NY Deer Hunting!

T

taylorce1

New member
I'm leaving on the 13th for my NY State deer hunt with my friend. This will be my first time hunting white tail deer so I'm pretty excited. This will be a totally different style of hunting from what I'm used to so it should be quite fun.

I'll let you all know how my hunt goes when I get back!
 
I'll be mainly still hunting tree stand or blind over some fields from what I understand. I'll be in the southwest area of the State. I can't remember off hand what county my friend lives in but he will be picking me up in Rochester.
 
Unless you head down to the Southerntier, it's all shotgun/muzzle loader in this area.

From Rochester, you can hit Monroe, Livingston, Wayne, Ontario, and Yates county pretty easily.
 
My friend said that his county has been rifle for several years now, and he lives 60 miles from Rochester airport. I'm not taking a firearm on this hunt and will be using one of his anyway, so I'm sure he has me covered. Season starts the 15th so I'm getting there a little early so I can spend some range time with one of his firearms getting used to it.
 
If you don't tag out where you're headed, just do 65 mph through Genesee Valley Park, on Crittenden Road. (It's right across the river from the airport)

If you don't take out 3-4 deer at that speed, I'll be surprised. The deer know they can't be hunted there, and aren't scared of anything. In the winter they never leave the road. They feed on the exposed grass at the edge (and grain the home owners put out), bed down in the barrow pit, and use the pavement to travel.



Good luck with your hunt. As long as you are using a registered rifle/shotgun your friend can legally possess, you're good to go. Don't go carrying a pistol, though; even if he says it's ok. In NY, you must be registered and licensed just to possess a pistol. (Aside from the purchase permit, 6 months wait, etc...)

Any questions about firearms in NY... this site isn't too bad: http://www.nysrpa.org/nygunlaws.htm
 
Or even better, take a spin around RIT and try to take some out. They drive me nuts, there are so many.

Even better, this is finals week, so there will be very few people there to worry about hitting. Just watch out for the speed bumps.
 
As long as you are using a registered rifle/shotgun your friend can legally possess, you're good to go. Don't go carrying a pistol, though; even if he says it's ok. In NY, you must be registered and licensed just to possess a pistol. (Aside from the purchase permit, 6 months wait, etc...)
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I'd been planning on using his HS Precision 7mm WSM for this hunt which is of course a rifle. I talked to him last night and he told me the same that it would be very bad for me to be caught carrying a pistol in NY. Coming from CO I find some gun laws just a little bit crazy, but hey I'm ok with it as I'm happy just to be going hunting and I'm not great with a pistol anyway.
 
The bucks in NY are the same as everywhere else; they emulate men as in they get stoopid when they get a little tail. The does are starting to come into heat, and they are starting to lead their men astray (typical wimmen). If you can use a rifle in the southern zone, good on you. We hunt where the local county powers that wannabe haven't seen fit to update their armament restrictions to allow rifles as in Onondaga, Cortland, Madison, Thompkins and other counties. When I had a recent conversation with a DEC officer, he said that counties that have switched have seen the accidental injuries drop to almost nil. Why these backwards thinking counties haven't caught up with the idea that rifles are actually safer than shotguns eludes me. Shoot a big one; there was a fine buck bow killed in the Elmira area that may rank very high in NY records recently.
 
WUSSIES! My kid and I got drowned TWICE Saturday; took us all night to get dried out; we hunted yesterday; cold and spitting snow. We got 8 inches of lake effect last night here at home, but NONE where we hunt. Bummer! We're going to try again this weekend. we found BIG BUCK sign, but nobody has seen him yet. The does are going nuts right now; he'll be there somwhere.
 
Just got back from NY with no luck on finding much deer with the weather. We drowned on Saturday, and suffered through the snow on Sunday and Monday. Did get a couple of shots off at does but not ideal ones and wasn't able to connect. We gave up tracking after a good 45 minuets of looking for blood. I did kick up a small 8 point that was bedded that gave me plenty of time to shoot but decided to see if he could get bigger as he was only about 2.5 years old. My friend is trying to do QDM on his property as well as a couple of neighbors right next to him so I didn't have a problem with letting the little guy go.

Anyway even with the weather and the lack of deer movement I still had a blast. The highlight of the trip was a large mature 8 point we saw last night heat checking does. He was a very nice deer and he was so busy chasing does that we could have easily closed within shooting range. Problem was he was on the wrong property where we nobody could hunt. He even got in a little fight with a much smaller and younger buck that was with the does.

All and all it was a total blast seeing the woods of NY State, they are much more dense in general than most of the places I hunt in Colorado. Plus hanging out with good friends in the woods, not much could be better. While I only got three days I'm hoping to be back in the future.
 
Did get a couple of shots off at does but not ideal ones and wasn't able to connect. We gave up tracking after a good 45 minuets of looking for blood.

Very bad. You need to get your own rifle, and get a lot more range time.
Two shots and no dead deer?
We owe it to the deer to kill them quickly and humanely.

You need to be able to hit a softball five times in a row at 100 yards if you are to be a good deer hunter.

You are also figuring out the way to be a lonely rookie deer hunter.
Your buddy may have been smiling and slapping you on the back, as you parted company, but, believe me, he is thinking of ways to uninvite you to the next deer hunt.
Far better to never fire at all than to fire and miss, or fire and wound.
It is not duck hunting.
 
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simonkenton thanks for the lecture, but my friend and I will hunt together again when the opportunity arises. This is the third hunt I've been on with him, the prior two were very successful. We have hunted CO and AK before both bringing home pronghorn and bear. I have my own rifles but with baggage restrictions flying decided to try out one of his which I took to the range and shot before season opened.

The deer were not wounded and lost, we never found any blood or hair to indicate a hit. We spent plenty of time following their tracks in the snow to know that they were not hit in any way. Hunting conditions were not ideal nor was it the style of hunting I'm used to, that said maybe I should have passed on the shots but I didn't.

I'm sure we will hunt together again in the future when the opportunity arises as I want to get him here to hunt mule deer or elk or get back to AK for another bear hunt. Great thing about friends they tend to like you even when you screw up and are willing to overlook it. Even when the tease you about it, it was all in good fun but that is deer camp.
 
As long as you are using a registered rifle/shotgun your friend can legally possess, you're good to go. Don't go carrying a pistol, though; even if he says it's ok. In NY, you must be registered and licensed just to possess a pistol. (Aside from the purchase permit, 6 months wait, etc...)
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Makes a a lot of sense to limit guns to law abiding citizens who just want to hunt, when every thug in the inner city has got a pistol shoved down their baggy pants.

God Bless Texas
 
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