MAHA do it yourself fair chase hunts

Hunting

MAHA Way

Our approach to do it yourself hunts is not like a do it yourself home improvement project as in building a deck. The differences are in the case of a homeowner deck builder it is a once in a lifetime project, he does not have specialized deck building experience and seeks “how to” advice from books or others with greater experience.

Dan G.

John and Jon, This is my first year in the club and I have visited [location deleted] 3 times for a total of 5 hunting and days and was fortunate to score on this 160" 12-pointer on the third trip. Conditions were miserable but this big guy decided to make a rub during the midday hours and that was his final mistake. I am extremely happy with the club and the properties leased. I can't wait till next year. Thanks

In the case of our do it yourself hunts we do not cater to the novice hunter as we offer self guided hunting, not training on how to hunt. Our hunters have experience, possess the specialized skills, equipped to their hunting discipline and are simply in the execution mode. That execution mode we make better.

MAHA makes do it yourself hunts better through providing private hunting land access that due to our geographic location specializes in Mule and Whitetail Deer; pheasant and quail; duck and goose; Eastern and Rio Grande Turkey hunting. We essentially do the research based on our knowledge of the regional environmental limiting factors and locate the habitat that returns the best for our money. Then we find the landowners.

We control the written lease contract, make all contacts with the landowner and provide the landowner liability coverage. We then map the land locations and provide a telephone reservation system service for membership use. The objective is to provide everyone we accept as a member the best do it yourself hunts possible as a means by which to ensure their yearly return.

To further that membership return objective we provide recommendations where to hunt based on hunting discipline and habitat preference. These recommendations are based on our year round boots on the ground experience with the land. We are also hunters and understand habitat and what it takes for a good hunt.

The final service we provide is a yellow pages type listing with lodging options in proximity to everywhere we lease land. That list is updated twice a year and avaible online. It includes local motels, meat lockers, tow truck and veterinary services.

All of the above is the service we provide. The product we manage is habitat. And, there are many intangibles that go along with all of this that must be experienced as the descriptions provided here are minimal at best. We will summarize one example per hunting discipline starting first for the do it yourself deer hunters.

Deer

One truism about the average deer hunter in this association is their first season regardless of how good their scouting or our recommendations may be of where to hunt by their third season they are hunting land completely different from their first year. As each deer hunter gains knowledge of the region they selected to hunt and spend more time on the ground half of the places they scout or hunt will disappoint them. The other half will be better than what they have already experienced. In a short while, they have more knowledge of more good farms than time to hunt and eventually settle on a group of farms typically under 2,000 total acres. To get to that less than 2,000 acres of farms they processed through at least and typically a lot more than 4,000 acres. Up to this point how many deer hunters can say they have their choice of over 4,000 acres of private land to select from where to hunt? In this association, all have that opportunity. dark geese

Waterfowl

Duck hunters make for an easy analysis as public wetlands are greatly limited and simply over pressured. Not only do association duck hunters have a choice of wetlands habitat types they also may select to hunt from boat, wade-in or blinds. They may select to hunt from a different wetlands each time out. These simple options alone are not available through any other private duck organization yet to be discovered. Comparison to public waters is simply not possible with late setups, skybusting and stealing of flights. The value point here is that with the average age of the association hunter in the upper 40’s that age seasoning alone makes for far fewer problems typically associated with the younger or less seasoned hunter.

Enjoyment of the hunt itself for its memories above all else even on days when they flair.

Upland Birds

A typical do it yourself upland bird hunter with his own dogs cover 400 acres a day walking at a good pace. Each upland hunter can hunt a different 400 acres each day. Take a 9-day trip with 7 hunting and 2 travel days and the 7 hunting days adds up to 2,800 acres per trip.

Typically, upland hunters hunt at least 2 weeks a year. That now makes up to 5,600 acres of land. It is a rare average hunter that can afford to lease or travel and knock on doors to gain access to 5,000 acres of private land in a 2 week period of time. However, the real intangible advantage is that the same upland hunter can be on a different 2,800 block of habitat type each time out.

Being able to get bird dogs, especially pointing type, on open shallow ditches of Iowa, heavy crop edge of Missouri and over the tall grass and brush filled draws of Kansas simply makes for a bird dog that learns target habitat to a far greater degree than by any other method. A bird dog with target habitat hunting capability will always make for a better hunt every time out than a dog that does not gain this variety experience. And, for most do it yourself bird hunters it is all about the dog work and we agree with that ideal.

Turkey

Turkey hunters will enjoy the simple fact of being alone on a piece of ground and every gobble is either his or a tom. Add to that 2 species and the do it yourself turkey hunter can have more field time with more birds and less effort than possible on even the greatest public land. That same turkey hunter can be spring season hunting the same land as fall deer and that twice a year boots on the ground time makes for a much better understanding of wildlife patterns. With that understanding success rates are enhanced. The bottom line is we give the do it yourself hunter every opportunity to have a good hunt.