I am considering buying a small piece of woods (very small) there and would like some info about the hunting.

I live in a county that borders MO in N Arkansas. I drive several miles through S Missouri to get to the place I hunt. The bucks aren't usually very big but there are lots of woods and lots of deer. Quite a bit of public land. In the fall when it is dark you will have to dodge them to keep from hitting them driving. I was driving home one night this fall after hunting. And had to slow stop or dodge 6 different bunches of deer in the road. In 30 miles I probably saw 50. Many people have steel ranch hand type bumpers on their trucks to protect their trucks from them.

That sounds like a great place to be. I’m in Pennsylvania and the deer hunting here is pretty good. 15 years ago, I bought some hunting land in Vermont. I bought it mostly because there was a good grouse population but I have had some good luck on deer but even more years with bad luck. I recently became interested in MO as a halfway point for road trips out west. I also like the idea of deer hunting there and maybe finding some quail. I am thinking about 5-10 acres in the upper Ozarks near public land. I know northern parts of the state are known for bigger bucks and more quail but the land up there is a lot more expensive.

Good friend of mine is selling his 150 acre farm in Missouri. It's in the northern middle part of the state along the Iowa border. It's great hunting property with lots of quality deer. My cousins are just north of the Ozarks, I go there for turkey hunting, no shortage of birds.

I wish I could afford 150 acres and have the time to hunt it. Maybe when I get closer to retirement. I have 130 acres in VT but that’s 6 hrs from home so I can get there enough to make it worthwhile. The taxes are getting too high up there though. I am looking for a small plot of 8-10 acres or so and ideally, for under $15k. I want ot to be close to public land so I have somewhere to hunt more seriously. I want it as a place to build a tiny cabin (no utilities) to sleep in as a halfway point on trips to Colorado. I would hunt in MO probably once every year or two depending on how much time I can get away. I figure a 10ish acre property would be good for a stand or two if it is being used by deer or turkey. If I want to hunt bigger woods I would hit public land. It would be a small amount of money tied up if I cannot get there very often.

The weird thing is that I have found a couple properties that I am interested in. I intended to make an offer on one but I can’t get the listing agent to return a call or email. Maybe it sold or something or the agent doesn’t move very fast. That may be the norm out there. It would cause problems where I am from.

Land for that price would be in the southern part of the state.

In the right place you will have plenty of deer. In the wrong area and you will have very few deer and turkeys.

What county are you looking in?

Personally would not buy unless I saw it in person and was able to walk it.

I have been looking in areas near public land, especially the Twain Natiomal Forest. Specifically, Washington, Iron and Crawford Counties. The property that I was going to make an offer on is in Washington County.

Not familiar with the area but betting on a hunch it's pretty good hunting. We used to hunt Texas county to the SW of there and lots of turkeys in the day.

Get on Missouri department of conservation and you can see kill nbers by county on both deer and turkey. Turkey numbers may be broken down into fall and spring seasons.


https://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/hunting-trapping/species/deer/deer-harvest-reports/deer-harvest-map

https://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/hunting...r-harvest-reports/deer-harvest-summaries

I noticed Missouri has CWD, has it effected the deer herd that much?

Not so much the CWD itself, but it has the local residents spooked pretty bad (I have hunted Chariton County for decades, I grew up there and have family in the area). I know a lot of guys who are pretty circumspect about shooting a deer in Macon or Linn Counties (which border Chariton) because they were the ground-zero of the outbreak (due to a game farm that imported sick deer to the area). I've had my deer checked by MODOC guys trying to find out more about the disease.
Due to family things going on, I haven't hunted for the past few years, but I wouldn't be scared to hunt there. Just bone out the meat, it's okay. We always boned out the meat anyway.

Tn just got it's first positive this last season and has grown to 191 positives in one year. The county I hunt is in the Red Zone and it's going to change the way I hunt for sure.

land is pretty cheap in iron and parts of washington county, but i would avoid those areas. deer numbers are low, poaching, meth, easement issues, and other factors.

id personally try to stay near the I-70 AND I-44 corridors myself.

https://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/hunting-trapping/species/deer/deer-harvest-reports/deer-harvest-map

here's a link of the 2018 harvest per county

are you planning on archery or firearms hunting?

Thanks. I already made an offer but we will see what happens. If it is declined, I have others that I am looking at. One is in Benton County but is a little bit more expensive than I would like.

Benton County would be a good area. Also right at Truman Lake which has excellent crappie fishing.

I noticed you mentioned quail. I don't know what other guys are seeing, but there just aren't much around. Unless the northern half has a better population. I grew up in central MO, still have family and property there, and haven't seen a quail in longer than I can remember.

A lot of the inexpensive listings either lack road frontage or are part of a subdivision with access through a gated road. I do not want to deal with a homeowners association. The realtor on the Washington County property does not reply to messages so I think I am going to pull the plug on that if I don't hear back soon. I'll take my time trying to find the right spot.

Seems like a lot of money to tie up for such little use. You are looking at a couple hour detour off the interstate, and that small of an acreage isn't likely to provide consistent hunting success unless you are really lucky on the location. Plus you have to worry about thieves and vandals since it will be unoccupied the vast majority of the time.
There is some pretty good public land hunting around Truman lake and some good fishing on the lake, both of which could be enjoyed while staying in a nearby motel or campground. I'm not trying to pee on your cornflakes, just some food for thought.

I would be concerned if I was an absentee owner, The “natives” may be the ones to enjoy your land. They get to hunt, you get to pay the taxes.

Unless you are in an area where year round residents can watch it for you, people you trust such that they aren’t the intruders.

Birthright can be a strong soul tie to a hunting property, often a generational thing. Improvements like cabins, etc can result in even more exposure.

You may not end up with what you bargained for. Devil’s in the details.

DF

That where our place is. Tons of deer and pretty decent population of turkeys to hunt.

You may be right. I gave up on the one location that I was ready to buy. The realtor was nearly impossible to get a response from so I just withdrew my offer. I am going to keep looking but unless I see something really tempting, I may try a hunt in the area from a camp site to get a better feel for what I would be getting into.

Anyone know anything about Reynolds County?

CWD.....like it or not is in states that won't admit it

Yep

I live in Butler and also have land in Wayne

Both border MTNF

Good hunting? Decent people? I read somewhere online that the area has a lot of poachers and people hunting deer with dogs. Any truth to that or just rare troublemakers like everywhere else? Thanks

Theeck, I live in MO. Grew up in Livingston Co., have lived or hunted a lot of places. Reynolds, Iron, Washington, and nearby counties are rough places for an absentee owner. You may well come to your cabin to find a meth lab inside, or the structure burnt to the ground. I hunted near Boss/Bunker some years ago, there were deer, but they were all at a dead run, due to the hillbillys running them with ATV’s and dogs, Watchers on the ridges with walkies, telling the Atv riders where to go. Pretty wild and wooly over there. Few jobs, low wages, and welfare and dope are widespread. The Ozarks used to have moonshiners. Now they have methamphetamine labs. Benton county is good. As others have stated, absentee ownership carries risk, and the poorer areas of the Ozarks are a poor bet for sure. All over the Ozarks, there are a lot of people who have grown up in the same house their family has lived in for generations, fished the same holes their great grandfathers did, and hunted the same land their family has hunted for over a hundred years. They are not going to quit based on a plat map. An outsider is viewed with suspicion and may be taken advantage of. I had one acquaintance who bought a farm near Dora. He hired local guys to do work on the place, and tried to get along there. Until one of the people he was paying to work on the place told him they would be just as happy if he just packed up and left, but he could leave his money. Public land is full ofmguys during hunting seasons. I do not hunt public land for deer, for safety reasons as much as anything. Being next to public land nearly guarantees people hunting your place unless you are there running them off,

As far as small holdings, hunting success will be very limited, unless it is the perfect piece, such as a funnel where animals leave or enter a feeding area. If it is, chances are nearly certain that the locals know this, and either already own it, or hunt it anyway. I have a thirty acre place, and can hunt deer and turkey here, but it is better elsewhere nearby, so I hunt a buddy’s farm for the bigger stuff. Squirrels are abundant, so are rabbits. I could kill coyotes on my place for the rest of my life, I think. Call them into the woods from the pastures around my place and shotgun them. Pretty cool hunting when a healthy dog comes into the call with killing on his mind. We shoot them with rifles in the pastures, as well. We have quail, and some doves. I don't usually bird hunt. Said all that to say this: you need a forty acre place in a good area if you want to hunt it and succeed regularly, and plantimg food plots wouldn’t hurt. I would go so far as to say you will want to be in the northern half of the state, and taxes and prices are higher up there. Pretty hefty investment for a sometimes place. Under no circumstances would I leave a cabin unattended anywhere in the Ozarks for a year or more. It is worth the cost to be north of I-70 if you want to have a getaway spot.

There are bad apples in every county

IMO there are so many deer around here.....poaching and running dogs seems silly

My father owns a 14 acre piece in northern MO in Putnam county. Near the Iowa border. I believe he paid about 1K an acre, and we don’t get out there every year to hunt, but he has taken a decent buck each year he has hunted it. I think six of them in the last 9 years. It seems a local or two hunt it also, but it hasn’t had an impact on us that we have noticed, and the locals may have stopped using it since there was a house put in just across the road.
The larger pieces of public land near there are a war zone during rifle opening weekend, lots of cars and campers, but we hit a smaller one later in the season last year and had the place to ourselves. Even managed to get a decent 11 pointer who stumbled into my path as we were scouting. Most all land for sale in this particular area is owned by the same guy, and he makes a killing leasing it out to hunters. It’s a fun area to hunt as long as you can be patient, as the smaller chunks are a bit slow even during the rut, at least in our experience. Hope this helps, and good luck!

Most of the deer hunters in Missouri are hunting on the weekends especially opening weekend. If you hunt on week days, you can pretty much have public land to yourself. A lot more peaceful and safe on public land during the week. I hunt my own private land in Missouri, but I enjoy deer hunting during the week more so than on weekends. Deer are probably moving more on weekends, but deer are more in their normal patterns during the week.

Wow, it sounds wild out there. I think I will wait and make a decision later. I may try a hunting trip out there and see whether I like it. Thanks for all of the info.

Missouri sells over 400,000 deer tags per year

We have no shortage of hunters but only a limited amount of public land