which do you perfer hunting in the northern or southern zone and why?

[vivlamored]

 would like to know which you perfer hunting in the northern zone or southern zone and why? I love to hunt the northern zone trouble is when southern zone opens you can't get anyone to go up north.

[csavage1]

Welcome to MHF  and i am a fawn also,but soon to grow into a Booner.
I love to hunt both zones although the northern zone is way to long and the southern is too short.
I could never pick just one due to 30 plus years of hunting the northern and  28 years hunting the southern zone.
Many many great times and in my travels i have been very fortunate to get a nice 10pt that scored 140 3/8 in the northern zone and i have seen some nice 120 BC thru 160 BC in the southern zone.

Maybe i would pick southern zone at Steuben county due the the chance of getting a black bear and a hog non typical buck.The area we hunt in the south has some real nice bucks and we always get together and hunt the last week at my Buddy's camp.Its funny how i always run into Jim Beam or Dr Gorden at that camp.

[producetim]

thats a tough one. the northern zone has a lot less deer but some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. the southern zone has more deer with more farmland. so would have to vote for the northern zone

[vivlamored]

 Have to admit if you goto a northern deer camp you eat a heck of a lot better when you are there than at home

[Saratoga Leo]

I live in saratoga 3 minutes from RT 29 that is the line for southern and northern so i get to take advantage of the 4 days you get to hunt off last years bow/muzzleloader tag(s) if you have any left over which is a positive.  Everyone is right that there is more mountain and woods up north then south and not that im a lazy hunter but i like hunting farms, guts, ravenes and flat woods over big mountain.  It tears me up living so close to nothern zone line because the week of early muzzleloader in northern is the opening week of bow in southern.  I am caught between a rock and a stone on whether to throw the muzzleloader in the truck and take a 10 minute ride or go on our land with the bow.  That is what tears me up the most about living so close to northern and southern zone limits. Overall i pick southern over nothern because south has more deer and at the end of the season i have a full freezer. 

[vivlamored]

 but there is more to hunting than getting meat in the freezer

[Tom Leitz]

Northern zone for me.  Total solitude in the woods which is what I am looking for when I hunt. 

[adkRoy]

I like both. I hunt both and have taken deer from both zones the past couple of years.

[Mentiply]

I have always had good luck in the southern zone so that's my vote.

[OTIS]

I like the northern muzzleloader season the best!  I also like the northern zone because most chunks of state land are huge.  You can walk in a mile and never have to worry about running into another hunter.

[Saratoga Leo]

but there is more to hunting than getting meat in the freezer

I agree 100% with what your saying its just that i am supplied with tags from the state like everyone else who has a license and i have deer plentiful spots to hunt which i take advantage of in southern zone.  1 farmer allows us to hunt in styvasent county and lets us keep a camper there... the reason why we get to keep the camper there is and no one else can is because we dont descriminate for buck or doe and fill every one of our doe permits.  While others come out of the woods telling me they saw 10, 20 or 30 doe we are dragging somthing out.  Due to the open farm land and lack of woods and huge meadows and fields we have only bow hunted the land 2 times so all our tags are filled during rifle and muzzleloader.  For the past 3 years we have killed atleast 1 deer every week since opening week of gun till late muzzeloader season.  I think that is an accomplishment of its own to go out every week with your friends and know when that weekend or week is over your going home with something and have a good story to go with it.  When i run out of tags i take friends out who havent shot deer and put them in places that i have hunted throughout the season so they can fill there tags.  Oh yah... the farmer who lets us hunt his land.... if we dont kill 6-7 deer a season he tells us not to come back... we think hes kidding but we do our job by filling our tags and having a great time doing so and helping him with the over-run of deer that damage his crops.  Since we showed up and started shooting does we see more and more buck with every passing year.

[archbishop]

i have never hunted the northern zone, but from what i hear is that the deer are far and few between up that way? i know all the big bucks (rack and weight) are over here in southern WNY, (alleg., catt., chaut., and stueben counties) also like was said earlier, the shot at a good bear. like i said though, i have never hunted up that way, and as long as the deer are big and numerous down here, (cattaraugus and allegany counties which i hunt) i dont see much need to travel north

p.s. dont forget about the great turkey and small game hunting either

[SilentStalker]

 I agree with OTIS, By the time early muzzleoader opens up north, Myslef and all my buddies at camp are all juiced up after the long layoff. The scenery is great in mid-October and the waether is just how I like it. I shot my first deer w/ a muzzleloader last year and it was onew of my proudest experiences in the field to date. Seeing the smoke and hearing the thunk.    I grew up hunting the southern zone, but I love the north country due to the solitude you can find. Down south, you feel like and know your just one of numerous hunters in the same area, hunting the same deer, etc.   

[XII Outdoors]

I have taken bucks in both zones but I prefer the southern zone