ctballos

Hi Andy, there's a legal parking area off Pond Gut Rd for about 8 cars. It's tough to find but it's there.

I've hunted squirrel at Lafayetteville and a few times there have been folks running dogs, but mostly off the Wilbur Flats Rd section where the brush is thick. If you go across Rt 199 it's pretty hilly with some great overlooks for sitting and watching. Nice place to hunt. A better place IMO is Taconic-Hereford 909 acres, miles and miles of trails with many great overlooks, open fields, wet areas, and all kinds of nut trees. Also you can drive in from multiple sides and there are many small parking areas. If you come in from the east on Pond Gut Rd there's remnants of an old farm and numerous trails. I've seen many squirrels and a few Deer and Coyotes out there. The area is also great for mountain biking but you can easily get off the trails to avoid them. One of my favorite spots for air gun hunting.

I know what you mean. I would be the grown man crying in the woods.

I've hunted small game for most of my life using an air rifle. Earlier this year I decided this would be my first year hunting larger game, probably just deer and maybe coyotes. I went out and purchased a Browning BLR in 270 WSM. It is one of the most beautiful rifles I have ever seen. I haven't fired it yet and I am so looking forward to it. I ordered a Skinner peep sight and my plan, at least for this first season, is to hunt with the open sights. Unless of course when I sight it in I can't get a tight enough group at 100 yards. It probably won't matter since I plan to attach a bipod to it. Needless to say I am anxiously waiting for hunting season to open.

Wow that's exciting. I appreciate the responses. I may go there this weekend and scope the place out. Of course I'll be toting the air gun just in case I come across a red squirrel or two.

Hey Guys, Just wondering if anything has changed with New Forge SP. I noticed above someone mentioned you could target shoot there. Does anyone know if this is still allowed? I'm a small game air gun hunter looking for another place to harvest squirrels.

I was out squirrel hunting last weekend and I saw one running off into the woods. A black and grey and a scary looking beast. I didn't have a chance at a shot.

Thanks. Heading out again before my furlough ends and I have to go back to work.

I've been out a bunch of mornings between the Taconic - Hereford and Lafayetteville MUA's and have seen a number of squirrels. The brush and leaves are thick out there and it does make if difficult to stalk the little critters, take your eyes off them for a second and their gone. So far the squirrels have been pretty safe from me. I don't think I'm sitting long enough between moves because there not coming out for me. I've been sticking to the trails, walking quietly stopping, moving, stopping, moving. And when I hear enough chatter I circle around into the woods to get the sun behind me stopping when it gets quiet and finding a decent vantage point where I sit can quietly and wait for the chatter to return. It does but I just can't find them very often. It doesn't seem to matter what I do after 10:30ish because everything just gets quiet. I don't yet wear camo, just a tan vest with blaze orange shoulders, jeans and a dark colored shirt. Am I just not being patient enough? Anyone have any tips for me? Thanks.

I spelled it wrong. It's Lafayetteville MUA on Wilbur Flats road, between the Taconic and Route 199.

Hi Feathebeard,,, still working my way up the hunting ladder, I figure I have to bag my share of wild squirrels first. Not that I haven't bagged 50'sh in the back yard but when I'm in the woods somehow the critters develop radar and go into cloak mode.

Thanks for the luck, you to. I went out today back to Taconic - Hereford and sat on an overlook for an hour and never saw anything but a bird which turned out to be too fast for me. After that I left and decided to check out the Lafayette State Forest and found a parking area just off route 82. I didn't go in but did notice a lot of conifer stands with a very long hill of hardwood behind it. Looked like a place to hunt. Painting my sons house tomorrow hunting Thursday.

The Air Ranger jammed. It turned out to be the polymer tip on the Polymag pellet coming loose and sticking a bit into the barrel. I didn't realize at the time but the pellets are a bit small for the magazine. I pushed it back with a small wood dowel.

I've been out a few mornings and have noticed my noise may be scaring off the greys. Had an airgun jamb with a new pellet and had to walk back to my car and home to clear it. On the way I saw a grey walk across the trail, bastard, how did he know! So I know they are there. Anyway rain today back tomorrow. Did I mention I'm on Gov't furlough? So I have time to do stuff. So what's up with the knat's, mosquitos, and flies? What do I wear?

Well I decided to try out the Taconic - Hereford MUA since it is so close to home, it's 909 acres. I parked right off the Taconic Pkwy and wondered into the woods away from the road. But I could never get far enough away to loose the traffic noises. For my first day of small game hunting I had a blast. Never saw a squirrel but walked all over, got into the hunting mentality walked a short bit to an interesting area and stopped and listened and watched for 5 to 10 minutes. I could hear maybe a squirrel eating something but I could not see him. I spent a couple hours out there looking around saw a few birds and a chipmunk but not much else. I used the GPS on my phone to periodically check my location. I have a Topo mapping app that's ok for choosing a decent path but mostly it just gets me back to my truck. So day 1 no sees or kills but a great time hunting. Day 2 tomorrow morning I'm going back to check out the back parking areas and see if all the critters are hiding there.

Hmmm squirrel. Going out this weekend to find some.

I'm wondering if anyone has small game hunted the Tivoli Bay WMA? This is my first year hunting and it's not too far from my home so I thought it may be worth checking out. I've been researching places around Hyde Park using DEC's State Lands Interactive Mapper (SLIM), it's a pretty cool tool. The Taconic - Hereford Area and the Beebe Hill and Harvey Mountain areas also look like their worth checking out. Am I missing anything worth checking out around this area? Thanks for any advice.

Hi Firenailer, Welcome to the site. I've only been around a couple weeks but I have found the site to be a wealth of info, especially for a 59 year old beginner like myself. Welcome aboard.

Welcome aboard Britton.

Of course he is. It's called respect for being human.

Welcome aboard Merlot from another newbie.

My neighbor a couple houses down the street feeds the squirrels. And they are the size of groundhogs. At times I've counted 20 of the little bastards out eating his feed. I call them little bastards because they started eating holes in my house and running through the attic. One winter I decided to take as many as I could but I didn't want the Police knocking on my door. So I setup to shoot out the bathroom and basement windows. I found as long as I kept the Sheridan pump inside the house it was almost silent outside. I shot a dozen of them that winter and it didn't make a dent in their population. Then in the spring I had competition for the squirrels. One morning I noticed a hawk in the back yard and I wouldn't of beleived he could lift them, dam if he couldn't. Then a bald eagle started hanging out. Needless to say we only had a few squirrels left by summer. Today their numbers are growing and now I have a nice new Air Ranger to handle that task.

Welcome aboard John, I joined up recently myself and find the site a valuable resource for a newbie like me. I ride the Catskills several times a month maybe I'll run into (not litterly) you some day. Tom

A funny rabbit story. I live in the Village of Hyde Park. A couple years ago a family down the street was ordered by the town to stop raising rabbits. They faught the Town but lost. So they opened the cage doors and let them loose. In the beginning we had close to a dozen of the critters running the neighborhood. I would look into my back yard and see a few of them grazing and think of the air rifle in the closet. I never shot any though. It also didn't take them long to realize my tied up beagle could only go so far and they would sit just outside his reach eating. The dog also new he had reach limitations and would sit there for hours glaring at them. You don't know how many times I wanted to accidentally unhook him. Anyway we seem to be down to two left. I guess the others got eaten.

If the state of ny wants to publish your gun inventory as part of the safe act then they are responsible for the damages. Show me a court that doesn't place the blame where it lies.