If you've waited too long and your "window of opportunity" for obtaining a 1999 license to hunt out West has slammed shut, then Keith Enloe's Ozark Hills Guide Service might be your ticket to a good whitetail hunt. Enloe is a full-time hunting and fishing guide with a highly regarded Lake of the Ozarks fishing guide service. I got to know him through his fishing service, and he impressed me tremendously. He's a guide who treats his customers right, and his rate of repeat clientele bears that out. At any rate, Enloe has hunted deer and turkey his entire life, and, three years ago, got serious about offering hunts for these animals. He's now gained access to a good number of private farms, many of them in northern Missouri where wall-hanger whitetails abound. His rates are reasonable, too: $125 per day for a guided hunt, with the caveat that the fee is a flat $250 if a client kills out on his first day. Enloe will take you to your pre-scouted hunting area and guide you to your stand. He also will get your deer out of the field, as well as take care of all meat processing charges. You're responsible for buying hunting licenses and paying for your own room and meals. Enloe will provide a list of motels available near your hunt area.
He says his northern Missouri hunting areas are primarily agricultural: flat fields dropping off into four- or six-foot deep drainage and irrigation ditches. These ditches are often 100 yards wide or even wider and border huge crop fields. Wet, fertile ground gives rise to timber patches that stretch the length or width of these fields. During wet years crops may still be standing while hunters are in the field, and that might make your task more of a challenge. But when farmers can harvest on time, the deer are concentrated in the timber, so that's where Enloe places his stands. Enloe hunts farms near the Missouri towns of Princeton, Lucerne, Maryville, Kirksville, Macon, Eldon, Russellville, Osage Beach and Lake Ozark. Some of these towns have good motel and restaurant accommodations,........(continued)
