# Missouri Muzzleloader season insight needed



## Don’tgoenough (Aug 19, 2018)

5 of us are leaving the day after Christmas for a 5 day ML hunt in northern Missouri. None of us have been there before so it’s going to be a learning experience for sure. If anyone has been Down there this Late in the season any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. We will be primarily hunting private property with a mix of some crop fields, hardwoods and CRP acres and pasture ground. I expect it to be very similar as most other places this time of year and find the food source and you’ll find deer. We all understand that late season is not the best time for an out of state hunt but 4 of us work in ag and one in construction so time off to make a 5 day trip earlier in the fall is not an option for us. We’ve been doing late season trips to either southern indiana or Ohio the past few years with little to no success and decided to give Missouri a try as they have over the counter tags and secured about 500 acres of private in two parcels 3 miles apart. Who knows, could be boom or could be a bust but it’s time away in a new area at least.


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## steelyspeed (Apr 10, 2016)

Don’tgoenough said:


> 5 of us are leaving the day after Christmas for a 5 day ML hunt in northern Missouri. None of us have been there before so it’s going to be a learning experience for sure. If anyone has been Down there this Late in the season any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. We will be primarily hunting private property with a mix of some crop fields, hardwoods and CRP acres and pasture ground. I expect it to be very similar as most other places this time of year and find the food source and you’ll find deer. We all understand that late season is not the best time for an out of state hunt but 4 of us work in ag and one in construction so time off to make a 5 day trip earlier in the fall is not an option for us. We’ve been doing late season trips to either southern indiana or Ohio the past few years with little to no success and decided to give Missouri a try as they have over the counter tags and secured about 500 acres of private in two parcels 3 miles apart. Who knows, could be boom or could be a bust but it’s time away in a new area at least.


I think you have a great hunt if there is good food on that 500 acres. I would be really careful how you hunt mornings to not blow the deer out. Evening hunts are usually the best over food this time of year. Good luck!


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## Don’tgoenough (Aug 19, 2018)

steelyspeed said:


> I think you have a great hunt if there is good food on that 500 acres. I would be really careful how you hunt mornings to not blow the deer out. Evening hunts are usually the best over food this time of year. Good luck!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


That is my plan. Do more long range viewing, scouting in the morning to see if there may be a pattern to use later in the week and concentrate more on the afternoon hunts the first 2-3 days. Seems to be a problem doing as you only have a short time to hunt and really want hunt as much as possible and not waste time in the stand. But if you go in unknowing anything and blow them out the rest of the trip is a waste. The problem is going to be getting everyone on the same page. Having 2 farms 3 miles apart might help that scenario some.


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## Jet08 (Aug 21, 2007)

You have the right idea, food will be king. Hopefully the temps fall out the bottom for you that will help. A few years back I killed in Missouri on a -12 deg morning on Dec 27th, multiple bucks were running does hard that morning and I mixed them up and shot the smaller of the 3... whoops


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## Bucman (Jun 29, 2016)

Not the same as Michigan. 3 days I would be aggressive.


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## y2ba (Jan 9, 2005)

Im jealous! Done a few ML hunts around Unionville. Very cool area, terrain was nothing like i expected. We hunted CRP, cattle ranches, drainages and rolling bean fields. If you have bottoms/drainages along Ag...that's where id start.


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## Don’tgoenough (Aug 19, 2018)

y2ba said:


> Im jealous! Done a few ML hunts around Unionville. Very cool area, terrain was nothing like i expected. We hunted CRP, cattle ranches, drainages and rolling bean fields. If you have bottoms/drainages along Ag...that's where id start.


We’re going to be near Livonia which is roughly 15 miles east of Unionville. Are looks very nice from all the online scouting I’ve done and pinned some points of interest on OnX. Both farms have a mix on them for habitat but the north piece is close to 70% timber 30% crp, hay crop. The south piece is just the opposite as about 70% is crp, hay pasture and 30% timber. Both carry 100-150’ elevation change on different parts with lots of draws and a few cricks. Large river borders the east side of one property and that’s a large flat near that.


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## y2ba (Jan 9, 2005)

Very cool, good luck! First time i hunted that area, i wasn’t expecting it to be so remote. Just an FYI, if you need anything or forget something….Unionville has a Hardware/outdoor barn. I spent a week there in 2020, swore I’d never eat another Casey’s pizza or sub, that’s about all you’ll find close. Centreville, Iowa has a sit down diner, super neat Midwest town, stuck in time.


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## Don’tgoenough (Aug 19, 2018)

y2ba said:


> Very cool, good luck! First time i hunted that area, i wasn’t expecting it to be so remote. Just an FYI, if you need anything or forget something….Unionville has a Hardware/outdoor barn. I spent a week there in 2020, swore I’d never eat another Casey’s pizza or sub, that’s about all you’ll find close. Centreville, Iowa has a sit down diner, super neat Midwest town, stuck in time.


Thanks for the help Y2, we’ve all hunted southern indiana a few times and se Ohio a few times and those areas sound similar to where we’re going as far as towns and what to expect. Not really setting expectations very high on bringing bucks back home but no matter what shakes out we’re going to have a good time.


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## Don’tgoenough (Aug 19, 2018)

Update on hunt. We had a great trip and I will be going back. We ended up leaving to come home Friday instead of hunting Friday and driving back Saturday to get out before the winter storm hit northern Missouri and Iowa Saturday morning. They ended up getting just over 10” of snow with 30-35 mph winds on Saturday. We all saw deer on every evening sit but mornings were slow. deer movement picked up on my trail cam was between 11 and noon but nothing before that. 4:30 until dark was peak which was expected. Hunting the hills and fingers in fields is tough and if your one ridge or finger off from where they move they disappear in a hurry. I would love to be able to hunt those oak ridges when the rut is on and they are cruising but that will have to wait a few more years until I retire and can get down there earlier in the fall. One hunter with us tagged a buck (7pt) the first night and others were seen but either too small or stood on neighboring property just across the line where we couldn’t hunt. We were within 10 miles of the Iowa line and one day I took a drive and checked out some public in Iowa which looked really good in its own rite. All in all a good trip, just wished we could have stayed and hunted that last day before the storm but we made the right call according to our guy down there as roads we treacherous and some were un-drivable with blowing snow.


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

Just got back from 6 days out there in NW Missouri. Ii have hunted hard in MI and Missouri this year. The two biggest bucks I have seen have been in Missouri. I saw plenty of deer last week but I was only after 150" or better. I saw several nice bucks and focused on one specific farm with mostly corn stubble. I was new to this farm so last week was a learning curve. Most the bucks I saw were in the timber. Deer moved first hour and last 20 minutes of light. Deer must get shot at from the road a lot? Every deer I saw in the fields would run as far as you could see them just with the sight of a moving vehicle.
I will be returning again, quite a good hunt. Even with tag soup I really enjoyed my archery and muzzle loader hunt this past year. My first trip out in Nov I was just coming off Covid so I was very limited. I plan to squeeze Manitoba in this year but Missouri is our must trip.


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## casscityalum (Aug 27, 2007)

Don’tgoenough said:


> Update on hunt. We had a great trip and I will be going back. We ended up leaving to come home Friday instead of hunting Friday and driving back Saturday to get out before the winter storm hit northern Missouri and Iowa Saturday morning. They ended up getting just over 10” of snow with 30-35 mph winds on Saturday. We all saw deer on every evening sit but mornings were slow. deer movement picked up on my trail cam was between 11 and noon but nothing before that. 4:30 until dark was peak which was expected. Hunting the hills and fingers in fields is tough and if your one ridge or finger off from where they move they disappear in a hurry. I would love to be able to hunt those oak ridges when the rut is on and they are cruising but that will have to wait a few more years until I retire and can get down there earlier in the fall. One hunter with us tagged a buck (7pt) the first night and others were seen but either too small or stood on neighboring property just across the line where we couldn’t hunt. We were within 10 miles of the Iowa line and one day I took a drive and checked out some public in Iowa which looked really good in its own rite. All in all a good trip, just wished we could have stayed and hunted that last day before the storm but we made the right call according to our guy down there as roads we treacherous and some were un-drivable with blowing snow.


Glad you guys had a good trip. Just tell those pesky customers you got things to do and head down for rut. 


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## BigWoods Bob (Mar 15, 2007)

kingfisher 11 said:


> Just got back from 6 days out there in NW Missouri. Ii have hunted hard in MI and Missouri this year. The two biggest bucks I have seen have been in Missouri. I saw plenty of deer last week but I was only after 150" or better. I saw several nice bucks and focused on one specific farm with mostly corn stubble. I was new to this farm so last week was a learning curve. Most the bucks I saw were in the timber. Deer moved first hour and last 20 minutes of light. Deer must get shot at from the road a lot? Every deer I saw in the fields would run as far as you could see them just with the sight of a moving vehicle.
> I will be returning again, quite a good hunt. Even with tag soup I really enjoyed my archery and muzzle loader hunt this past year. My first trip out in Nov I was just coming off Covid so I was very limited. I plan to squeeze Manitoba in this year but Missouri is our must trip.


You guys lease ground, or hunt with someone you know?

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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

BigWoods Bob said:


> You guys lease ground, or hunt with someone you know?
> 
> Sent from my SM-A505U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


We are leasing


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