May 2007 Updates page 8
25 May
Late Turkey Hunt
Had a good hunt in [location deleted] this past week and wanted to thank you for giving me a heads up on areas to try. As a several year member I know that is usually reserved for first timers, but it is hard to get out and scout several states away, with a busy schedule sometimes. I really enjoyed the leases in the area, beautiful country and lots of game of all types.
I took this three year old on the first morning after only hunting an hour. He needed some persuasion, but worked well after a change of calls and tactics. My second tag was filled the next day in about 5 hours, for a truly successful hunt. I stayed in a local campground which was very well run, and the folks were very nice and helpful. The fact that I could do this after the season has been open for a month and a half say's a lot about the quality of the area.
Thanks for what you do, I look forward to many more such positive hunts on our properties across the midwest.
Jay
Thank you for taking the time and effort to take and send in your picture, the compliments on the quality of the land; we also believe it still takes a good hunter to pull off a good hunt like yours. Congratulations on your good hunt on what has been a challenging season.
Vehicle Hang Tags
During the spring turkey season one of our landowners checked just about everyone that hunted his land, which were several hunters and three of them did not have hang tags on their vehicles.
This man leased his land to the Association because his land is very high demand hunting land and he was over run with neighbors and friends always wanting to hunt his land. It was his understanding that all of the hunters would display identification on their vehicles before they enter his land. He called the office each time he checked members without vehicle tags because he ended up waiting a total of over 6 hours for members to return to their vehicles after hunting. After the third call, we realized it was time to take action because this is part of our lease obligation. We need to take this more serious before we loose land to hunt over the matter. A copy of the sticker on a regular piece of paper on the dashboard will work fine. We've dropped our guard with the vehicle hang tag policy the last couple of years. Let's all work together and put vehicle hang tags on top of your list of things to bring hunting from now on.
Maps
While taking reservations for spring turkey we picked up several members were working with outdated maps. The maps are always subject to change, so please check the map website each time you reserve to hunt a property to ensure your map is updated.
Member Feedback
From this side of the organization it is always interesting the updates that receive the most member feedback. The deer tag update below generated more member return emails than any update in some time. The complaints out voted the compliments by a slight margin within the first 24 hours of its posting.
Our ability to post such information derives from our single minded organizational purpose of a hunt on your own organization and that we do not owe to any advertisers or business venture. Much, if not all of the updates on this page derive from member interaction with their interests in mind and again not any interest of paid advertisers or a business approach outside of our own organization of hunters. Remaining focused on the reason why hunters join MAHA has and will continue to keep the organization strong. While this is all pontification, we ask all to keep feedback coming in. Receiving any member feedback is valued and both Jon and John discuss each topic.
And, we again this month we rejected a magazine company's offer for free advertising if we would supply text, pictures and hunter interviews for an article to help out their [magazine] paid advertisement income.
23 May
Deer Tags
As the deadline for Kansas and Iowa deer tags comes on us we have had an increasing number of telephone conversations for advice on which deer unit/zone to apply for. We have always maintained the MAHA staff and organization is not in the hunting advice, techniques or training business and remains focused on a hunt execution business model. This aspect is one of the hallmarks that separates us from a hunting club and that of a business well suited for the hunt on your own hunter.
From this standpoint, we often refrained from giving direct advice on any specific unit/zone and offered only decision criteria of what to consider of where to apply for tags by state and region within each of our three states. This approach is intended to give the hunter enough information to make an informed decision that best fits his hunt plans.
For those that desire more specific guidance on when to hunt we offer an observation born from years upon years of watching and talking to the successful and not successful hunters. The summation of those observations has consistently been those that have the most enjoyable and successful hunts have been those that hunt the season of the rut they have the most personal experience with in their home state or past hunting careers. Those hunters that have least enjoyed their hunts and have reported the fewest deer and trophy deer sightings have been those that hunt outside of their experience base and have a difficult time learning, different to their past experience, deer behavior patterns during a hunt.
An illustration is that those that spend the most time deer hunting during the peak rut should stick with hunting their favorite state or region during the peak rut. A peak rut experienced hunter that hunts outside of the rut in September on bachelor group bucks or in January on herded up winter deer frequently reports pressured deer and lack of deer. The truth is that hunter has less familiarity with different deer patterns than their own personal past experience and simply is applying the wrong deer hunting technique to current deer behavior.
Other discussions have involved those that plan to hunt multiple or a single state. The generally accepted best approach has been to concentrate as a new to the central mid-west deer hunter on one state and one region within that state until developing knowledge of 2,000 to 4,000 acres of deer leases. At that point, a base has been established that will sustain the hunter for several seasons to come freeing up future scouting time to develop a similar acreage/deer hunting spot base in the second state and subsequently the third. By the end of 3 to 5 years of membership, that hunter is in the routine of hunting two of our three states each year and as draw tags allow. The converse would be to hunt multiple sates, spending a short bit of time on any couple of leases and never finding those golden nugget spots that allow for the most eyes-on success.
Of that which concerns Iowa it is generally considered true that archery deer tags are not to be relied upon with less than two preference points. Shotgun tags more predictable with one point and the muzzleloader tag has the highest draw success rate. MAHA lease land in zones 4 and 5 are different only due to the highway that is used as the boundary between the zones. Otherwise, our lease land in both zones is the same habitat contained within the Grand River watershed rising up out of Missouri and has the same deer genetics. Our Iowa lease land is well suited for the bow and gun hunter.
Kansas deer management units do vary significantly in tag draw success rates with the central and western units far more competitive than the eastern units. The eastern units with their higher hunter densities have skewed the P&Y and B&C books with more record bucks making the eastern units appear more attractive to those that use the record books as single decision criteria models of where to hunt. The reality is that the central and western units comparative to the number of hunters drawing tags have a higher success ratio albeit fewer total numbers of trophy racked deer. This is a failing of the record book system that does not include contributory or secondary effects to that trophy harvest or simply, trophy harvest gross numbers unrelated to any other factor than location.
Recent past seasons have seen that several Kansas eastern gun deer units having left over non-resident draw tags available for over the counter sales. This has caused increased competition for the central and western units as gun hunters have sent in tag applications listing only the more competitive western units believing they, if really wanting to hunt Kansas, if not drawn for where they really want to hunt they will be able to buy an over the counter gun tag for the eastern units.
Kansas archery tags for any given unit are believed more likely to be successfully drawn if the same archery deer management unit is placed for each of the two choices. There has not been any method to verify this belief and that this is a "glitch" in the system.
It is also believed applications are more successful if applied as a buddy group.
The final point to remember about Kansas is it all changes in 2008 when the landowner transfer tag disappears and more non-resident tags become available per unit amounting to 50% of all available tags making more non-resident Kansas tags available than ever before.
For those that want a Kansas landowner transfer tag, EBay will remain the best single secondary market source for those tags. Remember to use different sets of key word phrases when shopping on EBay and different tag results will be had.
Kansas archery hunters are best suited to NC, NE and SE Kansas. Rifle deer hunters may select from the entire range of avaible Kansas deer management units realizing that some of the western units make spot and stalk the prime deer hunting method. Those archery deer hunters that would like to hunt the big open of western Kansas will do better having pre-tag application scouted those leases.
The "other" consideration that has seen significant interest and success continues to be Missouri’s 4-ponit zone that has only been getting better. This effect has been well demonstrated by the Missouri resident/MAHA member that joins MAHA specifically to hunt Missouri and maybe then Kansas, but more likely Iowa as a secondary thought. The bottom line is those that know Missouri place it as a primary hunt consideration. Most Missouri deer leases will suit the bow and gun hunter.
Another comment about this time of year are the number of prospective applicants that email or call for advice on what unit/zone to apply for and end the conversation with the statement they "…will join the club if they draw a tag…" These applicants in the end find that by the time the Iowa and Kansas deer tags have been issued not only have we grown tired with this short sighted viewpoint, but also the door has closed due to our long standing policy of never having too many of any one type of hunter.
Typically after publishing such information as this, we will receive another wave of communications requesting clarification of one or more points above. Before anyone calls, understand the above information is nothing new although it may be new to any one particular reader. The provided information is typically all there is to know and there is not any further development possible. Next, have a read of the state website and their deer hunting regulations and application procedures. We do not engage in hunter training conversations of state hunting regulations. As a hunt on your own organization we expect every hunter to have read first hand all state regulations and offer no leniency to law violations.
For those seeking decision criteria of where to deer hunt based on bow or gun huntable ground or the lease with the right kind of habitat within any particular region, right to where to park their truck and hunt, those are the telephone calls we will engage. For the most part this approach has received favorable comments as many hunters realize that although the MAHA partners do cover a lot of ground each year they are just two hunters that see snapshots at various times and never quite the entire picture of all that any one lease has as potential. Good luck to all this season!
Dog Owners
All pet and hunting dog owners may want to read the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance Sporting Dog Defense Coalition Quarterly Report found at www.ussportsmen.org. Another example how dog hunters/owners/kennels are a "back door" point of attack for the anti-hunting groups.
