Chenango County produced a fantastic 162 7/8-inch 12-pointer during the muzzleloader season for Larry Jenson, the state's best with a smokepole in 2005!

NORTHERN NEW YORK
Northern New York includes regions 6 and 5, and is the perfect place for hunters who aren't afraid to use a compass and follow a track for miles on fresh snow.

According to DEC biologist Ed Reed, Region 5 typically produces a higher percentage of mature bucks (3.5 years and older) than any other region in the state, even though the overall deer population is lower.

Typically good hunting is found in the Lake Champlain Valley in Clinton and Essex Counties (WMU 5G) where the deer herd the deer are big and healthy. Another area to pay attention to is the southern Adirondacks' foothills in Saratoga and Fulton counties (WMU 5J), where the deer population is also growing and healthy.

Across most of the Northern Zone, deer densities are relatively low, with reported hunter kills of fewer than two bucks per mile in a majority of management units.

In 2005, this region produced 18,468 bucks, or 21 percent of the statewide harvest -- about the same as in 2004. Good trophy areas include St. Lawrence County, which produced the most bucks in 2005 in the region (3,385).

Biologists point to Essex County as a place with good trophy-hunting prospects, plus lots of huntable land. The county has hundreds of thousands of forest-preserve acres open to hunting, and much of that land is accessible via trailheads that begin at the edge of major highways.

In recent years, some of the better bucks taken in the area include Kane Sprague's 2005 10-point gun buck scoring 163 4/8, and K. James Monroe's 170-inch 11-pointer from 2004.

SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK
This area includes counties in regions 1, 3 and 4. Typically, the Catskills, Hudson Valley and Long Island combine for about 25 percent of the buck kill statewide.

Orange, Otsego and Delaware counties ranked tops in the regional buck-kill standings for the 2005 season. Orange County's final count of 2,655 bucks was the state's seventh best, while statewide, Otsego County was ranked ninth (with 2,402 bucks) and Delaware County ranked 10th (with 2,355).

Sullivan and Dutchess counties ranked 11th and 13th statewide, with a very strong buck harvest presence for this region in 2005. In fact, most counties in this region produced better buck harvests in 2005 than they did in 2004.

Columbia and Orange counties had the region's best bucks-per-square-mile ratios, at 2.6 and 3.2, respectively. Delaware County produced a relatively large number of bucks, but produced only 1.6 bucks per square mile in 2005, well down from 3.1 just a few years ago.

Here, the prime public hunting areas include the 7,400-acre Bear Spring Mountain Wildlife Management Area north of Shinhopple, via Trout Brook Road.

During the 2003 season, Dutchess County produced the state's best buck in the entire state -- a 197 5/8-inch, 20-point non-typical for gun hunter Scott Soterion; and in 2005, a 162 7/8 archery buck for Peter Cilione.

In southern New York, Westchester County remains a great option for bowhunters, who last year took 587 bucks, down from 638 in 2004. Open to archers only, the county has produced more bow trophies than any other in the state. Westchester County has no public hunting land, so archers must seek permission from landowners.

Long Island's Suffolk County has an archery-only hunt that usually runs from the beginning of November through Dec. 31, followed by a brief shotgun hunt in mid-January.

To participate in the island hunt, write to the DEC's Region 1 office, SUNY Bldg. 40, Room 226, Stony Brook, NY 11790-2356.

For more information about trophy hunting in New York, contact the Northeast Big Buck Club, 390 Marshall St., Paxton, MA 01612. The club offers a list of trained measurers in New York, who are anxious to score your best bucks, regardless of size.