Adirondack Whitetail Hunting
Welcome to
ADIRONDACK WHITETAIL
HUNTING
"Since 1994"
Some of my thoughts
on what hunting the Adirondack wilderness does for the soul!
The park (click
for regional view) is roughly the size of Vermont!!!
It is a
6 million acre state park in northeastern New York State that encompasses the
Adirondack Mountains. Contrary to popular belief, the Adirondack Mountains are
not part of the Appalachian Mountains. They are actually part of the much-older
Laurentian Shield of Canada. The Adirondack Park is the largest park in the
continental United States (almost 3 times the size of Yellowstone National
Park), and the only one in the nation with constitutional protection. About 40%
(2.4 million acres)of the park is state owned and open to the public for
hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities. There are large tracts of land
designated "wilderness" and no motorized vehicles are allowed. So if you want to
get off the beaten path....and I mean REALLY get off the path, to find some
undisturbed big whitetails, the Adirondacks are for you.
Caution !!!! THIS IS TRUE
WILDERNESS AND THOROUGH PREPARATION IS A MUST!!!!....
- Safety tips-
Heres A little about me...if you care -- and thanks for
visiting my "Adirondack Whitetail Hunting Page". My name is Jim and I retired
from the United States Marine Corps in 2003. I am an avid whitetail deer hunter
that grew up in the Adirondacks of NY. For well over a decade I travel back from
my various duty stations each year to the heart of the Adirondacks in search of
big NY whitetails. My buddies and I
backpack and
canoe
into the "deep woods", and sometimes deep snow, for 7-10 days. We have taken
some pretty nice bucks on our hunts, but the truth is we have a great time
whether we get a buck or not. The experience is not unlike that of the early
1900's (I think). For those of you who look through this page and are thinking
that big bucks are stumbling over each other in the Adirondacks, I should point
out that on the average there are less than 3 whitetail per square mile. Be
prepared to hunt long and hard and still get skunked, and maybe even go a whole
week without seeing a single deer. But maybe...just maybe...you will have an
encounter with an Adirondack bruiser like the ones below.
I use my Model-700 7MM-08 in the big woods but I also enjoy
bowhunting and muzzleloading.
These are some of the ADIRONDACKS bucks we've knocked down on
our annual deep woods trip. (click on the picture for a closer
look)
Click below to see some of
our Adirondack Bucks!!
2006 buck.
Well we had a slow year for deer but had a lot of fun
building our new Rack-n-Claw Hunting Camp. Jim did manage to knock down one
young 4 pt though. Rack-n-Claw members Mike, Butch, Joel, Jim and Jeff. Hunting
new territory required a some time away from hunting in order to scout and learn
the terrain. Those big bucks better look out next year!!
2005 buck.
Here is Danny "Bucky" Barber's completion of a 20
year quest for an Adirondack big buck! this 10 pt gives him a good reason to
smile.
2004 buck.
Meet my brother "Butch"...He took his first
Adirondack buck this year, a nice ridge runnin 9 pointer. Way to go Butch!
2003 buck.
Jim jumped this 10 pt buck toward Gordy in a ground blind
on top of a mountain.
2003 buck #2.
Mike was still hunting a mountain side when he caught
this 8 pointer chasing a doe.
2002 buck.
17 year old Zac scores on a super 19 inch wide FIRST BUCK!
Jim also took a smaller buck this year.
2002 bear.
Mike took this bruin while looking down over a beechnut
grove.
2001 bucks.
Another great trip to the "Dacks" with two good
Adirondack bucks this year! This is Jim,Mike,Joel and Ron
2001 6pt
buck..
Mike stayed on this buck's tracks for two hours
before Joel and he teamed up to down this nice 6 point.
2001 8pt
buck..
Joel took this real nice 8 pt on stand right before
dark.
2000 Millenium
bucks..
That's right...two good 8 pt Adirondack
bucks this year! This is Jerry, Gordy and Jim
2000 Millenium
buck..
Mike returned after 9 years away and found
a nice 8 point while still hunting in the dark timber.
2000 Millenium
buck..
Gordy was sneaking around on top of a high
Adirondack ridgeline when he spotted this nice 8 point doing the doesearch
shuffle
1999
buck
..Gordy joined the "tracker club" by tracking down
this ol' boy on 16 Nov 99.
1999
Buck
..How about another look...... The gang (Gordy, Ron
and Jim) with the 180 lbs, 4 1/2 year old, 9 point (plus a split tine), deep
woods monarch.
1998
buck.
.. Jim grunted in a deep woods 9 point on 21 Nov
98.
1998
buck.
.. A second look at the 98 buck.
1998
story.
1997__ We missed a nice buck ("Romeo") on the Adirondack trip
this year so we have only fond memories for 97'.
1996 buck.
.. Jim took this swamp buck at 2 in the afternoon.
Gordy & Jim pose with the 14 point, 140 class buck, 185 lbs.
1996 buck
...another look.
1995 buck
.. Jim tracked this buck down while he was with a doe
and shot him while he was rising from his bed. 8 pts, dressed 205 lbs, 140 class
B&C.
1995 buck.
.. A closer look at look at the rack. Excuse the
smile please.
1994 buck,
.. shot by "Gordy" on the left. 130 class 8 pts
230lbs!
1994 buck,
.. "Gordy" hid in a stump to bag this rut crazed
buck!
1993 buck
.. shot by "Gordy". Check out the neck on this
buck!
1993 buck
..This is a young 4 point shot by Jim the day after
Thanksgiving 1993 (Jim only had 3 days to hunt that year)
1992 buck
.. "Terrible Ted", shot by Roger, 8 pt, dressed 250
lbs, 145 class B&C!
1992 buck
.. "Terrible Ted", another look
1992 buck
.. Jim's first Adirondack buck, 6 pt while huntin with
"Uncy Larry"!
1990 bucks
..We got these two bucks from our base camp before 9
A.M. using deer drives. (before I started backpacking deep into the
Adirondacks)
1990 buck
.."Gordy's" 10 pointer shot on Thanksgiving Day 1990
(Our first deep woods buck !!!)
I have also been fortunate enough to be
able to hunt several other states to include;
North Carolina
for several years with my long time hunt'n partner Jerry.
Virginia, 1999
,still hunting a steep mountain top
Virginia, 2000
,a ground blind was how this buck was dropped.
Alabama 2001
Jerry and I hunted our first Alabama rut.
Illinois 2000 & 2001
Spot & stalk with MZ hunting with my friends Gary, Michele
and Bob.
Ohio 2002 & 2003
with good friends Travis, Todd and Charlie, Todd took this nice 11
pointer (bow).
Texas 2002
,Catch this hunt on the Outdoor Channel "Gone Huntin"
Texas 2003
,Catch this hunt on the Outdoor Channel "Gone Huntin"
Mississippi 2003
,with my good friends Jerry and Gene
Mississippi 2004;
,grunted in at 7:30 a.m. Hunting with Gene and Brian
Michigan 2004;
This 210 pound 14pt nontypical was taken from a blind at 1:00 pm
Ohio 2005;
This 8 pt typical was taken with my Knight muzzleloader at 130 yards opening
day of the Ohio late MZ season. Some early sightings by Travis and I made us
aware that this buck was in the area. I never thought I would see him the first
night in my climing tree stand!
Ohio 2006;
This wide 9 pt typical was taken by Travis with a crossbow during the rut. A
game camera had captured this buck a month earlier. Travis was jumping for
joy.
Ohio 2007;
Jim took this nice 9 pt on Oct 30th with a cross bow as several rutting
bucks cruised the area
LIMITED OPENINGS in
our Adirondack Hunting Club:
Our Essex County
hunting camp now has limited opening for serious Adirondack
Hunters. We have good hunting for deer, bear grouse, snowshoe rabbits, and
coyotes. This 1150 acres also provides access to the remote Jay Wilderness,
giving you an additional access to over 7000 acres of wilderness ! The
dues are $500.00 per year plus a one-time cabin fee. Serious hunters can
e-mail me for more information by clicking on the sign at the bottom of this
page.
ADIRONDACK TROPHY ROOM
More trophy bucks from the Adirondacks! If you hunt the Adirondacks,
e-mail your photo and I will add it to the trophy room. Hope to see you in the
"Adirondack Trophy Room"
NYS
ADIRONDACK REGIONAL INFORMATION
I highly recommend
"A Guide to Adirondack Deer Hunting" (By Charles Alsheimer and Larry Watkins)
for all hunters that plan to hunt this vast wilderness region. This book is full
of great regional whitetail information. The map below shows the general whitetail population in
NY.
The northeast corner is the Adirondack
Region
Less than 15 deer per sq. mi. is an
understatement.
2007-8 NY Hunting Regulations
MAPS
If you are thinking about hunting the
Adirondacks for the first time you know you must start with a map study. There
are several companies now producing CD's with detailed topo maps. I use
Toposcout, "Adirondack Region". These programs not only give you maps of the
region but allow you to print maps of specific areas of your choosing and you
can add symbols and a legend taylored to your needs and desires. I have also
found a free on line Topo map sight.
Ken
may have room for you on his horse-drawn deep woods hunts.
ADIRONDACK PAGES
"Trackers" Adirondack page...(my
kind of hunt'n)
Hunter NY
page
Upstate NY's hunting page
If you are a true lover of the Adirondack deep woods you'll enjoy my
favorite Adirondack poem:
THE VAGABOND
SPIRIT
...."I like these old
woods," said a gentleman whom I met on Racket last year; "I like them because
one can do here just what one pleases. He can wear a shirt a week, have holes in
his pantaloons, and be out at elbows, go with his boots unblacked, drink whisky
in the raw, chew plug tobacco, and smoke a black pipe, and not lose his position
in society. Now," continued he, "though I don't choose to do any of these
things, yet I love the freedom, now and then, of doing just all of them if I
choose, without human accountability. The truth is that it is natural as well as
necessary for every man to be a vagabond occasionally, to throw off the
restraints imposed upon him by the necessities and conventionalities of
civilization, and turn savage for a season, and what place is left for such
transformation save these northern forest?""
1857, by
S.H. Hamond, The Adirondack Reader, by Paul Jamieson
