Bow Hunt on Public land

[mac]

how crowded are the woods in the westchester public (WMA's, state forests) bow/deer hunting areas? I can picture tree stands being put up close to each other and being a bit busy.. any feedback is appreciated.

Edited July 25, 2012 by mc5868

[Danny]

I could be wrong but i think you have to be a Westchester resident in order to hunt there.

[Dom]

Answer to both ? NO AND NO Westchester is a bow only except for smallgame where a shot gun can be used.Not extremly busy and Have seen many big buck's.

[BizCT]

NYS Biggest Archery Kill all-time is Westchester County, if I'm not mistaken.

[Dom]

NYS Biggest Archery Kill all-time is Westchester County, if I'm not mistaken.

That is what I read awhile back think it was taken near the IBM in somer's.I here about a lot of larger buck,s being in that area,use to hunt near Katona before my dad past.

[Danny]

Archery Typical Whitetail Deer

Score 180 1/8

County Westchester

Year 1998

Archery Non Typical Whitetail Deer

Score 210 4/8

County Suffolk

Year 2011

I think Suffolk county will hold the non-typical record for a long time, problem with westchester is there is NO-Public land to hunt, suffolk has 20,000 acres of public land

[BizCT]

Archery Typical Whitetail Deer

Score 180 1/8

County Westchester

Year 1998

Archery Non Typical Whitetail Deer

Score 210 4/8

County Suffolk

Year 2011

I think Suffolk county will hold the non-typical record for a long time, problem with westchester is there is NO-Public land to hunt, suffolk has 20,000 acres of public land

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/recreation/recreation_maps.shtml < westchester, putnam, dutchess, etc....all have public land to hunt!

[Danny]

what are the regulations in order to hunt those lands? any special permits?

[BizCT]

Normal hunting license requirements, etc. You also need a DEP access Permit, which is 100% free....same permit for fishing the NYC reservoirs located westerchester/putnam counties.

[Danny]

did you need to take a proficiency test as well? open to non-westchester residents?

[BizCT]

did you need to take a proficiency test as well? open to non-westchester residents?

No idea what your talking about?

[Danny]

when westchester started alowing hunting on public land i think you needed to take a proficiency test (accuracy test)

[BizCT]

I have no clue....you don't need one for Putnam, just a DEP Access Permit.

[Danny]

gotcha, thank you looks like the downfall is the small acreage as 326 acres being the largest, thanks for the info but i think i'll focus on Suffolk County

Big Peninsula** 326

Louden Point** 180

Muscoot East*** 160

New Croton**** 210

Stayback Hill**** 142

Turkey Mountain East** 95

Turkey Mountain West** 185

Edited July 26, 2012 by Danny

[BizCT]

Putnam County is less than 30 minutes from most of these places and has much bigger tracts of land. Shotgun and Bow only.

[crappyice]

There is a proficiency test to hunt certain areas that westchester is trying to manage. Every year they allow people to test (3 of 5 arrows in a 9" plate). People who pass are then put in a lottery. They select 70 or 80 people to hunt various lands...ward pound ridge, muscoot, Landon. If you are selected you must hunt and record ten hunts on the lands. All other lands can be hunted with regular licenses and the access pass mentioned above.

BUT...it's REAL CROWDED with city folk and loud music and traffic so you should really stay away (so I can remain alone...hahahaha!)

[Danny]

Nice Crappyice, i think i will remain hunting the large tracks of land here on the island. we have 2 areas that are 5,000 acres and 4,000 acres, no thick crowds neither

[Elmo]

Nice Crappyice, i think i will remain hunting the large tracks of land here on the island. we have 2 areas that are 5,000 acres and 4,000 acres, no thick crowds neither

Where's these public land that you speak of? Which ones, I should rather have said.

Edited July 30, 2012 by Elmo

[Danny]

Rocky Point, Otis Pike, David Sarnoff

and a few other lands if your a suffolk county resident

[NFA-ADK]

Going to try out some suffolk area this year for the first time. Depending on how bad the ticks are...

[Danny]

biggest thing is spray/treat your clothes with Permathin (Sawyers is the one i use) follow the instructions on the bottle, i treat my pants, jacket, long sleeve shirt and boots

and it all goes into one of the BIG ziplock clothing storage bags, I take the clothes out and get dressed, hunt and upon returning undressed and back in the bag before i drive home, other thing i find really helps is my pants go over my boots and then i put 1-2 wraps of duct tape to seal it, knock on wood as far as i know I didnt have any ticks last year, I get far more ticks on me just fishing on the south shore