Bowhunting NY Public Land Advice

[motor-ends]

I’ve only ever hunted private and never for whitetail. Finally going to try out some public land this year in hopes of nabbing a deer.

In an effort to “not be that guy” this season, what are some things I should do or not do when out there. I’ll specifically be in western and central NY, but even general advice is welcome.

 

[Macintosh]

Are you looking for hunting advice, or etiquette? Not certain how to interpret the question.

If hunting, with no info on what you are used to, experience, what type of deer you want to nab, and where coming from, hard to say other than the single best piece of advice I can give is that 98% of bow hunting happens before you ever “hunt”, ie its mostly about your scouting. You’ll want to have an idea of what deer will be eating at the time of season you’ll hunt, find that, and look for sign telling you how the deer are accessing it and from where, and plan your hunts around that, ie find specific locations for specific winds, at specific times of year so you have a specific spot or route you plan to hunt before you step foot in the woods on a hunting day. This is totally standard, but to me is doubly important on public land that may not have the concentration of deer, may be much larger and more even as far as vegetation to concentrate movement, gets more pressure, and probably doesnt have food sources or bedding nearly as concentrated or defined as on a lot of private.

If etiquette, Id just say to look at for signs of other hunters (parking, trails, litter, trail cams, stands left in woods, etc), and dont let people who arent even in the woods keep you out of the woods or off a spot, but when actually hunting be aware of who else is in the area and try not to stumble into someone else’s setup 20 minutes before that magic hour. If hunting pressure is low to moderate and hunting small parcels of land I try to just hunt elsewhere if there is a truck parked when I get there. Some places that doesnt work or there is plenty of room for people. With no info on what type of places you are hunting (in central NY it could be a 20 acre piece or a 100,000 acre piece) you kind of have to be the judge of that. Also just be aware that if you set up in the main access to a piece of land you will have people walk thru your hunt, so it may mean putting in a little more work to find the less obvious spots. Or not. Depends on a lot of factors we dont know.

 

[motor-ends]

Are you looking for hunting advice, or etiquette? Not certain how to interpret the question.

If hunting, with no info on what you are used to, experience, what type of deer you want to nab, and where coming from, hard to say other than the single best piece of advice I can give is that 98% of bow hunting happens before you ever “hunt”, ie its mostly about your scouting. You’ll want to have an idea of what deer will be eating at the time of season you’ll hunt, find that, and look for sign telling you how the deer are accessing it and from where, and plan your hunts around that, ie find specific locations for specific winds, at specific times of year so you have a specific spot or route you plan to hunt before you step foot in the woods on a hunting day. This is totally standard, but to me is doubly important on public land that may not have the concentration of deer, may be much larger and more even as far as vegetation to concentrate movement, gets more pressure, and probably doesnt have food sources or bedding nearly as concentrated or defined as on a lot of private.

If etiquette, Id just say to look at for signs of other hunters (parking, trails, litter, trail cams, stands left in woods, etc), and dont let people who arent even in the woods keep you out of the woods or off a spot, but when actually hunting be aware of who else is in the area and try not to stumble into someone else’s setup 20 minutes before that magic hour. If hunting pressure is low to moderate and hunting small parcels of land I try to just hunt elsewhere if there is a truck parked when I get there. Some places that doesnt work or there is plenty of room for people. With no info on what type of places you are hunting (in central NY it could be a 20 acre piece or a 100,000 acre piece) you kind of have to be the judge of that. Also just be aware that if you set up in the main access to a piece of land you will have people walk thru your hunt, so it may mean putting in a little more work to find the less obvious spots. Or not. Depends on a lot of factors we dont know.

Thanks for sharing this! I suppose I was looking for both hunting advice and etiquette.

This will be my first year targeting whitetail deer on public land. Prior I have hunted waterfowl and turkey, both on private land. Have never been hunting for any type of deer and have never stepped foot on public land. Don't have a specific spot in mind, but looking from Niagara and Orleans counties down to Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties (Canadaway, Iroquois, Boutwell, etc.)

You answered a good amount of what I was looking for. That is, what can I do to make sure I put myself in the best position to get a deer and what can I do, or avoid doing, to ensure I don't ruin anyone else's hunt. Otherwise, I was looking for specific advice for hunting in this region that may go beyond your hunting standard info.

 

[Macintosh]

Oh, heck, you're practically in NE Ohio. I dont know that area nearly as well as farther east, but if that's anything like my impression from driving through there a bunch, there's plenty of deer. Plenty of small to mid-size pieces of public as well. My guess is it can get fairly crowded in popular spots, but I'd bet there's some little overlooked places too. Bow will likely offer you better opportunity than gun hunting anyway, plus it can be less obtrusive hunting the fringes of some of those smaller properties and can buy you some access either to hunt or to cross private ground.
My only advice is that a small overlooked piece of land can be as good or better than a bigger piece that gets a lot of pressure. And anywhere in that area save for the really much bigger chunks of land, it's likely that the deer will split their time between the public and adjacent private, so in many cases you may be able to at least partially scout from the road evenings and AM to see where deer are in fields feeding adjacent to public, and target places to check out on foot that way...realizing of course that other people will do the same. I tell people that havent hunted deer before to take any legal deer to get experience under their belts and maximize their opportunity for at least several seasons, so dont get caught up in the "big buck or nothing" stuff that dominates media and hunting forums until you've killed a solid handful of deer--which could take a while. If you have the opportunity, get someone you know who is really into deer hunting to go scout one of those properties with you and help point out what they look for as far as finding food, bedding, trails, and how they would se tup thinking about the wind, terrain and access. Doing that in person with someone who knows what they are doing will cut years off your learning curve, and having a solid dozen+ spots like that under your belt before september 1 would set you up for a great learning season.
Regardless, you could do a lot worse than to start from fields where you've seen deer on or adjacent to public land (or start from any concentration of deer food that has some old tracks and scat or old rubs, such as brushy clear cuts, berry patches, oak flats, isolated white oaks, or even old orchards in the very early part of the season), and check out the adjacent areas. Look for deer trails between the food source and nearby secluded brushy areas or knobs and ridges where deer will be hunkered down during the day, and find terrain features along those trails like little stream gulleys, small marshes, hills, etc that concentrate animal movement between the food and the bedding, and set up 15 yards downwind of the most heavily-used trails. Dont walk through the deers path of travel on the way in when you're hunting, and be there an hour or two before you think a deer will show up--figure they'll be up moving an hour or two before dark, and may not get to the food source until right at dark or even later, and will reverse in the AM. That's a simple recipe to kill a doe in just about any season, do that a bunch of times and sooner or later one will walk by.

Oh, and get yourself a good pair of rubber knee boots and dont let a little water get in your way.

 

[motor-ends]

Oh, heck, you're practically in NE Ohio. I dont know that area nearly as well as farther east, but if that's anything like my impression from driving through there a bunch, there's plenty of deer. Plenty of small to mid-size pieces of public as well. My guess is it can get fairly crowded in popular spots, but I'd bet there's some little overlooked places too. Bow will likely offer you better opportunity than gun hunting anyway, plus it can be less obtrusive hunting the fringes of some of those smaller properties and can buy you some access either to hunt or to cross private ground.
My only advice is that a small overlooked piece of land can be as good or better than a bigger piece that gets a lot of pressure. And anywhere in that area save for the really much bigger chunks of land, it's likely that the deer will split their time between the public and adjacent private, so in many cases you may be able to at least partially scout from the road evenings and AM to see where deer are in fields feeding adjacent to public, and target places to check out on foot that way...realizing of course that other people will do the same. I tell people that havent hunted deer before to take any legal deer to get experience under their belts and maximize their opportunity for at least several seasons, so dont get caught up in the "big buck or nothing" stuff that dominates media and hunting forums until you've killed a solid handful of deer--which could take a while. If you have the opportunity, get someone you know who is really into deer hunting to go scout one of those properties with you and help point out what they look for as far as finding food, bedding, trails, and how they would se tup thinking about the wind, terrain and access. Doing that in person with someone who knows what they are doing will cut years off your learning curve, and having a solid dozen+ spots like that under your belt before september 1 would set you up for a great learning season.
Regardless, you could do a lot worse than to start from fields where you've seen deer on or adjacent to public land (or start from any concentration of deer food that has some old tracks and scat or old rubs, such as brushy clear cuts, berry patches, oak flats, isolated white oaks, or even old orchards in the very early part of the season), and check out the adjacent areas. Look for deer trails between the food source and nearby secluded brushy areas or knobs and ridges where deer will be hunkered down during the day, and find terrain features along those trails like little stream gulleys, small marshes, hills, etc that concentrate animal movement between the food and the bedding, and set up 15 yards downwind of the most heavily-used trails. Dont walk through the deers path of travel on the way in when you're hunting, and be there an hour or two before you think a deer will show up--figure they'll be up moving an hour or two before dark, and may not get to the food source until right at dark or even later, and will reverse in the AM. That's a simple recipe to kill a doe in just about any season, do that a bunch of times and sooner or later one will walk by.

Oh, and get yourself a good pair of rubber knee boots and dont let a little water get in your way.

This is super helpful. Thanks a ton!

Sounds like I'll be putting some car and leg miles in before the season starts!