Archery Deer Hunting
This archery deer hunting page assumes the reader has entered this web site at this page. Some of the information may be repeated if having read other web pages in this site. If so please advance to our Kansas, Iowa or Missouri archery deer hunting pages for more specific archery deer hunting information. If this is the first page to be read about our organization then we suggest a start at the beginning to fully understand our approach to self guide deer hunts.
Archery Deer Hunter Feedback
John,
Too often we get wrapped up in the details of hunting and seem to miss out on the experience. Yesterday afternoon I had a neat experience on some prime MAHA property.
I spotted this buck trolling along a hedgerow between two cut cornfields. Rattled, bleated and grunted and he crossed the corn from about 225 yards away. I got to watch him work several overhanging branches and make 6 different scrapes. Finally, he worked directly underneath my tree stand where he rubbed his pre-orbital glands on several limbs. He crossed behind me and I was able to make the shot at 10 yards.
Getting the deer was minor in this case. Getting to enjoy watching this whitetail behavior up close and personal made it a memorable experience for me. He gross scored at 132” and field dressed at 197 pounds. Thanks again for your recommendations. They continue to be right on!!!
Steve
Archery deer hunting is for the self guided deer hunter that is able to bow hunt on his own with his own equipment and deer hunter tactics.
That one statement applies to all of our hunts be it for archery, whitetail, turkey, upland or waterfowl. What this statement means to the archery deer hunter is that we do the work to find the right habitat within the right region of the states where we lease land (Kansas, Missouri and Iowa). We then manage the written contract land lease, provide landowner liability insurance coverage and all the other administrative actions required to secure our exclusive use for all fishing, scout and hunter access. This administrative effort includes a lawyer on retainer to pursue landowner contract and membership regulations violations. The ugly side of hunting lease operations and reality in what has become a competitive industry with greed overriding other common values at times.
Archery Hunters Hunt
The bow deer hunter/member simply goes deer hunting without any burden of making contact with the landowner as all land use is through a telephone reservation system centralized at the MAHA office.
The hunter also provides his own lodging and may use our lodging listing frequently called the MAHA Yellow Pages that lists all known motels, country homes for rent, B&Bs within every county where we lease land. This same listing also has local wrecker and meat locker services for when those needs should arise.
The remainder of the hunter oriented support requirements of licensing, transportation and meals the hunter also provides for himself as these are unique to the hunter's own tastes.
More Than Land
MAHA does offer more than just private deer bow hunting land access.
MAHA has two full time and one part-time staff that whitetail hunt.
Two are successful archery hunters and the third is a muzzleloader hunter. The value these hunters and MAHA staff (Jon Nee, John Wenzel and Bruce Johnson) bring to the member is they are out on the ground throughout the year and will give recommendations of where to deer hunt. These recommendations are based on several facets. The first is that John Nee and John Wenzel are out on the ground 12 months of the year as land contracting does occur through the year. If they recommend a farm for a hunt there is a specific reason for it.
The next reason for recommending any farm to a hunter is that farm is within a region of the state that has a history of trophy production and that farm has the habitat to support that trophy whitetail. For the do it yourself archery hunter that land must also have what is frequently described as "bow huntable ground" meaning trees for stand within deer movement corridors.
When reviewing the MAHA lease land maps showing the acreage within each county of each state where we lease land not all those regions with counties marked are within the best trophy whitetail deer areas and not all are suited for the archery hunter. Some of that land is within the better upland bird regions for example void of good deer habitat.
The next value based decision of where to recommend for deer bow hunting is when the staff has spotted quality racked bucks.
These bucks may have been spotted with or without the landowner's tip of where to look. We gain a lot of landowner contact and they are after us knowing the perceived deer hunting value of their land and readily tell of what they have seen in hopes we will be amicable to increasing their lease payments. From these two experiences we are able to offer a good many recommendations of where to hunt and a fair percentage payoff for our hunters.
Another criteria for a deer bow hunting spot is based on the presence of good deer sign or that sign that is too good to ignore. There are many situations where we have not personally seen the racked buck. The landowner, typically a non-hunter, will tell of the deer he has seen without quality judgment and that combined with the scrape, rub or herd size along with the right habitat in the productive region of the state may all combine into a hunt recommendation.
Archery Deer Hunting and Scouting
Preparation meeting opportunity equals luck. A camera in the truck and these bucks by happenstance crossed the road onto our Whitetail Deer lease while we were parked. The interesting aspect is they all three had complete racks on February 17th when this picture was taken. We have found sheds as early as the end of January.
For those planning on a deer scouting trip several key points to consider is that most sheds are found in late February and during March. For those planning to do some combination turkey and deer scouting for a spring hunt the bachelor tom groups start to flock up with the hens in Mid March. Turkey season does not start until early April.
Classic central mid-west deer habitat of the small wood patch. The ridge line in the far ground is 3/4 mile distant. The dry draw runs from the road across onto the next section.
This picture shows an isolated draw. Contrast that with the two pictures below of a long running creek bottom with several branches all with various sized small wood patches. Either could be productive within this well known trophy deer region.
From the one above though the one at right looking from left to right from the top of one ridge on one lease.
These pictures are a region in Kansas where the larger and lower elevation watersheds give way to the higher elevation quicker to drain watersheds. The difference in this region are the fields separating the branches of the watershed are larger. This is also the furthest west we would recommend bow hunting as any further west and it becomes largely rifle county where 300 yard shooting ability is a must.
This lease with its distinct local habitat is a benefit and a frustration. The woody cover provides a constricting effect to deer patterns making scouting easy. The large open fields give the bucks in rut plenty of maneuver space with many peak rut hunters frustrated with much eyes on quality racks and no hope of a shot opportunity.
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