Hello,
I grew up in Arizona and frequently went elk hunting with my dad. All of hunting experience is on public land, ambushing big game at cattle water holes. This means I have zero experience finding farmland owners who will let me hunt their land, using tree stands, or tactics suited to places with lots of water and huge deer populations.
I miss hunting, hiking, and offroading. I'm 75% done refitting my car for offroad use, and modifications will be complete by fall. My first task as I ease myself back into rural hobbies will be hiking, camping and scouting Mark Twain National Forest. I guess my first question is about how wise it is to hunt the limited amount of public land available in Missouri. When I lived in North Carolina, I heard all kinds of horror stories about safety issues when hunting the vastly limited amount of state land.
Second, where does one go to find farmers who will let them hunt farming land? Near as I can figure, this option is probably more "boring", but also more likely to end in a successful hunt.
My best friend, who is an Arizona game warden, would also really like to visit and hunt deer, which means I need to plan this many months in advanced for him to be able to schedule vacation time. Hence why I'm thinking about this now. My dad is also at this point out of shape with health problems, which makes the rigors of big game hunting in Arizona impractical and would also probably enjoy coming out to hunt. Any advice is appreciated!