Deer Hunting
Our main deer hunting section begins on this web page.
Deer Hunter & Member Feedback
On many websites the organization shows pictures of only their largest racks well positioned in front of the guide's road sign or lodge. We have no lodge and we do not guide the hunter. The mount pictures shown on this page are not our largest as in a self guided hunter organization each hunter can hunt the trophy whitetail at whatever level he is at. What we are highlighting here is just one of the Association's hunters with a selection of some of the whitetails he has harvested. We offer deer hunting for those that like to deer hunt. We never promote oursleves as only a trophy whitetail deer organziation. We would all like to be top trophy hunters, but desires is realy the reality.
These trophy deer were harvested by Harold P., one of our senior citizen deer hunting members. We have a lot of gray hair in our organization as the average age of our hunters is in the upper 40's. These more seasoned hunters are more serious about their deer hunts and time in the field than most. Thank you Harold for sharing your pictures.
We disclose all we possibly can about our organization to prevent any surprises after the fact. This includes this discussion that may cause some hunters to pause. In this case there does need to be a certain amount of trust about the quality of experience we offer. The aerials below is just one more attempt to remove some the mystery about the self guided hunts we offer.
This (above) is a very good deer hunting lease in an average region of the state in terms of trophy deer quality and much higher in terms of lease land costs. It is a 1/2 mile square, quarter or 160 acre lease. It is property number 36 and is split into A and B. Out of season scouting the entire property may be reserved for scouting. During season hunting the hunter must commit to either A or B and there may be another hunter in one of the sub sections on a concurrent hunt. However, the key point is not to allow just random pressure on the land during the season. Managing pressure makes for better hunts. Better hunts makes for more membership year to year renewals.
This deer lease in a very good trophy whitetail region of the state is a 1 mile square or full section of 640 acres. The size of the picture on this page was minimized to allow for quick web page opening. Although it may look to be the same acreage as the 160 above, this piece is a full section.
Due to farm yards, some pasture and overall deer habitat quality this lease is well suited for one hunter per day and any hunter reserving it would have the entire section to deer hunt as he sees fit to do so.
This lease even with its minimum habitat is rolling and the amount of creek bottom is sufficient to make it a good hunt as every part of it could hold a deer or more.
Do It Yourself Deer Hunts
MAHA offers self guided Mule and Whitetail Deer hunts for those with their own equipment and their own skill on private lease land in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa.
Hunts with us begin with our encouraging the hunter to conduct his own pre season scouting as the first step to enhancing success potential. After that the hunter should have several farms he has selected from all the acreage he scouted where he may want to hunt that fall. All hunters may hunt as many farms as they have time to develop and more importantly, all hunt employing their own style and not in competition with any other hunters.
With us every hunter should have enough knowledge of more leases to hunt than he will have time to hunt during any one trip. This is more true the second season and beyond than the first.
The first season hunter attitude should be the hunter is setting himself up for a lifetime of hunts to come. After that second season he will get to the point of having boots on the ground experience with enough properties that he will be arguing with himself as to where he wants to hunt.
By his third season he has covered more ground and found more leases to his liking that he most likely will not even hunt his first season ground. Soon he will get to the point he will be waiting until a day or two before the hunt to get the last read on the weather conditions before deciding where he wants to hunt. Once the decision is made he telephone's in his choice and hunts.
Most hunters will have at least three properties they would consider first choice deer hunting spots. On each of those three leases he may have anywhere from one to many trees prepared for stands or stands hung. That same hunter can be in a different stand from morning to afternoon on the same or different farm each day of his deer hunt until finding the trophy deer he is after. Once identified the hunter may remain with that one farm through the remainder of the trip.
The point in this discussion is that each hunter is not limited to just one lease or tree stand. He may hunt several. The value to this is that in spite of the best possible scouting come that season things may change and what looked to be the best possible spot in March is no longer attractive in November. In this case the hunter moves onto his other numbered farms and does not have all his eggs in one basket.
Deer Hunter Separation
Our deer hunting lease use is by a telephone reservations system that ensures deer hunter separation.
The hunter's motivation for making a reservation is that once we know where and when he wants to hunt we will not place anyone else on top of him.
The average acreage per hunter per day is a 1/4 section, or a 160 acres. In some places the hunter may have as much as 640 acres or the entire section as the habitat on that section will only support one hunter.
In other areas of above average productive habitat in some regions of the state we do break the lease down into 80 acre subcomponents. The value of this is not to place a hunter on each 80 acre piece every day, it is that during the deer season itself anyone wanting to hunt those leases must commit to a very specific location and not just put random pressure on the ground.
It all comes down to a good hunter experience of the deer hunt itself. Filling a tag with the trophy of the lifetime is the goal of all. However, the reality of a self guided deer hunt is 98% failure with all of us working toward that day we achieve 100% success.
We offer first that quality deer hunt experience in Kansas Missouri and Iowa where the hunter may enjoy his time in solitude pitting his skill against the instincts of that trophy whitetail deer. This is the case where the deer hunter does in fact achieve all success or failure on his own.
