To be honest...I've never hunted deer in the northern zone, but from what I hear its pretty tough. As far as the southern zone goes...the woods down here might not be as large as they are up north and we tend to have a greater number of deer PSM, but the deer are far from easy to pattern during open season. I guess it all depends on what age class of deer you're talking about...its no doubt easier to "kill a deer" in the southern tier. The deer may be more visible throughout the year here in the western finger lakes region, but they probably see more hunting pressure than deer in any other area in the state and that tends to change their daily habits in a hurry. They always seem to be on full alert...especially the mature does...even during bow season. After the orange army invades the woods for a few days...the deer (especially the mature bucks) seem to simply vanish. It takes some serious drives to get them up and moving again. Like BuckAlley mentioned...alot of it has to do with the amount of hunting pressure on the property that you hunt.

One of my favorites past-times during the summer is to drive around and video bucks in velvet before dark/with a spotlight. I go out several times a week from mid July-September and get a pile of great bucks on video every year, but there will be several bigger bucks in the area that I will see only once or twice a year. It really ticks me off because I know that they're around and want to get video of them but they are just too good at staying out of sight even with hunting season still months away. If it wasn't for the rut I have no doubt that these bucks would go through the entire hunting season without beeing seen. Northern zone or southern zone, big bucks are true masters of survival and can be next to impossible to pattern effectively.

I believe that the "deer are bigger in the Adirondacks" is a myth. The deer in both the northern and southern zone are of the same borealis subspecies...the bucks taken in the northern zone are on average just older than they are in the southern zone. There's not that big of difference in latitude for Bergmanns Rule to make much of a difference. Most bucks that people associate with "nice" around here are only 2-3 yrs. old, dress out 140-160 lbs. and have several yrs. of growing left. Most mature 4-5 yr. old deer in my area will dress out at 200+ lbs. prior to the peak rut...the problem is very few bucks are able to make to this age class. Friends of mine from college who hunt exclusively in the northern zone (Essex, Lewis, St. Lawrence counties) says that they're nicer bucks will weigh about the same at 170-190 lbs. Having a quality year round food source makes all the difference in body weight / antler size. I'd say that the southern zone has the advantage in this department.