[480handcannon]

A buddy and i have decided to try a diy public land deer hunt in Missouri. I'm specifically looking at hunting the Rolla tract or the small broken up tracts around the town of Eminence of the Mark twain national forest in the rifle season. Has anyone here hunted the area before that could give up some pointers along with some good places to stay that accomadate deer hunters? Also maybe a reputable butcher in the area as well. Really any info in general at all would be a big help in getting going in the right direction. Thanks

 

[fireinahorn]

I lived in St. Charles co. for a while. I hunted mostly close to home in Lincoln and Warren Counties. The area your going to is down by Ft. Leonard Wood area which I have not hunted before.
People out there are much more friendly than we are on the coast and will generally give you permission to hunt if you ask and they arent hunting there.
I asked a real estate agency and got permission to hunt a 140 acre tract that was just sitting there waiting for a buyer!
Public land in Mo. was so less pressured than I was used to. Second day of rifle season and it was just myself and three other vehicles on over 2000 acres of state land.
A lot of locals would go north to Kirksville area to hunt. All in all I saw wildlife all over and miss it now that i'm back in PA.

 

[fireinahorn]

The woods out there are almost all hardwoods and no pine in the areas I hunted. Someone told me no pines are native to there only cedars.
North of the MO. river is more flat farmlands where the glaciers pushed south and stopped.South of the river is Ozark hill country.