State Land Question

[Adkstalker]

I've been primarily a northern zone guy for probably 20 years. A couple of reasons, one, I do enjoy the solitude. Two, the spots we had back in the day were lost to farm sales and clubs. Career wise, I never really had the time to seek out and find new private land to use in the southern zone. My question is what is the hunting like these days on State land? I'm in Syracuse, so I'm thinking about the central corridor down to the southern tier? Is it still over run with folks? I only hear the bad, not so much of what could be the good....share your thoughts. I do pass by a ton of it in my travels, just wondering if I should stop and explore.  Thanks

[Swamp_bucks]

Im in chenango county and its not like it used to be. I have a 30acre lease but 90% of the time i hunt stateland.  Opening day last year there was 3 trucks on 1100 acres.  Went to another piece later in the day to try and fill my doe tags and that is 750acres and that only had 4 trucks.  I know of spots that get hit hard in the area looks like a pumpkin patch  but not as bad as 10 years ago.   You have some knuckle heads anywhere you go but most of the people i run into are decent.

[Robhuntandfish]

A guy that worked for me had a camp on the edge of the three Rivers state Forest in Madison county.  He said there isn't anywhere near the amount of people hunting it like there used to be.  

I have heard from others it isn't bad.  Now I am sure opening day of gun there are gonna be people there but might be worth looking into.  I have been by it many times and been interested and really haven't seen it over run with hunters.  

If you bow hunt, Verona beach state park can be bow hunted and is pretty large.  But there are pheasant hunters there too but there are plenty of out of the way areas to hunt.  Just need to fill out a form and keep it with you. It's bow hunting only. And I was told by a buddy a 10 point was taken out of there last week.  

I have camped at stoney pond as well in Madison county and hiked a bit but never hunted it.  It is heavily posted around the state park area but that area is loaded with deer.  Dunno if it is also loaded with hunters though. 

Hope this helps

[Northsox65]

You are very close to some great state land hunting for Small Game, Waterfowl, and Deer, 3 Rivers WMU between Phoenix and Baldwinsville has lots of great spots and very little hunting pressure anymore. Back in the 70's there would be hundreds of cars, now only a handful.

[Core]

West of you between syracuse and rochester is lake shore marsh, which I hunted two years. I took deer out each year with bow but it was a hell of a lot of work. Most times I went out I didn't see a single deer. I'd go back again, but one deer/season I consider a big success. Last year I found private land and got three deer with less effort. 

Most hunters are lazy. If there is a steep ravine or two they will be unwilling to hunt past it because they can't drag the deer out. There is still a spot at lake shore I want to try out and would have last year if not for the private land. It's a good 10 minute walk, requires a climber, and I'll need to use my pulley system to get deer out. But I don't believe people are ever back there and at the end of 2016 season when the rest of the public land was devoid of any sign at all this area was packed full of tracks.

[DanD]

Down here in 8X (Steuben County), I know McCarthy hill  state forest gets overrun the first weekend with guys from PA, but after that it tends to clear out. I honestly can't remember seeing a single guy after the opening weekend, but there were always one or two trucks around.

I also know the same applies to the Erwin Wildlife Management Area (8T I believe), but it is also significantly larger than any other piece of public that I hunt. 

[Hunter007]

After the first 3 days and the last 3 days in  between u see very few hunters around compared to 10 20 years ago 

For some reason .