NY Deer Hunting
Deer Hunting In New
York State
 Most private
and public lands in the northern New York deer hunting area have hunt-able deer
populations. During the last few years more hunters in this area has
resulted in significant pressure on private as well as public land. Unlike 10
years ago when few lands were posted, most private land is now
posted. That private land that is not posted is heavily hunted. Most
landowners deer hunt their land or have children, relatives, family, or farm
help that hunt deer. A very few do not. Checking for deer hunting permission
long before the season begins is necessary. There is a lot of public land open
in New York to deer hunting but public land which was pretty much ignored in
this area is now hunted hard compared to three years ago. Still, some of the
areas large deer are shot on the public lands. The two major categories of
public land available to deer hunt in New York are wildlife management areas (WMA)
and state forests. This area has 18,908 acres of New York state land open
to deer hunting in WMAs. Nearby there are also 10,126 acres of New York
State forests open to deer hunting. The New York state lands open to
deer hunting contain some of the largest, thickest, nastiest swamps and
thickets around. It is in these areas that big whitetail bucks chase
does in during daylight while staying hidden. Mature bucks require many
square miles as their home area. The bucks feed and hide in private and public
land. Whether hunting private land or public land you are hunting the same
individual super smart animals.
New York deer
hunting season is still very generous. If one hunts archery, muzzleloader, and
rifle season in the northern zones, he or she can deer hunt the New
York northern zone from September 27th until about December
11! I have hunted in many states but when it comes to deer hunting I can
still say " I love New York". Anne and I took
these deer during the 2000-2005 NY deer hunting seasons. The deer pictured on
this page are the best deer  Anne and I have taken and are representative of the
better size deer taken in this area though we have seen bucks taken
locally that were larger. The deer pictured ranged in dressed weight
from 168 lbs. to 217 1/2 lbs. None of these deer came easy but it does show what
is possible in this area when QUALITY DEER MANAGEMENT principles are applied
when hunting deer in New York. Every year more and more people are
following Quality Deer Management principles. Imagine the possibilities if
everyone followed QDM?
Archery Hunting - Northern
Zone
Archery hunting in a word is .....Superb..... and I say superb
because of the numerous opportunities to shoot. Archery
is difficult and most of us archers are happy to harvest either a
mature buck or a management doe. Because of a good deer population
here and because archery season is the first of the hunting seasons the deer
are fairly daytime active. It is not uncommon to see a few or more
deer go by your stand in a two hour morning or afternoon hunt. Mostly these will be does
with an occasional young buck. The more mature
bucks are not often daytime active at this point, but can be.
Deer hunting during the New York
archery season is predictable because  the
deer are in a heavy feeding
pattern. In the woods the deer feed on acorns, hickory nuts,
beechnuts, and apples. In the fields they feed on clover
and alfalfa.
Muzzle-loading - Northern
Zone
The northern
New York deer hunting early muzzle-loading season follows archery season and to me
is the most fun. It is a great time to be in the woods deer
hunting. It
is only one week in October and the weather can be beautiful. Though it
is usually warm, the deer
are still on a very active feeding pattern. The area that we hunt now
allows us to shoot bucks or does but we use the NY state muzzle loading
deer hunting season as an opportunity to do our part in trimming the
doe population. It is a lot easier to pass on immature bucks during rifle
season when you have a nice doe in the freezer! New York deer hunting early muzzle-loading season is the best time to introduce young or new hunters
to deer hunting because many deer are seen up close and shooting opportunities
are plentiful. Also, the woods are alive with wildlife activity.
If you are quiet and still, it's amazing how you can become a part of the woods
backdrop and easily spy on the inhabitants. We've seen gray fox
hunting, fisher cats chasing squirrels, and partridge rustling through
the leaves. Several times we've been surprised by a hawk zipping
between trees chasing prey. On one of my better days (I was sitting
pretty still) a flock of turkeys came by and one almost stepped on my
foot! Not only is there action, there is sound. The honking of
mile high geese is a reminder that winter is coming. A coyote howling gives you goose bumps. The incessant chatter of a red squirrel gives
you something else to focus on when not much is happening. And the STOMP
and the BLOW lets you know "you're busted."
There is a late muzzle-loading season which is about the
2nd week of December. It can be quite
cold. The deer are pretty educated by then, but if the weather is
reasonable hunting can be good. In 2005 the December weather was
tolerable and the deer moved real well almost every afternoon. Try New York deer hunting during muzzle-loading season, it's SUPERB!
Rifle Season - Northern
Zone
 New York deer hunting rifle season typically opens the 3rd
Saturday in October, the day after the end of muzzle-loading season. The
pressure of bow hunting, muzzle-loading and wild turkey hunting seasons shows in
reduced deer activity. No longer do you see fields of grazing deer on an
early morning or late evening drive. Still opening day of rifle deer
season does account for many bucks being taken, mostly 1½ year olds not every
deer hunter appreciates the benefits of letting the young bucks
"walk"). The pressure of opening
weekend deer hunting, combined with the normal October lull, makes much of
the remainder of October quite uneventful when hunting for bucks. Even
though the coming rut will get them moving, expect a challenge because the deer have
definitely passed 'hunter recognition 101' by this
time. They know  where all the hunters' favorite stands are
located.
Sometime in late October deer movement
begins to pick up. Now more rubs and scrapes appear daily. The rut
kicks in and deer hunting action steps up a notch. Many of the largest
bucks are taken around November 10. Always a giant buck or two is
taken after November 10 right through rifle seasons end. It is near the end of deer
hunting season that the giant deer of state parks, large closed off private properties
and hard to hunt areas do most of their long range roaming in search of estrous
does. New York deer hunting during rifle season is full of surprises and
once in a while unbelievable action.
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