NYRturkeycall

Woohoo!

Yes sorry I forgot to add that. You can hunt as many times as you want in the month on standby outside of a reservation in your name only... You can be added any other hunters reservation so long as you don't have a reservation yourself (also loopholes around that)

Life is easier for you ONLY from October 1st through December 31st for All spots south of the LIE (with the exception of Suffolk county archery parklands only which is a separate permit). Also Brookhaven state Park does not require ridge station check in but it's ARCHERY ONLY (even for fall turkey....no firearms). But to do so for all of these spots you still need to have the three-year land management access permit and parking pass in your vehicle and on your person at all times while hunting. See the instructions on the DEC website to download and submit it... You need Adobe Acrobat DC I believe you can Google it. Shotgun season requires ALL DEC SPOTS designated no matter what the location to be checked in and checked out at the station, that includes Sarnoff, Rocky point, Otis Pike, and whatever other lands are on the DEC website for the January firearms season.... No firearms hunting is permitted in other spots during the January season I believe (small game, waterfowl). Keep in mind if you do not have a reservation (you needed to fill out the form and enter the lottery prior to early December, each hunter only gets one reservation for the month) you will have to hunt on standby which means showing up around 7:30am to get in line with other standby hunters because they start taking letting standby out at 8:00 a.m. first come first serve I believe for any open available spots left for that day.

I'll likely be hunting standby on opening day. Doubt any of my spots will be open though.

Glad to see all the replies and know that you guys are enjoying your family time however you decide to spend it. Merry Christmas Happy holidays and have a great New Year!

And yes like double dose said if you harvest a buck do not drag by the antlers!

At this point the deer have been insanely overpressured at almost every single spot on this island. It is isolated but there are deer there just as there are many other spots. With the January shotgun season though the nice thing is they close off spot 46 so you have the entire area to extremely highly unlikely that any hunters that are sitting in spot 42 are going to come walk over that way. So that's a plus. What I like about that general area especially around 41 and North are that it's a lot of open land and by open land I mean undeveloped. It's very thick in a lot of spots. If you haven't done any of your scouting ahead of time look for trails rubs and scrapes if you can find them. If you find tracks depending on the weather try and see how fresh they are and see if you can track a deer. Don't forget you have to check in and check out at the ridge station for your reservation and any other dates you are hunting in January on standby. Google Earth, Bing aerial, and hunting apps to online scout. Good luck and put up a post if you end up harvesting anything.

Down here in Suffolk, was planning on being in my spot by 530am. Wife has been more than fair letting me go out almost every other weekend since October and play hockey Sunday nights. Today is my last opportunity to hit the ground for one more bow day before shotgun season (at least in my DEC spots). Deciding to put back my gear and clothes and head back to bed to surprise the wife and kids. My 4 year old will be thrilled when she wakes up...the baby just always smiles. Point is, deer will always be there, time won't...and seeing your little girl's smile because Daddy stayed home is worth more than all of the public land 8 pointers I could hope to find. Hope you all have a moment or two like this as well, however it might turn out. Enjoy your families and loved ones. Merry Christmas and Happy holidays.

Hey I'm in Suffolk also. Just picked up my first climber but I would like to have a backup harness just in case. I'm assuming this is for the basics the one that came with my summit viper is sufficient enough. Not sure how this works but Thanks in advance.

Mounting a Bushnell 4-12x40 scope. I use it for deer also and it's pretty accurate up to 75 yards for me. I just hate having the fiber optic sight at the end of the barrel only. No pun intended but I might just pull the trigger early and pick up a Savage 220 for the right price If I can't find a scope mount that doesn't need to be drilled.

Correct not tapped and I dont want to tap it. Need that dinosaur mount.

It's a long shot but if anyone is selling a B-square #16300 Benelli Montefeltro scope mount PLEASE message me! Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the responses and insight everyone. Very good information and I appreciate all your opinions. I'm going to go with the Savage 220 and throw my extra Bushnell scope on it. Should be fun finding the right slug to sweeten it.

Anyone thoughts on the Remington 870 vs Savage 220 slug gun? Leaning towards the Savage even if it's a 20g. Need more distance from a shotgun instead of my 50-60 yards from slugs out of my stoeger. Thanks!

I was sitting at Sarnoff 60 yards north of sunrise and West of old riverhead road from 630a-3p today. Not a one.

Has anyone seen turkeys around their stands on public land this deer season? And if so where? I haven't seen one yet; out at sarnoff and not a sound or sight of turkey. They're all hiding this fall. Thanks in advance

Both. Enjoy the flavor or lack thereof of each in its own way. Happy Thanksgiving all!

Yes pretty nice there. And yes you are correct It's only north of sunrise highway. I think they're smart enough to know that it's dangerous north of the highway lol. Thanks for your input I appreciate it

That's what my gut tells me also. It's my luck ill probably see a ton of racks while turkey hunting in the next week or so and then a ton of turkeys while deer hunting after that.

Even though numbers have reportedly been going up on Long Island I think it has something to do with not wanting to cull too much. Bag limit for youth is one bird as opposed to two bearded birds one each day for adults in spring. Couple that with fall harvests and they might freak out that numbers drop too quick? I wish we could have a spring hunt for adults down here. I don't like driving two and a half hours minimum upstate to hunt for a few hours until noon... On top of not scouting anything other than Google Earth or Bing or hunt apps bc of the drive. Family time more important than days away scouting.

Sorry-suffolk county land. Fall season just opened on the 20th and there have been no reported takes so far. I haven't seen any turkey while deer hunting or scouting

Anyone have any thoughts on David Sarnoff vs Otis Pike eastport pine barrens for fall turkey?

Get out there and scout after the January firearms season. Rocky point is one of the bigger DEC land. There are deer there, gotta know where to look. Good luck

Good luck with the new pups and sorry to hear about your girl.

Welcome!