Illinois/iowa/Missouri leasers Chime in

[RemiR7]

Live and hunt in west central IL. I have access to two farms and ones not worth spending time on really and the main farm is really only good through November or whenever the firearm seasons end. I’m looking to pick up a lease and was wondering if anyone on here leases hunting ground in any of the states mentioned in the title as just trying to get an idea on prices or what to expect. I’ve heard anywhere from $10-$45 an acre in west central Illinois but that’s a big spread. If you’re not comfortable posting publicly feel free to PM.

 

[Ace12]

In northern Missouri you’ll spend 20$+ especially if it looks remotely decent. Although I’d rather hunt any other state you mentioned than Missouri, and I’m a resident here

 

[Crusader]

Adam, why do you say that? I've hunted in MO for decades, love it. Two weeks ago I killed the biggest buck of my life at my farm in NE MO. Also hunt at my buddy's place in Gasconade County and it has incredible big buck hunting.

 

[Ace12]

Adam, why do you say that? I've hunted in MO for decades, love it. Two weeks ago I killed the biggest buck of my life at my farm in NE MO. Also hunt at my buddy's place in Gasconade County and it has incredible big buck hunting.

In my opinion Missouri has some great deer, and should have just as big of deer as bordering Iowa Kansas and Illinois, and If you have larger portions of your own private land it’s definitely do able. But I think Missouri’s biggest issues are

extremely cheap NR tags (so many out of staters flock to Missouri for cheap Midwest hunting, esp with a rifle. drives the cost of leases up and crowds public land
2 buck limit (used to allow shooting 3 bucks/yr)
Rifle season during peak rut
Youth season during Halloween ish weekend every year rather than earlier in season
State isn’t managed in zones like other states- so areas that need tons of does shot, makes it very difficult to do so
South of I-70 is mostly small farms not huge tracts of land. You’ll have 10 guys hunting 100 acres, rather than 2 hunting 1000 acres so the pressure is immensely greater than surrounding states
And there still is a lot of “brown it’s down mentality” people ignore the 4pt rule

 

[Crusader]

I don't whitetail hunt in other states so I don't know costs but is $265 an "extremely cheap" NR tag?

Maybe no "zone" management but the number of antlerless tags varies by counties so there are variations in management, it's not uniform statewide.

And I'm not sure about lots of people ignoring the 4-point rule, I don't know of any and I know lots of hunters in many parts of the state. I'm sure there are a small percentage of violators as with any rule but those folks of course run the risk of being caught and fined, etc.

 

[browning2480]

I don't whitetail hunt in other states so I don't know costs but is $265 an "extremely cheap" NR tag?

Maybe no "zone" management but the number of antlerless tags varies by counties so there are variations in management, it's not uniform statewide.

And I'm not sure about lots of people ignoring the 4-point rule, I don't know of any and I know lots of hunters in many parts of the state. I'm sure there are a small percentage of violators as with any rule but those folks of course run the risk of being caught and fined, etc.

I agree. $265 isn’t all that cheap, in my opinion, for somewhere with limited public land. The buck limit is also per weapon. You can only kill one buck with a rifle. If you want to kill more, you have to go buy an archery tag, which will cost another $265.

 

[Crusader]

Exactly.