Anyone hunt the Adirondacks?

[Marc Adamchek]

Billandbeaufort - Getting lost in the woods is the easiest thing in the world, especially if the woods are unfamiliar. Unfortunately a lot of people don't take the prospect of it happening to them seriously enough. Just an hour's difference of light makes everything look significantly different. Make a SLIGHTLY skewed turn on the way back and 10 steps later nothing looks the same. I don't mean to get "preachy" here, but the woods - anywhere - can be mighty unforgiving.

 

[doulos]

Bigbore
To give you a perspective of how large the Adirondak State park is, here are some tidbits about the park
,it is greater in size than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Park combined.
The boundary of the Park encompasses over 6 million acres.
It is roughly the same size as the state of Vermont to the east.
Adirondack State Park covers a fifth of New York State.
Two thousand peaks lie within its folds, and a hundred are taller than 3,000 feet. Two peaks, Marcy and Algonquin, stand higher than 5,000 feet.
Nearly half of the park is forest preserve, land set aside to remain in its natural state. Spanning most of the park's lands are vast forests of pine, maple, and birch. The park supports 500,000 acres of true old growth forest. Of of this area, 200,000 acres have never been logged.
For water lovers there are more than are more than 30,000 miles of brooks and streams, 6,000 miles of rivers and almost 3,000 lakes and ponds
Ive never hunted it but used to go camping there when i was younger. I stick down to the fingerlakes region for hunting where deer densities are much higher.

 

[paulvallandigham]

That is why all hunters should learn how to track and read footprints in a variety of ground covers. Then, all you have to do is follow your own footprints to get you back where you started. With the GPS gadgets sold today, people have an electronic assist to help them use a map and compass to find their way. No one should get lost unless they enter the woods totally unprepared, and totally untrained, these days. Maps can even be downloaded off the internet these days. I go to the local office of the Geological survey to buy maps of the Townships where I want to " explore ".

If you know what county you are going ot be in, stop by the local banks, or the Farm Bureau and buy a copy of their county plat books, for detailed maps of the county, showing property lines, and the names of the owners. They are not always up to date, but it can help you save a lot of time knocking on doors. The County Highway department has maps of the entire county to use, also. They tend to show all the roads, bridges, and even mark structures on them. Typically, the county roads are in a 1 mile grid, unless an area has no road into it. With the county road map, and a state geological elevation map, you should be able to find your way around, and locate the mountainside you are standing on on your map, so you can find which way to go to get back to the road and your car. National Forest offices sell maps of the forest showing fire lanes, and trails, which give access to the forest during good weather. I am sure such maps are also available for large State parks like the Adirondacks.

A good friend of mine works at the Lake Placid Boatworks, and he can help you find out the required information cif you stop by and introduce yourself. Ask for Charlie.

 

[Rancocas]

I have hunted rabbits to deer to bear and have seen mountain lion (yea yea yea the DEC keeps claiming there are none) but I've seen them and I've seen very big cat prints and actually have the prints captured on cell phone camera...

My wife was driving home from Saranac Lake, back to Malone one night and she swears that a very large, brown cat with a long tail ran across the road in front of her.
I also remember the stir that was caused by a black bear wandering around on the golf course near Malone.
All this talk of the Adirondacks reminds me of the good times I had canoeing and hiking in those mountains, and makes me want to return there.

 

[Zoar]

doulos---Hey! I hunt the fingerlakes as well. I live here and have some acreage and hunt on that most of the time. (Montour Falls)

The Deer are plentiful for sure, especially near Ithaca.

I also hunt Adirondacks mostly for nostalgia and because the woods feel good.

 

[doulos]

Zoar
I do most of my hunting around Sprinwater,Naples, Canadice and further north too in Wayne county.
Alot of the private land I hunt has been sold but the state land still has a lot of deer on it. Its just tough to get deer out of there and after opening day they move way back into the almost inacessible parts of the tracts.

I was not too far from you a coulple of weeks ago helping a friend at his cottage on Seneca lake. Goregous area aint it?

 

[Zoar]

Yeah, it certainly is.

I am looking for some private adirondack hunting land myself. I have two places locally in the Finger Lakes I hunt (my land and a business assoicates land). But as I said there is something "wilder" about much of the adirondacks. Yet I agree state land has draw backs, the deer just disappear after opening day and it seems to be---only if you happen to be in the right place at right time then you might see something.

I would look for a landowner or farmer who wants to decrease the deer population feeding off his crops. There still are many farmers in the foothills of the adirondacks.