MORE DEER COVERAGE • 2004 Deer Outlook, Part 1 • 2004 Rut Report in North American Whitetail Forums

By Jeff Brown

It's no secret that the best way to consistently encounter trophy bucks is to frequent places where deer have time to grow to record size. That generally means locating areas with multiple food sources, escape cover and limited hunting pressure.

In a state the size of New York, there are plenty of places capable of growing such bucks. And the 2003 season produced a lot of them!

Although the overall buck harvest was down 16 percent from the previous year, new state records were set for archery and muzzleloader bucks.

According to Erin M. Crotty, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) commissioner, Steuben County had the highest deer take in 2003, including 6,242 bucks. Cattaraugus County was second, with 5,283 bucks, followed by Allegany County, with 5,262 bucks. Chautauqua County (3,925 bucks) and St. Lawrence County (9,070 bucks) rounded out the top five counties in the state.

While these counties produced the most deer and many bucks, that does not mean they produced the biggest bucks. The largest buck of the year was taken by Tom Bouvia in Clinton County. Bouvia's shotgun buck scored a whopping 190 4/8 gross Boone and Crockett points as a 17-point non-typical. Another teenager, Blake Burnette, took the state's second-largest gross-scoring buck, a 185 2/8 non-typical 15-pointer, with a muzzleloader in Cortland County.

Onondaga County produced the third largest buck of the year, a 181 3/8-inch 11-point typical taken by bowhunter Mike Weinerth.

Not all New York bucks get this big, however. In western New York, deer populations are high, but hunting pressure is offset by good genetics and nutrition. However, in the Southern Zone, fewer bucks avoid shotgun hunters long enough to see their second year, so while many bucks are taken, most have small racks.

In the Adirondacks, where biologists say there is only about one buck per square mile, bucks are few and far between, but they reach maturity and grow big racks by avoiding hunters.

New York's whitetail herd, currently estimated at over one million deer, is well distributed throughout the state's varied habitat. Given the slightly reduced harvest in 2003, local experts are encouraged about this fall's buck-hunting prospects.

Here's a look at what you might expect throughout the state in the upcoming season.

Justin Kerr shot this unusual Yates County buck while hunting during the November gun season. The 130-class buck has an 18-inch inside spread. Photo courtesy of Justin Kerr.

This section of New York produced six of the 10 best buck harvests last season. Steuben County was the leader at 6,242, or 4.4 bucks per square mile. Hunters also did well in Allegany, Cattaraugus, Erie and Chautauqua counties.

Region 9 produced four of the top 10 buck harvests in the state in 2003 (Cattaraugus, Allegany, Chautauqua and Erie counties). Allegany County produced the most bucks per square mile in this region (five). Erie County produced two of the state's top six bucks of 2003, including a 168-inch typical 11-pointer taken during the gun season, and a 167-inch 10-pointer tagged during the bow season. Buck hunters should have no problem getting access to potential hotspots.

Counties along the Pennsylvania border boast more than 160,000 acres of public-hunting grounds among them. In addition to the 65,000-acre Allegany State Park, where hunters must obtain a free permit from the park office before going afield, sportsmen have access to 17,200 acres of state forestlands in Chautauqua County, 33,600 acres in Cattaraugus County and 46,300 acres in Allegany County. A map showing all of these parcels is available by calling (716) 372-0645.

Region 8 is defined by the perennial success of Steuben County, arguably the best trophy buck county in the state. Hunters there bagged 6,242 bucks in 2003, down from 8,176 bucks in 2002.

Aside from leading the statewide buck kill for all counties last year, Steuben also produced more than twice the total number of bucks as the No. 2 county in Region 8 (Ontario, with 2,968 bucks).

Biologists look forward to great numbers this fall. For public-land action, try the 2,500-acre Erwin Wildlife Management Area off Beartown Road west of Painted Post.

Dave Odell, Region 8 wildlife manager, pointed out that a number of local hunting clubs have promoted antler growth by implementing Quality Deer Management rules on their properties, and their efforts have made a positive difference in the antler size of harvested bucks.

Other Region 8 standouts include Livingston County (2,586 bucks in 2003), Monroe County (1,907 bucks) and Yates County (1,872 bucks). Yates County has led the region in bucks killed per square mile for the last two years, coming in at 5.5 during the 2003 season. A good bet in Region 8 is northern Livingston and southern Monroe counties, where great little pockets of cover create opportunities for mature farmland and suburban bucks.

Excellent state land hunting is available in places like Letchworth State Park along the Genesee River in Livingston County. Another hotspot is Chemung County. Hunters killed 4.6 bucks per square mile there in 2002, and almost four bucks per square mile last fall.

Tioga County is your best bet for bucks in DEC Region 7. This county had the highest buck kill in the region (2,415) in 2003 and in 2002 (2,680). It also is outstanding in terms of buck density, with 5.1 bucks killed per square mile in 2002 and 4.6 in 2003.

Public-hunting grounds in Tioga include the 1,118-acre Turkey Hill Reforestation Area north of Candor off Tubbs Hill and Turkey Hill roads; and Michigan Hill State Forest, with 1,209 acres off Michigan Hill Road in Richford.

Chenango and Tompkins counties were second and third in regional buck kills last year, both producing more than 2,000 bucks. Tompkins County, where hunters took 4.5 bucks per square mile for each of the last two seasons, has some good public land to choose from, including the 11,000-acre Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area off Route 13 in the town of Newfield.

Northern Zone deer densities are relatively low, with reported hunter kills below two bucks per square mile in a majority of management units. In 2003, this region produced 21,540 bucks, or 20 percent of the statewide harvest. St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Washington counties have shown recent increases.

St. Lawrence County hunters took 4,516 bucks last season, the fourth-highest total in the state. This is deceiving however, in that the bucks-per-square mile ratio was a woeful 1.6. Jefferson County's reported harvest of 3,207 bucks was the sixth-highest total in the state with a bucks-per-square-mile ratio of 2.5, the best in the region.

Crop damage complaints and whitetail-vehicle collisions are on the rise along I-81 and U.S. Route 11 - an area to pinpoint when seeking permission to hunt private land.

Clinton County, with a harvest of 675 bucks, produced the state's best buck of 2003, a 190-class non-typical for teenage shotgunner Thomas Bouvia.

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

Orange County had the best bucks-per-square mile ratio in the region at 3.7. The trophy hunt at the 10,000-acre West Point Military Reservation in this county remains one of the most innovative in the state. Hunters must possess a deer management permit for Wildlife Management Unit 3P. Before shooting a buck, the permit holder must tag a doe. The policy has paid off with a steady improvement in whitetail weights and antler beam dimensions.

To learn more about the hunt, call the post wildlife manager Jim Beemer at (845) 938-2857.

Delaware County produced a relatively large number of bucks, but only produced 1.8 bucks per square mile in 2003, well down from 3.1 in 2002. The prime public hunting areas here include the 7,400-acre Bear Spring Mountain Wildlife Management Area north of Shinhopple off Trout Brook Road.

Ulster County, which had the second-highest buck total in the region for 2003, also produced the state's fourth-best buck in the state that year, a 174 4/8-inch 10-pointer for gun hunter Eric Foose.

Westchester County remains a great option for bowhunters, who downed 557 bucks in 2003. Open to archery hunting only, the county has produced more trophies than any other region in the state.

Long Island's Suffolk County has an archery-only hunt that runs from the beginning of November through Dec. 31, followed by a brief shotgun hunt in mid-January. Suffolk County hunters increased their take from 691 bucks in 2002 to 759 last season.

If you want to hunt the island, write to the DEC's Region 1 office, SUNY Building 40, Room 226, Stony Brook, NY 11790-2356. Hunters should request procedures for obtaining permits to hunt at the Rocky Point Management Area in Brookhaven and other public hunting grounds on Long Island.

For more information about trophy hunting in New York, contact the Northeast Big Buck Club, 390 Marshall St., Paxton, MA 01612.