Definition Of "Big Woods" To You

[DirtTime]

I am strictly talking NY here. What is your definition of 'big woods'?

When I hear that term used for hunting in NY, first thought is the Adirondacks and miles away from the nearest city or town. Secluded. Where if you don't have your $$$$ together you can be in a world of hurt. You don't hear traffic, you really don't hear anything except the woods and sound of your own heart beating. I think of being in remote areas. No farms, no local shops, no nothing! It's you, miles and miles of woods, and your preferred game.

Places where you better take actual paper topos and a compass and know completely how to use them. Places where feeling alone is an understatement.

 

So, what is your definition of 'big woods'?

 

[Doc]

Yes, as you do, my first thought is the Adirondacks with undeveloped, forever wild, unused, heavy old-growth trees. Hardly great deer habitat but capable of holding some very old deer.

 

However, from a deer hunting perspective, I also think of large unbroken tracts of mature timber that can be found in the more southern areas of the state (even western NY). Yeah there might be a house here and there, but little to no agriculture, and again with not a whole lot of deer browse. We do have a lot of that kind of habitat in NYS, and in fact the northeast part of the country, as family farms continue to disappear. It's some pretty tough deer hunting, with conditions that a lot of New Yorkers don't understand or even know about.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

 Rattlesnake Hill can get ya back into no mans land! 

[SCbklyn]

I agree with your definition. IMO big woods means you will run in Sasquatch before you run into another hunter.

[nyantler]

you pretty much nailed it... maybe add that its a place where most hunters wouldn't go WITH a map and a compass... a place where finding a deer is secondary to finding your way out at the end of the day..

[DirtTime]

Well I was thinking. When I think big woods, I think "BIG WOODS"!. Not just a rural area surrounded by farms and towns.

I am not making any sort of jab at anyone, but at times when I hear people talk or read posts about the big woods, I don't think some people really understand the term anymore.

Yeah, there are pretty big state land forests open to hunting all over the state. Many of them in the west, south, or near NYC are in more or less rural areas. There are a few areas in the Catskills I guess you could sort of call big woods.

But hitting the the middle of ADK Park is like walking into another world!

 

[Doc]

Yeah a lot depends on the context. If you are talking about a deer hunting big woods, it may be more food and cover related. If you are talking hiking or camping, I have seen some "big woods" locally that could give anyone a very wilderness type atmosphere and the feeling of alone-ness. And then there was the "big woods" of Northern Ontario Canada where we went moose hunting. None of the trees were big, but it was a big woods. The features there were that there was no sound at all (not even an airplane) that wasn't a naturally caused sound. And absolutely no light that came from this planet.

 

Some might call a big woods anything that you could dangerously get lost in (as in never found). It's all about what you are going to use it for and how "big" you consider big....lol. It is more of a perception than an actual definable thing.

[landtracdeerhunter]

A big woods definition here is any woods you can't see across for one can get lost in.

[Five Seasons]

it's all relative. Big woods in 8F can be 100 acres. But we have a cabin near Raquette and as others have mentioned, a few wrong turns and you're in trouble.

[dbHunterNY]

if you go in the wrong direction you'll hope you have water, a little food, and some way to start a fire.  if a couple wrong turns will get you screwed then you shouldn't really be out there! lol  my definition of big woods is feeling obligated to be very prepared, assuming there's a good chance you will get turned around.

[chiefbkt]

I think of my hunting camp.  ~600 acres of nothing but standing timber between Williamstown and Redfield.  No ag fields nearby or on the property, just a whole lot of big tall hardwoods with a few small parcels of pines.