About The Bob Brown - Squaw Creek Waterfowl Area

Every year from mid-October to mid-December, nearly 300,000 snow geese and 100,000 ducks move down to the marshes of Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge at Mound City in Holt County, Missouri and Bob Brown to the couth. The 7400-acre refuge, with 6700 acres of marsh provides food, water, and shelter for the ducks and geese on their migration from North America and the Arctic to their wintering grounds on the Gulf of Mexico.

Do it yourself MAHA goose hunters have access to thousands of acres of private leased land close to and surrounding the Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge - Bob Brown Waterfowl Area in northwest Missouri.

The farms vary in size from 60 to 1000+ acre crop stubble fields. The majority of the fields are set up for the hunter with his own decoy spread that prefers to hunt own his own without a blind or guide. Many of MAHA fields are underutilized during the fall and spring seasons because snow goose hunting requires more effort than the average hunter is willing contribute. For the avid snow goose hunter these MAHA crop stubble fields are a dream comes true, and lots of them.

MAHA’s most popular private farm in the Squaw Creek - Bob Brown region is 1-½ miles south of the refuge, just north of the Bob Brown Wildlife Area. This farm is comprised of 1400 contiguous acres with 80 acres of crop stubble that is pumped each fall. Four permanent blinds are covered each year and available for our members to share by reservation. The marsh is primarily for duck hunting with the surrounding crop fields are A+ habitat for both Canada and snow goose hunting.

The majority of Squaw Creek - Bob Brown snow goose hunting is done close to the refuge and waterfowl area because the sight and sound of the birds on the Missouri State Wetlands is astonishing to the average hunter. Over the years some of our best snow goose success has taken place on our private lease property 5 to 20 miles away from the State Wetlands where the birds are easier to decoy due to lack of pressure.

Snow goose hunting is definitely a hit or miss hunt. A little scouting pays off as the snow goose flocks numbering into the thousands are readily visible on the open crop stubble they prefer. If MAHA members encounter a miss day on land leased around where they are they have a variety of options to scout out another location.

Private land access in the Missouri River Valley is difficult to acquire since the majority of the private land in the area is owned or leased by hunters.

Much of our snow goose lease land has trophy whitetail deer hunting opportunity that is overlooked by our hunters because they prefer deer hunting land with more timber. If a serious trophy whitetail deer hunter is looking for a sleeper area in the state of Missouri, this is one spot to scout.

Mid-America Hunting Association wetlands located north of Bob Brown and South of Squaw Creek Missouri States Waterfowl refuge and Area yearly maintenance.

Having multiple wetlands allows us to react accordingly to variables beyond our ability to control. This picture series is just a snapshot into one adjustment we had to make relative to the year's weather to insure we have the best duck hunt wetlands that we can make.

In the case of this wetlands and this coming fall's duck season the spring weather prohibited the corporation farm (biggest farm equipment to be seen) from planting its lowlands with any kind of crop. This condition, if we let it stand, would have resulted in a weed field rather than a crop field to flood for that fall. With the field too wet for any farm tractor, even our 4,000 pound compact tractor, we took to prepare seedbed and plant 800 pounds of millet over a 160 acre field, with an ATV. It turned into four long days.

June through August are the months we do our most productive waterfowl improvements. Levee and pipe repair is usually on top of the list, but last summer's hot weather enabled us to pretty much get caught up on that end. With one water level control task done there will always be something else on the wetlands list.

The season of these pictures, we're planning to keep as much standing water as possible in the Middle Zone (reacting to our dry summer and fall last year) and seed some of the mud flats as the water recedes. That should end up with 1/2 of the fall flood area in crop and the other 1/2 in open water.

In the North Zone we're doing some work to plant feed for the ducks only in areas we have a guaranteed water source such as in the photo series below. This wetlands has a well and pump that floods and maintains water level throughout the duck season. Our other northern zone wetlands is the one with the 12 acre reservoir lake we will drain into the duck food plot planted wetlands should we need extra water.

A lot of folks feel that combining a recreational interest with an income source means we have a cool job. The reality is that any job is work with good and bad and in the hunting industry there is as with all work fields more monotony and simple work than interning or fun days. One definition of monotony is riding an ATV in circles for four days to first drag and smooth the seedbed followed over the same ground to plant. What is normally a 1/2 day effort with farm equipment turned into a four day endurance test that while not physically demanding did mentally numb the brain.

End of the Bob Brown waterfowl area presentation.