Syracuse.com - DEC releases maps online depicting the boundaries of wildlife management units

[HuntingNY-News]

The maps are an excellent tool for hunters. By using them, they can easily gauge where state and private lands lie within each WMU.

The following is a DEC press release:

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Region 7/Central New York office is providing maps on its website for the first time that depict the boundaries of wildlife management units (WMUs) and state lands available for hunting within the units. The central New York region encompasses Broome, Cayuga, Cortland, Chenango, Madison, Onondaga, Oswego, Tioga and Tompkins counties.

The maps are an excellent tool for hunters who are applying for deer management permits for harvesting antlerless deer. They can easily gauge where state and private lands lie within each WMU. The maps are available on the DEC Web site.

“The addition of the Region 7 WMU Maps to the DEC website provide a wealth of information for sportsmen and sportswomen,” said DEC Regional Director Kenneth Lynch. “This greater accessibility provides ease in planning, assisting hunters in making decisions about hunting locations.”

The new page on DEC’s website also provides links to “Places to Hunt in Region 7 by WMU." This page provides a list of all state lands located in each wildlife management unit, a description of the area and a map and directions to the property.

Information is also available for hunting in the Region 7 Cayuga-Tompkins Cooperative Hunting Area. The Cooperative is predominately privately owned lands managed to provide hunting opportunity for the public. Landowners benefit by having DEC control hunting access, and the hunting activities result in reduced crop damage caused by overpopulations of wildlife.

A general description of the area, the reservation system and special regulations for the area are provided. Most importantly, the page provides links to 37 individual maps of the sites available for hunting. Each map is an aerial view of the site allowing hunters to determine which site(s) best meets their needs.

Descriptions, directions and maps of state-owned wildlife management areas (WMAs) are also available for the region.

State forest lands with similar information are found on the DEC's Web site.

Collectively these web pages provide a wealth of information for hunters in central New York. For further information on resources found in Region 7/Central New York go to the DEC Web site.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog