incognito

I have the local DEC agent's number in my contacts. They will investigate harassment issues when called.

The location is busy. There is usually a hunter every time I pass. I take the time to drive out east because I am more likely to see deer out there.

I am not going to try to convince you that you are doing it wrong - using the wrong tool for the job. So this is intended for others reading this thread. Never use a rifle scope to identify your target. The number one rule of firearm safety is: 1. ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction. This is the primary rule of gun safety. A safe direction means that the gun is pointed so that even if it were to go off it would not cause injury or damage. The key to this rule is to control where the muzzle or front end of the barrel is pointed at all times. Common sense dictates the safest direction, depending on different circumstances.

Ask if the town/village has a deer management assistance program. That may lead you to knowledgeable staffers. The town/village police or attorney may have knowledge. Bring a permission slip with you. Click here to download the "Ask Permission Slip I am not a lawyer. Check out this link in its entirety. Edited to add: The town or village may have its own laws requiring you to have written permission before hunting on other people's land. Edited to add: Consider contacting the environmental conservation officer assigned to the area. http://www2.dnr.cornell.edu/ext/info/pubs/LegalFinancial/liability_boundary_posting.htm Property Rights of Landowners and Recreationists New York laws provide a framework in which landowners have the means to control recreational use of their property. Landowners, by their actions, can allow blanket permission for anyone to use their property; they can exclude all recreational use; or they can decide whether to allow recreationists on a case-by-case basis. Two sections of New York law, Penal Law 140.00-140.10 and Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) 11-2111-2117, define the rights of landowners versus recreationists or others who might enter or use private property. Penal Law 140.10 states (in part): A person is guilty of criminal trespass in the third degree when he knowingly enters or remains unlawfully in a building or upon real property which is fenced or otherwise enclosed in a manner designed to exclude intruders. Note that in Penal Law 140.00, which defines the terms used above, the term "enter or remain unlawfully" is explained as follows: A person who enters or remains upon unimproved and apparently unused land, which is neither fenced nor otherwise enclosed in a manner designed to exclude intruders, does so with license and privilege unless notice against trespass is personally communicated to him by the owner of such land or other authorized person, or unless such notice is given by posting in a conspicuous manner. ECL 11-2113 makes it illegal for persons to trespass on private lands that are properly posted under ECL 11-2111. ECL 11-2115 makes it illegal if hunters, trappers, or anglers do not leave private lands, whether posted or not, immediately upon the request of the landowner. Finally, ECL 11-2117 makes it illegal for hunters, trappers, or anglers to kill or injure dogs or livestock (including poultry), or to damage gates, fences, vehicles, farm equipment, or buildings on private lands. Violations of any of the above laws for which you wish to press charges should be reported to the proper law enforcement authorities. If the violation involves hunting, fishing, trapping, or disturbing wildlife, it may be reported to an environmental conservation officer or to your local sheriff. Environmental conservation officers are not required to enforce trespass laws that do not involve fish and wildlife activities. Other forms of trespass should be reported to your local sheriff. Recreational Liability When No Fee Is Charged Liability is a concern that all landowners face in arriving at a policy about recreational use of their property by others. What if a hunter, hiker, or another recreationist is injured on your property? Are you liable? The New York State Legislature was among the first in the nation to realize how much people depend upon the use of private property for outdoor recreation. To encourage landowners to keep their lands open to recreationists, legislation was passed in 1956 that limited the liability of landowners who allowed hunting, fishing, trapping, and training of dogs on their property when no fee is charged and the landowner receives no other consideration from the recreationist. In the succeeding years, numerous other recreation activities have been added to this list in General Obligations Law (GOL) 9-103: canoeing, hiking, horseback riding, bicycle riding, motorized vehicle operation for recreational purposes, snowmobile operation, cross-country skiing, tobogganing, sledding, hang gliding, speleological activities, boating, and the cutting or gathering of wood for noncommercial purposes. GOL 9-103 does not totally exclude the liability of landowners toward recreationists. Assuming no fee is charged, the statute states that the landowner owes no duty to keep the premises safe for entry or use by recreationists pursuing the listed activities, or to give warning of any hazardous condition, use of property, structure, or activity on the property to persons entering for recreation. It also states that farm owners or lessees have no duty to keep their farms safe for use by recreationists or to give warning of hazardous conditions or uses of the property. However, landowners are not protected if they intentionally harm a recreationist, or if they "willfully" or "maliciously" fail to guard against, or warn recreationists of, a danger on the property.

Campsite in Huntington carries it. In addition to my clothes, I spray an old sheet and lay it out on the floor of my SUV. I also spray a small towel and put that in a plastic bag that I put my hunting clothes in at the end of the day. I focus on spraying my scent lock base layer and my knee high baseball socks.

Doesn't depend on lots of factors? If you are new to the area, looking for sign could be the priority to figure out how deer use the property. If you are walking to a know spot/stand, looking for movement could be the priority. I look for worn trails or prints. If there are fresh prints, I know I can't be too far from the deer since I am in their range.

I was 20 feet up in a climbing tree stand. I was using a Rage mechanical broadhead. I spotted the deer slowly moving from my right to my left. He was just on a trail just beyond a small clearing where multiple paths cross at about 20 to 25 yards. I drew and held for about a minute waiting for him to emerge from behind some trees. I shot as soon as I saw his front leg clear the trees. I learned there is a balance between rushing a shot or waiting for the better shot that you never get. I may be guilty of rushing the shot in this instance. I hit behind his outstretched left leg but I did not account for where his organs were in relation to his leg. I also hit low, just catching the bottom of his rib cage. I hit forward of his heart. The heart was intact. The arrow did not pass through. I never found it. However, the pit of the far leg was cut open slightly and the vein/artery of the far leg was severed (visible when I opened up the cut in the pit). Interesting is that the exit wound is higher than the entrance wound and I was shooting down from the tree stand. The far leg was crippled and twisted when I found him - either broken or ligaments and tendons severed - I did not examine it closely. So it will remain a mystery of what damage was caused upon impact and what damage was caused by the deer's movement with the arrowhead still in him. Since I did not find the arrow, I was not about to reach into his chest cavity and pull out his lungs in one shot. Therefore I don't know what damage was caused by the arrow versus from slicing into him with my knife. Since the ground looks a lot different from 20 feet up, I was not sure exactly which group of small trees he was behind when I shot when I got down. With a thick cover of leaf litter, I gave up looking for the arrow on three separate attempts - after the shot, the following morning and when I went back to pick up the surveyor's tape I use when tracking. I never marked the first place I saw blood on day one. Another mistake. On the first day I started tracking before sunset. The blood was wet and shiny and easy to spot in the beginning before sunset. Since I thought I had good shot placement, I figured he would bleed out fast even though I did not hear him crash. There was a good blood trail and it did not take long for me to track 200 yards before I jumped him on the first night. I did go back around 8:30 p.m. the first day to see if I could track further. That did not work well at all. It took a while to find where I left off and the blood trail was thinning. I don't know if I made more than 20 yards of progress in the dark in an hour and a half before I gave up. The following morning had its own challenges. The blood was absorbed into the leaf litter so there was much less contrast and it was no longer shinny. The amount of blood was also significantly less at this point. Most of the blood trail was reduced to pin head sized droplets with an occasional splatter here and there. It was interesting how the larger splatter marks would disappear for a while and then reappear further down the trail The next 60 yards was fairly open with multiple crossing trails, so it was possible that he could have gone any direction from the last blood found. Many of the trails had disturbed leaves from either the deer I was tracking or some other one. Luckily I could tell from the splatter pattern on the leaves which way he was traveling and so much blood had run down his legs at this point that there were dots of blood when there were no larger splatter marks. This was a slow hands and knees operation. It took three hours to track the last 60 yards. I got discouraged many times but I kept telling myself that this is part of the experience and it was my job to persevere. Ultimately I found a large pool of blood where he had bedded down. Then at some point he got up and collapsed about 10 yards away. The bottom line is next outing I will spend an extra few seconds to make a better shot and hopefully avoid an multiple hours long tracking job.

Recovered and donated to the food pantry.

Quick update: I found him at about 10:00 this morning. Bad shot, low forward. I crippled his far front leg and slice the bottom of his brisket. Long version to follow tomorrow.

Thanks for the replies. Let's hope I find it in the morning.

I was not concerned about finding it. I think I can do that on my own if I let it bleed out. It is possible that the deer that I jumped is not the one I shot.

I shot a deer late this afternoon at about 3:45. I thought it was a good double lung shot right behind the front leg but I did not notice any bubbles in the bright red blood. The deer staggered as it ran. I put my tree stand away and started slowly tracking at about 4:30. I got a good blood trail - real easy to follow. I saw some pooling where the deer must have stood still for a moment or two. At about 5 o'clock and 200 yards in I jumped a deer and I decided to pull out when I got close to some houses since I was in real thick stuff and I am not so familiar with the section of woods I was in. There is still plenty of blood flow. It is going to be around 32 degrees tonight here on the north fork of Long Island. It will be a challenge trying to follow the blood path out dragging the deer in the dark and really easy in daylight. Safety is not an issue, I can see street lights almost from anywhere where I will be. My question is should I go back in after having something to eat or should I wait till morning? ETA: I don't know if the arrow passed through. I stopped looking for it once I picked up the blood trail since I was running out of daylight.

I broke one of the safety rules regarding the use of treestands by buying a used climbing treestand. I was told it was an API treestand, but the only marking says USL Outdoor Products. An internet search of ULS Outdoor Products only found old posts asking what happened to the company. I am assuming that the treestand is an older model but it seems to work just fine. Does anybody know anything about these treestands and the company?

https://sawyer.com/where-to-buy/

FYI - API warns against bouncing on the treestand to get it to bite in. It also warns that the treestand should be level. YMMV.

10/11: A little more color on yesterday's hunt. The club member showed me a spot and had me climb a tree in moderate undergrowth with deer runs going through it. I got up in the tree and did some maintenance on my mechanical broadheads - replacing o rings and collars while the woods settled down. When I went to put on my release about a half hour later I realized that I left it back at the truck. I considered taking my bow with me but decided to leave everything on the tree hook so I could get down and up quicker and travel lightly back to the parking spot. Of course I spotted a doe on a path as I was returning to the stand with my release. We all saw that one coming. There was no movement for a few hours until it cooled off a little and the sun started getting low in the sky. As I was looking right I heard a snort to my left. She got me to turn quickly just in time to see the white tail waving good-by. I then saw a parade of turkey strut by. A little before sunset I spotted a brown movement to my right behind a berry bush at about 25 yards. I could not tell what it was until I glassed it with my binoculars. I could barely make out the body outline behind the bush but I was able to identify the antlerless deer head. So I estimated where the vitals were in relation to the head and let an arrow fly into the bush. I heard a yelp and the sound that we make when we get the wind knockout out of our lungs. The deer made a u-turn, ran about 30 to 40 yards to the left and crashed. I was surprised how small the little guy was. But I am pleased that there is one less deer running around 1C and that he did not get a chance to do a few years worth of vegetation damage and tick hosting while growing up to be a Long Island monster. The arrow sliced the tendons on the front leg, hit mid to low on the lungs and exited through the gut. Apparently he was slightly quartering to. At the club we mess around with "blind" shots, arcing the arrow over one 3-D target into the vitals of another 3-D target further back, using the head to judge where the shot should go. That practice came in handy yesterday. Now I need to get a bonus DMP tag to replace the one I used yesterday.

10/11: Warm day, cooled off a bit near sunset. A club member took me to one of his favorite spots on county parkland. I got a button buck near closing time. Venison veal is on the menu next week. I got my fist lesson on skinning and quartering.

10/8: I scouted a new property today. Walked the perimeter, looked for bedding areas, etc. I setup along some runs near a fence line. A buck strolled by near sunset but he was off limits until a week from then. 10/9: Back to public property. The day was cut short due to thunderstorms. I saw nothing.

Permethrin doused clothing.

10/4/2015: 62 degrees, sun/clouds, Wind 18 mph ENE I went back to the nearby spot from 11 to 1:30 to see if there was daytime activity without the football game going on. All quiet, no movement from the stand and walking the perimeter. Unfortunately I have a committment at 3 pm.

10/1: Flew back from vacation 10/2: Picked up various village/town/county parking permits, etc. 10/3/2015: Windy, overcast. I went to a nearby spot for a few hours in the afternoon to sunset. I want to thank the person who left a ladder stand on public property since I was a squatter for the afternoon. No activity until one hour before sunset, possibly due to the football game and cheering going on behind me. One doe and two fawns came by at about 60 yards behind brush. No chance at a good shot. Climbed down a few minutes before sunset and stalked them. I got within 30 yards but they scattered before I could get a shot. It was nice to be back out there. I can't wait to check out my spot in Southold in the next few days.

Be careful not to fall asleep in that tree stand.

Start by looking here. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/8373.html http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/40414.html http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/40409.html Look at the top of the second column on page one: http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/regions_pdf/lifirearmsbroch.pdf check out suffolk county parks: http://www.suffolkcountyny.gov/Departments/Parks/RecreationalActivities/Hunting.aspx http://www.suffolkcountyny.gov/Portals/0/parks/pdf/ARCHERY_14.pdf

e-mail notice received today. Deer Hunting Seasons Expanded in Suffolk County 12/23/2014 Deer Hunting Seasons Expanded in Suffolk County Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens today announced that deer hunting opportunities in Suffolk County are expanded in 2015 as a result of legislation signed into law in August by Governor Cuomo. The new law provides for an expansion of the archery and firearms deer hunting seasons and simplifies firearms deer hunting in Suffolk County. The expanded seasons are necessary to help increase recreational deer harvest to better manage increasing deer populations in Suffolk County. “Governor Cuomo’s NY Open for Fishing and Hunting Initiative offers many hunting opportunities statewide for sportsmen and sportswomen for the growing population of deer,” said Commission Martens. “Throughout the state, hunters play an essential role by helping to maintain healthy and ecologically sound deer populations and this extension offers an additional opportunity for those hunters to get afield in Suffolk County.” The changes to the Suffolk County deer hunting seasons and permit requirements are summarized as follows: • Extends the regular (bowhunting) season for deer in Suffolk County through January 31; • Expands the special firearms season for deer in Suffolk County to run from the first Sunday in January (January 4) through January 31 including weekends. The 2015 firearms deer season in Suffolk County will begin Sunday, January 4 and continue until January 31; • Clarifies the Town permit requirements, landowner permission requirements and legal implements for the special firearms season. The adopted regulations also include a provision waiving the Town Permit requirement in any town which by local law has waived the town permit requirement. However, this aspect will not take effect before next season (January 2016); • Increases permit quotas for each town to reflect current deer management needs and allow for additional access opportunities on state land. Hunters who wish to hunt on state-managed lands in Suffolk County will be able to take advantage of the expanded special firearms deer season as well the extended archery season. The following state managed properties will be open for shotgun deer hunting from January 4-January 31; Rocky Point Natural Resources Management Area, Westhampton Dwarf Pine Plains Preserve, Henrys Hollow Pine Barrens State Forest, Barcelona Neck Cooperative Hunting Area, David Sarnoff Cooperative Hunting Area and the Otis Pike Preserve. The East Hampton Cooperative Area and Noyac (part of the Southampton Cooperative Areas) will be open for firearms deer hunting from January 5 – 31; weekdays only. Firearms deer hunting on all NYSDEC-managed lands during the January shotgun season requires daily permits. Get more information on hunting during the Special January Firearms Season on private lands . Hunters looking to archery hunt on state-managed lands during the extended season can hunt at Brookhaven State Park Cooperative Hunting Area, Calverton Pine Barrens State Forest, Carmen’s River Pine Barrens State Forest, East Bartlett Conservation Area, Ridge Conservation Area, Wildwood State Park Cooperative Hunting Area and NYSDEC tidal wetlands that are currently open to archery hunting. All hunters are required to have a DEC-Managed Lands Access Permit to hunt on these properties. For additional information please visit the LI Public Hunting Areas web page Stand-by hunting procedures for firearms deer hunting on state managed lands are as follows: At 8:00 AM each day, all parking spots that have not been filled will be given away to hunters via a drawing at the check station. There will be one drawing for all available parking areas on all properties. All hunters present for the drawing will be able to enter; a town permit is not required prior to entering the drawing. Second town permits can be issued to all hunters who are picked for a spot during the stand-by. The NY Open for Fishing and Hunting Initiative is an effort to improve recreational opportunities for sportsmen and sportswomen and to boost tourism activities throughout the state. This initiative includes streamlining fishing and hunting licenses, reducing license fees, and improving access for fishing and increasing hunting opportunities in New York State. Under this initiative, this year’s budget included $6 million in NY Works funding to support creating 50 new land and water access projects to connect hunters, anglers, bird watchers and others who enjoy the outdoors to more than 380,000 acres of existing state and easement lands. In addition, the 2014-15 budget includes $4 million to repair the state's fish hatcheries; and renews and allows expanded use of crossbows for hunting in New York State. This year’s budget also reduces short-term fishing licenses fees; increases the number of authorized statewide free fishing days to eight from two; authorizes DEC to offer 10 days of promotional prices for hunting, fishing and trapping licenses; and authorizes free Adventure Plates for new lifetime license holders, discounted Adventure Plates for existing lifetime license holders and regular fee Adventure Plates for annual license holders.

For those participating in the Southold Deer Manangement Assistance Program: All Town and Town/County co-owned properties will be open for Bow & Arrow only for the month of January. The Town DOES NOT allow shotgun hunting on ANY Town property. If you need more information on Shotgun Season please refer to the DEC website or contact them directly.