I just looked up public hunting in Illinois and found a ton property....that would be real good place to start.
public land is a plenty reserving space and putting up a tree stand in the dark that have you take down etc etc is such a hassle. plus you can screw anything into trees (i understand why) then you have other ppl who dont have strict scent control like my brother and i. plus there is always your friendly hikers who pass through and yell HI JUST PASSING THROUGH, DONT SHOOT US. from what i know of deer. not the best conditions for takin any kind of whitetail.
I take the land owners son Red fishing in the gulf and he lets me hunt on their property. A simple trade off like this is few and far between but it can happen. Like some said above when you ask for permission be willing to trade work or services for the privilege to hunt.
Start from a food source and work your way in towards the bed. Also don't give up on public land. Get a climbing stand and you have less hassle getting in and out. You just have to hunt longer and farther in than most, but I know a guy in Alabama that killed a 13 point with tone of trash on public land. and alabama gets hunted hard. oh and he did it with a bow during gun season.
stick with public land, like mentioned before Google earth is great. Natural funnels are where its at, also look for tight/ hard to get to spots. Central ma. Is mostly just a backyard game. There's still plenty of bruisers around here though
I think both videos are great regardless of where you hunt. I hunt in the NE also and even though I dont hunt marshes I found a lot of the information to be useful. Hill country will be more about the terrain your likely to hunt in the NY but I would still reccomend you get both. Other videos I would reccomend would be the 3 volume set by John Eberhart, Bowhunting pressured whitetails.
Look for tracks after a good rain to find the approximate area they are moving. Then look for thickets connecting to food. Look for natural funnels such as fence rows, water edges, cliffs. Know the types of food the deer in your area like to browse such as persimmons, green briar, Honey Locust, etc... And Yes... be polite and ask permission of landowners. Especially widow ladies, they often need help with chores and such... and please help them whether you get to hunt or not if you can.
