I'm from Western New York, wondering if I've got any one else from the most underrated big buck state!
Hahaha.....underrated! NY is rated right where it should be as a whole. Western NY is not bad but the further east you go the worse it gets. I have heard about a possible change for next season though. Statewide AR's and/or a one buck limit.....that should make things interesting!
Welcome! I just moved to IL about a year ago. I was in the Capital District of NY before that for about 10 years. While there are a lot of parts I miss about NY, the deer hunting isn't one of them. I tagged my #1 biggest buck after 3 hours in the stand here in IL, and got my #2 biggest buck after a total of 7 sits for the entire season. I love NY and actually traveled back to hunt there this year but I enjoy the people I hunt with and the mountains, not the actual deer herd.
I been lucky enough to hunt deer in a lot of places and I can honestly say the only places worse then NY is any state to its East. New York Sucks
Hah - Trust me, VT is worse. I grew up there and hunted VT from age 11 to 25. I literally only saw a single deer with a main beam during those years.
Yes, deer can get pretty scarce around here when there's a little pressure. And it can be pretty decent (by NY standards) when you have property that isn't hunted hard. Looking forward to some herd management changes.
I guess I say underrated because in the areas I hunt, Western Region, big bucks (140-160) are taken every season, and are becoming more and more common. Being a current freshman in college in Syracuse, I have had opportunities to see bucks of that caliber already in this Central New York area. Sure it's not an Iowa or Illinois, but our state has potential. But like anything, you get out what you put in.
I'm from Long Island as well. I hunted a 100 acre piece of property in Westchester for several years. A very developed community (5 acre home plots with horses and pools) I had exclusive access to the rear woodlots and ridges. Very Nice. I saw deer every day and took two or three each year. The bucks were 115 to 160. Deer would eat the horse food and then go into woods. Tough to figure their patterns and it was 82 miles from my home. Now I hunt on Long Island, 52 miles from home mostly on public land. I get my deer but the racks are small. However, I can kill up to 5 deer. The big racks are here also. All on private farms and homes in the Hamptons regions. I've hunted out there a few times. In a tree with kids playing 200 yds. away on swing sets. Didn't seem to bother deer. However, Its about parking and property access. You can't freelance. You have to have permission. Your all set up and people walk their dogs right underneath you and not know your there. Weird way to hunt. I've gone back to the public land were its about meat, not antlers. NY has both types of deer, you just have too decide what's important to you. My in-laws live in Greene county and I hunt there as well. Yet to connect with a deer. But I have killed two coyotes with my bow. On Long Island I can bow hunt from Oct 1st to Jan 31st. 4 Months.
Same here fellow Long Islander!! I took 2 nice bucks this year, a 9 point and a nice 8 point, both out east!! Maybe one day we`ll get together and throw some arrows down range. I live in levittown, have the archery range 10 minutes from my house in seaford, let me know if you ever want to go. Glenn Rommel.
Theres no doubt there are some big bucks around here but it could be so much better if we didn't have a month long gun season and went to a one buck/year rule. BTW....I live about 15 minutes north of where you go to College.
It will be interesting if we see changes in the future. I mean plenty of big bucks in the city, but apparently those are off limits. Who knew.
