Photo by Mark S. Werner

It's not difficult to understand why a reference to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Harry S. Truman Project conjures up images of fishing. After all, the project does include a lake that covers 55,600 acres and that provides good-to-excellent action for most of the state's warmwater fish.

Be that as it may, the project's water is dwarfed by nearly 110,000 acres of surrounding land, which are managed specifically for the benefit of wildlife and are mostly open to public hunting. It's hard to grasp just how big 110,000 acres of land really is, but maybe this will help: If Truman's public hunting lands were in a single block, it would form a piece of land measuring slightly more than 17 miles by 10 miles.

Of course, the Truman Project's hunting land isn't in a single block. Instead, it rings the lake's 950-plus miles of shoreline, extending into Benton, Henry, Hickory and St. Clair counties. In places, the "ring" of public land extends only a few hundred yards from the water line. In other places, it reaches more than a mile inland.

Both the Missouri Department of Conservation (which manages 55,000 acres of project land on a license from the Corps) and the Corps have done a yeoman job of posting the boundaries between public and private land. Even so, as when hunting elsewhere, it's the individual hunter's responsibility to make sure he "shinnies on his own side."

Staying on the right side of the rules within the project really isn't very hard. Developed areas (campgrounds, marinas, state parks, golf courses, etc.) are out of bounds to hunters for obvious reasons. Certain other blocks of land, such as one licensed to the Boy Scouts on the Osage arm a few miles west of Talley Bend, are also off limits. However, these are few and far between and are clearly marked.

At times, I have referred to the Truman Project as "deer hunting heaven." Believe me, I realize just how bold (foolhardy?) it is to call any place deer hunting heaven. After all, the very conditions that make an area heaven to one deer hunter make it pure hell to another. Therefore, let's take a look at the various factors that make deer hunting on the Truman Project what it is and what it isn't. You can decide for yourself.

TROPHY BUCKS?
MDC conservation agent Dan Love, who supervises agents in Henry, Benton and St. Clair counties, had a one-word answer when I asked him if the project was a good place to hunt for trophy bucks.

He said, "No." However, he quickly added that he didn't mean there were no big bucks anywhere on the project, because that certainly isn't the case. However, hunting pressure makes mature bucks even more man-shy than their private-land counterparts. Based on observations, Love doesn't believe that many of the project's deer hunters are willing to put in the effort it takes to kill a trophy buck.

MDC Wildlife Biologist Jim Gebhart, who's responsible for managing the MDC's project lands in Benton County, was somewhat more optimistic. "We aren't in a good position to determine how many trophy bucks are taken from a particular area in any given year. However, I'm certain there are some dandy bucks roaming the Truman Project, and there's no reason to think that hunters aren't finding some of them."

OVERALL DEER NUMBERS
Everyone I spoke with in connection with this article commented that there were deer "everywhere" on the project. Obviously, pre-firearms season deer densities vary because of the project's diverse habitat, and post-firearms season deer densities vary because of differences in hunting pressure.

Nevertheless, I can offer personal testimony to the fact that deer are, indeed, "everywhere" on the project, even after the various portions of the firearms deer seasons have ended. I hunt rabbits at various locations on the project from mid-December through Feb. 15. I see an absolutely amazing amount of fresh deer sign, even in easily accessible areas.

HABITAT
If you can't find deer habitat to your liking on the Truman Project, you won't be able to find it anywhere else, either. The MDC's portion of the project includes 700 acres of prairie, 6,000 acres of grassland, 10,000 acres of croplands, 300 acres of wetlands, 8,000 acres of old fields, 670 acres of savanna, 150 acres of glades and 28,000 acres of forest. The Corps directly manages roughly the same number of acres. While the acreages of each of the above-mentioned habitat types differ on the Corps land, all of the habitats are present.