems to prevent starvation and disease and limit crop damage, and also to maintain and balance the buck/doe ratio. Many serious trophy hunters pass up all small bucks, and choose to fill only their antlerless tags in seasons when the big ones had better luck than the hunter, letting those little bucks live to become big ones. Who is the more successful hunter, the one who killed the first buck he saw, or the one who passed up many small bucks, and filled only antlerless tags?

Reservation System

The MAHA reservation systems assures a quality hunting experience, and peace of mind. Each member reserves ample space on quality leases. MAHA hunters avoid the highly congested public hunting lands, where hunters often outnumber the deer, where most hunters leave without a trophy, where the volume of gunfire rivals that of war zone, and where hunting accidents often occur. MAHA can hunt deer under natural conditions, not limited primarily to shooting at spooked deer.

Choose Your Weapons

Archery deer is our best kept secret. Year after year a few dedicated archers make the Pope & Young record book!

Special permits and seasons are available for muzzleloader deer hunters in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa. Muzzleloader mule deer hunting is available in Kansas.

Firearms hunters continue to set to harvest records in Kansas and Missouri. Hunting habitat is available ranging from heavy timber found in the Missouri Ozarks, Kansas strip pits, and Iowa farm wood lots suited to brush gun rifle shooting or the handgun hunter. For the long range rifleman, the open country of western Kansas is available for both whitetail and mule deer.

Technique and Strategy

Every type of hunting is available, depending on the season and the chosen habitat. Food source pattern hunting (crops, hay fields, woodland mast crop, etc.) is available to the early season bowhunters, and muzzleloaders, and again in the late season (late standing corn, hay fields, etc). Still hunting and organized drives can be executed without unknown hunters in the area to spoil the activity in any portion of the season. Rattling and grunting are available to pre-rut and rut hunters for the firearms, muzzleloader and bowhunter (try rattling in bucks on public land where the bucks are busy fleeing the hunter filled woods). Spot and stalk techniques are available in the open country of western Kansas, especially for mule deer. Ground stands are not in the line of fire from throngs of public land hunters. Your portable tree stands are much less likely to wind up stolen or with some other hunter in them, on posted private property.

The Mid America Hunting Association staff will help you select the right leases for your particular hunting style and needs.

Habitat

All Mid America Hunting Association properties consist of privately leased farms and ranches

Whitetail Habitat

Habitat	Description
Croplands	Corn, soy beans, milo, wheat - major deer magnets especially during the early season. Late standing corn and winter wheat sprouts are great in late season. It is these crops that account for 200+ pound and even 250+ pound field dress bucks on MAHA leases.
Pastures	Cattle pastures are a food source for deer year round.
Hayfields	Brougham, clover, and especially alfalfa work well all season, and especially in the late season.
Farm Wood lots	Whitetails require cover, but the cover doesn't have to be big. In fact, man hunters prefer farm country with only small wood lots, hedgerows and wooded creek bottoms which funnel the deer making them easier to find.
Timber	Big timber, the classic whitetail cover, is available in the Missouri Ozarks, across northern Missouri, southern Iowa, and portions of northeast Kansas.
Strip Pits	Reclaimed strip mining pits offer a unique environment in which whitetails thrive. Mining operations in years past gouged out steep parallel ridges with permanent waterholes in between. The abundant water draws deer during droughts, where they often remain. These ridges are often covered with dense hardwood and cedars which whitetails prefer as cover.  Strip pits often border farm land which provide a food source for deer.
CRP	CRP provides both year round food sources and cover.
Open prairie	Especially in western Kansas, open parries provide food source, and tall native grass and brushy draws provide cover, for both whitetail and mule deer.
Ridges	Throughout Missouri, southern Iowa, and in eastern Kansas you can hunt ridge-runner bucks. One of the oldest rules in deer hunting - find the high ground to find the big bucks.

Mule Deer Habitat

Open country in central and western Kansas, including open prairie, CRP, wheat and other crop fields,  and brushy draws. For the bowhunter and some muzzleloader hunters, tree stands can be set in thinly wooded creek bottoms and in some thinly wooded hedgerows - both of which serve as natural funnels for cover seeking big bucks (many older mule deer bucks exhibit habits similar to their whitetail counterparts). Waterholes offer another close range alternative for the bowhunter and muzzleloader hunter.

Licensing

Always check with local state government regarding the most recent license information.

Kansas uses a drawing system for firearms and muzzleloader deer permits. Applications are available in the late spring and are due in by mid July for the primary drawing. One or more leftover permit drawings  occur thereafter. Archery permits are available over the counter. You cannot enter the primary firearms permit drawing and have a statewide any deer archery permit. Multiple anterless tags are usually available.

Missouri has a simple over the counter permit system. Firearms and muzzleloader hunters can purchase  deer hunting license over the counter, and from one to three bonus antlerless tags by game management area. An archers license provides two any deer tags and two turkey tags, but there are restrictions regarding when and how those tags can be filled. In Missouri there are currently no restrictions regarding the purchase of both archery and firearms licenses which can add up to as many as five deer. In the Kansas City and St. Louis regions, bowhunters can purchase as many as 5 urban deer tags in addition to all other licenses, for a possible 10 deer limit. However MAHA currently holds no leases in these urban permit areas.  Missouri also offers special drawings for some managed hunt areas, again though, usually not applicable for MAHA leases.

MAHA can help you plan hunts, including providing recommendations regarding which leases to hunt in each game management area, to suit your style of hunting. It is best to start working with the MAHA staff regarding out of state hunting plans before state permit drawings.

Non-Residents

It is common for MAHA members who live in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa to hunt multiple states, and all 3 states offer licenses to firearms and archery hunters to support this.

If you are from a state other than Kansas, Missouri, or Iowa interested in taking advantage of the superior deer hunting opportunities in the Mid West, Mid America Hunting Association can provide you a place to hunt, on a reservation basis. There are an increasing amount of out of state hunters taking advantage of this opportunity, many of which learned of this opportunity on the MAGBA.COM web site.

MAHA can help you plan hunts, including providing recommendations regarding which leases to hunt for your style of hunting, how to get there, lodging or camping, etc. Particularly for out of state hunters, it is best to start working with the MAHA staff regarding out of state hunting plans before state permit drawings.

Always check with the local state government regarding the most recent license information.