Annual 2014 DMU Report Card
New York
Well...it's that time of year again to state the DMU you hunt in and give it a letter grade as it pertains to your view of the deer population there. Comments welcomed.
I'll go first......
9X....C-
We hunt in several different places all around 9X and although the deer population is headed in the right direction, it's not where it should be. I commend Jeremy Hurst from DEC for restricting the DMP's this year. I really hope he continues that.
3N - C 3P - C
The DEC has some nice charts online that show how dramatically the deer take declined after the early 2000's. They show that the success has rebounded almost up to the good years but I don't see it. I get a couple of deer every year but I hunt hard and my casual hunter friends have been dry the past few years.
8H..... B+ this year.
I saw a lot of deer for the few days I actually hunted but I never saw a shooter buck. The biggest buck I passed on was a small eight point that I think was just a yearling. Many spikes, fours and six points on the farm this year so I'm already looking forward to next season.
7M...... C. I only hunted two days but saw quite a few tracks in the snow that was on the ground.
6K...... lots of deer this year despite the hard winter last year. My son took a decent eight off the property we've hunted for years. He also took a doe and donated it to a family in need. Proud father here!
6C, an F I hunted a total of about 20 times this year and saw 8 deer all year in NY. I shot one doe and had a buck that shed one side, the last day of the season. The DEC gives out crop damage permits to land owners who raise timber and don't even have crops. They give out a bunch of DMPs so the does/button bucks get smoked. 7 weeks of Rifle, with the rut in the middle of it, 2 weeks of ML a couple days of archery,, with X-guns and a Youth Weekend rifle hunt in the middle of that, and the deer population gets hammered again... Once again, I have not seen a buck that I would shoot in this area in 6 years. I hunt here to shoot a doe for the freezer, I go to Ohio to hunt quality deer.... We have none here.
9H - B
As usual had a few nice bucks on the trail cams but as soon as the season began they dissapeared. Filled the freezer with does and could have had a bunch more.
9H B+ Had a really good year from 10/1 till yestarday... saw a lot of nice bucks and a bunch of does.
7m sucked this yr.It's getting worse and worse every yr.Damn drivers are wipping the deer out by me.700 acres 1/4 mile from me and it gets the hell driven out of it.Just about every day a different gang is driving it.Saw 16 deer opening day last yr.2 this yr.Griz
8T got a huge problem with jacking. Found 8 deer with the prime parts cut out then just dumped on the sides of the roads up here
Waiting to see the NYDEC incident report for 2014 Had two incidents in the Hudson Valley, Would like to see a year with NO DEATHS
4H I'd give it a B-. I don't hunt close to any farms and a storm in July took out all the apples and blew over many of the mature oaks. I hope it recovers next year
9H A+ I'm retired and was out quite a bit this year. I saw 2 big 8s and a big 10 and a number of 4 and 6 pointers during bow. I saw does everyday.
7J and 7H: D-
I hunted close to 40 sits (4-5hr mornings, 2-4 hr evenings, no all-day sits this year).
Never saw a deer after 11-24.
First year in about a decade that I could not fill my tags. Shot 3 doe, and that was a big mistake in hindsight.. that means 9 less deer in the area next year.
Saw a total of 5 young bucks, and 2 elders.
JayG.. ditto here on all points. Farmers have been whacking them all summer. Laughing about it. NY is an idiot farm.
3A ....D+,numbers are still way low, maturing forest, two buck tags, antlerless tags being used for bow and MZ when no DMP are issued....all show a herd in slow decline. This area will resemble the Adks shortly. The only bright spot has be AR's, we are starting to see an older age class of bucks. Despite having a large piece of ground to hunt I find myself hunting NY less and less each each year. The two weeks I spent hunting in the Midwest afforded more sighting and opportunity on mature bucks then I have had in the last 15 years in NY....
My property taxes alone make it worth selling all my NY hunting land.
8S..C+ Only got to hunt until Nov 5th due to surgery. Saw bucks every time out, and had 7 yearling bucks, spikes up to 5 points in the field one evening, and a couple in range at different times. Only saw one shooter just before quitting time one evening early in the season.
NY will do anything to generate more $ to spend on stupid cr-p. When they burn out that pot, they search for another. Hence the endless stream of "opportunities" and tags.
Get ready brethren, they are now talking about a "vehicle tax". As if we weren't paying 4 of them already (lisc., reg., gas tax, sales tax, tolls, re-sales tax, tire disposal tax, "seatbelt law"...).
Also, our liberal "statesmen" are trying to "find a way" to enable illegals to go to college for free here. Hmmm... where oh where will they "find" the money???? I wonder where???
Insane.
Bow shot i so have to leave this chit hole of a state I cant cut a tree on my 4 acres without getting a permit if i have a dumpster i need a permit the hunting sucs DEC does not enforce game violations . no reason to be here my real estate taxes are a sheep hunt every year
aye... Leaving becomes more and more of "an option" for me as the days pass. Church and family keep me here, as well as the beautiful outdoors. I'm sure the button will be pressed soon though. I'll stay as long as I can still preach Christ. "They" have that in their evil sights too...
AS they say "YOU DON'T LIKE IT FIND SOMETHING ELSE"
hunt 3s and 3g deer sightings are less than previous years but still seeing deer nearly every hunt.
Nope, the BAD GUYS need to "FIND SOMETHING ELSE". I plan to stay here until the battle is lost.
In the mean time I'll FIGHT the "Safe" act, and every other piece of stupid legislation those brainless twits dream up.
Bow Shot That's correct thinking let's give are best to stop the "Empire" lets not run but, fight the battle to win!
8G Deer numbers very high. DEC says we are not killing enough does here. I don't know if we have too many deer; my woods don't show any browse line, but we do have plenty of deer even on the hard hunter public lands. Looks like next year rifles will be allowed here so it will be interesting to see what effect that has other that making those in the flatter, more populated part of the unit nervous.
7J - I give it a B+. Saw about 20 bucks, passed a few with the bow as they were small. Saw a total of 13 bucks over November 8, 9 & 10. But all were well out of range and none would come to grunting or rattling; they only stopped & looked, then continued on their way. Deer numbers seem decent overall.
>>>>-------->
9Y - B+ Lots of bucks and does. Some (4) of my hunting buddies got mounters (2 bow, 2 gun.) Lots of small bucks still showing up on trail cams. And a few real good ones made it through. Here is something that I got "under my tree" on Christmas Day. Hope for the future!
3s- I'd give it a B+. Throughout the season we saw plenty of does. Over 12 on multiple sits. I passed lots of little bucks and had a 130"+ under me for 15 minutes before sunrise. I even was at full draw a monster but had a vine covering his vitals. My father tagged him 3 days later. His first buck over 75". It scores just over 140" as an 8 point and has 10" of kickers. 13 scorable points.
Going to only 2 bucks instead of a possible 8 per season has made a huge difference in my option. It should just keep getting better
Not sure why the picture loaded upside down.
Skipmaster, how do you get 8 buck tags in NY?
We don't get 8 anymore. We used to get - General tag- either sex in Westchester Muzzle/archery- either sex 4- DMP's that when filled were exchanged for either sex tags 2 more DMP's could be signed over and could be filled for either sex tags
Now our DMPs just get turned into more DMPs
Lots of guys tried filling all 8 buck tags. Anything with antlers got shot and they saved a tag or 2 for a " good one". They couldn't figure out why they were not seeing mature bucks.
7M...fair. What I did notice is that day time doe movement was at an all time low this season. We have a lot of deer but it was slow. Good thing I took the shot I did because thats about all I saw
7P B- We had deer and bucks on our property....age structure is getting worse due to neighbors ....but it is their tag.
7M B+ Deer numbers are good.....not 2000-2004 levels, but plenty of deer. A LOT of pressure here so once the guns go off......the deer did not move unless pushed.
7J A- The area I hunt has good #'s and older deer are cropping up with regularity......neighbors are like minded and that helps.
6K - B+
4F - B+
I saw deer ever time out and the most I have ever seen in a season by a long shot. I think it comes down to the acorn bumper crop.
I harvested a doe and a 7 point in 6K.
There were lots of bucks that made it through as well. So next year should be good.
This was the worst year I've ever had for seeing deer(8x and 8t).I'm retired and hunted almost every day at different locations and only saw a total of 15 deer all season.That includes archery through muzzelloader season.
