Kansas City Hunting Clubs

Kansas City hunting clubs is the search folks execute for land access in the Kansas and Missouri region. Mid-America Hunting Association offers such land access and more without being a club. Read about how we offer Kansas City area hunting without being a club.

What we offer is deer, turkey, upland bird and waterfowl self guided hunts on private land we do not share with any others. Complete avoidance of public lands hunter mentality. That is what folks seek when searching for clubs, that chance to hunt. Not the chance to have social evenings and group activities. That is why we are an Association, a business, and not classify ourselves in the category of clubs.

The phrase: "hunting clubs", has long been used to reference any grouping with any form or structure of common interest individuals. Strength of leadership character and some degree of group consensus rules the club's operation. We are similar as our structure is set with our non-negotiable rules and membership compliance. The value is that all gain equal benefit for equal cost regardless of individual influences inherent in clubs.

Turkey Hunter/Member Contributions

Thank you Dave. We always want feedback, it is always very much appreciated.

Why Kansas City seems the center of our organization is three fold based on ancestry, geography and operational reach.

Our ancestry is based on four local businessmen and hunters who like most of us grew weary of knocking on doors for a place to hunt. They soon began to pay landowners for exclusive season long access so as to spend more time on the hunt rather than looking for a place to hunt. As businessmen they took a business approach to solving their challenge that later grew into a structured organization to include a paid manager, land acquisition person and membership salesmen all in one person to run the private land access availability for the four founders. That organization grew with additions of friend and others for paid membership of those of similar mind of rather being in the field than knocking on doors. What started in 1965 of a four person group has grown in size and organization to today's Mid-America Hunting Association.

What happened to the four originators? Back in 1965 when they were in their 30's and 40's they enjoyed life until like all of us that enjoyment comes to an end. Their legacy has and is carried on by Jon Nee, the former manager of the founders, and John Wenzel. The future beyond is in Jon Jr. and T.J. who after graduating college and making their way will carry on for the next generation of hunters.

Geography limits our land lease effort around Kansas City for different reasons in different directions.

To the west once the Great Plains of Kansas yield to the High Plains and the land use changes from row crop to cattle we cease leasing land. It is simply that better hunting remains where grain crops are propagated. We only lease land where we get the most return for our money and that return is measured in hunter satisfaction. That hunter satisfaction is drawn from wildlife densities that offer the potential for good to great success with every trip. That is what the agricultural region of grain crops provides.

To the south, climate changes of too dry and too wet make for arid and heavily forested regions of declining wildlife populations. Hence Oklahoma with its more arid climate does not return the hunter satisfaction that sustains years of membership renewals. In Missouri with the rise of the Ozark Mountains degrading agriculture and increased rainfall making for a 70% forested region again the wildlife quality in terms of numbers, density and size reflects the poorer food sources of forested land.

East we lease until reaching the Upper Mississippi River Basin. From Kansas City east through Missouri and north of the Ozark Mountains we range from 45 to 55% agricultural land use heavily into large grain crops of corn and soybean. However, once crossing over into the Upper Mississippi River Basin the land form changes and we have too much farm land driven by the quick draining watershed and broad flat valleys. Such land with efficient farming increases crop land and greatly cuts down on waste or wildlife habitat accompanying with less wildlife density and lower hunter satisfaction. That effect continues into Illinois and in spite of localized and much published success in many magazine articles that localized success does not carry weight enough to motivate our efforts.

North our efforts into Iowa have proven very successful and mostly due to our remaining and continuing the success of north central Missouri's Grand River Watershed that reaches up into Iowa. We cannot claim such success with our past efforts north of Kansas into Nebraska as our having pulled out of Nebraska in the 1990's demonstrates well.

Nebraska with is liberal licensing appears to be a traveling hunter's hot spot and there are localities such as in Illinois that have very sound and widely known reputations for quality wildlife. And, just as in Illinois such localities are limited to the point that there is only so much money and time to go around and we have had better success elsewhere over a larger area.

This last point of of operational reach adds to why Kansas City has become the central point of our acreage maps in spite of St. Louis being our largest metropolitan source of hunters seeking land access.

The two Mid-America Hunting Association partners live in the Kansas City area. They both work fulltime for MAHA. They both have a set amount of hours per day and like most self employed folks those hours are greater than when working for others. Within those available days are a set limits of motel bills, road miles and landowner meeting hours. It takes all the time and energy that Jon and John have to sustain the quality hunts based on the right habitat within the right region of Kansas, Iowa and Missouri that have a past and current history of good production. And, that land does not stay the same. Land use and landowners change. If we keep up with those changes we have good hunts, if not then membership turnover occurs.

In terms of those that lump us into the category of Kansas City hunting clubs we do not argue the point. What we will tell is that in spite of our hunting business location centered on Kansas City we have hunters from in excess of 36 states every year from Maine, to Florida to California and have so for many years.

Waterfowl

For waterfowl advertising most would expect piles of drake greenheads and smiling hunters. We do have those pictures and readers will glance over those pictures as are all pictures of successful hunters. This picture series below is more informative snapshot into what makes our duck hunters successful. These are the type of pictures that will be repeated throughout the website along with hunter success photos.

While it may seem we are putting a lot of work into our wetlands everything pictured is the kind of routine summer work required by one or more wetlands each year to keep the flooded area huntable. This particular work while including an expansion of the floodable area is also an example how all work cannot be completed in just a couple of years.

Mike working the far west side of the levee. Since it was so dry we decided to extend a levee from the beginning of the intake pipe to the far west bank of the lake to have 2 separate shooting pools; a north pool and a south pool. If we are forced to pump, the surface acres of water can be cut in half. Also, being able to drain the water sooner will enable us to plant a crop. This entire project was created by a beaver dam that bigger and bigger each year.

We have been offered more than a couple of times the chance to build wetlands for others and have refused all. Part of that refusal has been due to our mission and work life is for MAHA. Part of the refusal in terms of wetlands is that those asking for wetlands to be built simply do not understand the need for money to be spent on apparatus that fully controls in/out flow. A seemingly simple statement that makes wetlands work life easy or hard. An illustration of this point are these two pictures of both ends to a single pipe. Those that understand the functions of three gates on one pipe know full well its value. Those that do not, should not attempt to build wetlands, at least a wetlands that support waterfowl hunting. That, a waterfowl hunting wetlands, by itself is an entirely separate set of requirements from a wetlands that simply holds water.

Have a look at our Kansas City area waterfowl hunting wetlands during the hunting season.

Bow Deer Hunter

This type of recognition from our hunters to voluntarily send in their success pictures is what we work for. When we can achieve this we know the hunter is satisfied and we have done a good job.

John I had some luck opening day of the archery season here are some pictures. This is a real nice 8 pt still in velvet. Thanks for the work you do. Daryl

Congratulations Daryl on a unique trophy! Your picture will add much to the standing corn/deer hunt quality discussion. Thank you for taking the time and effort to share your picture.

That is the basics and to get to know more about our Kansas, Missouri and Iowa do it yourself hunts have a read of what others have to say about us.

Deer Hunter Testimonials

Duck Hunter Testimonials

Turkey Hunter Testimonials

Upland Bird Hunter Testimonials

Kansas City Star newspaper articles