JabzXtreme

I thought sure for yesterday would of been perfect being a nice day before the front came. Today it's 35 degrees, 20mph cold winds. I seen the squirrels in my yard come out for just a second before getting back to hiding. I was going to go today but if I didn't see any yesterday I doubt I'll have any luck today, except adaption to the cold winds. I'm gonna try again in a few days when this cold front settles down. Tomorrow it's supposed to be chilly and breezy again too. It seems the weather will get back to normal around Sunday and Monday it gets back up to 50 degrees. Is my thinking here accurate?

I've spent 5 days in RP and only seen, and only ate 2 squirrels. I've walked nearly the whole land, hunting from dawn to dusk. 2 squirrels? Are there none left? Starting to feel the long island public hunting BS. Not only are the areas so small and overcrowded, there's no game! You got dogs getting all the pheasants, people shooting at trash cans, and a hazardous waste in the middle of it!? Wtf is going on here. Sure I spooked some deer, a hundred yards from me... But the rest of the woods is dead. Any ideas? Should I get out of RP and try OP or Sarn for small game? Don't make me save my hunting license money next year. Oh how I miss Florida now.

New to Long Island Public Hunting. I've been driving around the public areas closest to me and having trouble finding Oaks! The woods are dominated by Pines (Pine Barrens duh!). Can any of you nice folks help me get me one step ahead of my search for which Public Area to pursue comfortably for the start of Small Game Season? It will drastically cut down on my unsuccessful hunts marching through the wrong areas. This can happen in PMs certainly. I'll be hunting Small Game (Squirrels, Rabbits, Pheasant, maybe Turkey). So I'd like to stay away from the archery deer hunters for courtesy. My public land conists of RP, OP, Sarn, WH. I also drive a car so no soft offroad parking spots. Here's some of my questions/concerns: 1. Will I be disrespected going to RP or OP as a small game hunter? The whole official Check-In process makes me a little nervous. Do you request your spot, or do they give you one? I see so many archery hunters filling the parking spots, there's also some Off-road Parking. The area seems dominantly Pines. Would you recommend RP or OP for Small Game Hunting? Can you recommend a location within an area, with dominated woodland oaks that can get me on some squirrels? I see few opportunities for dense oaks from Google Earth. 2. Perhaps Sarn/WH is better for a Small Game Hunter? No Check-In, so you just park and claim your spot? Sarnoff is a lot of Pine Barrens too. Where's the Oaks? Thanks!

#1. Pet Peeve: Disrespectful Hunters, Poachers, Bang Bang anything they see, Hunting for fun not for meat, Unsportsmanlike, Discourteous, Law breakers.

Scent-Free yourself. Move carefully and quietly. Look for worn trails off main trails and where they lead. Find the Acrorns. Find some tracks. Find some droppings. Any activity that the area is being used recently.

I have the Primo's Squirrel Buster and I'll tell you my experience with it: It has the ability to use 3 different calls. Bark, Distress, and one other. After using it on a few hunts and not seeing the squirrels particularly respond to it, it did make them aware that something is in the woods over there and I think they actually went into "Alert" Mode, going higher in the trees, hiding, or getting a little curious to find me. It did not however, make them bark back, come to me, or otherwise positively respond to my call. So it doesn't particularly help them "Come to me", but in some instances it might help "Locate" them by making them move, or even stay still (usually on the backface of a tree). There is also always the chance of human error in the calling. The right volume, pitch, amount of barks, intervals, etc. There's more error to spook the hunt than to help it. Then again I see guys hunt squirrels with dogs barking at the base of the tree so ^_^. Since I put the call down and just got better at finding the tree mast areas that dominantly hold squirrels, I got better at my approaches and slowed my pace. Sometimes after I shot one, the others would spook just for 10-20 minutes. I often get 2-3 on the ground while standing in the same spot just for mentally marking my downed squirrels location, and then hanging out for a few minutes looking for more. I was bagging 12 a day without the call (12/d limit in Florida). Sometimes the hunt is easier if they see me because they go nuts barking at me and alerting all the other squirrels. They make a lot of noise and point out their locations to me, then I approach each one with some strategy to get a good shot. Of course you don't want to over-hunt your spot because you just diminished the population! So now you gotta find another patch of those nice oaks! I actually just found my squirrel call while gathering my backpack supplies and this is now my thought on it: I'll use it as a last resort. If otherwise I'm going out of the woods with no or little action that day. But it isn't worth being your "go to" squirrel hunting gadget, as it isn't all that effective. Finding better patches of trees that hold squirrels, and having a good day that they're active is the main factors in my success. Happy Hunting! Shaun

Hello fellow LI Hunters, I see there is no active online community for Long Island Hunters, if you know of one please tell me! This post may help like minded googlers find their way. I'm Shaun, I'm 30, and I live in Suffolk and I'm a beginner to intermediate experienced small game public land hunter. Before I came to NY, I was hunting Small Game and Wild Hogs in Florida and we had a very active public land community that got together for hunts or just became online hunter friends who shared their experiences. I hunted for Shotgun Deer a few times but no luck so I'm a real newbie Deer hunter and I only have a crossbow so Archery's out for me right now. I guess I'm just looking to meet some people, either here online or IRL if we fancy one another's company. I'm a lonely hunter as I lost my mentor when I was very young. So I'm a research hound - I'm a techie guy and I learn everything I can from hunting shows, magazines, books, online communities and friends, youtube, google earth, etc. So this'll be my first year hunting in Suffolk Public Land, primarily for Small Game - Squirrels, Rabbits, Woodcock, Pheasant, possibly Turkey. I'd love to hook up with some folks to show me some Waterfowl or Geese Hunting, or even Deer or introduce me to Archery. As I'm new to the lands anyone looking for a buddy to explore and learn some woods with would be cool. I also know the deal with Small Game guys and Archery guys preferring to hunt apart, so I hope not to step on any toes and hope the check station would distribute parking spots accordingly. I'm not new on Public Land, just here on Long Island :). If you have anything you'd like to chime in with feel free or send me a PM! Thanks for reading!