I (Aaron) grew up in Missouri and have a good understanding of what the state has to offer. Licenses are easy to purchase OTC and there are abundant public hunting opportunities across the state. It’s an incredibly diverse state with the Ozark mountains in the Southern portion and flat fairground in the North. Hilly hardwood terrain with rocky soil exists across much of the state South of I-70. As you move North of I-70, the terrain becomes flatter with more rich farm ground mixed into creek bottoms and woodlots. The habitat in Northern Missouri is more conducive to growing larger antlered bucks but don’t sleep on Southern MO. There are some large public land areas down South where hunters can escape pressure and find mature bucks in remote areas. Each year there are great bucks taken from all over the state.
Hunting pressure is heaviest during the firearms season in mid November. Archery season begins in mid September and runs until the opening day of firearms season. Late October and early November archery hunters can find success in many areas of the state. However, an overlooked time to hunt mature bucks is during the early part of archery season. Public hunting pressure the last two weeks of September is minimal. Bucks can be found on predictable patterns before hunting pressure causes them to change their movements. Late archery season can also be very good hunting once deer have time to relax from hunting pressure impact over the November firearms hunt.
This is a mature buck Ted harvested during the early season in Missouri -
Overall hunting pressure is high due to the high number of resident deer hunters. However, with plentiful public hunting opportunities, well managed wildlife areas, and a long archery season, hunters can find success here if they adapt to the hunting pressure.
If traveling to hunt Missouri with a bow, consider the first 10 days of archery season and the week long period over Halloween. These are excellent times to catch up to a mature buck.
