HuntGuide.com Visits
Midwest USA Outfitters for Missouri Whitail Hunting

My visit to Midwest Outfitters started with a flight from Harrisburg, Pa to St. Louis, Mo followed by a short connecting flight to Burlington, Iowa. Once in Burlington the drive to camp was about an hour. This was my first time visiting the state of Iowa. After knowing the reputation this state has for trophy whitetails I was anxious to see the terrain. The countryside was made up of rolling hills with many agricultural fields. Surrounding these fields were a combination of large and small patches of wooded areas. Also a lot of CRP land exists in Iowa. This is land in which the government pays the landowner to leave a portion un-touched and left to grow naturally. These areas end up being covered with high grass and dense under-growth. All these factors combine to make the perfect hiding area for the Trophy Whitetail.

Rodney Hughes is the owner and operator of Midwest USA Outfitters. As we made the drive from Burlington to his hunting camp I asked him many questions about his hunting operation. Midwest Outfitters began in 1997. Currently through leases, Rodney has exclusive hunting rights to over 4000 acres. This land spans several different farms. Hunting is done from lock on tree stands. Currently there are approximately 25 tree stands placed through out these farms.

Rodney plans on accommodating 8 -10 hunters the first shotgun season, 6 - 7 hunters the second shotgun season, and 2 - 3 hunters for muzzleloader season. Accurately predicting the number of hunters though is a little difficult. Drawing a deer tag in Iowa is difficult. I was lucky enough to draw a shotgun tag for the second season on my first try. Most hunters however do not draw a tag on their first year, but then through the use of a preference point they are pretty much guaranteed to draw a tag in the second year. The difficulty in drawing a tag applies to both gun and archery hunters. As a result you will need to plan 2 years in advance to book with Rodney.

Once you do draw a tag though, I am sure you will be impressed with Rodney's hunting operation. Once we arrived in camp I was amazed at the number of large bucks taken in such a small area. Also, a statistic that was equally impressive to me is that more 150 plus class whitetails are taken in Iowa each year than in all the Canadian Provinces combined. For the archery enthusiast, Midwest Outfitters can be especially enjoyable. The archery season here coincides with the rut. Seeing several 150 class and higher bucks in a 5 day hunt usually the norm. However, keep in mind these bucks are not stupid so harvesting an animal of this quality with a bow will depend largely on your skill level as a hunter.

Rodney caters to the serious hunter. Gun hunters need to be prepared to spend 10 hours on strand for the first few days of the hunt. Due to the make-up of the land being several adjoining farms deer travel can occur anytime through out the day. A few days into the hunt Rodney and his staff will put on limited drives in an effort to get deer moving. Archery hunters also need to be prepared for several hours on stand. Since the rut is usually on during this season bucks can be chasing does at any time.

The first day of my hunt was on a Saturday, 12/08. Rodney knocked on the door of my room at 5:30 AM. All meals are served buffet style in a very comfortable restaurant type atmosphere. Breakfast is continental, with an assortment of cereals, donuts, juices, and coffee. Each evening you fill out an order form for the specific type of lunch sandwiches that you want. At breakfast a packed lunch with your name on your bag is ready and waiting. Evening meals included roast beef, chicken, ribs, lasagna, and pork loins. When you combine this with fresh baked desserts, don't plan on losing any weight while you hunt with Midwest Outfitters.

I arrived at my stand about 20 minutes before daylight. My stand was placed in a patch of woods that was several hundred yards long. My particular stand overlooked a small hollow and a creek bed. It didn't take long for deer to start appearing. About 20 minutes after first light I saw a group of 4 doe and a 4-point buck. As the morning continued deer steadily moved by my stand. Many were within shooting distance. In the afternoon things slowed a bit, but I still continued to see deer. As evening approached I was considering moving from my stand and watching over a field edge that contained several fresh tracks and seemed to serve as a natural crossing area. Just as I was ready to pack up and sneak to this spot, 2 more doe appeared in front of my stand. They were just feeding naturally 15 yards in front of me. I decided it would be best just to stay put, not spook these deer and maybe a shooter buck would appear. As my luck would have it, no shooter buck would show up. After darkness fell I made my way out to be picked up. Rodney was waiting for me in the truck. My heart sank as he told me that 15 minutes before dark 3 bucks appeared with one of these bucks approaching 150 class. All this occurred at the exact crossing I was planning to watch. The first day I ended up seeing 25 deer, 20 doe and 5 bucks. All the bucks were year and a half old 4 and 6 pointers.

The second morning we decided the best strategy would be to return to the same place. The weather warmed up, and the deer sightings fell off. I only managed to see 2 does the second day. The third day I went to a different farm. It was a much larger wooded area with lots of deer sign. The weather stayed warm however and the deer held tight, I only managed to see 2 does. The fourth day of the hunt took me to another new area. The weather cooled a little bit, but was still 30 degrees above the normal December temperatures for Iowa. I saw 8 deer, 6 doe and two 6-point bucks.

As we sat around the lodge before the last evening of the hunt Rodney indicated we would try putting on some drives the last day of the hunt. He was disappointed that we hadn't been seeing more deer and any shooter bucks. This area has so much potential for trophy whitetails. You can see this by the first photo above. These 4 bucks were taken before 9:00 AM on opening morning of this years hunt. Mother Nature just would not cooperate with us however. As any experienced whitetail hunter can confess to, anytime temperatures warm to 30 degrees above normal, deer activity, especially trophy buck deer activity will go down. As I talked to the other two other hunters in camp I was very surprised we were able to sight the number of deer that we did. Between the three of us, in the first four days of hunting we still managed to see 147 deer, with 14 of those being bucks. All things considered I felt this was pretty good.

On the last day Rodney and his staff put on several drives. Each drive produced deer but still no shooter bucks. It was 3:00 and we only had an hour of daylight remaining. Rodney was determined to give us every possible opportunity to take a buck. They walked several miles that day trying to push deer to us. Most outfitters would have given up at that point. With the fog rolling in and darkness getting ready to set, Rodney positioned us on the edge of a high grass field while he and the guides pushed a small fencerow and drainage area. It was kind of odd; of all the places we hunted this to me looked like the least likely to produce a shooter buck. Sure enough though, within 10 minutes of the drive starting, a mature 8-point buck began to sneak out of the drainage area right toward us. We were positioned perfectly, having the escape route of the buck completely blocked. Butch, one of the other 2 hunters in camp with me, ended up making a nice shot to take the buck pictured above. Rodney's persistence sure did pay off.

In summarizing my trip. I think you will find Midwest Outfitters a very enjoyable hunt. There is definitely trophy buck potential here. It is a serious hunt though, for serious hunters. If you are looking to hunt the famous Van Buren County for trophy whitetails be sure to give Rodney a call. Turkey hunting in Iowa is also some of the finest you will find anywhere in the country. Each day on stand I could have easily taken a turkey, and this was without any aid of a call. This season, 24 hunters took 33 birds. This is possible because Rodney has leased hunting ground in Missouri as well as Iowa.