Missouri 🤔

[Wyhunter]

Just looking for some input on Missouri deer hunting. I currently live in Idaho and the wife and I are thinking about moving out to Missouri where we can buy a chunk of land. I would buy at least 28 acres so I could land owner tags. What is the deer population like? Is there descent public land out there? Is the hog population good?

 

[fulldraw]

All I can say is I would need a hell of a good reason to leave Idaho for Missouri. If you are looking for hunting opportunities I would stay out west.

 

[Dunning Kruger]

Isnt a "good" hog population zero? Destructive feral animals.

 

[Wyhunter]

All I can say is I would need a hell of a good reason to leave Idaho for Missouri. If you are looking for hunting opportunities I would stay out west.

Definitely not for the hunting. But, we can buy a 50 acre farm with a beautiful house for what we paid for our CBH home. I love the hunting in Idaho and would return as a non res every year. Its more about setting my family up for retirement. Youre looking at 500+ to buy anything in idaho with more than 1 acre.

 

[Wyhunter]

Isnt a "good" hog population zero? Destructive feral animals.

Yeah, but they are fun to hunt and fill a freezer

 

[3855WIN]

Missouri has a lot of public land and an outstanding wildlife department. I imagine hogs are hit and miss. Mostly miss.
Go further South and you can kill more deer each season.

 

[PeteTheBeat]

I live in Southwest Missouri. We have an abundant amount of white tails in this part of the state. Basically anywhere you go you're going to see lots of deer and lots of turkeys. Hogs are spotty. My current area does not have any but an hour in most directions they will. A good buck will range from 130 to 150 here with a handful of 180 to 190 inch deer being killed each year where I live. You have a much better shot at a larger deer the closer you get to Iowa.

 

[Wyhunter]

I live in Southwest Missouri. We have an abundant amount of white tails in this part of the state. Basically anywhere you go you're going to see lots of deer and lots of turkeys. Hogs are spotty. My current area does not have any but an hour in most directions they will. A good buck will range from 130 to 150 here with a handful of 180 to 190 inch deer being killed each year where I live. You have a much better shot at a larger deer the closer you get to Iowa.

Thank you for the info. Ive been looking somewhere within a hour of Springfield. Ill probably open up my own HVAC company over there and will need to be within a hour of a small city. Im happy with any 8 point or better. Hogs were just an added bonus since we dont have any in idaho.

 

[Wyhunter]

Missouri has a lot of public land and an outstanding wildlife department. I imagine hogs are hit and miss. Mostly miss.
Go further South and you can kill more deer each season.

Thank you. I heard they have one of the best wildlife departments in the nation. Im excited for the change. Been chasing elk, muleys, and bwar my whole life. Whitetails and turkey will be a change of pace.

 

[PeteTheBeat]

Lol, HVAC folks are much needed. They are like 3 weeks out right now. I live an hour north of Springfield. If it happens let me know. I'm a Realtor as well so I can probably help you in your search.

 

[BrentD]

Thank you. I heard they have one of the best wildlife departments in the nation. Im excited for the change. Been chasing elk, muleys, and bwar my whole life. Whitetails and turkey will be a change of pace.

This is good to hear. The head of their research department is one of my ex-postdocs and hunting partner from long ago.

 

[sigpros]

Southern Missouri is pretty nice. Public land here can be pretty crazy during gun season. And HVAC guys are always needed

 

[Desk Pop]

I lived there for 22 years, spent 2 years in TN, then moved to Idaho.

Missouri has plenty of deer and as far as I know, still holds the world record for a wild whitetail from a dead head in St. Louis county. The genetics are there.

Pigs are not a good reason to move to MO. Even where there are a lot, there are not enough to do well, especially without dogs. I would also check regs because they changed their stance on that and prefer to have hunters locate, then MDC comes and traps. I hunted Fort LW as a teenager for pigs with some buddies, found none, and think we were about to be raped by some shady as f army weirdoes.

I have hunted turkeys all over. Missouri has the best I have experienced and MDC is rightfully proud of their work. Spring season closes at 1pm every day. The turkeys act like turkeys and gobble more than anywhere. They set their rules so that there is no hunting purpose to have a rifle in the woods during spring turkey, which helps with poaching. No squirrel, woodchuck or coyote season run concurrently during that time on purpose. And the excuse for carrying a rifle in the woods during spring season of "my 2nd amendment right," has tried and failed, especially if you have a turkey call in your pocket with your 30-06 in hand...

Missouri has some good things going, but I would personally have a hard (impossible) time moving from Idaho back there....mostly because of hunting, but also the 100 degree summers with 99% humidity. Ball sweat from March to October is a game changer for me.

 

[OKED]

i have hunted the peck ranch wma a couple times in south Central Mo. and seen hogs both times largest deer we killed there was 148 inch ten point , seen lots in the 120s.

 

[Cheesehead]

Grew up in Joplin. Couldn’t get me to move back there for any amount of money. Hot, humid, lack of topography, nothing to do. Public land was crowded during rifle but plenty of deer if you had your own spot. Decent fishing and turkeys. If you were looking that direction, I’d say look at NW Arkansas too.

 

[coleslaw]

I was stationed in Ft Leonard Wood about 8 years ago. The Ozarks are a beautiful place and there is plenty of public land and some amazing fishing whether you are on a lake or river.
I mostly hunted on base, and took some very impressive bucks via archery. I had some friends who hunted on the Mark Twain National Forest nearby and they also did very well. It's mostly going to be big woods hunting and learning how to pattern bucks in time with the rut and the acorn drop. Almost all the trees are going to be oak, so acorns are extremely important in that part of the state, where there isn't as much agriculture except for beef ranches.
Please, nobody get offended when I say this, but the locals are a bit "different". The education system in Missouri leaves much to be desired and there is a lot of drug abuse. However, most of the people and neighbors that I met were very nice. It just took a bit of getting past the trust barrier. Once you were inside that barrier, they accepted you and would do anything to help you out as long as you were willing to return the favor.
As far as hogs, they really stepped up the eradication efforts after I left there in 2014 and I'm not sure there's much left. I would occasionally see sign or a few run across the road when out hunting or riding the ATV through the Mark Twain. A few buddies trapped and shot some, mostly just by bumping into them while deer hunting.
Overall, there is some pretty wild and beautiful country out there and I always thought the hunting and fishing was great. I was never bored in Missouri and wouldn't be mad if I ever had to move back.

 

[Steiny]

The biggest deer and probably best hunting is in northern part of state just under Iowa.
I've got a couple buddies not too far out of Jefferson City and they have killed some great whitetails.

Very generous with tags and tags are inexpensive. You can shoot a bunch of deer.

 

[HighDesertSage]

Definitely not for the hunting. But, we can buy a 50 acre farm with a beautiful house for what we paid for our CBH home. I love the hunting in Idaho and would return as a non res every year. Its more about setting my family up for retirement. Youre looking at 500+ to buy anything in idaho with more than 1 acre.

I just moved to Iowa last week. Similar situation. I will miss my overcrowded mountains in CO, but I bought and newly remodeled home on acerage for literally 25% of what a home was in CO. It's dead quiet here. Wife and I sat outside and watched the stars last night and we loved every minute of it. We committed to a debt free lifestyle last year, and we are on track to have this home paid for in 3-5 years. Once I no longer have a mortgage, I will hunt more tags, more often, in more states than I ever could have as a resident of CO.

I think the auto response is always going to be I would never leave this state for that state, but living somewhere for hunting has never made sense to me. The west is becoming more crowded, and there is more demand for tags than ever. I think this trend will continue and those with the most disposable income will hunt the better tags more often.

Also, I don't buy into the BS that the west has more opportunity, more variety, yes, but not more opportunity. I can chase whitetails with my bow from Oct 1 to Jan 10th. Kill two bucks a year, no draw, and the public land hunting is actually pretty good. In CO I was getting one buck tag every other year at best. I met my neighbor yesterday and he punches tags every year on public and offered to show me around. I get a pile of turkey tags every year, pheasants, waterfowl, and believe it or not they have trout streams here. Plus they'll be at least 1-2 trips out west for elk every year.

I think what you're doing is smart. I was done with CO when I tried to buy a home with a tiny little lot that was dump for $450k. That's a lifetime of debt, no thanks.

Good luck!

 

[Wyhunter]

So much good information and insight on this. I really appreciate everyones knowledge, passion, and respones. This is truly an awesome site with great people. Im willing to be a little hot during summer to set my family up for success. Maybe ill look towards Iowa because i have 2 little kids and education is important to me.

 

[HighDesertSage]

I looked at Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. I ultimately settled on Iowa because my wife's mom and dad live here and I felt it had the best education and healthcare options. My 7 year old is autistic and my 4 year old is a type 1 diabetic so Healthcare and good schools were very important to me. Shoot me a PM if I can help.