The wooded areas -- sitting high and dry within sight of the stream that flows between the property’s namesake lakes -- are the likeliest locations to call a local a gobbler into shotgun range.

Don’t overlook the hedgerows. After I’d set up on my first hunt at the WMA, I was surprised to hear a couple of hens perched in a thin row of trees adjacent to the access road I’d just crossed on foot. Apparently I had walked right under them in the gathering light!

Newcomers to Upper and Lower Lakes who aren’t confident of scoring on their own might consider booking one of the local guides. They’re at home both on the management area and on private properties leased by the Basswood Lodge, which may be reached at (315) 379-1528.

For a map of Upper and Lower Lakes WMA, contact the DEC’s Region 6 office in Watertown at (315) 785-2261.

BEAR SPRING
MOUNTAIN WMA
Bear Spring Mountain WMA in Delaware County has been a popular hangout for deer hunters and turkey hunters for decades. Local residents, as well as visiting hunters from the metropolitan New York City area, vie for choice locations in the management area on the opening day of the spring season. If you join them, you might feel that the place is a bit crowded. Come back on a Wednesday, however, or even on the third or fourth weekend in May, and you might have all or most of Bear Spring Mountain’s 7,100 acres to yourself!

This year, hunters may be surprised to find that major repairs have been made to the main road to the WMA.

Route 206, which winds up and down mountainsides between the Delaware County village of Walton and the Beaver Kill valley village of Roscoe in western Sullivan County, underwent emergency repairs following a spring flood.

At the time this article was due, the reconstruction was proceeding as planned, but not yet finished.

Bear Spring Mountain is about five miles south of Walton on Route 206, so to verify current road conditions, traveling hunters should contact the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-642-4443. If Route 206 is open in both directions, hunters may reach the WMA by going south from Walton, or by taking Route 17 to the East Branch exit following Route 30 north from there to Shinhopple, where a left on Trout Brook Road leads directly to the management area.

The WMA is very hilly, with cover consisting of a mix of mature hardwoods and deciduous trees and a few maintained clearings. Many hunters camp in tents or pop-up trailers along the interior roads.