Deer Lease
Deer lease considerations for examining any hunting lease option as comparison to Mid-America Hunting Association self guided private land deer hunting.
What Other Deer Hunters Have Told Us
Results Through This Association
Every deer picture on this web site came off Association hunting lease land.
Not having an idea of the available deer hunting lease options frequently is the cause of not having an idea of what to use as decision criteria. This is in terms of anyone lease type that may be more suitable for any one hunter.
Within this article we offer a listing of deer hunting lease types, pitfalls and lease selection criteria. At the end a description of the private land self guided hunt option we provide in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa.
An Individual Deer Lease
"My deer lease", this is the first thought most trophy hunters have. That is, one place just for that hunter. The pitfalls of this lease approach include that if that hunter is not in proximity to regularly put eyes on that lease it is likely that land will not be his alone due to covert hunter access.
The next consequence of a limited acreage lease is that the hunter has placed all his eggs in one basket so to speak with just one lease. That one lease needs to be large to have the type of isolation necessary to hold trophy quality racked bucks. If not, then that hunter has done more good for the economy than his hunts.
Contrast this to Mid-America Hunting Association lease approach where every deer hunter scouts as many leases as he has time. Most scout over 2,000 and up to 4,000 acres of land. In that acreage most have up to five farms they consider first choice deer hunting spots. Each hunter may then pick and choose from day to day where he wants to hunt. A flexible lease approach that creates options for the hunter to apply his skill at finding big bucks.
Over the years the same deer hunter may build on success by furthering his scouting covering more lease land. It is by this method of the hunter seeking out his buck of choice over that of just having one lease that puts more skill into the hunt. This reduces the need for luck of hoping a buck of choice shows up on any one lease being hunted.
Deer Lease & Dedicated Hunters - One More Example Of Association Success
John/Jon:
I just wanted to send you guys a note to tell you how happy I have been to hunt on MAHA leases the last few years, and especially recently when I shot a nice buck in the [location deleted] season. All the MAHA property I have hunted is well taken care of, has a lot of game, and appears to have been carefully chosen by you guys to provide the members the best opportunities around. As an Army officer stationed at Fort Riley with multiple deployments under my belt and another likely on the horizon, I greatly appreciate having access to great hunting/fishing land and an easy system to reserve where you want to go. Now, on to the hunting story...
I was hunting last week on a MAHA lease, and had a stand set up overlooking some CRP and a wooded dry creek bed with lots of good sign. I heard a deer behind me close (40 yards) running through the grass, so I turned around, saw a good rack but knew I had to stop him in order to shoot accurately, so I gave a loud imitation of a call (with my mouth, so no telling what it really sounded like) and he stopped on a dime, broadside 35 yards away. His head/rack was partially behind a bush, and I shot at the vitals.
He bounded 20 yards and fell over in high grass. I got down and then started doubting myself on rack-size since I never really got a good look at it -- hoped it wasn't a raghorn since it was early in the season still. Well, I was pretty darn pleased when I walked up to him -- 21 inch spread, 10 pointer, G2s/G3s all about 13-14 inches. Picture attached. Thanks again! Steve
Small Group Hunting Lease
The classic deer hunting lease where a small group of friends join financial power to lease a bit of ground for their exclusive hunting use.
The common description is a non-resident has a lease in either Kansas or Iowa, hunts it when he gets a tag. That hunter then tries to get others to hunt it for pay to pay the lease the years he does not successfully draw a tag. This lease story continues about the quality of the other hunters, problems they may occur with the landowner/lease holder such as attempts to secure the lease for themselves. After a couple of seasons of this lease approach that hunter typically seeks a better option.
Works great if that group can compromise on stand locations, hunting methods and quality standards. All combine to equally work the food plots, clean the camp, etc. For these same reasons is why this lease option is the least employed of all. Overcoming personal preferences in a business lease agreement is an on going struggle that never seems to get satisfied.
Contrast that small acreage lease approach to Mid-America's collective buying power of acquiring large acreage corporate farm hunting lease land. Payback to the hunter is a higher quality wildlife acreage rather than farmed ground.
The corporate lease is a commodity operation. In our case we seek only grain farms. This is where the better hunting will be found. Where there is food first then cover nearby is where the better bucks will be found. What is not so widely known is these corporate farms are limited to grain crops. This means they are not running livestock in non-plowed ground leaving it as a higher quality protective cover for wildlife. A better hunting lease.
Any hunters consolidating cash to lease anything less than 3,000 acres will find that farmer diversified with livestock on the non-plowed ground.
A lease that many prefer due to its woody cover. About as much wood cover to be found in agricultural regions.
Deer Hunting Club Lease
A group lease of disconnected individuals that team up under a set of rules to gain better land.
These are individuals that can hunt on their own and only require the land resource to do so. This lease system works great if the members are willing to pay for the administration and enforcement of the hunting lease rules. Without this key aspect this lease approach is doomed for the same reasons for the small friendship lease.
Part of the overhead of the Association is that of rules and organization. The less glamorous side of a hunting lease operation. This leaves all hunters free to just hunt. That is after all what all want.
A better lease.
What the aerial does not show this lease is corporate land. Not a farm corporation but an investment corporation. The land is fallow, heavily grown up in protective cover of tall grass and brush. Cover more than enough the hide a loafing buck. This lease is surrounded by active farms.
Deer Lease High Points
There are several deer hunting lease criteria to consider. None of this will be new to any deer hunter. Especially those having had their own private land lease before. Its discussion here is for the reader and the Association coming to agreement on the foundation for success on private lease land.
Lease side notes.
Where to hunt the choice must have a long time history of trophy production. There will also be regions of better trophy production over other regions. Knowing this difference of which region is better between makes for more or less eyes-on and tag-on success. Or, where to acquire lease land. And, this one part is hard to learn without location based information.
Record books will come to mind as the source for the best regions. They may help. However, talk to all known whitetail hunters with several racks on the wall and ask how many certificates does that hunter have. The most common answer is the first record book buck has a certificate and after that the others are unknown to the books. Further, does any one hunter's mounts come from the same lease? Most likely not.
The first are the creation of options within the lease.
Deer will make a liar out of most hunters far more frequently than most are willing to admit. The greatest enhancement to a successful whitetail hunt in terms of any lease are the inclusive options of where and when to hunt. The more lease options the better.
Options include multiple food sources to ensure a more stable year round whitetail population. Not possible on a small acreage lease.
Year round water as deer will, must, drink every day.
Multiple types of habitat to accommodate seasonal weather and behavioral changes. Again hard to achieve on a small acreage lease.
Without this last bit there will be far fewer deer that have that one piece of ground as their core or home range. Home range is first and foremost established and sustained by having a ground cover area that suits the doe to give birth and raise their fawns.
Lease length is an often forgotten aspect. Most hunters take the wrong approach. It is common that they will try a deer hunting lease for a year and if it works come back to lease it for another year.
The most accomplished deer hunter to learn any one piece of ground takes multiple trial and errors before the desired trial and success. That one golden nugget of a spot on any lease the hunter may be blind to until having enough time on the ground to detect seasonal patterns. Giving up a lease before that point is simply a hunter jumping from property to property. Or, in this case more likely lease to lease helping the economy more than his hunting.
Cost
A failed and frequently used prime criteria.
Put the idea of cost aside. Let us agree that once any one that puts a price tag on having fun they will find the price always too high. Cost is to be the last criteria as should be travel distance for the same reasons.
Put It All Together
There are other deer lease options to consider, However, using these criteria when evaluating any possible lease opportunities the deer hunter is more likely to come to a better decision than without them. And, our self guided hunts options in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa satisfies many of these decision points.
With MAHA every deer hunter hunts as a:
Do it yourself or self guided hunt.
Hunts over multiple farms.
Hunts multiple stands.
His choice of habitat
Any time during any deer season.
As often as he has time.
Within our system when he hunts a piece of land he hunts it alone.
We offer three prime and well known deer hunting states: Kansas, Missouri and Iowa. Within each of these states we make the entire state available selecting the right deer habitat in the right region of the state that has a history of deer production. We handle the deer lease administration of the written contract, landowner liability insurance and patrolling to insure we get what we pay for.
Pitfalls occur in all systems and we work to avoid them. We are not the perfect operation for all deer hunters. Most will find the Association to be one more comparison option to come to a better decision that fits any deer hunter.
Rare Group Success
"Hey John and Jon, Thanks for another fun and successful bow hunt. Please keep up the good work. 4 out of 4 on the bucks and 3 does for a little extra bonus."
This is a group of traveling deer hunters that have hunted in their Association long enough they no longer deer scout pre-season. They travel up to spring turkey hunt, deer scout then come again for a deer hunt.
This hunting Association has been around a long time. We have pictures spanning back to the 1960's. A few, more from the 70's, A lot from the 80's and once the digital age hit in the mid 90's we have many pictures through to the current season.
Each picture on this web site comes at the courtesy of the hunter and we take that as a report card on the type of working relationship we can develop with hunters.
Hunter Success, Great When It Happens
Tad (2 deer) and Kevin (1 deer) are both 10+ year members that joined Mid-America Hunting Association while attending school. They both moved on to pursue their careers out of state and renew their dues each year, since some of their best memories were hunting together in the Midwest.
Despite an overloaded work schedule, the two long time hunting companions unite for a couple trips each year. They enjoy hunting a variety of game, but their main focus is deer and turkey. Over the last 3 years, they have not pulled the trigger on a deer save for a deer to mount. They have had several close encounters and seen numerous quality deer, but the last couple of years, the luck always seemed in favor of the deer.
