How do you find private land to hunt?

[uberyan]

The plot I had lined up fell through and now I'm scrambling for a place to hunt (stalking/still hunting so I'd prefer not to be on packed public lands).

I don't live near any of the rifle allowed areas so it's not like I can drive around looking for postings.

So for those that don't live in the vicinity of such lands, how do you go about finding a place to hunt?

[turkeyfeathers]

Sad your plot fell thru as it's a little late to be knocking on doors now. I'm sure some LI guys may be able to help list some state land you may be able to get on and hoof for awhile to get away from other hunters. The drag out may suck though.

[The_Field_Ager]

By all accounts public land is practically empty these days from what we have heard on here. Especially if your willing to go more than 200 yards from the parking lot

[uberyan]

1 hour ago, turkeyfeathers said:

Sad your plot fell thru as it's a little late to be knocking on doors now. I'm sure some LI guys may be able to help list some state land you may be able to get on and hoof for awhile to get away from other hunters. The drag out may suck though.

Yeah, I realized it was a few weeks out so I went to finalize and make official with the landowner just to find out some things had happened since I got his verbal OK a while back. Even if it wasn't somewhat last minute, it would be tough to knock on doors as is. Can't exactly drive out of Long Island to start looking for random plots of land upstate.

55 minutes ago, Papist said:

By all accounts public land is practically empty these days from what we have heard on here. Especially if your willing to go more than 200 yards from the parking lot

I guess I might not have a choice. Hopefully what you say holds true even once rifle season opens.

Anyone have experience with the cooperative area in Shaupeneak Ridge?

DEC has it listed as a semi-private sort of deal.

Edited November 7, 2016 by uberyan

[Buckmaster7600]

I'm confused, you can't drive up to knock on doors but you can to hunt? If nothing works out there is always the Adirondacks plenty of land and virtually no hunters.


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[martin]

 

17 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

 If nothing works out there is always the Adirondacks plenty of land and virtually no hunters.


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I've done that. It's great to have 10,000 acres to yourself and maybe 1 car when southern tier is open.Northern is open 3rd week in October. IK it's a hike, but sullivan county may be your best bet and it's closer. Good luck.

[10point]

2 hours ago, uberyan said:

The plot I had lined up fell through and now I'm scrambling for a place to hunt (stalking/still hunting so I'd prefer not to be on packed public lands).

I don't live near any of the rifle allowed areas so it's not like I can drive around looking for postings.

So for those that don't live in the vicinity of such lands, how do you go about finding a place to hunt?

Plenty of public land in the caskills and not that crowded like it was 10 20 30 years ago. Especially after opening day.

 

[Chef]

The plot I had lined up fell through and now I'm scrambling for a place to hunt (stalking/still hunting so I'd prefer not to be on packed public lands).
I don't live near any of the rifle allowed areas so it's not like I can drive around looking for postings.
So for those that don't live in the vicinity of such lands, how do you go about finding a place to hunt?

Best way to find private land is to buy it


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[uberyan]

2 hours ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

I'm confused, you can't drive up to knock on doors but you can to hunt? If nothing works out there is always the Adirondacks plenty of land and virtually no hunters.


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Yeah it's more like I have no idea where I'd start knocking.

do you just look for properties that border state lands or forests? How do you know there's enough acreage to hunt?

30 minutes ago, chefhunter86 said:

 

 

Best way to find private land is to buy it


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I'd love to and hope to down the road.

but ATM I'm only 5 years into my first mortgage so it may be a while. 

[Chef]

I'd love to and hope to down the road.
but ATM I'm only 5 years into my first mortgage so it may be a while. 

I know I just bought this year.... in the past I have always hunted land belonging to others mostly family. It's tough to get strangers to let you hunt. Why not just hunt public ?


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[uberyan]

43 minutes ago, chefhunter86 said:

I know I just bought this year.... in the past I have always hunted land belonging to others mostly family. It's tough to get strangers to let you hunt. Why not just hunt public ?


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Mostly from hearing horror stories about hunting on public lands. 

Peope on top of you best case, worst case having bullets whiz by you. 

And this being my first time coupled with stalking/still hunting, I guess I just feel safer knowing I'm the only hunter in the woods (which was to be the case in the original property I had lined up).

im sure it really isn't all that bad and if it comes down to it, I'll probably check out some wmas in region 3/4. 

[Chef]

Mostly from hearing horror stories about hunting on public lands. 
Peope on top of you best case, worst case having bullets whiz by you. 
And this being my first time coupled with stalking/still hunting, I guess I just feel safer knowing I'm the only hunter in the woods (which was to be the case in the original property I had lined up).
im sure it really isn't all that bad and if it comes down to it, I'll probably check out some wmas in region 3/4. 

I get that.... the biggest piece of advice I can give about hunting public land is go further and deeper than anyone else does. One you get more room to
Yourself, secondly other hunters will push deer to you as they come in... get in early do not leave for lunch and stay in late. It's tough work but there are plenty of deer to be had once you get off the beaten path


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[upstate]

On 11/7/2016 at 10:40 PM, uberyan said:

Mostly from hearing horror stories about hunting on public lands. 

Peope on top of you best case, worst case having bullets whiz by you. 

And this being my first time coupled with stalking/still hunting, I guess I just feel safer knowing I'm the only hunter in the woods (which was to be the case in the original property I had lined up).

im sure it really isn't all that bad and if it comes down to it, I'll probably check out some wmas in region 3/4. 

I know its a long ways away, a very long way away but there's a TON of state land that people struggle to get to. We're surrounded by 40,000 acres and very rarely run into a person, in fact its been 15 years. This is on the tughill.  There's people who travel up there for 3-4 day hunts, own camps, etc. from your area.  

 

If you're looking to hunt in the Finger Lakes and other high deer density areas you'll have company. 

Also, they're not kidding, there's nobody really hunting a half mile from the parking lot on state land. 

[Jaeger]

On 11/7/2016 at 10:40 PM, uberyan said:

Mostly from hearing horror stories about hunting on public lands. 

Peope on top of you best case, worst case having bullets whiz by you. 

And this being my first time coupled with stalking/still hunting, I guess I just feel safer knowing I'm the only hunter in the woods (which was to be the case in the original property I had lined up).

im sure it really isn't all that bad and if it comes down to it, I'll probably check out some wmas in region 3/4. 

I get that, but most "horror" stories are from one guy having one bad time.  It's not that frequent or frequent at all.  

I've personally never had any issues or problems with too many hunters or careless hunters on public land.  But I have had a host of these problems with trespassers on my own private land after I purchased it.

I started out driving up from Southold to the eastern catskills between kingston and margaretville.  I hunted the slide mountain and surrounding areas for about 10 years before heading further west to get to affordable land for my own.  The worst I had was a little old lady in sneakers wiz by me on the trail, she waved hi and kept going.  

That was 10-15 years ago and there just are not the volume of hunters out today as there were then.  100's of thousands of acres of public land in the catskills and hardly no one there especially if you get above the route 17 corridor and hunt off the route 28 corridor. (old route 17, the quick way is now call by some interstate number but it's the southern east/west road across the bottom of the catskills, rt 28 goes east/west right through the middle).

These guys are exactly right, get more than 1/4 mile off the parking areas (and especially off the dang trails!) and you'll not only have it all to yourself but will probably be near some productive active privately farmed land.  Stay on the public land side and you should do very well.  

If your the kind that gets lost ten feet off a trail, stay on LI.  Get a good compass, relevant topo map and gps.

P.s. boning out the deer and taking out proof of sex is a great and legitimate way to get a deer out of deep woods.  Bring in plastic bags and a light backpack.

As I've said above, I've had much more horror problems on my own private land than I ever did on public land.  My other land owning friends report the same.

[bigpaul]

My county has a mapping tool on it's website that allows you an overview of all property, acres, owners and address.  It is fairly accurate and I use it quite often.

[Buckmaster7600]

This is what I did when I wanted to hunt Ohio.

Did my research to figure out what counties I wanted to be in.

Watched the forecast and waited for a couple rainy days in a row. Booked a hotel drove 11hrs stayed in hotel dressed in nice cloths and started driving around knocking on doors. Got told no a lot but on the second day I knocked on a door that an elderly lady answered she was super nice and said she would get her husband. He came out and was the nicest old man I have ever spoken to. They are retired and have no family around. Long story short I now have a 200acre farm that my brother father and I "lease" for 600$ a year and I had to talk them into taking that. We go out 2 or 3 times a year just to visit and help them when possible. My father and brother are out there now and yesterday raked their lawn for them.

He still hunts a little but struggles to get around, last winter I bought a 500$ 4wheeler that I fixed up and gave to him this spring and you would have thought I handed them a million dollar check.

The land is out there you just have to work for it.


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[uberyan]

Thanks for all the tips and assurances folks.

Definitely less leery about the public land deal.

I definitely don't mind trekking in deeper.

I enjoy walking/hiking and actually am trying to think of hunting as hiking with benefits.

Still relatively young (even though brainfarts have started to occur more frequently now) so it shouldn't be a big deal.

My sense of direction is good enough where I shouldn't be lost, at least not for too long I hope.

I'll definitely check out the state lands in the catskills as well as checking in with some of the state parks/wmas closer to me.

I was curious on quartering and packing out the meat instead of dragging.

No problems with butchering here as I'm pretty handy with that stuff but had a question when it comes to aging.

I know there's a whole separate conversation on whether aging deer meat has any benefit or not.

But assuming that it does, will quartered meat still age as long as you don't butcher them out further or does the animal need to be in one piece to allow it to happen?

Again, thanks all for the help.

As a semi-city dweller/slicker, there isn't much out there for me to learn from personally so all y'all helping me out is tremendously appreciated.

[46rkl]

I've found that the OnXhunt map is great for this kind of thing. It can go on your phone, GPS or computer. It shows public and private land ownership lines as well as giving you contact information for private landowners. There are all kinds of layers you can use like DMP unit boundaries. I have used it with good success in Wyoming and just got the NYS version. 

[uberyan]

I'll have to check that out.

I think for now I'm going take Jaeger's advice and try my hand out in the Catskills.

Planning on making it a day trip the day before Thanksgiving to Sundown forest.

Hopefully by then the opening weekend crowds will have died down.