31 Jan Dennis' whitetail trophy collection. Dennis moved from Wisconsin to KC in the early 80's to pursue a career in the Sporting Industry as a Manufactures Rep. Without hesitation he joined MAHA and instantly adjusted to the Midwest style of deer hunting, which is much less competitive than Wisconsin. The mounts in these photos are some of Dennis's largest P&Y Whitetails harvested since the early 80's in the Midwest. The two on the right were taken on Association property. Dennis has harvested an amazing total of 96 deer during his career and nearly 70 of them have been with a bow. Good job!
For example, you joined the Association 2 years ago in March and your dues were $700. You put your membership inactive for the last two years. If you would like to renew your dues this coming March they would be for $875 (individual), which are the current dues as of Feb.15, 03.
We don't want to go into the details of the rumors we've heard but this is not true. We tip non-residents to the better areas just as we have always done with the local members. If someone discovers your little hot spot they most likely found it the same way you did. Don't ever find yourself with all of your eggs in one basket because at any given time a farm can sell or another member can discover that particular farm. We never have or ever will advertise a member is guaranteed the same spot year after year. 30 Jan
29 Jan
Before anyone calls us to ask where the snows are we all known that unless hunters want to put out a large spread and has some calling skills the rest of us must go out and find them. Currently, north of the river in central Missouri has been where the most reports have originated. No significant flights have been observed in eastern Kansas.
22 Jan
A limit of teal from a small pool of water less than a foot deep.
Andrew with one of his many nice bass caught and released last summer. His key to success for all seasons is very simple. Put in the time and work it hard.
Diego Gandolfo with a limit of Iowa Pheasant and a couple of quail.
Payden and Suzy 21 Jan A lot of people assume the Association land is so widespread there is no way to keep track of who is hunting where and who is a member versus who is a guest. Here are several examples from recent years of when that assumption failed. There is a lot going on behind the scene to police for unauthorized guests and trespassing. Many members don't realize we have agreements with a select group of landowners to keep a log on the number of hunters using their property and report it to the office weekly to cross reference reservations. We also have several landowners who are paid to police and the average person would have no idea of their presence. Many have thought week days are the best time violate the rules since the pressure is so light, but the results are to the contrary since the members presence is so obvious.We feel it is time to post the result of several instances to remind everyone we take this business and the money invested by the members very seriously. A non-resident deer hunter took an unauthorized guest deer hunting and was checked by the landowner. The landowner reported the members name to the office and the hotel he was staying. When the office called the hotel he wouldn't return the calls and relocated to another hotel. The landowner caught up with him the next day and told him to leave his property and not return to the area, as he was not welcome. The member was dismissed from the Association after only using his membership for two days.A local member who only used the Association to hunt upland birds decided the pressure was so light during deer season it would be very easy to take a truck load of unauthorized guests deer hunting without notice. Unfortunately, the Association had the same idea and had a handful of deer hunters placed in the same areas. When the member with a truckload of unauthorized guests showed up to hunt there was a hunter or group on every property he thought he was the only one that knew there was good deer hunting on. After several disturbing complaints we finally caught up with the member. He was dismissed from the Association after being a member for over 12 years. A local upland bird hunter decided there was so much confusion opening weekend that a couple of guests would go unnoticed without any problems. He didn't update his map book and decided to hunt a farm that was deleted from the book. The new landowner called the office and was very polite and understood we all make mistakes but wanted us to be aware of the issue. He wrote down the names of the hunters in the party of three and only one was a member. He was dismissed from the Association. A local member called the office and reported non-members hunting deer on the farm he had reserved. He asked if we would support him if he turned the license plate number over to the Sheriff's Department. We agreed and the Sheriff called the next day with the results. The trespasser was the county game warden. We pressed charges and he lost his job and career over a deer hunt.A group of four individual non-residents joined the Association to hunt trophy deer and spring turkey. The first year they harvested two trophy deer and did real good on spring turkey. The second year they harvested three trophy deer and hoped to repeat their success year after year. The third year they did not draw tags for the unit they wanted to hunt and tried to make a reservation but were denied since they could not produce a tag. Suspecting there was a possibility they would make an attempt to hunt we notified the landowners in the area and told them there was a $100 reward to report a certain vehicle if it was parked on their property. One of the landowners reported the vehicle parked on the farm they attempted to reserve so we called the county Game Warden. The members showed experience at playing this game by not returning to their vehicle for a day and a half. They were ticketed in town for illegal license but slipped the game warden. We made numerous attempts to call them but they screened their calls as well as they hid in the woods. Knowing two of the four had Iowa permits we staked out our Iowa properties and they both showed up and were dismissed from the Association on the spot. For two years we received numerous reports of signs being torn down and trespassing in a remote area of Kansas that has great hunting but there was tremendous interference with road hunters and non-members. The office decided to stake the area out in person to see if all of these reports were true. An hour and a half before sunrise an out of state vehicle showed up to hunt and was confronted by a staff member. He was told to leave and he left but gave us enough information to file a complaint with the county game warden. It appears the man that showed up to hunt is in charge of a hunting group similar to ours. He illegally applied for and received a handful of Kansas landowner tags. He sold the tags for a considerable amount of money and was placing the hunters on farms he didn't have permission to hunt. The charges are still pending since this just happened last month but the game warden is very happy what we provided him to work with. 20 Jan An observation that has resulted from the recent upland bird photos sent in by members has been those that send in photos never ask where to find birds. Those that repetitively ask where to find birds never send in photos. The member of the photo on the right expressed concern that the primary focus of the Association long term was deer and that the upland bird hunters would soon be a minority. This is not true. We will always have our eyes and ears open to acquire additional quality upland bird hunting acreage and quality sportsmen as long as we have openings. We have definitely seen a drop in the upland bird population the last couple of years and many upland bird hunters have given up. However, as the above photos display the birds are making a come back. If the winter continues to be mild and the spring doesn't bring us too much rain things should be looking bright for the 2003-04 upland bird hunting season.
9 Jan
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Inactive Status. Last summer we addressed our concern that the inactive status was being used to buy time for deer tags, bird hatch reports and water conditions. We stated it was only going to be accepted for extreme hardship cases. Since then, the number of members going inactive has actually increased. As a result, as of January 1, 2003 all members that reinstate from the inactive to the active status will be charged the current dues.
And, for those planning a spring turkey hunt here is a partial picture of a good sized flock captured on film by John and Karen Burks during a recent upland hunt.
25 Jan
Andrew Nantz sent in a series of photos from his hunting party looking back
16 Jan
6 Jan
