Missouri public hunting grounds
 

Anybody hunt public ground in NE Missouri? Is the Atlanta CA or Indian Hills CA open to hunt turkey? Any good? Any other sugestions appreciated. Cannot afford an outfitter this year and I have no private ground to hunt this year. Thanks

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

I know there's lots of public ground down in the Mark Twain Nat. Forest. Also I believe Army Corp. ground surrounding the lakes like Truman are also public, and very good hunting. I've always wanted to put in with a boat, travel to a desolate area, and hunt turkey, it would be alot of fun! Good luck this year! Scott.

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

As for the Mark Twain, I have hunted it for the past 15 years. I am seeing more and more people every year....

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

Mark Twain has alot of ground and you are probably right, more and more people every year. I would like to find a public area up around Memphis or Rutledge. Have a couple non-hunter friends up there. Guess I'll just have to drive over and look around next month.

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

Public land will seperate the men from the boys

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

Mr. longbeard yes it will. But what fun is it to drive 15 hours to have 4 other guys calling to the turkey that is strutting 50 yds from you?? Mo. is getting more and more preasure.

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

Rebels Cove near Landcaster is excellent. Might give it a try.

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

Cant say that I feel for ya dude... Been hunting pressured Gobblers all my life and I deal with that bull !@#$ every spring... Your lucky you only have resident nuckle heads to deal with... I have three states worth of f!@# sticks to deal with. See I live in the Tri State area. Md,Pa,WV... All three states within 15 minutes of my hunting ground...

But somehow I manage to put my tag on these weiry gobblers almost every spring;)"it is what it is"

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

Mr.Longbeard I hear you brother, I am from Mercer County PA. If a turkey gobbles here 9 guys hear it. It was not like that 25 years ago. If and I say if I could find a bird I could work him until I killed him. Now if you park your turck along a back road, when you come out of the woods there are two other trucks parked there with you.

But In Mo. we are seeing more and more men hunting. And a steady decline of birds to hunt.I have been hunting Texas andShannon Counties for the past 15 years, my father in-law has been for more than 30 years.We just don't see the turkey sign, or hear the birds thatwe once did.

But we go to Mo. for 9 days away, it is a good time and the turkey hunting is only part of sleeping in a tent with ticks for 9 days.

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

man I thought there was supposed to be more birds now than ever

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

Not where we hunt in Missouri, just more men hunting..

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

And now I see that we get to pay $175.00 for our 2 tags......

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

[:'(]I have been planning a trip to MO for the last three years, I my son is in the 82nd Airborne & we justcan't juggle the schedule.
Plus he has been deployed over 700 days between Iraq & Afganistan...
He found out about the turkey hunting in Mo while in basic training at Leonard Wood. There web site was easy to use & gives you maps w/game species, vegetation types, camping etc. I found it very helpful...

Sounds like their secret is out & lots of hunters in the woods, same as WI in some spots. Except wenow have people shooting each other overhere!
Our public lands that are close to the metro areas, 30/45 minuets from home get hammered! But they are loaded with game also, all of the construction in the area has killed the family farms. They were smart & took the money & run, work your hands to the bone for $ 5 bucks an hour.
New subdivisions every were & all those small wood lots gone forcing the game into these area's.
We just lost 10,000 acres of forest crop land in prime Central WI cedar swamp/oak ridges, timber, cornfields. It had been open to public use forever, then one day a sign...

Inow travel to MN for a week of hunting & saw the pressure there also!
This year I found an Archery only WMA in MNcalled the Dr. Johan C Hvoslev,no guns allowed. 200 aces of everything plus a trout stream running Thur it!

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

The reason we raise the cost or our tags isto keep up withthe cost of surrounding states price for out of staters.

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

$175.oo for 2 turkeys??? Well last time I checked Texas was 100.00 for 4 birds, and here in PA you get deer and all small game for 101.00, and for 41.00 more you get your 2nd spring gobbler tag. Mo is not even close with the price....

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

I hunt mainly public ground in southeast Missouri. The hunting is awsome. We have some private land but owners won't give permission, even if they don't hunt. So i take what I can, I hunt public land and have great success.

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

[quote]ORIGINAL: bullshooter

$175.oo for 2 turkeys??? Well last time I checked Texas was 100.00 for 4 birds, and here in PA you get deer and all small game for 101.00, and for 41.00 more you get your 2nd spring gobbler tag. Mo is not even close with the price..


Texas is actually 120.00 for just turkeys. Many states are more than that. To hunt turkeys in Tenn. all season you are going to pay 251.00, which I will. I can can take four and I can deer hunt also next season with the same license. Out of state licenses are only going to increase in time. It's called inflation[:'(][:@]. PA will increase in time. With the cost of some non-resident licenses, I don't think 175.00 is that bad. You better enjoy it while it lasts.

RE: Missouri public hunting grounds
 

Yes the cost will increase. Big bucks in huntung these days. With folks making more and more money and willing to part with it, the conservation commissions want some of that dough and they will get it. People will pay anything to hunt. I would hate to be a young hunter just starting out in these times with the cost of things so high.

Olered,
I just returned from a 2 week work/hunting trip to NE Missouri. I hunted several different public lands, including Deer Ridge & DaleDavis. Now you must take into account I hunted the 3rd week, but overall I would rate the quality as pathetic. There were virtually no birds on public ground. Was wise enough to move quickly to areas bordering private timber. There were some birds there, including 2 toms I called in right up to the fence, 15 yards from me. However, they would not cross. Had encounters with a couple others but they were obviously pressured.

After talking to the locals, I concur the glory days of Missouri are over for now. Several consecutive cold, wet springs have resulted in very poor hatches. The lack of jakes was especially evident. I have no plans to return there unless quality improves.

I was told there are still birds on the public in the southern part of the state, but not the northeast.

Guys, it's $190 this season. I was there and paid it. Wish it was $75 like it was the first year I hunted there. But to be honest, I would pay twice that amount to come and hunt Missouri. By far my favorite place in the country to hunt. Been up there since the early 90's. I agree that there has been a decline in birds. Seems that there has been bad hatches in isolated areas. The farms I hunt in NW MO have plenty of birds. I have seen several bunches of jakes each year including this year, not to mention heard 20 plus gobblers on each farm I hunted.

"Seems that there has been bad hatches in isolated areas."

I don't think it's so isolated. Just driving through I used to see birds in fields from my truck all the time. These days it is the exception. When the numbers thin out, the public land really sucks because every tom you see has been pressured. At these times it sure pays to have private lined up.

After my crappy trip I checked out Iowa and looks like they want $102 plus $52 point fee for $154 for one bird. Forget that. Think I'll try Wisconsin next spring if I hunt outside Illinois.