I try to leave the great state of MI every coulple of years to persue the beloved whitetail with my longbow. Its time to start planning again and I am looking for ideas that will keep me a little closer to home now that I have a young son at home. In the past I have hunted Colorado and love chasing the mulies and whitetail on the river bottoms. This year I am thinking Missouri, Ohio, or Indiana. I have hunted Rebels Cove and Union ridge in Missouri, but that was for quail and 25 years ago. I am sure things have changed alot since them. Is anyone in that area?

EHD took a toll in northern mo the past 2 years. Some CWD up there also. Not saying to not give it a go though! You put in the time and I'm sure you will end up harvesting. I've hunted near rebels cove and I have heard good things as well about rebels cove for deer...lots of land to scout. Get to it!

The EHD took a toll last year even down in central Mo.
If interested you could come visit me.  Place to sleep for a base camp. We have Truman lake to hunt around.
Plus some wildlife areas within 1 hour that get low archery pressure.

Ron

If I was going to go out of state I would select West Virginia or PA (thats me)
I see a lot more deer there when traveling than I ever do in Ohio

I took the long trip to Shelby County Missouri this past fall. EHD has taken its toll. I was very dissapointed at the lack of deer.
I saw a lot more deer in Ohio.

Sad to hear about the EHD, it ran through Southwest Michigan (Berrien County) bad in 2010, I saw only 6 deer when hunting from the house. It did not get much better so I moved last spring.

There are still pockets of good deer hunting in Northern MO, but everything above is pretty accurate.  My sightings on public and private land in MO were disappointing this year.  

We live on a 200 acre farm where I used to see deer daily.  This year I've only seen about 10 to 15 deer all year.

I work in the same county as Union Ridge. Rough ground! LOL

The deer kill was fairly large up there and in places where I live 30 miles south. My bro's farm was kind of short on deer last year, but by my house, not much less deer than usual.

We saw a group of 14 deer yesterday near Milan, including 1 good buck.

overall, deer numbers are down, but it is spotty.