Most local hunting enthusiasts don’t even know it exists, because with so much public land (or friends’ land) available for going after deer and turkey, there’s no need for them to know.
But the guided deer and turkey hunts offered on thousands of acres of eastern Texas County real estate at Bee Rock Outdoor Adventures are well known to many hunters from around the U.S.
“We don’t get much local business,” said Bee Rock manager Kurt Homeyer. “Most people in Missouri aren’t going to pay to hunt when they can go down the road and hunt anywhere, and most people who know much about hunting will be out hunting and don’t need a guide.”
Bee Rock Outdoor Adventures opened in 2010, and has hosted hunters from Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
“Our clients come from all over,” Homeyer said. “They kill deer and have a lot of fun – and some of them are like family now.”
Bee Rock Outdoor Adventures occupies much of a 10,000-acre parcel off of Highway B east of Raymondville that is owned by a man and his family who reside in Bonne Terre. Most of the property was purchased through the non-profit Nature Conservancy on Jan. 1, 2010.
Homeyer was working for that organization at the time, out of an office in Van Buren.
“He was actually negotiating with me to buy the property,” Homeyer said. “I ended up working for him. We started an outfitter business, which was something neither of knew anything about at the time.”
The property is in part managed long-term for timber and in part short-term for wildlife, and Homeyer said there are close to 10 caves and 30 miles of roads on it. The portion where guided hunting takes place spans about 6,500 acres.
On its website, Bee Rock is billed as a “fully guided outfitter that specializes in free-range trophy deer and turkey hunting” that has “transformed a large block of Ozark forest into a low-impact, free-range trophy deer and turkey hunting paradise, to include food plots, diverse wildlife habitat/cover and water sources.”
Hunters (eight at a time maximum) stay in a four-bedroom lodge featuring a rustic great room with plenty of modern and comfortable amenities. Since all game hunted within the property is wild, the same state regulations apply that apply to public hunting.
“Whatever season is open, season limits, methods – everything,” Homeyer said. “I think there are other laws that apply to ‘high fence’ operations, but not for us.”
Homeyer said more than 30 food plots and 30 ponds are maintained at Bee Rock. Numerous strategically placed game cameras help with wildlife management and hunting decisions, and often allow hunters to have an idea of what they might find.
Turkey hunts are three-day affairs, while deer hunts go five days.
“We have a great system,” Homeyer said. “I’m very familiar with the property – I’ve walked every hill and ‘holler’ on the part where we hunt, and we’ve learned which food plots are most likely to have deer in them and where the turkeys like to roost.
“When a hunter only has a five days to deer hunt, you have to put them in a spot where they have a chance to see a big deer.”
Bee Rock Outdoor Adventures’ name stems from multiple aspects of the property’s location on Bee Rock Road that includes Bee Rock Hollow and Bee Rock Sink (and was previously designated as a state natural area). It has been featured on several television hunting programs, including Head Hunters TV, Wild Game and Dominator 365.
“That’s been great for the business, and we’ve made some good friends,” Homeyer said.
A long-time avid hunter, Homeyer is a former Ellington resident who now lives next to Bee Rock Outdoor Adventures with his wife Stephanie (the couple has two young-adult daughters). He said hunters are well fed during their stay in Bee Rock’s lodge, and guides employed must be personable as well as knowledgeable.
“It’s not just about the hunters coming out and killing something,” Homeyer said. “It’s about them having a great experience and a fun time. They’re spending a good amount of money to do this, so I don’t want them to go home and just look at an animal they harvested, I want them to think about the entire experience they had here in Texas County.”
It’s not just about the hunters coming out and killing something. It’s about them having a great experience and a fun time.”
To learn more about Bee Rock Outdoor Adventures, log onto www.beerockoutdooradventures.com or call Kurt Homeyer at 417-260-7997.