I have friends that just moved to MO a month ago. They are in the south western part of the state, about 20 miles from the Mark Twain National Forest. I was wondering if anyone is familiar with the area and what the deer numbers are. The archery tags are reasonable and I can buy all the doe tags that I want for $7. It also doesn't look like it's in the 4 point minimum zone. I'm not real concerned about quality, I just want to have a good chance to score some venison. They have about 80 acres of wooded land with a pond and the neighbors said that there's a 16 point running around there. of course i will scout their property, but the MT NF looks pretty good, at least on Google Earth.

I live in the WORST part of Missouri (South East) and our deer numbers are better than ever and the fact that we have a HUGE amount of public land makes Missouri great!

Don't forget Missouri is still the WORLD record holder for non-typical whitetail and #3 in the world for typical.

If you aren't picky about a trophy if you can't kill a deer in Missouri, you can't kill a deer, period.

How are people in MO about giving permission to hunt on their land?? I know that there's plenty of public land but how is the pressure during archery season?? Thanks again.

Generaly the same as most states it's becoming a pay to play or purple paint state. Public lands are crouded during gun season but not so much so during bow season.

I lease a farm along with 16 other guys for the rifle season to avoid the huge onslot of hunters on public land (There are 1/2 million hunters).

Something you will like about Missouri is it offers an abundance of bonus hunts...check the Mo Dept. of Cons. web site.