Public opportunities in Steuben county

[uberyan]

Got a longer break than usual for thanksgiving this year. 
thinking of making a longer trek up from the island to steuben county. 
cany anyone comment on the public lands there?

not looking for anyone to divulge their secret spots. Just want some confidence that there are good deer to be had before driving for 6 hours. 
 

thanks y’all. 

[Big Indian]

My brother goes to steuben and said there are plenty of opportunities on state land there

[Mapleridge]

I hunt a lot of public land in steuben. Plenty of public access, but you will certainly have company. It is difficult to even find a spot that is out of sight of another hunter, at least for the first weekend of rifle. Depending on what type of hunt you are looking for, there are better counties in NY.


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[Tracy06]

Rock Creek State forest, Greenwood State Forest and Turkey Ridge state forest all have plenty of diverse habitat between them, but the first week of rifle season sees a bunch of hunting camp pressure. Turkey Ridge can be good if you can fight your way through the old logging cuts. Thicker than thick in there for sure.

[Mapleridge]

I hunt those three areas Tracy06 mentioned above. Our group usually consists of 8-12 people, and we hunt quite a bit throughout the rifle season. We usually get a doe or two in our group, but three years ago one guy in our group got lucky and got a nice 4 point.


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[uberyan]

Hmm I like to still hunt so I’d prefer to avoid places with too many other hunters. Don’t want to feel Like I’m walking across a hot range. 
 

Is Erwin big enough to get that kind of hunting done?

[rob-c]

5 minutes ago, uberyan said:

Hmm I like to still hunt so I’d prefer to avoid places with too many other hunters. Don’t want to feel Like I’m walking across a hot range. 
 

Is Erwin big enough to get that kind of hunting done?

No Erwin is hunted hard ..

[Mapleridge]

That type of hunting is difficult for steuben public land during opening week of gun. Most of the pieces are relatively small and heavily pressured. Was there a reason you had steuben county in mind specifically?


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[Mapleridge]

That type of hunting is difficult for steuben public land during opening week of gun. Most of the pieces are relatively small and heavily pressured. Was there a reason you had steuben county in mind specifically?


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[uberyan]

5 minutes ago, Mapleridge said:

That type of hunting is difficult for steuben public land during opening week of gun. Most of the pieces are relatively small and heavily pressured. Was there a reason you had steuben county in mind specifically?


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Mostly because it’s touted as the best ny county for buck take. We have plenty of does down here but bucks have been hard to encounter. 

[Mapleridge]

Mostly because it’s touted as the best ny county for buck take. We have plenty of does down here but bucks have been hard to encounter. 

I think it is likely one of the highest ranked counties as far as total deer take and bucks taken per square mile. Regarding average age of bucks taken, I would guess there are quite a few counties that would be ranked higher. Also an important thing to note, the buck take numbers published oftentimes don’t distinguish between whether the deer was harvested on public or private. There is great private land hunting in steuben, that’s for sure.


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