Hey yall, I am a college freshman up at University of Central Missouri and was wondering if anyone has hunted the public lands around here. Two friends and I walked Maple Leaf Conservation Area yesterday and found some good signs. It mostly looks like a October-ish kind of spot. If any of you guys have had luck out here and could share some tips, please tell.

Thanks, Joe

I'm a CMSU Alum...I guess that dates me a bit   :D    Lots of good Public ground there.  Hunted Ralph and Martha Perry over towards Concordia a bit.  Turkey Kerns towards Sedalia,is a good place too.  If your up for a weekend hunt...Montrose SW of Clinton is a great place.  My roomates and I used to camp there for the weekend and hunt.  I saw my first Atlatl there!  Two guys were throwing them and knapping arrow heads.  Get on MDC's website and look for areas near you.  They have maps of each location.  Good luck!

I lived in KC for 3 years and it seemed like most of the public land relatively close to town was crowded with idiots.

When I lived in KC, I remember that there was some small plots of public land not far from the city that were bow only.  Unfortunately I have forgotten the names of those areas.  There was a bit of hunting pressure, but some neat ground.  They used to have really short gun season.  I would stay away from land that is open to gun hunting during the gun season...JJB2 is right about some of the people!

Hey Joe you might try Lone Jack Lake CA.  It's not a bad spot and only about 30 miles from Warrensburg.  Gets pretty busy like all public spots, but it's not bad late in the season and during bad weather.  Its bow only for deer, but they allow shotguns for small game so you have to deal with squirrel and rabbit hunters.

I only went out there once last year.  Only saw a few does, but found several nice rubs like this:


Here's an aerial view, route and map from Warrensburg:






Here's a link to the area summary page:
http://mdc4.mdc.mo.gov/applications/moatlas/AreaSummaryPage.aspx?txtAreaID=8234&txtAreaNm=Lone%20Jack%20Lake%20CA&txtCounty=&txtRegion=&txtUserID=guest&txtDivision=

Brian

I am a CMSU graduate also, try to get permission from some farmers around the town, used to be pretty easy to do but that was 26 years ago.

Thank all of you for your advice! I'll be sure to look up all of these different places and give them a shot.

Thanks again, Joe

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