Hunting at Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge

[Bow Hunter Addict]

I applied and my number was drawen for a chance to bow hunt at the Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge in Shirley NY.(long Island)

I was wondering if anyone had ever hunted there or even been there. It will be kind of a challange for me as they are giving you 1 day from 9am to 4pm to scout the area I was selected for. They must have a good number of deer as the hunt is only 2 days and you have to kill two doe before they will give you a buck tag. Any info at all would be much appricated.

[A Sportsman]

Hey Bowhunter, I've been there. Not to hunt though. There is definitely a lot of deer there, like much of LI. I don;t think you'll have a problem scoping out the area you;ll be hunting in the amount of time they give you and setting up in a good spot. Hopefully you get to scout it pretty close to the date you'll be hunting.

Its cool that the park lets a few hunters in to control the herd. But that rule that you have to shoot 2 does before you can shoot a buck in two days sounds pretty unfair and actually ridiculous to me. Hope the hunt works out well for you.

[SplitG2]

I used to hunt the land around that park. Big Big bucks! It's just hard to get 2 doe and than a buck in two days.

[Incam]

Rules are changed for 2013 season. You must harvest 1 anterless deer, return to check station and they will give you a buck permit. Your choice to harvest second buck or anterless deer. If you harvest mature doe, you will have preference to hunt following year. I read 50-60 deer per square mile. They want to get numbers down to 20-30. If i have tags left from regular deer season upstate, i will be hunting shotgun in Wertheim come Jan. They did list that you will need NY issued tags for deer harvested in the national park. This is my first year also and any other info would be appreciated.

[Bow Hunter Addict]

Thanks for the info guys. Incam I was also selected for the jan. shotgun season. And you are correct this year only have to harvest 1 doe before getting buck tag. Problem is the bow hunt is only 1 day DEC14. Thanks again for all the posts.