New hunting spot

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medic jim

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I live in south eastern IL. Hunting here used to be great, but in the last few years, all the farmers have figured out they can make another buck leasing. I've lost all my good hunting grounds. But low and behold, my best friend informs me that his family has propery in southern MO. It's never been hunted and DNR is even putting a food plot in to help thin the numbers a bit. Trail cam pics of 14 pointer, 2 mountain lions, :eek:, a bear that tried to get in thier tent, and turkey sign everywhere, and orders from DNR to shoot hogs on sight. Hunters dream come true sounds to me like! Hoping my luck is turning around. I've put in for vacation and going for spring turkey with my friend. (No tent!......CAMPER):D hope we have some pictures to post in a couple of months. Hopefully not of mountain lions as one was stalking a hunter in deer season just a few miles down the road. I sure could go for a pig in the ground though!
 
mountain lion

Well, I got the pic on here. Had to crop it to get it to fit, so not much in the way for scale, but you get the just of it. That's one big freaking cat! I'd just as soon not meet it.
 
Hunting in general seems to suck everywhere. I am from northen PA and used to love it there. Went up last year and it was terrible. Now I'm in FL and unless i want to hunt pythons in the Glades, its horrible lol.
 
pythons, ha!

Well Pete, the python thing may not be a bad idea, lmao. It is sad that all the nice folks who used to let a friend hunt their land have traded that for dollars that they already have a lot mor of than average Joe like us. Used to go 5 minutes away, now 4.5 hrs to Missouri! I'm also looking for woodlands in that area to buy a few. Its surrounded by 10,000+ acres of national forest, so even an acre would put me in the game. If it comes through, I'll take uyou on a hunt.
 
Kill that cat! They eat 2-3 deer a week! Good luck, if you need some help killing those deer I'd be more than happy to give you a hand. Haha. :D
 
Don't worry about the kitty cat. Mo Dept of Conservation keeps telling us that the cats are young males "just passing through" :rolleyes:

Of course they have also totally denied their existence in our state for years.

BTW, DNR doesn't plant the food plots, Mo dept of cons. does. In MO the state DNR has nothing to do with fish and game.

Congrats on finding a "free" place to hunt in south MO as the dreaded 'hunting lease buff has also hit that area in the last 15-20 years. My mom was born and raised in the Mtn. View area and a lot of the private land in Howell and Shannon counties has been leased up.
 
LOL Art.

I don't disagree with you. Just parroting the Mo Dept Cons line.:D

I have lived in MO since 1969 and had spent a lot of time here well before that as my Mother was a native of the Ozarks.

In the early 60's there were black bear incidents not far from Mom's home town (documented by farmers in the area who witnessed the bears taking livestock. It took MDC a good 5 years to confirm those. As I said earlier there were quite a few documented sightings of the cats for several years before MDC came up with the party line of "young male cats passing through". For whatever reason, MDC just doesn't want to admit that we could have any cats living and breeding in our state.
 
My wife's home is about 15 miles north of Thomasville, GA. On her way into town one morning, a cougar crossed the road in front of her. Later, talking about the sighting, some guy came up with the usual, "Now, little lady, how would you know what a cougar looks like?" Big mistake.

In true deep-south Southern Lady tones, she cooed, "Why, it looked just like the skin we have draped over the couch at home."
 
Congrats on the new spot. Enjoy it while you can and show the land and it's owner the respect they deserve. Over the years I have been privileged to hunt many great spots on private land. Most over the years have disappeared, either by a change in owners, an increase in hunting interest from the landowners family, the money made by leasing or just from development of the land. Never have I been turned away because of some action I took while hunting there. Some of the spots I was able to hunt, was because the actions of others made so they were asked not to come back.

Good luck. I wouldn't be too concerned about the cougar, instead I would be excited to see it. Odds are trail cam pics are the only way it will be seen and odds are it is long gone from there by now.
 
Big cats roam. Always on the scout for a easier well stocked hunting grounds. Consider yourself lucky having a landowner willing to let you fellows hunt. As he might not offer that same privilege to the locals. If you take a turkey that's fine. But if taking a pig also. Nice gesture on your part. Consider offering the land owner a taste. After all the pig fed itself off the farmers dime. Good Luck with your Spring hunt.
 
Wow! Thanks to all for all the replies. The outfitters/leasing thing is a plague. We do have to take care of those who take care of us, no doubt. Best of luck to everyone here as well. In a greenhorn on the turkey & hogs end of it, but thats how we learn. And yes, if i can see the cat, the cat goes to taxidermist. Cuz if i can see it, god knows how long its been seeing me! Hogs too for that matter. 44 raging bul backup!
 
Sounds like one of those deals where from time to time through the year you drive down on Friday night, do some exploring on Saturday and then Sunday morning before heading home.

Get a feel for game trails, feeding areas, bedding areas and all that good stuff. :) That way makes for more hunting time than "Where am I?" time.
 
Don't shoot the CAT!!!!

Jim, those cats are protected in MO unless you are attacked or there is proof they are killing livestock.

Also any cat shot in MO requires notification of Conservation and they usually take the body.
 
Yep, we are in contact with conservation there. If being stalked, its protection . Hogs, we were told to shoot on site. One cat was shot 10 miles down the road last deer season stalking a hunter. Hogs are destructive and mean. Hoping for 1st turkey above all else. And we are going next month to scout. Also have gps coordinates fot camp site on the property ao no getting lost. Just sighted the 11-87. So ready to go!!
 
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