Deer Lease
Heath
And again.
Deer lease search selection criteria as a method to analyze the best choice for any one deer hunter's objectives to include that of Mid-America Hunting Association.
Not having an idea of the available deer lease options frequently is the cause of not having an idea of what to look for in terms of lease type of that which may be more suitable for any one hunter over the others that may be available. Within this article we offer a listing of deer lease types, pitfalls, selection criteria and at the end a description of the private land self guided hunt option we provide in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa.
Individual Deer Hunter or "My deer lease". This is the first thought most trophy whitetail hunters have when considering their first lease contract of any kind, that is, one place just for them. The pitfalls of this approach include that if that hunter is not in proximity to regularly put eyes on that land it is unlikely that land will be his alone due to covert hunter access.
The next consequence is that the hunter has placed all his eggs in one basket so to speak and has limited himself to one place to hunt. That one place needs to be large to have the type of isolation necessary to hold the trophy quality racked bucks. If not then that hunter has done more good for the economy than his whitetail hunts.
Small group deer lease or the classic deer lease or whitetail hunter club where a small group of friends join financial power to lease a bit of ground for their exclusive deer hunt use. Works great if that group can compromise on stand locations, deer 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 is simply an on going struggle that never seems to get satisfied.
Self Guided Deer Hunt and Humor
John/Jon: I just wanted to send you guys a note to tell you how happy I have been to hunt on MAHA property 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 deer hunting last week on MAHA property, and had a stand set up overlooking some CRP and a wooded dry creekbed with lots of good deer 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 deer call (with my mouth, so no telling what it really sounded like) and he stopped on a dime, broadside 35 yards away. I was looking in the scope and 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!
Dave
Deer lease through a hunting club of a group of disconnected individuals with a common interest that team up under a set of rules to gain better whitetail land than they can by knocking on doors or on public lands.
These are individuals that can hunt on their own and only require the land resource to do so. This system works great if the members are willing to pay for the administration and enforcement of those rules. Without this one key financial aspect this approach is doomed for the same reasons for the small collective.
Draw deer tag issues. The common description is a non-resident has a deer lease in either Kansas or Iowa, hunts it when he gets a tag. That deer hunter then tries to get others to hunt it for pay the years he does not successfully draw a tag to help pay for the deer lease. The story continues about the quality of the other deer hunters, problems they may create with the landowner/lease holder such as attempts to secure the lease for themselves. After a couple of seasons of this approach that hunter typically seeks a better solution.
Deer lease selection criteria to consider. The first are the creation of options within the lease.
Whitetail will make a liar out of most hunters far more frequently than most are willing to admit. The greatest advantage to a successful whitetail hunt in terms of any lease are the inclusive options. The more the better.
Options include multiple food sources to ensure a more stable year round whitetail deer population. Year round water as deer will, must, drink every day. Multiple types of habitat to accommodate seasonal weather changes and the all critical birthing and fawn cover. Without this last bit there will be far fewer whitetails 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.
Not only the state of choice must have a long time history of trophy production that state will also have regions of better trophy production over other regions. Knowing this difference is the difference between more and less wallhangers and subsequent eyes on and tag on success rates. And, this one part is hard to learn.
Record books will come to mind as the source for the best regions in any one state and they may help. However, talk to all known whitetail hunters with several racks on the wall and ask how many certificates does that deer 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 and rarely come from the same area.
Deer lease length are an often forgotten aspect as most hunters take the wrong approach and say they will try a deer lease for a year and if it works come back for another year.
For even 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 the hunter may be blind to until having enough time on the ground to detect seasonal patterns. Giving up a deer lease before that point is simply a hunter jumping from property to property or in this case more likely deer lease to deer lease again helping the economy more than his deer hunting.
Deer Hunts and More
Tad and Kevin 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.
Last fall they returned to a farm they passed several good deer, hoping their management efforts would pay off. By the end of the 1st day they both tagged out with the rest of the week off to enjoy hunting pheasant with their cell phones turned off.
Our private land offers more than just deer hunts.
Over the counter fall turkey tags, a long overlapping season with deer and plenty of Eastern and Rio Grande Turkey.
Our tall grass pheasant habitat allows those willing to walk the chance to jump shoot without the benefit of a dog.
