Bristol or Bath/Prattsburg?

[New York Hillbilly]

So, just a quick question for anyone who might care to chime in with some information. After 5 years living in Alaska, the desire to be near our grandson (soon to turn 3) has become overwhelming. It appears a strong likelihood I will start working at the Finger Lake VA soon with Canandaigua being the place I will be assigned. I may request a change of location to the Bath location before I get started because I prefer a more rural setting, and because that is where I initially planned to go if I returned to the Lower 48 . 

I read so much here about deer hunting in Bath, but can anyone tell me how the deer hunting is in the Bristol area? What I have see during my drives through the Bristol area is some massive, steep wooded hills on one side of the highway and what looks like a river bottom on the other side. The hillside looks like pretty difficult terrain to try to hunt, more appropriate for mountain goats! lol 

Edited November 10, 2019 by New York Hillbilly

[Zag]

Bristol's a great area and yes some parts are steep but majority is great hunting and good deer numbers. I know some on here live out that way. 

[Zag]

Also I've noticed over the yrs taxes seem pretty high in the prattsburg area vs other towns.

[Nomad]

Doc’s in Bristol .

Friend just sold his camp and 90 acres basically across from Bristol mtn  ski slope ,yep steep, but very good hunting . Go just a bit North and you’re in prime farmland hunting , since you’ll be working at Canandaigua VA ( wife worked  there many moons ago ) that would be much closer to work .

[Cabin Fever]

My son lived and hunted in Bath for the past 3 years. He moved there to be close to work. There are some huge bucks that come out of that area! That being said, the Bath area has a really bad reputation, shall we say.... Trying to be as polite and tactful as possible for people that might live there. He got to the place where he was embarrassed to tell people that he lived there! He rented an apartment from a state trooper and he warned us about Bath! As soon as someone mentions Bath, you know it's going to be bad! If I had to make that decision, I would certainly choose to be in the Bristol/Canandaigua area. There's great hunting and bucks in that whole area! My son recently bought a house in Canandaigua. There's so much to do in that area and it's beautiful too! 

Good luck!

[New York Hillbilly]

Thank you for the input folks. I appreciate it! A big decision in front of me for sure because we'll be selling the home we built and some of the best deer and turkey hunting land in Central NY as we move ahead to be closer to family. 

[WNYBuckHunter]

Dont let these guys BS you, we have no deer in Bristol

[Steuben Jerry]

On 11/10/2019 at 12:06 PM, Cabin Fever said:

My son lived and hunted in Bath for the past 3 years. He moved there to be close to work. There are some huge bucks that come out of that area! That being said, the Bath area has a really bad reputation, shall we say.... Trying to be as polite and tactful as possible for people that might live there. He got to the place where he was embarrassed to tell people that he lived there! He rented an apartment from a state trooper and he warned us about Bath! As soon as someone mentions Bath, you know it's going to be bad! If I had to make that decision, I would certainly choose to be in the Bristol/Canandaigua area. There's great hunting and bucks in that whole area! My son recently bought a house in Canandaigua. There's so much to do in that area and it's beautiful too! 

Good luck!

After being born and raised in the Rochester area, we moved just outside of the Bath town limits about 12 years ago. I'd been hunting the area since the early/mid 80's so I knew all about the area. It's no different than most other rural towns. The only difference is that Bath is the county seat. Courthouse, county jail, all county offices are located there. We've loved living in the area and my only regret is not being able to pull it off earlier in life. Beautiful area, neighbors are great, and not as much snow as 30-40 miles north of us gets.

[New York Hillbilly]

12 minutes ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

Dont let these guys BS you, we have no deer in Bristol

lol....good try!  

Actually, this is an even harder move for me because my dream hunting property is the one I own now. I'll never be able to duplicate what I did 30 plus years ago, starting with the purchase of our almost 180 acres and building our home. Contrary to what everybody selling their property says, "this" property "is" the hunters dream. Deer, turkey, grouse, squirrels, rabbits, even the occasional woodcock are found here.

But, my family grew up and moved away, my hunting partners moved away, and in the case of my closest hunting/fishing partner for 40 years, retired army Major Uncle Bill, died last November. There was nothing we did not hunt or try to hunt all over NY, and even bear hunted several times in the 90's in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Many of the stories I can tell would have you laughing to the point of splitting your sides! 

Trout season with Spring and Fall trout derbies at our game club, Pike season, Bass season, Woodchucks all summer, took us all over NY, with a favorite fish stomping grounds being "Up North"  on the St. Lawrence or any of the many lakes there. 

 His death was extremely painful for me for a variety of reasons that I won't go into here, but suffice it to say my decision to work for the VA was made out of respect for him. Also, now since my daughter and her husband blessed us with our first grand baby, a son who shares my first and middle name, soon to turn three are living in Webster, the Finger Lakes VA became the likely choice. 

We will soon put our property here on the market but have started our search in Western NY now. 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

1 hour ago, New York Hillbilly said:

lol....good try!  

Actually, this is an even harder move for me because my dream hunting property is the one I own now. I'll never be able to duplicate what I did 30 plus years ago, starting with the purchase of our almost 180 acres and building our home. Contrary to what everybody selling their property says, "this" property "is" the hunters dream. Deer, turkey, grouse, squirrels, rabbits, even the occasional woodcock are found here.

But, my family grew up and moved away, my hunting partners moved away, and in the case of my closest hunting/fishing partner for 40 years, retired army Major Uncle Bill, died last November. There was nothing we did not hunt or try to hunt all over NY, and even bear hunted several times in the 90's in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Many of the stories I can tell would have you laughing to the point of splitting your sides! 

Trout season with Spring and Fall trout derbies at our game club, Pike season, Bass season, Woodchucks all summer, took us all over NY, with a favorite fish stomping grounds being "Up North"  on the St. Lawrence or any of the many lakes there. 

 His death was extremely painful for me for a variety of reasons that I won't go into here, but suffice it to say my decision to work for the VA was made out of respect for him. Also, now since my daughter and her husband blessed us with our first grand baby, a son who shares my first and middle name, soon to turn three are living in Webster, the Finger Lakes VA became the likely choice. 

We will soon put our property here on the market but have started our search in Western NY now. 

Sorry to hear about you losing your hunting partner. Honestly you can't go wrong drawing a half hour circle around either of those areas. Hunting is great and so is the fishing. Where in CNY are you moving from?

[New York Hillbilly]

27 minutes ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

Sorry to hear about you losing your hunting partner. Honestly you can't go wrong drawing a half hour circle around either of those areas. Hunting is great and so is the fishing. Where in CNY are you moving from?

Thank you.

Our NY property is in the town of Sangerfield. 7M