What part of the state( zone/ county) do you think has the best chance of shooting a mature buck on public land

[Hunter007]

 

What part of the state( zone/ county)  do you think has the best chance of shooting a mature buck on public land ?

My vote is the  Adirondacks. 

Edited December 14, 2017 by Storm914

[grampy]

Though the Adirondacks do have some large mature bucks and thousands of acres to hunt. The deer are spread out, and a hunter could hunt days without seeing any deer. The WNY areas along Lake Ontario, and the finger lakes WMU's hold good numbers of large bucks. That would be my pick. But that being said, most anywhere in NY on public land, you can kill a mature buck. But they are not easy to kill, without putting in a bunch of time and having a certain amount of skill and patience. Try looking for public land that is not over run with hunters. Or a bow only WMU. In my area of 4-H, we have Partridge Run. A public land that gives up a few nice mature bucks every year. Outside of just blind luck, you need to put your boots on the ground to scout, and be willing to go where others don't or won't go. That is where the mature bucks will be. For every hunting season a buck lives through, I believe, he becomes twice as hard to kill. That's what makes them so challenging to hunt.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

Livingston -Wyoming Cty. Hope to be able to show a pic of one here the next week of Muzzy hunting.


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[Five Seasons]

i think the daks might hold some ancient giants. i bet there are more deer that duy of old age there than anywhere. but your chances are not great. Where four seasons hunts is probably a better density. 

[Hunter007]

5 hours ago, grampy said:

Though the Adirondacks do have some large mature bucks and thousands of acres to hunt. The deer are spread out, and a hunter could hunt days without seeing any deer. The WNY areas along Lake Ontario, and the finger lakes WMU's hold good numbers of large bucks. That would be my pick. But that being said, most anywhere in NY on public land, you can kill a mature buck. But they are not easy to kill, without putting in a bunch of time and having a certain amount of skill and patience. Try looking for public land that is not over run with hunters. Or a bow only WMU. In my area of 4-H, we have Partridge Run. A public land that gives up a few nice mature bucks every year. Outside of just blind luck, you need to put your boots on the ground to scout, and be willing to go where others don't or won't go. That is where the mature bucks will be. For every hunting season a buck lives through, I believe, he becomes twice as hard to kill. That's what makes them so challenging to hunt.

Really by chance I happen to drive by that place on my way upstate a few years back  . I Marked  it on my GPS to check out at a later date for hunting  but never had the time to go back . As it is  farther from me then other places  I hunt 

[turkeyfeathers]

Steuben county never disappoints in slobs Not sure how much public land is there but big deer killed that way year after year 

[chas0218]

Western NY towards near the middle of the state. Huge amounts of AG fields, I have friends that hunt in that area and some of those deer are similar to what you would see on ranches. 

[genesee_mohican]

I would say the Allegany Co area up around Rattlesnake hill, Ossian State forest and all the other State forests up in that area would be the best chance for a mature buck.  It's vast yet borders farmland and see's very little hunting pressure.

[grampy]

40 minutes ago, Storm914 said:

Really by chance I happen to drive by that place on my way upstate a few years back  . I Marked  it on my GPS to check out at a later date for hunting  but never had the time to go back . As it is  farther from me then other places  I hunt 

If you ever decide to hunt Partridge Run, PM me, and I'll be happy to get you going in the right direction.

[Buckmaster7600]

Although my personal vote is the Adirondacks in reality it probably isn't the best choice. Western wmu's year after year produce more big bucks. I haven't hunted out there much but the books don't lie.




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[LET EM GROW]

Not sure of too many state lands .. but i would say Hit Tor, Urbana or Pig Tail hollow would be your best bets. They are state forests in big buck producing areas.. (Northern Steuben County) 

But any state land in and around the Finger Lakes and towards Batavia 

[gjs4]

This state? Haha

Remember you’re asking a question to an audience that probably is not proficient at 1) hunting mature bucks and 2) hunting public.... so beware of your answers. This is, let alone, someone just handing over all of their intel to you.

That being said- the ADKs. You just need to have the time, perseverance and skill to make it happen


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[Larry]

any state land in western ny most are not hit that hard anymore I would have to say letchworth state park would have the best odds

[Doc]

I think that if you are looking anywhere for a nice buck on public land, you will have to modify your methods to a more aggressive style of hunting. Unless you get very lucky on opening day, and catch the older deer by surprise in the initial hours, it doesn't really take them long to adopt a "hunker down in the daylight hours and move in the darkness" survival mode. Their reaction to the pressure of heavily hunted public land is nearly flawless, and you will have to eventually carefully invade their "survival hideouts". Sitting on stand for hours will be pretty much a waste of time after the initial first hours of the season. The older bucks didn't get older by stumbling around aimlessly through the woods making a target of themselves.

 

[dbHunterNY]

I'll only include places hunted but i'm sure there's others.
dacks up north:

near a paper company lease I know of.  it'd take a three days to hike up into there behind it but it's loaded with deer and giant deer.  club who hunts the paper co lease forever never makes it to the inaccessible state land behind it or needs to hunt it for that matter. each club member on the lease pays $2k I think.  club members think if you can get there you deserve to hunt it.
good spots around stateland in 3A near slide mountain area if you again have time to camp and hunt. add in Mt Tom north of here but the potential for bucks 

here in capitol region:

there's only pine bush as it's bow only but often times it's still over pressured with deer in a back yard, golf course, or other business where they're in accessible. every now in then you can catch a big one that gets pushed where he doesn't want to be from recreational trail users.

western NY:

there's some honey holes in places around High Tor and at Darien Lake state park but always had to access them by not using a trail head and instead paying off some fire house or person to park at their place to gain access. always got busted by more deer than I wanted to using the trail heads you're supposed to.  never hunted Letchworth or any other public land spots out that way though, only private land. just wasn't practical at the time.

If I won the lottery i'd hunt and kill a 3.5+ year old buck and doe, in each WMU region, on public land, before I die. that'd be a sweet bucket list item.

[sailinghudson25]

In all reality, they're everywhere.  For you.........   THe place you get to know the best......

Places of high pressure......   Do late season small game hunting, learn the woods, find the older rub lines, find the lines of heavy foot prints going in to the swamp.   Then make a plan for early bow season........

Places of high pressure....  Rifle season.   Park on the side of the road,  work areas far from typical good spots.

This one public land spot I know well.   A.) Get there really early with waders  B.)  find oddball spots alongside a road that other pass on.

The worst thing to do, find a place with a long range shot........   

Plan A works good.....................

[Larry]

Has anyone notice that there is only one post that menschen’s the Catskills

[Hunter007]

46 minutes ago, Larry said:

Has anyone notice that there is only one post that menschen’s the Catskills

So what are you saying it is overlooked for potentialy having  big bucks there? 

 

[sailinghudson25]

Storm,

Hunting places with low density, you only true advantage is knowing the land.   The closer you are, the better the chance you can learn the place.

Where do you live?  The best place might be nearby.  Sterling forest in the lower catskills can have good deer, but you need to do your homework.

Another good tip is to find a place where a forest fire happened a few years ago.

 

Shawgunks had a big one in 2015,   that place will be in the upswing.  They did reforestation work, I am not sure what they planted.  2,000 acres burned.  This place will be better hunting each year. IF your 914 means an area code, this can be a day trip for you instead of a weekend only place....

 

With crossbows being legal in NY, you have a chance to get a buck on foot in pre rifle season.  Maybe not the best chances versus a gun, but seeing a deer during peak rut time will definitely put some fire in your boiler to get up there for rifle season.....

http://www.watershedpost.com/2015/fire-burns-over-2000-acres-shawangunks

Call up the local forester, get a better idea where the fire was, and what they did to restore the place.

Find an adirondacks hunting book, and learn where the deer like to be....   Salerno brothers have videos.

 

I have a few of these....

 

http://adkhunter.com/books-dvds/

 

Here's some info on the fire..........

 

http://www.watershedpost.com/2015/fire-burns-over-2000-acres-shawangunks

[sailinghudson25]

One thing I forgot, atleast for me.

 

Going up there can be fun, but can be fustrating.   Find a local place and an adirondack place.   For me, that easy deer puts me at ease.  I used to bow hunt in a few backyards in westchester county.  Easy Easy pickings....   Maybe every other or third year I will go to westchester's public land for a late season bow hunt.  That 2 weeks weeks after muzzleloader and before the end of the year.

LEt's hear what you have to hunt and camp with.....

Must have's for me,  good layered clothes preferably some wool that breathes, 2 good packs a daypack with waist strap, and a frame pack.  A good GPS, A good map, a good compass.  IF your hunting in snow, you need a good pair of cramp-ons and snow shoes.  I have a ice fishing sled to drag stuff to the cabin, or a deer out.  My go to rifle is a 450 marlin browning BLR with a 1.25-4.5 scope.  Low power scopes are a huge plus for quick shots..  I'd rather have a 30-30 with that scope, than a 450 marlin with a 3-9x scope.  I also have a 30-30 with peep sights if it snows.  However, first thigns first, you need a muzzleloader for early muzzleloader.  I use a 54 cal flintlock, because I build and shoot muzzleloader competitions for practice.  But, I got a T/C omega with the same exact bushnell 3200 elite 1.25-4.5x scope.  The added plus of that scope is the rectile is very thick.

I do not hunt / camp with my canoe, but I do camp and fish with one.  A dry bag or two for a change of clothes, kindling, and maybe your sleeping bag can be very handy.  A way to chain up the canoe to a tree and a set of travel wheels.  I made a custom game cart that fits my 2006 old town discovery 147.  Not the best canoe, but it works.  I have a small camping chainsaw, but I think thats not allowed in the adirondacks.  You might want to ask.

I stack one spot, but most of the pre-cut wood I make is in 4 or 5 pieces in low spots or behind rocks.  I camp of a public camp spot in the hudson river by hudson.  I usually can recover about 3/4's of my cut wood.  I also go in a bit deep and cut notches in logs, so you can drag the big chunk out, and break it to pieces easier.  A big notch on one side and a little notch of the other...

 

Going back to scouting.  A mountain top that has a flat top is ideal.  Those fingers on top are great for bucks.  They can sneak one side to another.  Bucsk tend to be on the downwind side of the fingers.  They smell what on the upwind side.  But, they also smell what downwind by the widn creating a small vacuum drawing the valley areas wind up to the blowing stream of air on top.   Saddles are great too.  Saddles are the highest path between two hill or mountains.  Swamp edges can be good.   Overall, these bucks are concerned about 4 things.    1st their horny....  2nd they worried about other bucks,  3rd they worried about humans..    4 they want to find the easiest way to get #1, but avoid #2 and #3.   A bit elevated patch, a ditch, or areas that are brushier than others are prefered travel routes.  A wide open valley area is the novice hunters first choice, but the deer's last choice...........

Bucks do not care about food much during the rut.  They have a bit of a concern about water.   However, does are going about most of their regular routine.  Learn to ID prefered forage.  If you feel your on a travel route, look at forage closely.  See what's nibbled.  You should be able to ID young birch, mature beech trees, cherry trees,  speckled alder, and striped maple...

 

http://wildadirondacks.org/adirondack-shrubs-white-meadowsweet-spiraea-alba-var-latifolia.html

[G-Man]

Wny  and cny  will give you best areas to start looking .look for statreland that's about 2 hrs or more from any major city.. most public land hunters do not travel far( think all the nyc  hunters in the catskills) while the Adirondacks may hold older deer the population is Much lower and hunting much harder..  study maps and look at hunting areas.. first few years you will learn where 90% of pressure will be.. your job it to find the place that only 1% will go to and start your scouting there.. remember the way you get to the area may be difficult  but there may be easier way to access .. canoe. Or hike in from other entrance/ direction