Hunters can get more information from the agency's Web site at www.fws.gov/northeast/iroquois. Or contact the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, Visitor Contact Station Headquarters, 1101 Casey Road, Basom, NY 14013; or call (585) 948-5445.

For information about accommodations and other area services, contact the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corporation, 345 Third Street, Suite 605, Niagara Falls, NY 14303. Call 1-877-325-5787, or log on to the agency's Web site, niagara-usa.com.

CONNECTICUT HILL WMA
It is hard to pass up the largest wildlife management area in New York, the 11,045-acre Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area. It straddles the border between Tompkins and Schuyler counties southwest on state Route 13 from Ithaca. Exit Route 13 from the south off state Route 17 between Elmira and Corning.

This highland area has poor soils, the main reason that farmers abandoned the area. But years of habitat management by the DEC has resulted in some good hunting.

NEWFIELD STATE FOREST
Newfield State Forest, a 1,552-acre tract that nudges the southeast corner of the Connecticut Hill WMA and Cliffside State Forest, a 973-acre tract, lies to the south. Route 13 runs between these three public lands. Take Connecticut Hill Road into Connecticut Hill WMA, Chaffee Road into Newfield S.F. To Cliffside S.F, take Cayuta Road, then Morrell Road. All of these areas have similar hilly, often steep terrain.

For help in finding accommodations and other services in this area, contact Finger Lakes Tourism, 309 Lake Street, Penn Yan, NY 14527; or call 1-800-548-4386.

PHARSALIA WMA
Pharsalia Wildlife Management Area is surrounded by more nearby state forests. Within a relatively small area in the northwest corner of Chenango County, at least a dozen state forests surround Pharsalia WMA. From a centralized location, hunters can have ready access to a great deal of public land.

Pharsalia WMA has an area of 4,625 acres. This is basically a highland forest surrounded by farmland. The forest is a mix of hardwoods and conifer plantations. Some of it is wetland, some denser cover.

Pharsalia WMA is about 10 miles northwest of Norwich along state Route 23. Maintenance roads from this route provide access.

With the state forests included, the total of state land holdings is more than 50,000 acres. Immediately to the west is Perkins Pond State Forest, with 1,870 acres in a mix of hardwood forest and conifer plantations.

To the south and sharing a small border, New Michigan State Forest has an area of 9,120 acres with a mix of hardwoods and conifer plantation. Otselic State Forest is a 1,043-acre tract a few miles to the north. Beaver Meadow State Forest, with 5,812 acres, is to the northeast.

ALBANY PINE BUSH
There are relatively few public lands open to hunting in the Albany area.

"They get hunted fairly heavily," Hurst said. "In late archery season, you can get some solitude."

One area he pointed out as a good place for December bowhunting is the Albany Pine Bush. This 3,010-acre area is an inland pine barrens ecosystem, one of the largest of only about 20 other inland pine barrens worldwide.

"We're definitely looking to harvest more deer off that property," Hurst noted.