Otis Pike 47 - Shotgun January Deer Season

[Ledge77]

Anyone ever hunt deer at Otis Pike spot 47 before?  Drew a great lottery number and will be there for Shotgun January Deer season.  Seems a little isolated from the rest of the preserve.  Not sure if that is good or bad.  Just curious if anyone has had success there or can share any tips regarding the property for a newbie.  Feel free to PM me - totally understand the discretion.  Thanks and any help is greatly appreciated - will be sure to pay it forward some day.

[DoubleDose]

Never hunted that spot but will share over 10 years experience with that season.  Do not post/stand hunt, the deer are not up and about.  Cover ground, the thicker the better.  Most successful hunters during this season are either doing drives or jump shooting deer like they are small game hunting.  Good luck.  If you do get a buck, DO NOT DRAG BY THE ANTLERS, they are just about ready to fall off.

[NYRturkeycall]

At this point the deer have been insanely overpressured at almost every single spot on this island. It is isolated but there are deer there just as there are many other spots. With the January shotgun season though the nice thing is they close off spot 46 so you have the entire area to extremely highly unlikely that any hunters that are sitting in spot 42 are going to come walk over that way. So that's a plus. What I like about that general area especially around 41 and North are that it's a lot of open land and by open land I mean undeveloped. It's very thick in a lot of spots. If you haven't done any of your scouting ahead of time look for trails rubs and scrapes if you can find them. If you find tracks depending on the weather try and see how fresh they are and see if you can track a deer. 

Don't forget you have to check in and check out at the ridge station for your reservation and any other dates you are hunting in January on standby.

Google Earth, Bing aerial, and hunting apps to online scout. Good luck and put up a post if you end up harvesting anything. 

[NYRturkeycall]

And yes like double dose said if you harvest a buck do not drag by the antlers!

[ATbuckhunter]

Ill be at rocky point opening day and the next day as well

[Ledge77]

On 12/22/2021 at 6:41 PM, NYRturkeycall said:

Greatly appreciate the advice.  Extremely helpful to say the least.  Regarding the check in and out situation, I was told life would be easier since I am south of the LIE.  Is that true in any way?  

 

[NYRturkeycall]

On 12/22/2021 at 6:46 PM, ATbuckhunter said:

Ill be at rocky point opening day and the next day as well

I'll likely be hunting standby on opening day. Doubt any of my spots will be open though.

[NYRturkeycall]

9 hours ago, Ledge77 said:

 

Life is easier for you ONLY from October 1st through December 31st for All spots south of the LIE (with the exception of Suffolk county archery parklands only which is a separate permit). Also Brookhaven state Park does not require ridge station check in but it's ARCHERY ONLY (even for fall turkey....no firearms).  But to do so for all of these spots you still need to have the three-year land management access permit and parking pass in your vehicle and on your person at all times while hunting. See the instructions on the DEC website to download and submit it... You need Adobe Acrobat DC I believe you can Google it.

Shotgun season requires ALL DEC SPOTS designated no matter what the location to be checked in and checked out at the station, that includes Sarnoff, Rocky point, Otis Pike, and whatever other lands are on the DEC website for the January firearms season.... No firearms hunting is permitted in other spots during the January season I believe (small game, waterfowl).  Keep in mind if you do not have a reservation (you needed to fill out the form and enter the lottery prior to early December, each hunter only gets one reservation for the month) you will have to hunt on standby which means showing up around 7:30am to get in line with other standby hunters because they start taking letting standby out at 8:00 a.m. first come first serve I believe for any open available spots left for that day.

 

[ATbuckhunter]

3 hours ago, NYRturkeycall said:

I'll likely be hunting standby on opening day. Doubt any of my spots will be open though.

Well you'll see me there then. you may get lucky since they're either calling for rain or snow

[DoubleDose]

4 hours ago, NYRturkeycall said:

Life is easier for you ONLY from October 1st through December 31st for All spots south of the LIE (with the exception of Suffolk county archery parklands only which is a separate permit). Also Brookhaven state Park does not require ridge station check in but it's ARCHERY ONLY (even for fall turkey....no firearms).  But to do so for all of these spots you still need to have the three-year land management access permit and parking pass in your vehicle and on your person at all times while hunting. See the instructions on the DEC website to download and submit it... You need Adobe Acrobat DC I believe you can Google it.

Shotgun season requires ALL DEC SPOTS designated no matter what the location to be checked in and checked out at the station, that includes Sarnoff, Rocky point, Otis Pike, and whatever other lands are on the DEC website for the January firearms season.... No firearms hunting is permitted in other spots during the January season I believe (small game, waterfowl).  Keep in mind if you do not have a reservation (you needed to fill out the form and enter the lottery prior to early December, each hunter only gets one reservation for the month) you will have to hunt on standby which means showing up around 7:30am to get in line with other standby hunters because they start taking letting standby out at 8:00 a.m. first come first serve I believe for any open available spots left for that day.

 

Just to clarify for newbies, that is the reservation under your name/license.  You can be the +1 (added hunter) for any other reservation. You are not limited to only hunting once under a reservation.

[NYRturkeycall]

2 hours ago, DoubleDose said:

Just to clarify for newbies, that is the reservation under your name/license.  You can be the +1 (added hunter) for any other reservation. You are not limited to only hunting once under a reservation.

Yes sorry I forgot to add that. You can hunt as many times as you want in the month on standby outside of a reservation in your name only... You can be added any other hunters reservation so long as you don't have a reservation yourself (also loopholes around that)

[NYRturkeycall]

3 hours ago, ATbuckhunter said:

Well you'll see me there then. you may get lucky since they're either calling for rain or snow

Woohoo!

[virgil]

I passed the Rocky Point parking areas on my way home from work yesterday and saw a truck with a deer loaded on the back.  Couldn't get a close look to see if there were antlers.  But, it looked like a pretty big deer.