Upstate NY?

[bgcole]

Anybody from upstate NY here? Im in Rochester but spend alot of time for work in all of the surrounding cities

[diplomat019]

i live in duchess county.

[RichK]

I'm from the Rochester area.

[Sharon]

You've got too fine kennels in your State if you are ever looking for training help Cole

Shady Hills Kennel ( Formans) one hour SE of Rochester

and Grouse Ridge Kennels

http://www.grouseridgesetters.com/

[Max2]

I'm in central NY.

[rich223]

From the Buffalo area

[mister2]

Syracuse here

[diplomat019]

any of you guys hunt the finger lake region? I've read that there are wild pheasant populations up there?

[RichK]

any of you guys hunt the finger lake region? I've read that there are wild pheasant populations up there?

I do. There's a wild pheasant population on the road I live on. I'll post some pictures this weekend.

[Max2]

The finger lakes region is a beautiful area. I have never heard that the area held a population of wild birds before. I have been in the region a number of times but never to hunt. The rolling landscape out there looks like pheasant cover you might see out west in the U.S. Very cool !

[diplomat019]

rich- can't wait to see pics. are they mostly on private land or do they make their way to state land?

side note. me and some friends were close to buying land in the tug hill region, but seller wouldn't budge. some good grouse up there from what i heard as well. I'm thinking about making a trip this year. just outside oneida lake

[phoenix]

Is Shady Hills still in business? Last time I went to the website, it was not functional.

[phoenix]

Hunted the Tug Hill region last year, last week of Oct. We moved a few grouse & a lot of WC. The amount of apples last year were insane.

[diplomat019]

Nice! There seems to he tonssss of state land up there. Where bout in tug hill? We were looking in oneida county. Camden area

[mister2]

The dec website says there is a self sustaining population of wild pheasants in the finger lakes region. That explains why it's a rooster only region.

A while ago (~10yrs) they did a whole bunch of timber harvest in the Tug Hill WMA that should be pretty good habitat by now I think. I bowhunt in Happy Valley WMA and have seen and flushed a bunch of grouse there as well. Be careful very easy to get turned around in there because it's mostly flat, I've never been totally lost but have been disoriented a few times to the point I had to use a compass to get out. Late season hunt....bring snow shoes. Good luck!

[Max2]

With yesterday being the NY northern zone opener Max & I took a ride to Happy Valley WMA. Having never been there before & reading this last post we figured we would give it a try. Very green and lush. Got there at 7:30 am and drove around a little to check for some grousey looking cover. Next thing you know it was 9:00 & decided to just pull over and jump in. For us it was unproductive. Tried another spot and again unproductive. Early season is hard and the temps kept coming up. Had lunch and while having lunch on the tailgate a forest ranger stopped & asked how we were doing & said we were the only guy's he had seen that day hunting in there. At one spot off Churchhill rd where it looked as though some habitat work had been done in the past max was making game but it appeared to be old woodcock splatter in one of the spots. All in all a slow day but fun to get out.