Learn a bitter lesson the hard way

[Elmo]

Been trying to get a friend of mine hunting so I got him to go with me today for some crow shooting as an observer. Figured some fast pace action my get him hooked. Took him to this one open field I scouted last season only to find out that it is now a corn field. No place to set up blind and decoys now. So we went to Sterling Forest instead. Saw a bunch of stuff along the road (a turkey, a coyote, and a bunch of fawn and does). We hiked around Sterling for some time. Was able to shoot a squirrel. He enjoyed his time out.

When we got back to the car, we noticed that the park police and park ranger were there waiting for us. Apparently firearms are not allowed in Sterling Forest until after November 1st. One tibbit that I must have skipped over when I read the rules and regulations to the park. The park police and ranger let us go without writing me up at all because I it was obvious something I didn't realize and wasn't doing anything on purpose and since I followed everything else to a tee. My papers were properly displayed on the dashboard, my tag was properly displayed on my back, I had a trigger lock for my shotgun and it was unloaded, etc.

Park management though, revoked my park permit for the year so now I can't hunt Sterling Forest for the rest of this year which sucks big time because I did all my scouting there, saw some deer signs, and had my spot picked out for bowhunting season.

Got to read every rule to every park/area you go to carefully. I skimmed through it and missed the most important sentence in the whole pamphlet.

I am fortunate that the officer was so lenient with me because it could have been a lot worst. The other positive note was that it didn't seem to damper my friends experience on hunting.

[pawle76]

Sorry to hear that. That sucks

[Karpteach]

Dude! Sorry you got burnt. Park management is a little wound up! Good luck finding a spot to hunt.

[Elmo]

Thanks. I mean it's totally my fault, I should have been more careful and read things more carefully. I consider myself lucky it's just one park for just one year.

[ny hunter]

Elmo look at stewart airport,it is a bit farther then Sterling,but at least you have somewhere to go.Sucks what happened but hey you can still hunt.

[Elmo]

Thanks, ny hunter. I wasn't much of a fan of Stewart because it's like a war zone there. You hear a shotgun blast every other minute but I have to pay the price for my mistakes and I guess I'll have to deal with it. I'll also check out Storm King and California Hill. Know anything about those areas? Will stick with West Point during rifle season.

[sits in trees]

zo, i zee you ver ahprehented by za Geshtapo, yaa? you ver lucky you vernt shot on site!

[fasteddie]

Elmo -- sorry to hear about your bad experience .

On the plus side ,It's good to know that some officers still have a kind heart and you may have a future hunting partner ..

[ny hunter]

Elmo it has been lots of years,but is'nt WestPoint shotgun?

[Elmo]

Ny hunter: no. I went there most of regular deer season last year. There is a small section that is shotgun only and it's pretty empty since everyone else goes over to the rifle sections.

[anthonyd]

Is there a place online to find the specific regulations for the various parks and wma's?

I imagine Sterling isn't the only place with such limitations.

Thanks

[WNYBuckHunter]

The DEC web site.

http://www.dec.ny.gov

[cynthiafu]

i have been hunting stewart forest for a long time and it has gotten worst every year . even more so since it became a state park . it use to be only 3 people per car now it is as many as will fit in your car . . lots of people walking around more people just shooting at anything . one year we found 4 deer with their heads and feet and tails cut off . one year i had a deer run in front of me and it fell and died . i waited 4 hours noone showed up looking for . so i took it i cant see it go to waste . it is getting dangerous over there . if they dont do something somone may get hurt .

[132 eight pointer]

Head ,hooves and tail cut off.What kind of cult does that ?

[anthonyd]

The DEC web site.

http://www.dec.ny.gov

Thanks, I've been through the DEC site quite a bit. While I can find descriptions of the various state lands, I still can't seem to find specific regulations - like what the original poster noted about date restrictions for firearms.

[WNYBuckHunter]

http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/34531.html

[WNYBuckHunter]

Google works too.

http://ocshooters.com/Hunt/Sterling-Forest/sterling-forest.htm

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&cp=21&gs_id=2a&xhr=t&q=sterling+forest+regulations&qe=c3RlcmxpbmcgZm9yZXN0IHJlZ3Vs&qesig=n-Y77RVah2LjcLGYSrWEYA&pkc=AFgZ2tkhaoeb7ehRfiwsLbQ4gzXOJ00zMoN7XYQFjcQysM9XCHD6InbTG37dkhLGbGvIUyngHwvPR_T6VoSEuPha8XyJNrwq6g&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=sterling+forest+regul&aq=0v&aqi=g-v1&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=a0af293b98df815e&biw=1680&bih=921

[Elmo]

After going through what I went through, even if I read the regulations, I've been spending all weeks calling up different parks and asking them personally if they have a brochure and if they have any special rules and regulations other than what is covered by DEC.