Adirondack Big Woods Deer Hunting – 5 DIY Tips
If you’re thinking about an authentic DIY mountain hunting adventure that is located within reasonable driving distance of most eastern US population centers, New York’s Adirondack Mountains offer a rewarding big woods deer hunting experience that you’ll never forget. New York and “Backcountry” aren’t always considered synonymous to people outside the region, however the Adirondack Park includes some of the most remote, roadless, rugged wilderness areas east of the Mississippi River. There are far easier places to hunt deer in North America – but an Adirondack deer hunt can be a challenge and experience that is well worth the effort.
From my experience, the three most difficult aspects about Adirondack deer hunting are the following:
- Getting started – Choosing a suitable public land location from the 3 million acres of ‘Forever Wild’ state lands that are available for hunting and then determining what time of the season you’ll be there.
- Identifying an effective ‘bigwoods’ hunting strategy for the time of season you’re hunting – at first glance it’s an endless, densely forested landscape that all looks the same and doesn’t have easily defined bedding and feeding areas. It’s thick and mountainous and you can see for 50-100 yards at best in many scenarios. In other words, it’s nothing like most eastern whitetail hunting. How do you go about hunting this kind of country?
- Finding deer after you’ve addressed the first two items – you’ve picked a good public land location, identified the time of season you’re available to hunt and created a hunting plan, now what? Hunting pressure typically isn’t the limiting factor here, its just plain finding pockets that hold the deer – think of the Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule.
Most of my knowledge has come from the many mistakes I’ve made over the past three decades and the numerous seasons that have ended with unfilled tags but great memories and satisfaction in hunting hard with some of my closest friends and family.
Here are five tips from an average Adirondack DIY deer hunter that will hopefully help shorten your learning curve and address the challenges above.
Tip 1 – Choose a public land location that will allow you to cover enough ground to find deer during the time of season you’re hunting – New York’s Northern Zone deer harvest is reported to be 0.5 deer per square mile – which is one of the lowest harvest rates in the eastern United States. It is equivalent to 1 buck harvested for every two square miles or 1,280 acres. What does this mean? It means there aren’t a lot of deer and you’re going to have to work harder than ever to find them on a consistent basis. Statistically speaking, if you can find and hunt 10 square miles (6,400 acres or an area 3.5 x 3.5 miles), there are hypothetically 5 harvestable bucks out there. Quite frankly, the reality is that most days it just might not work out – you might not even see a deer. That being said, its an incredibly satisfying feeling to be roaming around freely in remote hardwood and spruce covered mountains with the earthy smells of autumn lingering in the cold fall air.
If you’re looking for snow, some northern Adirondack wilderness areas and the High Peaks region may get it slightly earlier in the season than lower lying areas in the southern Adirondacks – perhaps by early November. If you’re hunting in the early archery or muzzle-loader season, look for public lands that have red oak and acorn mast or other food sources – in areas like Lake George and the Lake Champlain region.
If you just want remoteness, its hard to beat the central Adirondacks – Silver Lake, West Canada Lakes and Moose River Plains. NY State Lands Interactive Mapper (SLIM) is a great online tool depicting available public land locations – click here.
Tip 2 – Adjust your hunting strategy to the time of season that you’re hunting. This is a universal suggestion that applies to wherever you hunt deer or any other big game species. It’s especially important in the Adirondack Mountains. New York’s Northern Zone enjoys a long season – stretching for nearly 9 weeks including the archery, muzzleloader and regular firearms seasons. This means that your hunting strategy at the beginning of the season will be entirely different than the waning days of early December when you’re frozen solid and the snow and wind is blowing in your face. Weather, food and the time of rut will influence where the deer will be and what they are doing. If its early October muzzle-loader season, bucks will probably still be in their feeding and bedding patterns. When the early rut and seeking phase commences, bucks can travel for miles and miles every night and will be almost anywhere. When it’s the peak of the rut, look for does. I personally prefer hunting during Thanksgiving week and later because the rut is winding down, there’s a chance for snow and the bucks are ‘tired’ and settling back down for the long winter ahead.
Tip 3 – When you find fresh sign in the hardwood, remember that it was probably made at night and that buck is more than likely bedded down somewhere else in thick softwood cover or traveling with a doe, depending upon the time of the rut. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made this mistake over the years. I find great hardwood scrapes and rubs, hunt that sign all day, and see no deer. Then I go back and do the same thing the next day, and the following day – without any success. It’s because throughout much of the season, they probably aren’t located there during daylight hours. Look for thicker softwood areas surrounding the sign. Remember the big picture and hunt it accordingly.
This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but big Adirondack bucks often like to be in spruce cover during the daylight hours of most non-peak of the rut scenarios. If they aren’t with a doe or using spruce for bedding (either high or low) they’re using topography – like a high bench 2/3rds of the way up the mountain where the wind is at their back and then can watch their backtrack. When you’re using a tool like Google Earth, the open hardwoods typically show up as ‘grey’ and the thicker softwoods generally show up as ‘dark green’. Spend time snooping around, scouting and hunting the edges of the dark green.
Tip 4 – Cover lots of ground to find deer – Its fairly common to have to make 6 to 10-mile daily swings throughout a variety of landscape and forest features to find deer – targeting potential food sources, cover, edge and topography. You’re looking for pockets of deer and working through the process of elimination on the majority of acreage where there are none. Again, reflect on what time of the season it is that you’re hunting and relate to what the deer might be doing. Are bucks in a feeding and bedding routine – such as the early and late season? Are they on their feet all day looking for does, or with one waiting to breed (early to mid-November)? That and the weather will dictate your strategy on how and where to hunt.
Identify and hunt hardwood ridges and remote basins that might hold food sources or show sign of feeding from the previous night. Look for tracks coming out of these areas heading into thick cover, high or low. If you’re not picking up tracks, zigzag from cover to cover – check out the downwind side of softwood cover and hunt ‘through and across’ likely terrain features that are normal pinch points for deer travel – benches, saddles, points, edges of marshes and softwood/hardwood cover lines. If you see two ‘zig-zag’ running tracks during the rut, it might be a buck chasing a doe. Hang tight for an hour, they might be back. If its windy, the deer may not be ‘high’ up on the ridge unless there’s thick cover. If its unusually cold, they may be sunning themselves on south-facing hardwood slopes. If one area doesn’t hold deer that day, then keep moving. Adjust accordingly.
Tip 5 – There is no ‘right’ way to do it that will work in all parts of the season or conditions – Adirondack hunting often morphs into an “all of the above” type of hunting experience. Have fun with your close friends, try to learn a few new things and enjoy the trip. You might still-hunt, track, and sit before dark all in the same day. Adjust to the conditions. What are the deer doing? What is the weather and how ‘loud’ are the woods? Is it windy? Is it wet and quiet? Use every skill you’ve ever learned about deer hunting and be flexible. Most of all, enjoy the experience. The odds are stacked against you from a harvest perspective, but the thrill and freedom that’s associated with roaming the endless spruce and hardwood studded Adirondack Mountains in search of a wild big woods buck will always leave you hungry for more.
There are some great Adirondack deer hunters out there that are far more successful and consistent than me – Jim Massett, Joe DiNitto, Todd Mead, the Salerno brothers, some of my closest friends and many, many others who work hard and find success in the form of a full winter’s freezer on a consistent basis. Check them out.
Give Adirondack deer hunting a try sometime, enjoy a unique wilderness experience and adjust your expectations and goals. It can be an incredibly satisfying hunting adventure.
Todd Waldron is a Hunt to Eat Ambassador from the NY Adirondack Mountains and a life member of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.
