Does not Apply

[BackWoods Hunter]

It's nice reading threads from other people in the state but it seems like I'm not seeing the same activity as them and the way they hunt doesn't pertain to me either. Is it just me or do others who hunt in the Big Woods have different experiences as most of the people on this site?

[Geno C]

everyone's experience in the woods varies as does deer activity from timber to timber... i do not think everyone on here has the same experiences and generally at the same time. each area is different.  some guys are around bedding areas, some around food plots and fields, others in hardwoods so the activity will be different from spot to spot, at different times of the day and generally the season.

 

also, the amount of time you put in preseason scouting and seat time in general will often raise your level of activity. some recon can really put you in the right spot.

 

i think its just a matter of time until you see some chasing or seeking in your area, stay patient and keep at it.  you wont see em if your not in your stand. 

[BUCKANDAQUARTER]

I have hunted big woods. It is a totally different ball game in some respects. Seeing deer is a success at times.

[sidewinder]

i agree with geno on this one. while out turkey hunting i have seen plenty of deer working fields and creekbottems but my buddies who hunt further north (water town and govenour) tell me that they are only getting quick looks and that is about it. i guess that is why they call it hunting. im sure in about 2 weeks you will see much more deer movement.

[BUCKANDAQUARTER]

I think he means more like the Adirondack areas where there aren't fields. Places you can get lost and die in.

Edited October 29, 2013 by BUCKANDAQUARTER

[sidewinder]

lol this is probably true. unfortunatly the above mentioned are the only two friends that i know who hunt larger tracs of hard woods but yes you are probably right. big difference between walking five miles and finding a road as compared to walking 5 and knowing that sooner or later you might find Canada lol.

[BUCKANDAQUARTER]

Exactly, lol. I couldn't have put it better. That's what I think of when I hear big woods. I got turned around once when I was 18 or 19 and oh man what a helpless feeling. Anyway Need not Apply is a great title. Even when you find the foods and what think is perfect you don't find the deer. I would love to venture in and harvest one of those monsters but I know guys who don't even see a deer some seasons.

[BackWoods Hunter]

Yes, that was what I was referring to, the Adirondacks. As I watch the site, it seems as though most people posting are seeing the same type of activity.

However up here, it seems like it doesn't happen until much later. Usually I begin seeing more activity when the temps drop below the 50s. I read everyone's posts and catch myself getting excited. I have to remind myself, wait, not just time yet!

I appreciate the support. That is what I was looking for. After hunting several years without shooting a buck, I'm just looking to be reminded that I'm not alone up in these woods. Of course here, you're always so very alone

[bubba]

Most who post on here from my experience are more in the southern part of the state where hunting is entirely different than us northern hunters.  I see it differently and I hunt near the Gouverneur area. I have woods I have swamps and I have fields.  The bog difference is we do not  have the deer, and patterns here are different.  I am lucky if I get a dmp every 5 years as they are very restricted.  The activity here seems to generally be about 10 days to 2 weeks behind what almost everyone on here sees.  But again the deer population makes a huge difference.  Hell if I see 8 to 10 deer in a season, I am doing well.  I have ample food cover water and arrangement, I just do not have the deer.  Hence we have to also hunt differently. to be successful.  The tough part is getting guys with 2 or 3 dmps and chances at extras in November to understand how hunting here is.  They are way to used ot seeing a lot of sign and activity.  If most hunted where we are, they would give up after a week of seeing maybe one or two deer in that week.  I have had the past two weeks off and I hunted every day but yesterday and have seen 5 deer in 2 weeks.  It is entirely different here for sure.  

[noahmstone]

Glad I'm not alone. Some years I just feel like what am I doing wrong that I don't see the deer that everyone else is seeing and I have to remind myself it isn't all me we don't have the population that other parts of the state have.

[Five Seasons]

Different goals, different areas, varying dedication. Don't forget this forum represents like 1% of ny hunters. Some are better and some are worse. That's life.

What is "your" hunting style and goal?

Edited November 2, 2013 by Belo

[bluecoupe]

I envy you.   I miss the days of being able to still hunt all day and *maybe* see one other person other than my Dad.  True, you probably won't see as many deer as guys hunting farmland but you have huge tracts to roam by yourself.  Given your scouting activity it also opens up the possibility of stalking one particular animal which is a blast.  Frequently, they win as it's their territory but it can leave some of the greatest memories.  

[Five Seasons]

I think he means more like the Adirondack areas where there aren't fields. Places you can get lost and die in.

There are some giants up north, but there also just isn't the farms and feed we enjoy central and west. Harsher climates also take a till on their numbers. We have a camp near Raqutte that I've never hunted. There is tons of state land and many hunting camps. But i have more deer per square mile in Ontario so why bother?

Edited November 2, 2013 by Belo

[BUCKANDAQUARTER]

I know what you mean Belo, i am fortunate enough to live in area where there are deer, just not big ones. i have hunted with my brother in adk park. i live southeast of the park on the ny/vermont border in farm country. decent deer population, although the land i hunt is particularly hard. a lot of my big woods experience comes from vermont, although i haven't hunted there in years. only saw a few deer over several years and one was my brothers 9 he shot about 3 miles from the truck. i have yet to get a big deer out of the big woods but i can tell you it is on my bucket list and probably something i'd be most proud of.

[BackWoods Hunter]

Thanks again. Everything you guys have pointed our is exactly what I was referring to.

To bring this thread full circle for me, how do you guys hunt the back country? Still hunt, stands, or both? Do you hunt the ridges or the bowls; the beds, the browse, or the scrapes?

[BUCKANDAQUARTER]

I still hunt to a spot that kind of had a mix of everything, a bushy area rubbed up area with a food and water source close by, then I'd sit until dark. In the mornings I'd try to already have a spot in hardwoods to sit at. Also I'd avoid areas where my scent was blown ahead of me as soon as I'd pull up with the truck. Again I haven't gotten "the big one". My brother did and it was on a bushy draw that transitioned to hardwoods. It was an area where one ridge ran into another ridge like a "T" and the crease or funnel  ran down into that bushy draw. He had found a mess of old rubs in the off season, and early in the year he found a good buck to be working that area again. He had a doe in heat scent on his boots and the buck trotted in behind him when he was sitting. Very specific area in that case. I always found good sign on hardwood ridges and saddles, but it seemed like every time I was in an area that was no longer being worked (day late and a buck short!). A good friend of mine usually gets a smoker every year and it is always still hunting. He takes the first week off and is gone all day every day and just SLOWLY walks and keeps his eyes out for a flicker and tries to figure things out. He usually does too.

[Five Seasons]

I know what you mean Belo, i am fortunate enough to live in area where there are deer, just not big ones. i have hunted with my brother in adk park. i live southeast of the park on the ny/vermont border in farm country. decent deer population, although the land i hunt is particularly hard. a lot of my big woods experience comes from vermont, although i haven't hunted there in years. only saw a few deer over several years and one was my brothers 9 he shot about 3 miles from the truck. i have yet to get a big deer out of the big woods but i can tell you it is on my bucket list and probably something i'd be most proud of.

How are you so sure there aren't? One of the properties I hunt I thought was filled with small deer and doe. Put a cam in a spot a spot I doubted they used but just to see. Needless to say I found 3 8's and a massive 10 I didn't know we're back there.

[BUCKANDAQUARTER]

I should have said there is usually "A" big one. This year I met up with a guy the hunts the same land. He has had four cameras out all year. He saw two small 8's, one of which I plugged, twin three points and an assortment of what he called scrub bucks. I told him about the one bruiser I saw and he was blown away, he hd no footage ofany big bucks. If the yahoos during rifle stay away from my spot I think I have a chance at a good one, but the buck usually come from another propertyand it is about 1 mile in. It took me years to get dialed in on that one area!

[Five Seasons]

if you shoot the small 8's then you're just hurting your odds of more bruisers next year. I'm not against shooting the 8, but if your goal is to shoot bigger bucks you have to pass the young'ins and you need your neighbors to do the same.

[Meat Manager]

I have a cabin in the Delaware State Forest in PA...it is a mountain big woods tract with virtually no agriculture anywhere.  Harvesting one deer of either sex (there are AR) per season is an accomplishment.

 

The deer do still tend to move in patterns, but they are wider ranging and it is much more difficult to pick up on the patterns...we stick to some trusted stands after many years of trial and error and plenty of preseason scouting, we are also lucky to be right on some natural funnels and in one of the only major pine stands in our area.

 

If we put in the time most of us usually get one there, but it is not like hunting a 12 acre woodlot sandwiched between 100's of acres corn, alfalfa, beans and orchards. 

Edited November 7, 2013 by 7J Everyday

[BackWoods Hunter]

Definitely one of the biggest issues I'm faced with is the wind. It seems like most of the time in November the wind is variable more than it is blowing. It's constantly bouncing off the mountains behind me and rolling down in front of me. Even when the wind is blowing I'm never really sure where my scent is going.

Compounding things, the only way in to my property is from the south through a valley. The deer are always north of me. Getting around their bedding areas always proves to be extremely difficult task. I may just start to take the tough route and climb up the side of the mountain and work the ridge to get around them. At this point I'm more of a mountain climber than Hunter though.

[Five Seasons]

 At this point I'm more of a mountain climber than Hunter though.

 

that's how i feel in Tulley valley some times.

[BUCKANDAQUARTER]

Definitely one of the biggest issues I'm faced with is the wind. It seems like most of the time in November the wind is variable more than it is blowing. It's constantly bouncing off the mountains behind me and rolling down in front of me. Even when the wind is blowing I'm never really sure where my scent is going.

Compounding things, the only way in to my property is from the south through a valley. The deer are always north of me. Getting around their bedding areas always proves to be extremely difficult task. I may just start to take the tough route and climb up the side of the mountain and work the ridge to get around them. At this point I'm more of a mountain climber than Hunter though.

 

 

I hunt property that the access is from the south. I got permission from another land owner to the east to walk in through her property... only problem is I have a 1000 elevation hike that starts right form the road and goes straight up. I usually have to strip down for the walk to the top. It sucks. But that's what I got to do, it took me 7 years to figure out it was fruitless to walk in from where the other yahoos go. I get to my stand early and let them spook everything. By the end of the season I can run up that damn hill with out getting winded.

[BUCKANDAQUARTER]

if you shoot the small 8's then you're just hurting your odds of more bruisers next year. I'm not against shooting the 8, but if your goal is to shoot bigger bucks you have to pass the young'ins and you need your neighbors to do the same.

 

Yeah I know.  I tried feeling out the situation for a QDM type thing with one of the other hunters. He didn't respond. I believe he shoots whatever comes to him with antlers. Everyone wants to shoot a big buck there, just nobody wants to put the effort in. The one I got was at the low end of my standards, that is for darn sure. He was tasty though. Anyway if I knew other people had the same feelings about letting you ones walk he would be alive still. Nobody around that property lets an 8 walk regardless of how young it is. A spike or a 3 might walk, but people see an 8 and it is game over. A double standard for sure. The spot where I see the biggest deer are 1 mile in at the deepest point of the property. There isn't another road for another 3 miles so I know there are big ones up there every year, seen some huge rubs and tracks. They have a low pressure refuge that receives barely, if any pressure, from the hunters. I wish I could get in another 1/2 mile or so.

[BackWoods Hunter]

By the way, now it does apply!

http://huntingny.com/forums/forum/69-big-woods-hunting/