Missouri public land hunt

I've always hunted NW Missouri, but I would say the closer to the river the better. Although all of Missouri is better than Louisiana lol.

Bow???

I would highly recommend to go the last week of bow season and bring the gun as a back up plan if u don’t kill with your bow.. For two reasons:
1 opening weekend of gun season is a cluster frick and the deer disappear once all that hunting pressure is put on them..
2 the rut normally starts the last week of bow season and depending on timing you may be missing the rut if you wait for gun season.

We bow hunted a place around Columbia called yellow creek and another called fountain grove. I think they may have been bow hunting only not sure.. I killed a 130 9 point the first day and a doe a few days later. I decided to shot a doe so I moved my stand where I wouldn’t have so far to get her out.. I shot her about 100 yards from the walk in area after 10 other hunters walked in by me that morning. I had a group of 12 does come by. (That’s how much difference it is up there compared to here) I had does and most the time bucks within bow range every hunt and had a 130 10 point in range at one point also. Saw more rut action in that one week than I’ve seen in 20 years around here.

Be prepared to walk atleast a mile in and mile out. 3 of 5 of us killed good bucks. The area we killed bucks in was a 3 mile round trip walk.

Also make sure you have a good GPS to walk in and out In the dark

Take a game cart to get the deer out. If you and your hunting partner are in the same area it’s a good idea to take the cart In with you can chain it to a tree somewhere near by that way you don’t have to walk all the way back out to get it if one of you kill. I found that out the hard way. I walked in to hunt and killed the 9 point then had to walk out to get the cart and back in to get the deer and then back out with the deer. (6 miles total)

Be prepared to field dress the deer. Take a good knife and some gloves preferably ones that go up to your elbows if u can.

And lastly but most important Make sure u are legal! we got checked 3 times in one week and hit a game stop on the hwy on the way home. They love to check hunters with Louisiana license plates.. Read up on the regulations for each CA you will hunt. Some are different than others. And read up on the laws for transportation of game. When we went CWD wasn’t an issue yet.

Also make ABSOLUTELY sure that if you kill a deer, you telecheck it by 10pm that night! The conservation agents watch that like a hawk and you WILL get a phone call if you notch your tag but do not telecheck it by 10pm. Made that mistake this past year. Shot a 137" 10 point on a CA at 3:45 and telechecked it. Had to walk 1.5 miles back to the truck to get the cart and some help, and we got the deer out of the woods after 8pm. Got back to the house and hung it up and started celebrating, completely forgot to telecheck it. Woke up at 5:30 the next morning and it hit me, so I picked up my phone and telechecked it on the app. By 9am the conservation agent called and grilled me about it ....He let me off with a warning though since he knew I was from out of state. I know better for next time!

Been hunting public land up there for the past 3 years, and killed 2 pope and young bucks along with a couple does. You have to put in the work, and the crowds are normally crazy in there around the rut. Some good deer though, just have to think outside the box sometimes.

If you would like to spend a little money to save time look these guys up, we used them bow hunting deer.

Northern Missouri's Grand River Outfitters

How do you get deer back to Louisiana that you want to mount? Don’t you have to take out the skull and all bones before bringing it back over state lines?

It has to be completely caped out, and have a clean skull plate. There's a bunch of videos that show you how to do it. It's not hard. Just take your time. Or you could pay a taxidermist or someone to do it for you up there also if that's easier.

Luckily I do my own taxidermy so I had that part figured out already lol.

You actually can't bring any portion of the spinal column back, so if you kill a big one you'll have to debone the neck, but you can still bring the quarters back in tact.

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Chances of getting caught bringing a head back in a garbage bag?

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i live in mississippi and hunted missouri last year, kentucky the previous 4 years. odds of getting caught with a deer crossing lines are 0.00000000001%. Put it this way. In 36yrs old, and have NEVER been pulled over and had bags searched on my truck, have you?

i have forthe past 7 or 8 yrs

We’re going to have everything inside an enclosed trailer so we could just put the deer in thick garbage bags and put them in there too. Hopefully the Columbia area will produce 1 or 2 good bucks for us this year.