I am relatively new to deer hunting and don't have a feel for what is a reasonable price to pay for access to good hunting. I have been offered a slot to hunt 700 acres in Missouri for 5 days during the 2010 season. I have confirmed through references that the owner does a lot to the property to support good deer hunting (food plots, corn feeders, mineral licks, etc.). The property has many good enclosed blinds and ladder stands. They emphasize low-pressure hunting and scent control. There are lots of deer. A typical buck on the property is 130-class with several 140/150-class and a few 160-180 class that survived gun season (I was sent photos from a few weeks ago).

He is offering the first 5 days of the 2010 rifle season for $1700. The rifle season is usually only 9 days long. Only 5 hunters will be allowed during this time. Lodging in a nice house is included. The $1700 entitles you to one doe (they are fat) and the right to a legal buck. If you take a buck there is a $400 trophy fee. So, $2100 for a doe and a buck. One additional doe can be taken for $250. So, it could be two does and a buck for $2350. If you don't fill your tags during the 5-day rifle period, then you can make arrangements to come back during muzzleloader season to try and fill your tags. The last 2 years everyone who went got a buck. I was sent pictures and they look nice to my inexperienced eyes. He raised the price for 2010 by several hundred dollars, which is why a spot has opened up. I really like the hunting I've done so far and I love venison, so I'm seriously thinking about doing this. As I said I'm inexperienced and have no idea how I would go about finding a decent place to hunt in Texas, so the idea of being able to drive to Missouri for access to 700 acres of good hunting seems very appealing to me.

I was just wondering if this sounded like a fair deal and would appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

The package sounds good, I am just a tad leary over 5 guys on 700 acres. Best of luck

Do a search for a simiular hunt package here in Tx and then compare. You will more than likely find there isn't anything close to the Mo. hunt as far as the price. As mention before, ask about the 700 acres. Is that all for you or for all 5 guns.

You can find a lease for $2350 bucks and have more than just five days of hunting. You may have to get out of that mess you are in (Dallas) in order to find a good lease. If you really enjoy hunting that much then I would recomend finding your own place. jmo Good luck!!

I think you can get away w/ cheaper hunting here in Tx.

its not a terrible setup buts it not awesome either IMO, you can find a lease for under 2000 a gun in texas, hence for that price you might not get as big of a buck but u can shoot alot more things and have alot more days to hunt. in short, what you are doing is paying 2000 for a 5 day buck hunt. unless you shoot a 150+ I think I would rather get on a lease with buddies closer to home so u can hunt all season.

Amen brother!!! I never understood why someone would rather hunt for a week than all year long. Just my opinion...to each his own.

I'd go for the lease option too, but keep in mind that the basic lease cost is not the complete package if you do it right. Do you have the blind(s) and feeder(s) you'll need. Feed can run a good bit if you have more than one stand, and feed year round. Protein, food plots... Camp setup, trailer, ranch vehicle, fuel, food, etc.... and there is also time and work involved. I enjoy the lease/own angle, but if you're not set up with most of this already, or can't find a lease thats already fairly turn-key for hunting, the package hunts may be a good to way to get in the field (but budget for fair tips for guides, cook, and the like).

its not that bad. Is it western mo.? if its not a would be leary

i love missouri and hunt there every few years with my uncle and cousin. the out of state license was a little north of $125 last time i went.
i did get a nice buck, but i have to say that a lot of central missouri is still farm hunting and some use drive hunting.
so, the 700 acres might be great territory, but the acreage around it may yield 50 gunshots on opening day.

a lot of these guys actually hope that someone shoots on the hill/farm behind them, so that it drives the deer their way.

the first year i went there, i saw almost no mature deer at the processor or check station. what i saw was a lot of button bucks and yearling bucks.

since then, they have applied some regulations that seem to have lessened this decimation of the young deer.

it seems pretty high to me, but it is all about what the market will bear..

i would also ask Nuprofessor, as he lives in central missouri and probably has more insight than the rest of us.

Thanks for all of the feedback. I talked to a veteran hunter tonight who's hunted there the last few years and he's been very satisfied. He said the deer have gotten bigger and more plentiful every year. He also said the property doesn't have a problem supporting 5 guns in the field. Apparently the neighboring property owners all invest a lot of time and money to maintain a lot of quality deer. The property is in central Missouri near the city of Warsaw.

I think I'll try it for a year and see how it goes. I would eventually like to get a nice lease within a reasonable distance from Dallas, but right now I don't own any of the equipment needed to work a lease for deer. I do want a situation where I can spend a lot of time in the field, and to do that I'll need to get access to some property in Texas within a few hours of Dallas. If anyone's looking for a lessee then let me know. I'm honest, responsible, safe, and can pay cash. Thanks.

There are leases to be had within decent driving distance of DFW.

For less than 2k, you can get on a lease and still have some money to build a few blinds and feeders.

Most likely, the lease you are getting on will have some other guys on it already, so you'll probably only have to build one or two stands/feeders.

Advising from the perspective of an outfitter.

The price is fair if the deer numbers can take that much pressure. It sounds to me like they are selling another 5 guys the 2nd half of rifle season, so to me, this seems like to much pressure for 700 acres. But it could be OK if they are just covered up with deer, or the farm adjoins some large unhunted tracts. Get a copy of the harvest log from last year and ask if they have scores for all the bucks listed.

Also look at the other costs of the hunt. What will you be spending on out-of-state tag's and airfare or gas?

If the numbers work, go for it. If they don't then I'd keep my money in good ol' Texas....

Use of feeders is against the law there....

I'd be leary of someone advertising something that is illegal...

I thought that was the case Sig, I just didn't want to say anything in case they had changed it since I hunted there.

You can find similar packages 3-4 hrs from DFW for the same money and get as many deer and likely hogs/varmits thrown in. 130-150 class deer. It all depends on what you are looking for. If you just really want to hunt outside of Texas then have at it. I personally have spent all of the time I have hunted Whitetails in Texas but I would love to go see some of the Midwestern states just to go. Good luck with whatever you do. If you want to get on a lease this forum is a good place to be. Lots of good folks on here.

Use of feeders is not against the law in Missouri. Hunting feeders (baiting) is illegal. I know the property owner pretty well. He is the kind of guy who plays by the rules. He told me that they have feeders around the property that are filled during the off-season. During the season they only fill the feeder by the house because nobody is allowed to hunt by the house.

Here is a 2009 summary that the owner sent me. It sounded to me like a pretty well run operation.

We had a good year in 2009 with 7 bucks and 9 does being taken which was right in line with our management plan. Also, with this year's group of guys I think you would have to agree that it was a lot of fun as well. The good news is we should be set to have a great year in 2010! Two weeks ago we saw the most deer ever at one time at the house. There were 16 bucks and 19 does. Many of these bucks were at least 3 1/2 years old and 5 or more were 10-pointers. The 180 class buck along with his two friends in the 160 class also made it through. These bucks were dividing their time between my neighbor's and my place. This does not include the other bucks that live on the property but were not at the feeder. I am guessing there are a total of 25-30 bucks living on the property the majority of the time.

2010 General info:

Currently Feeding 1,000-1,100 lbs per week of corn

Deer Chow will be fed April 1st- July 15th (anticipate 700 - 900lbs per week)

15 mineral lick locations currently being maintained

Will have 10+ ladder stands.

New stand locations: We will be adding at least one enclosed blind to the 8 enclosed blinds that we currently have. Additionally, we will be moving several of the enclosed blinds to new locations.

Other 2010 plans include:

We will only kill does out of one or two stands

Refurbish the enclosed blinds to ensure better scent control.

Reminder: If you wound a deer but you can't find it then it still counts as a kill. Practice, Practice, Practice!! We can get multiple people to help look/track if you need it.

We will attempt to alternate days in the various blinds/stands so no blind/stand gets hunted more than 2 days in a row.

Just another thought.

For $1350 you could buy tags for muleys in Colorado or some other western state for four years. You can get set up with good backpacking gear for <$1000 easily and have top of the line gear.

You've got four years of hunting for the same price and since the gear is bought you'll only need tags to keep going back.

So you are saying that for about $350 I can buy a nonresident mule deer buck tag for Colorado and then backpack into public land and have a decent chance of getting a respectable muley buck? I would love to do that.

If that is true than that's awesome and I seriously need to start planning a trip like that. It kind of sounds too good to be true to me. What's the catch?