Turkey Hunting Lease
Plough through these articles as some information may be repeated on other pages. We never know at what point any one reader will enter this website
John L., and Tom S. Two of a party of six hunters that make it an annual spring trip to camp and hunt while enjoying the others' company. This group filled all tags this season and routinely does so with the occasional tag left on some years, but not due to a lack of birds. They do return to the same farm on most springs not because it is their spot, but because no one has reserved that ground for the days this group hunts each spring.
Private Land Turkey Hunting
Kansas, Missouri and Iowa spring season turkey hunting has created a high demand for individuals and parties to secure their own spot or buy a private farm for their exclusive use.
Many hunters seek private land to lease as access to land is becoming more and more difficult for the average individual or party. The other common cited reason is spring season hunter safety. This is not news to hunters. How that affects Kansas, Missouri and Iowa land access is the remainder of this discussion.
For Missouri, the deer 4 point one side restriction zone centered between Kansas City, St. Louis and Des Moines along with Missouri's over the counter spring turkey and fall deer tags has created a private lease land competition not seen before in our area. This agricultural region is far more attractive to the hunter than the Ozark Mountain region in southern Missouri simply due to larger turkey flocks and individual toms. Those that have hunted in north Missouri for deer are likely to retain that ground for spring turkey season as well.
In the case of Iowa, attempts to develop a turkey lease are stymied by Iowa's competitive spring tag and even more competitive fall deer tag. Few average hunters can afford to pay a yearly private land lease on the hopes of getting a tag.
A lease in Kansas would be the highest risk lease due to the thinner turkey populations and the ability to find the right lease in a state that seems over whelming in size and what may initially appears as limited turkey and deer habitat. For most average hunters to find that one thousands acres or so of land that has both good deer and turkey populations is a rare opportunity both in hunt quality and affordable cost.
Knowing the existing conditions of the hunting lease world gives that one more bit of information to make a more sound decision or how to hunt. Anyone can test the previous lease discussion points in as little as one weekend of effort or an entire summer working to develop his own private deer and turkey lease.
Self Guided Turkey Hunter/Member Feedback
Mid-America,
I'm a little late, but I'm writing to tell you about my spring turkey season and my deer season on club land. Maybe my letter will get some of the other guys in the club excited about the upcoming turkey season. Let me start off by saying that my 2005 season was my greatest season to date; I ended up shooting a 22 pounder and a 25 pounder. I honestly thought I couldn't have a better turkey season, but I was dead wrong. The 2006 season was different for me, because I decided to buy a non-resident tag for [location deleted]. The tag was a little pricey, but how can you put a price on the extended season and hunting time!
My season started when I started hunting out in [location deleted] for the first time. I chased turkeys for awhile out in [location deleted], but my first turkey came during the opening week of [location deleted] season. My gobbler came in with another tom and they would not separate for anything; I called both birds within yards, and finally my bird stuck his head out to peck my decoys. Needless to say, I put the 21 pound gobbler down for good.
The second gobbler I shot was 2 weeks later in [location deleted]; I arrived at my area near dawn when I first heard the gobbler call. As soon as the birds began to sing, I gave the first call on my slate call. The bird answered me a flew off his roost. He closed the distance fairly fast, but hung up outside of range. I coaxed the bird in for over 45 minutes before he finally gave me a 30 yard shot. I ran over and picked up my largest wild turkey ever! This giant bird weighed in right at 26 pounds, and had an eleven inch paint brush for a beard.
Three days later I traveled back to the great state of [location deleted] for some more turkey hunting. I previously hunted this lease earlier in the season, but I had no success. While turkey hunting there, I pretty much figured out where the birds were going.
On this trip, I altered my tactics to try and take advantage of the turkeys. I set up where I thought the turkeys were going to be and began my calling sequence. The first hour of light came with no gobbles in the area. This was most likely due to the 30 mph winds and the lateness of the season. I was near dozing off when I thought I heard a gobble. I made a call and the gobbler answered back; he was closing the distance fast! When he came into view, he was literally running towards my decoys. I shot him point blank right before he reached my decoy spread. He was an average tom right at 21 pounds with a 10 inch beard.
I continued turkey hunting all the way up to the last day of the [location deleted] season; I think I was pretty much the last one in the association that was still turkey hunting. I hunted hard, but I couldn't close the distance on my 4th turkey. I had an absolute blast hunting both [states deleted] for turkeys.
My deer season was very awesome as well; I didn't get a chance to hunt as much as I wanted to, but I still seen large numbers of deer. I shot a doe on the second day of bow season. This was kind of crazy because of the extreme temperatures that were going on. I wanted to harvest at least one doe on club lease so maybe in the long run it might help the buck to doe ratio on some of the lands. This is something I try to practice every season I'm out bowhunting for big bucks. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to hunt again until rifle season. Although I seen some nice bucks, I didn't see a deer big enough for met to shoot. I passed a number of nice 2-3 year olds that will be real good next year. Anyways, another season has passed and I wanted to share some of my experiences with you guys. thanks again to all the staff that helps out; you guys make our hunting association great.
Sincerely, [name deleted]
Turkey Hunter Safety
One of the biggest drawbacks to the average landowner trying to operate his own hunting lease is the fear of liability in case of a hunting accident. Some are also hesitant because they are not familiar with the background of the hunter and they are scared the unknown hunter, rather than a neighbor, will do more damage to their land than the price is worth.
MAHA is an alternative for both the do it yourself hunter looking for private hunting land and the landowner trying to generate some additional income. The cushion we provide the landowner makes it possible for more hunting land to become open to hunters. That cushion is our hunting liability insurance coverage of the landowner, the release of liability form for members and that we have a lawyer. However, our strongest asset is our long time standing as a business and the many current landowner references we provide to prospective Association landowners.
Scenes From The Turkey Blind
Jason sent these in from this past spring season.
His comments included: "...the toms hung up on this hunt...plenty of bird action...plenty of gobbling....last week of the season..." He went on to get a tom and said the hunt of these pictures was more memorable for what the turkeys taught him.
Thanks Jason. It is always good to work with those that find more value than tags filled.
Hunter Limitations
Hunters that lease land or own their own are limited to one hunting spot in one region of one state. If, for some reason, the turkeys do not use that ground during the season, the hunter is left with limited opportunity and very little time to pursue other lease or hunting land options.
MAHA has hundreds of quality private farms leased in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa, selected from a variety of sources by hunters (MAHA partners Jon Nee and John Wenzel) that have spring turkey hunted for over 25 years. All of the lease land has been pre-screened by aerial photos and scouted on foot to ensure quality habitat for the hunter.
All of the hunting lease land is mapped on county road maps and posted with Association signs. Once the hunter makes his or her hunting reservation to turkey hunt a lease or two, all they have to do is hunt in a congenial manner and enjoy the day watching the sun rise, hear the gobbles and do the best decoying and calling they have skill to do.
The variety of hunting land acres available is almost beyond belief to the first year hunter that joins the Association. To assist with that first season we will recommend where to turkey hunt.
MAHA’s staff is available 5 days a week, 8 hours per day to help the hunter narrow down their choices of which region or lease to hunt. If the hunter is traveling a long distance, our staff will select a lease that has produced in the past or one that we have spotted birds on during a recent land run or scouting trip. Our current longest standing turkey lease is one that has retained a single flock since 1996. It is very common for us to hunt a single flock on a single lease for six years. Land use and turkey flocks will change and each hunter is encouraged on each trip to scout out a lease or more to add options for future hunts.
Over the years, many of our hunters have hunted leases that they have never seen before with great success. Others choose to intensely scout and make their own choices of where to hunt. And, of course, there are those that return to a favored spot or another new farm only to find it is not a good turkey hunting spot any longer. This is the nature of wild turkey, private land hunting. Things will change.
Turkeys on our lease land...
Late winter/early spring just before the opener. The flock was feeding on a large hay field. Wooded creek line out of picture as are the crop fields. All parts of a good lease.
Hunt Alone as a self Guided Hunter
Turkey hunting buddies may hunt together on the same lease or spread themselves across different leases and still hunt from the same vehicle.
John, Just a little note: Had a great hunt in [location deleted] and [location deleted]. Got 4 mature toms in [location deleted] and 2 in [location deleted]. Found about 10 sheds, sent you a photo of the 2 best. If the other sides matched they would both go near 150" last year. Thanks for letting us in the club. Semper Fi, Larry
Self guided hunts typical pictures. A guide service would have the hunter in front of their lodge sign. We offer only do it yourself hunts on private land we control. We do not lead anyone other than give recommendations of where to park their truck, step out and hunt.
All self guided hunting is scheduled by a strictly controlled reservation system, to avoid overlap and promote safe hunting on each lease. The entire concept of why anyone wants any kind of lease is to be free of public lands hunter mentality. With our business approach to land access it insures good customer support and avoidance of public lands congestion or, just as bad, hunting club competition.
Numerous prospective members have a vision of not enough land and too many hunters. The opposite holds true with MAHA. The hunter pressure numbers will easily speak for themselves. This again refers back to ours being a lease business and not a hunting club. As a business we strive for return customers and hunt quality makes that happen.
Landowners' Advantages
For the landowner that has some turkey hunting on small acreage in search of the highest bid possible for his land to lease for wild bird hunts, we most likely won’t rank at the top every time, but most times we do.
Prompt payment, control and liability insurance is our main attraction to the majority of our land holders. The final aspect of our lease contracts is we pay them for years. This compares to the seasonal lease a landowner may secure from one group of hunters for one hunt that may or may not return for subsequent years. Our longevity in comparison comes from our multi hunting disciplines with most of our turkey leases being on good quail and deer habitat as well. Having the number of hunters we do all sharing the cost of the same leases without all hunting all of them makes for more lease acreage per hunter per day than by other methods. That type of management approach makes for long term relationships with landowners with them gaining a more reliable and long term lease income that intern attracts long term members that can count on returning to the same hunting leases from year to year.
While this may seem the landowner holds all the cards the converse is true of our hunting lease business approach with written contracts as they have performance criteria that both parties agree to. This is a case where the lease contract will only work if both the landowner and the Association hunter can benefit from the relationship.
All of our landowners are covered under our liability insurance policy and each hunter is required to sign a release waiver before they receive their lease maps.
Our hunters are screened to ensure the people we have on our lease land are respectable sportsmen that treat the land they hunt as if it was their own. Alcohol and any type of trash or litter are not permitted. If a hunter disobeys any of our rules they are subject to expulsion from the Association. We do not attempt rehabilitation, that is not cost effective. We simply execute retribution in the case of any rules violation.
Our lease land access is by foot only. Vehicles are not allowed to drive onto or across any fields on any land. ATV’s are not allowed on our leases during spring season to scout or hunt. This is as much a landowner relations issues as it is a hunt quality control. An ATV on the land is equal to more than 10 hunters' worth of pressure. The same holds for limited camping. We are a hunter organization for hunting not a State Park organization for general recreation.
We have small acreage leases as well as large acreage leases. With many of our landowners coming to us as they have been overrun with turkey hunters over the years and enjoy moving the burden of hunters to us to deal with, especially landowners with large acreage. This includes many of the corporate farms that routinely as a business practice refused permission to hunt.
Go With Experience
We have over 40 years of experience dealing with do it yourself hunters, hunting leases and know every trick.
We have experience dealing with trespassing issues on our lease land and know how to correct issues with hunters that attempt to challenge our land lease agreements.
The world is not perfect, but our approach to paid turkey hunting, hunting lease land and landowners comes close. We know what we want, we secure land for our needs and we enforce what we contract for. Life is that simple.
Private turkey hunting lease land in Iowa, Missouri and Kansas for the self guided turkey hunter wanting the entire season to hunt on his own. Then come back for a fall deer hunt.