Wild Pheasant Hunting, Private Land, Self Guided
Who We Are
We are Mid-America Hunting Association. Since 1965 we have been providing private land hunting for the self guided hunter. We limit our operation to Iowa, Missouri and Kansas pheasant hunting. This is an organization for those that enjoy hunting their own dogs at their own pace above all else.
The organization is run by two partners, Jon Nee and John Wenzel (pictured at right). They train and hunt their own bird dogs. They are out on the land throughout the year.
What Hunting We Provide
Private land hunting access. A local lodging list. Recommendations where to hunt to the point of parking the truck, putting out the dogs and hunting. From that point on the hunter makes the rest of his hunt.
Wild Pheasant Hunting
All upland birds of Prairie Chicken, Bobwhite Quail and pheasant are 100% naturally propagated on natural terrain. No pen raised, no planted birds, no feeders.
We lease land within the agricultural regions of grain farming. Mixing the combination of protective cover and food source makes for the best hunts.
Jon Nee Junior above. Not only has dad, at right, become an accomplished pheasant hunter he has done the extra duty raising his two boys to become the same. This was Jon Jr's first Kansas limit.
All Private Land
All land in the Association inventory is 100% privately owned. The Association secures exclusive hunting access for its hunters. No land is shared or franchised with others. After payment of the Association's annual fee there are not any additional charges for land access.
Each hunter will have more land to hunt each day than daylight hours available. Land is within close proximity to limit travel time between spots.
Hunting For The Average Pheasant Hunter That Can Hunt On His own
No fancy rigs. Just truck, dog and hunters.
Self Guided Pheasant Hunts Only
The starting point for self guided hunts is that the Association lands are for hunt execution only. No pre-season dog work or even dog presence permitted.
Each hunter may choose the days he wants to hunt. When he starts, stops or takes a break during a hunt. All will hunt at their own pace.
All hunting skill, equipment and dogs are provided by the hunter.
Season Long Pheasant Hunting Opportunity
For the annual fee that hunter. gains access to all Association lands in all three states. No one hunts it all for two reasons.
The first is that no one has that level of energy.
Second, environmental limiting effects on pheasant densities rarely allow for all land in all three states to have good hunting. It is the reality of nature that from the Association's range of land starting in southern Iowa, through north Missouri and from east to west Kansas one region over others will have better pheasant and quail hunting on any one given year. It is the flexibility inherent within one cost for access to all land that the Association will be able to get the pheasant hunter to the best region each year. That is possible as we have caps on total membership as well as those that declare their primary hunting interest being for pheasant. The idea is not to have too many of any one type of hunter. The payback to the hunter is that he can step from his truck each time he does onto a different field, he is not crossing the boot prints of others each time out, he is not mixing his dogs with others. Most will gain a feeling of satisfaction they have hunted enough at the end of each trip.
Pheasant Cover Variety
Variety exists in several forms. The first is that pheasant hunting includes changing protective cover.
The most well known is the native grass, high grass, tall grass or CRP. It is all the same cover. That being head high, almost too thick to walk through large acreage contiguous grasslands that makes the most well known wild pheasant hunting.
Part of that well know wild pheasant hunting aspect of native grass hunting is that is the easiest in terms of making a successful pheasant hunt protective cover that exists. It is the highly protective from the pheasant perspective nature of this grass that holds pheasants in large numbers for hunter flush jump shots, retriever/flusher and pointing dog work.
For those with a more seasoned dog power pheasants will be found in crop stubble fields, fence line and waterway edges and fallow ground.
The next variety to Association wild pheasant hunting is the inclusion of wild Bobwhite Quail. Every where there are pheasant populations quail coveys will exist in varying density. For those will both quail and pheasant hunting dog power there are more quail hunting options of miles of crop field edge cover. It is common for those that initially come to pheasant hunt to transition to quail hunting due to increased dog on bird action and an easier to walk and hunt terrain.
For those with flushing or retrieving breed dogs the Association inclusive to its one annual fee has waterfowl hunting. The Association maintains several wetlands with in/out flow water controls, permanent blinds, wade-in and layout boat areas. It is common for the waterfowl and pheasant hunting profile Association hunters to watch weather and migration picking and choosing throughout the season of when to go duck or pheasant hunting.
Not For All Hunters
We have been in operation long enough to have a good understanding who will be successful as a self guide pheasant hunter and from that group whom we choose to work with. We do decline membership applications each year doing so without explanation.
For those that do hunt in their new Association of hunters they will find the tranquility of always having more than one spot to hunt. The birds are there. They can hunt in accordance with their methods and resources.
The criteria we ware willing to advertise who is accepted for membership is intended to screen out the large blocks of hunters we would rather not spend any telephone time talking to. They include the drive hunt or gang hunter. This organization exists for the individual or small friendship/family group hunter. Those that enjoy the hunt for the quality of the hunt. We oppose those that evaluate quality by dead bird counts alone.
How To Make A Hunt
If a hunter is allocated an Association slot he gains access to an online map library of all Association lands. All pheasant hunting land is grouped into "units" of land. That hunter would reserve a unit of land per day he wants to hunt.
Where to hunt begins with a conversation with one of the two Association partners. They are out on the land throughout the year paying attention to the better localities for pheasant hunting. They also hunt their own dogs during the season with each being able to talk first hand about hunt quality by locality. They will work with each new to the Association hunter building an itinerary for their trip. Every hunter will long before leaving home know exactly where he will be hunting. The online motel listing will fill in the last part that each hunter may have his lodging reservations in place before leaving home.
Cost - Compare It To Value
Costs begin at $1,500 for the individual hunter. Discounts exist for dependent children and hunting spouses. For that cost all have access to all three states of Association lands for the entire season. The reality is the cost is largely based on the average hunting days of one week per season per hunter. There are some who hunt less and some more. It works out the common trip is a Saturday through the next week's Sunday. A nine day trip with generally a day or more at each end for travel and seven days or less hunting.
