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Hi folks.
I didnt want to hijack Jeb's land thread... But some of you got me curious.
Those of you that go to PA/NJ, do you ever just pick some state land and do a few long weekends? For example (and I have no idea - this is just an example), could you just zip out 84, and find some state game lands between the NY/NJ/PA border and Scranton and do some hunting? Likewise in NJ, could you do a similar thing - someplace between say 87 and the PA/NY lines?
Those are drives you could do, be there by noon Friday, hunt that afternoon, Saturday all day and if Sunday is legal in either, Sunday AM.
I gues the same thing would apply for upstate NY/Catskills. I mean a couple days out there near or south of Howe's Caverns or so would be pretty doable.
That whole CWD thing is an issue though... I think it's been in NY so I guess you would have to butcher there and pack back... maybe in the other two - I dont know.
Not sure this would be doable for me for a few more years - till the kids are older... but good to start exploring.
Will, There hasn't been a CWD case in NY for years and I think the one that did happen was isolated to a game farm. But to transport meat back you are correct. Meat must be fully deboned to be legal for transport back to Mass. Skull plate is OK but needs to be clean. But you can process immediately in the field if you want to and carry it out in game bags. NY does not require you to tag your meat until it is back at the vehicle or camp. Just have the tag filled out and on your person. There is tons of good state land easily accessible from Rt-90 and 84. Most NY state forests also allow "primitive camping". The only significant rule is to stay 150ft from a trail, road or water. Less than 3 days in one spot and there is no need to notify anyone. Good reasonable common sense rules, amazing. I've found numerous nice spots 151 ft from the parking areas where you can set up a comfortable site, meet the letter of the law and still easily access your vehicle. In five years only once did I see people taking advantage of this rule. It really is a great setup for archery. January 1st my wife and I took a ride to the area I hunt. We saw approximately 75 deer doing a 1 hour loop. This is in the Hudson River area so not too far.
Tekoa
Will, years ago I hunted in Sussex County NJ and rented a cabin at Stokes State forest for $45 a night. It came with a fridge, stove and beds. Can’t beat that! I did very minimal scouting and managed to shoot a deer. That was a great time. Pretty much it is all the way down 84 through CT and NY.
PA and NY are very good states for bowhunting. I'm not sure about public land available but I know the deer numbers are very good in both states. Do some research and I'm sure you'd find something worth a trip.
MA Bowhunters Association used to sponsor a January hunt in NJ that was supposed to be pretty good. You might want to contact them to get info. A while back I posted info on Watershed property in NY that was opened and I'll try to find it and post again. We hunt private property close to this Watershed and always do well.
I love killing big bucks but I'm a deer hunter at heart. If I'm going to spend time and money planning a trip, I opt for an area where there are heathy deer numbers. If you're planning an out of state hunt, I'd suggest going west or south rater than north. Good luck
Recently drove on the outskirts of Pittsburgh for ~20 minutes, and saw ~20 deer. Also, I know a guy who is a fairly reliable source, when sober, who lived in NJ for a few years and said it was the best deer hunting he'd ever seen.
We have the camp in the southern tier of ny. stueben county and its way better hunting than anywhere around here. Just down the rd. is 1800 acres of state land that holds some nice bucks. The trick is to bow hunt as not many out that way do it. its mostly gun hunting and thats big pressure. These deer came from out there.
My buddies and I hunted central NJ for a few years. Hunted a WMA called Assunpink the opening week of bow season. We had good luck. But, opening day and weekend days afe like amateur hour. At first, I thought it would suck trying to hunt where there were so many other guys. Wrong! It was like having dozens of deer drivers working for us. LOL
We also hunted the PA side of the Delaware Water Gap near Stroudsburg. We rented a cabin for the week we were there. We had a lot of success there, too. Truth is, if we hadn't scored the amazing private property we've been hunting in north central PA since 2004, we would still be hunting in Stroudsburg.
