By J. Michael Kelly

If at this moment you are among the roughly 80 percent of New York deer hunters who haven't managed to fill their 2004 buck tags yet, don't despair, for the last days of the season often are the best days.

Doubt it? Consider the story of Cazenovia resident Gene Benedetti, who downed a trophy whitetail while hunting last Dec. 10 in Onondaga County.

His buck sported a wide 9-point rack, and dressed out at 165 pounds.

Benedetti, a building contractor, killed the buck while hunting on a customer's property with his uncle, Albert Andalora of Syracuse. It was the first day of the late weeklong blackpowder hunt, which follows the regular firearms season in the state's Southern Zone hunting area.

Andalora was the first to spot the deer, bedded with several does in a stand of pines about 200 yards from where he stood. Unfortunately, the buck was staring back at him across an open field. Rather than risk spooking the animal by walking any closer, Andalora decided to retreat and consult with his nephew first.

The two agreed that Benedetti would circle around to approach the bedded whitetails from the rear. He would climb into a tree stand he had put up earlier in the season and wait as Andalora attempted to flush the deer in his direction. It took Benedetti about half an hour to hike 800 yards through calf-deep snow to reach his stand. Then Andalora began walking slowly toward the pines.

"When my uncle got to maybe 150 yards away from the deer, the buck got up," Benedetti said. "My uncle took a shot, but missed, and the deer came in my direction. I shot it with my .50-caliber muzzleloader at about 110 yards. It didn't go 20 feet from there."

A majority of all deer taken in the Empire State in a typical year are felled on the opening day of the Southern Zone firearms season, and 75 percent of the season's buck tally is recorded within the first week of the same hunt. Yet late-season prospects are better than most Empire State sportsmen realize.

Just ask Benedetti.

Photo by Ron Sinfelt

"I like December better than early in the season," he said. "The hunting pressure has really died down and there are still plenty of deer out there."

His assessment holds true for public land as well as private property. No matter where they live, deer go into high alert when the firearms season begins, then gradually revert to old habits as the blaze orange traffic dies down. Consequently, hunters who have the patience to watch remote game trails or conduct slow, methodical drives through overlooked pockets of cover stand an excellent chance of ending the season on a high note.

To help you fill your unused tags, here's a review of some of the better spots for a December deer hunt in New York, starting with Long Island and working north and west across the state.

Except for a written-permission-only shotgun season in January, all deer hunting on Long Island is done with bow and arrow. The archery-only regular season runs from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31. In 2003, Suffolk County hunters bagged 2,456 deer, including 759 bucks.

The county has about 20,000 acres of public-hunting lands, including the 5,800-acre Rocky Point Natural Resources Management Area, the 4,000-acre East Hampton Cooperative Hunting Area and the 4,000-acre Otis G. Pike Preserve.

All of these areas are subject to daily sign-in requirements or reservation procedures or both.

At the Rocky Point Natural Resources Management Area, for example, hunters must sign in at a Department of Environmental Conservation check station. A limited number of daily permits are issued on a first-come, first-served basis, although spots may also be reserved by telephone. Weekend passes, even in December, are by reservation only.

Rocky Point is near Riverhead. To find it, take Route 495 to Exit 67 north and then go north on Route 21 for about six miles. Turn right on Whiskey Road and proceed to the main entrance of the management area.

A brochure detailing Long Island's public access opportunities can be obtained by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Deer Information, NYSDEC, SUNY Bldg. 40, Room 226, Stony Brook, NY 11790-2356. For more details, call the Region 1 office at (631) 444-0310.

In planning their 2004 hunts, southeastern New Yorkers should be aware that the Southern Zone regular firearms season ends at sunset on Tuesday, Dec. 14. The subsequent special muzzleloading season runs from Dec. 15-21, while the late archery season runs from Dec. 15-19.

One of the up-and-coming hunting areas in the region is the West Point Military Reservation in Orange County, where 10,000 acres of hilly, wooded uplands are open to the public on a daily check-in basis. Last season was typically productive, with hunters killing 105 antlered bucks and a grand total of 237 deer on the premises.

To hunt at West Point, one must possess a deer management permit (doe permit) for Wildlife Management Unit 3P. The permit must be used on one of the military reservation's antlerless whitetails before the holder can take an Army buck. For details on West Point rules, call Jim Beemer, the post's fish and wildlife manager, at (845) 938-3857.

Another hotspot in Orange County is the 5,300-acre Stewart State Forest, which was carved out of the old Stewart Airport property a couple of years ago. Stewart is about halfway between Newburgh and Maybrook off Route 207. It sometimes produces more than 200 deer in a season.

For details on check-in requirements at Stewart State Forest, call the DEC Region 3 office in New Paltz at (914) 256-3098. The same office offers a booklet, Region 3 State Forests and Wildlife Management Areas, which includes maps of Stewart and 25 other public-hunting grounds.

With more than 290,000 acres of State Forest Preserve lands in just six medium-size counties (Delaware, Sullivan, Schoharie, Ulster, Greene and Orange), the Catskill region abounds in hunting opportunities. Among the better prospects is the 7,400-acre Bear Spring Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Delaware County.

Bear Spring is about five miles southeast of Walton off Route 206. Intersected by East and West Trout Brook roads and has numerous trails hunters can use to get farther from parking areas and closer to deer. Expect to find steep, wooded slopes when you get there, as well as a few scattered clearings and old apple orchards.

Among other public lands in Delaware County, readers should check out the 10,000-acre Masonville State Forest near Sidney and the 2,800-acre East Branch forest near Stamford.

The DEC Region 4 office in Stamford, (607) 652-7367, has maps of both.