The latest from ADKHunter…

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Last Call Part II: What’s left of deer season in the Adirondacks, and where it’s left, looks to be a repeat of last weekend. Warm weather is expected to move into the region on Friday, and especially Saturday with another big rain/snow storm set for Sunday. So much for keeping the powder in the smokepole dry on the final day. 

Haven’t heard much from hunters this week so it seems like a quiet late-season has been the story. Some have reported seeing deer on their trail-cams posted in migration areas, so perhaps in the interior of the Adirondacks (which does not have a late muzzleloading season), where there is more snow than anywhere else in New York, is seeing the whitetail herd head for their winter yarding areas. Otherwise, deer seem to be on food sources where you can find it, although I did find one scrape earlier this week that had been made some time in recent days prior. Good luck this weekend, and remember, you can’t kill a buck if you’re not out there. 

2023: Former Adirondacker Paul Tubbs, of Scranton, Pa., shared this photo of a successful crossbow hunt. He said he really missed hunting in the Adirondacks.
2023: Zach Chapman shot this 152-pound, 8-pointer Dec. 4, during late season muzzleloader in Saratoga County.
2023: Caleb Gates shot this 8-pointer in Essex County, Nov. 30.
2023: Zack Winney of the RPM hunting club shot this153-pound 8-pointer in Warren County.
2023: Bob and Ryan Trainor with a mature Thanksgiving Day buck.
2023: Ben Winters shot this 148-pound, 8-pointer Thanksgiving morning (Nov. 23) while hunting with the guys in the Bald Peak Sportsman Club, in Westport in Essex County.
2023: Jason Scott shot this 170-pound, 9-pointer in Indian Lake, Hamilton County, Nov. 22.
2023: Brendan Quirion, of Freehold, teamed up with his friend John Schroeder, of Middleburgh, to track down this 6 pointer in Hamilton County on Nov. 22
2023: Nate Crouse from Waxhaw N.C. shot this 7-pointer in the Southern Adirondacks.
2023: Bill Waters shot this 167-pound, 8-pionter in the Town of Day, Saratoga County.
2023: Rober Foster shot this 175-pound, in North Oppenheim, Fulton County, Nov. 14.
2023: Sydney Glebus, of Moriah, shot this 9-pointer on Nov. 12 with the help of her Brother Cole (right) and Father Brian (left), in Essex County
Steph Schulze shot this 145-pound, 8-pointer in West Fort Ann, Washington County.
2023: Rick Goodman, of Queensbury, shot this 4-pointer in North Bolton with the Iron Sight Gang on Nov. 11.
2023: Owen Martin shot first Adirondack black bear while hunting in Elizabethtown, Essex County with his his late Grandfather's rifle Nov. 11
2023: Chris Bartosh, of New Providence, N.J., shot this 180-pound, 8-pointer Nov. 10 at the Bear Creek Hunting Club in Long Lake, Hamilton County.
2023: Colin Harrison, of Tupper Lake, shot this buck in Franklin County Nov. 9.
2023: Joe Califano, of Tupper Lake, shot this buck in Franklin County Nov. 7.
2023: Bridget Crowningshield shot this 130-pound buck in Crown Point, Nov. 6.
2023: Bob Brouillette used a grunt call to bring in this 161-pound, 8-pointer at the Robinwood Club, in bats (Long Lake), in Hamilton County, Nov. 6.

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Photos: We certainly welcome your hunting photos of big and small game from the Adirondacks and Northern Zone. Email them to buck@adkhunter.com. We also encourage all New York hunters to share their photos with New York Outdoor News. Submit your Reader Shots here: https://www.outdoornews.com/new-york-reader-shots/  Also, consider participating in the Outdoor News Best Buck Contest. This is not a big buck contest, but a quality photo contest. So take some good shots of your harvest and enter them for a chance to win some great prizes. Here’s the details: 

We’ll check in every week now that deer season is here, but things remain  busy as usual with New York Outdoor News and the Great Northeast Podcast is now on Apple Podcast. Check it out when you can, as we’ll have plenty of deer hunting content in the weeks ahead. We drop a new episode every two weeks, the latest being Ep. 30 – Beginning Deer Hunting. 

–Dan’l 

 

2023 Hunting Reports

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DEC Launches New Website

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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today officially debuted a redesigned public website that improves accessibility and the user experience, particularly on mobile devices. The site is significantly easier to use with cellphones, streamlines navigation, includes more powerful search capabilities, and offers new multimedia features to provide a more engaging visitor experience.

DEC’s prior website was launched in 2005 on a now-antiquated platform that was not optimized for cellphones and other small-screen devices. The redesigned site offers a more responsive design and intuitive functionality, whether visitors are using a desktop, laptop, tablet, or handheld device. Features include streamlined navigation and new content presentation capabilities that allow DEC to better integrate video and other visual media. Updated DEC website URLs are all plain text, improving the ability of search engines to find and connect users to content. To ensure visitors can still find favorite web pages from the old design, DEC has established redirects to the new web pages. 

Expanded, task-focused navigation makes it easier for visitors to find regulatory, environmental protection, licensing, and environmental education content and resources more quickly. Larger call-to-action sections make it easy to purchase licenses, search for job openings, sign up for topic-specific newsletters through DEC Delivers, or subscribe to DEC’s Conservationist Magazine.

Finding permit information and submitting requests for permit action is also improved on the new website. For instance, a new State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) submission form lets local, regional, and state governmental agencies quickly provide details for SEQR reviews and approvals.  

DEC’s website includes a wealth of information, such as DECinfo Locator—an interactive map that lets the public access DEC documents and public data about the environmental quality of specific sites in New York State, as well as outdoor recreation information. With more than 90 data layers available, this is the first application that shows both environmental quality monitoring and natural resource information together in one place.  

To experience the website redesign, learn more about DEC’s programs, or find your next outdoor adventure, go to DEC’s website.

ADK Rail Trail Update: Phase 1 Complete

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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ( and Office of General Services (OGS) have completed construction on the first phase of the Adirondack Rail Trail, a 34-mile, multi-use recreational corridor for outdoor adventurers between Tupper Lake and Lake Placid. The first of three construction phases converted the former railbed along the Lake Placid to Saranac Lake segment of the corridor into a world-class shared-use path that when complete, will be open all year, free of charge, for hikers, bikers, cross-country skiers and snowmobile enthusiasts.

Upon completion of all three phases of construction, the Adirondack Rail Trail will connect the communities of Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake. The route will provide visitors with the opportunity to enjoy the unique charm and amenities of each community while providing access to miles of breathtaking trails, numerous campsites and abundant waterways in the Forest Preserve lands adjacent to the corridor. Along the Rail Trail, interpretive signage will help visitors learn about the history of the railway, cultures of adjacent communities and surrounding lands and waters.

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Attn. St. Lawrence County Hunters

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DEC Seeks Public Assistance in Reporting Deer Escaped from St. Lawrence County Captive Deer Facility

Residents and Hunters Asked to Report Any Deer
Observed or Taken with Ear Tags

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Region 6 announced that a white-tailed deer recently escaped from a facility in the town of Gouverneur, St. Lawrence County. The deer is marked with ear tags and DEC is asking residents and hunters that observe or take a deer with ear tags in this township or the surrounding area to contact DEC’s Watertown Wildlife office at 315-785-2263.

In addition, to protect deer, elk, and moose from chronic wasting disease (CWD), DEC would like to collect samples from this animal once caught. CWD is a fatal disease and poses a serious threat to wild populations of cervids with the potential to impact the benefits associated with deer and moose in New York State, including hunting traditions and sustainable use of venison, economic benefits derived from big game hunting, and wildlife viewing and photography.

CWD has not been identified in New York since 2005, when both captive and wild deer from Oneida County were verified as having the disease. New York is the only state in the U.S. to have successfully eliminated CWD from the landscape after it was discovered. DEC and the State Department of Agriculture and Markets have been collecting CWD samples from both wild and captive deer for more than 15 years throughout New York State and such sampling is an important part of the State’s ongoing effort to monitor for the presence of this prion-based disease, which currently infects 31 states and three Canadian provinces.

Contact the nearest DEC regional wildlife office or Environmental Conservation Police Officer to report any deer suspected to have CWD.

Reasonable Accommodation To Use an Unmodified Crossbow During The Regular Bow Season

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A reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) may be requested by individuals with disabilities whose needs are not met by the Modified Longbow authorization or Modified Crossbow Special Permit. Certification of disability by a licensed physician is required for a reasonable accommodation for unmodified crossbow use to be granted. Your physician must certify that: “The individual is incapable of holding a bow or operating a mechanical device attached to a legal longbow for drawing, holding, and releasing a bowstring due to a physical disability.”

See Instructions to Request a Reasonable Accommodation for an Unmodified Crossbow (PDF).

2022 Photos

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2022 Photos

2022: Robert Sidoti shot this 140-pound, 7-pionter in Wells, Hamilton County, Nov. 13.
2022: Clinton Brown of Proctor VT shot this 8-pointer in Hamilton County.
2022: Zachary Wakeman tracked this Herkimer County 8-pointer Dec. 3.
2022: Mike Mahanna of the Tri-Level Lodgewith a 6-pointer taken in the rain Dec. 3, in Indian Lake.
2022: Pat Barton shot this 130-pound 6-pointer Dec. 2 in Saratoga County
2022: Ryan Trainor with a 142-pound, public land 6 pointer taken in Warren county with a crossbow on Nov. 27.
2022: Scott Kosnick, of Charlton, shot his 150-pound, 9-pointer on Nov. 26 in Indian Lake, Hamilton County
2022: Joe Servello, of www.nyantler-outdoors.com, shot this handsome 8-pointer in Stratford, Fulton County, Nov. 26.
2022: Louis French shot this Hamilton County 8-pointer Nov. 25.
2022: Harlan French with an 8-pointer shot on Nov. 25 in Hamilton County
2022: Glen Zarboni shot this 165-pound, 7-pointer in Franklin County.
2022: Jay Scott, of Blue Mt. Lake, shot this 170-pound, 8-pointer (6 1/2 years old) Nov. 22 in Indiay Lake, Hamilton County.
2022: Trevor Tormey of Old Forge tracked this 158-pound, 8-pointer in Webb, Herkimer County, Nov 21.
2022: Cody Frasier tracked this Hamilton County 7-pionter Nov. 21.
2022: Ray Nellis shot this 11-pointer with a split G2 in Fulton County, Nov. 20.
2022: Matthew Matteson, of Woodgate, tracked this 138-pound, 8-pointer and caught him chasing two does, Nov.19 in Oneida County.
2022: Stephanie Schulze, of West Fort Ann, shot this 125-pound, 5-pointer Nov. 18 in Washington County.
2022: Roger Wilmart, shot this Adironack 8-pointer on Nov. 18.
2022: Mike Delpha, of New Milford, Conn., shot this 182-pound, 8-pointer at The Gooley Club, in Newcomb, Nov. 18.
2022: Bob Cooley shot this 170-pound, 10-pointer on Nov. 18 at the Gooley Club, in Essex County

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A Note About Blaze Orange: Prior to the 2021 hunting seasons, a regulation change was put in place requiring deer and bear hunters to wear florescent clothing (orange or pink) in either the form of a hat or at least 250 square inches of clothing. While it can be assumed that hunters shown in photographs without florescent clothing were obeying the law when they shot their game, it can also be assumed they were not. We understand that hunters shed layers in warm weather and when dragging bucks and bears out of places like the Adirondacks; it happens with our own hunting group. However, going forward, please try to share photos of hunters with the required attire. Thanks!