OK my 2 cents. I hunt all over NY state from Long Island (RCA and Brookhaven) to the Adirondacks (Old Forge) to the Hudson Valley (Kinderhook) to Western NY (Bath) for whitetails and spend 20- 25 days a year hunting them. Without question the most difficult to pattern are the big brutes in Northern NY (Old Forge). Success rates are terribly low for my hunting group - not that harvesting a deer is any true measure of a good season. I'm confident that I will harvest all I am legally allowed during any deer season in other parts of the state so I tend to hunt up North with a Trophy getters attitude. Of the 5 people I hunt with up there we have scored on 2 nice deer in the past 4 years. Thats 25 man days a year times 4 years - 100 man days of hunting for 2 good deer. Pitifull harvest rates but they were Enormous deer.....on the flip side we have had to curtail harvesting of deer in other camps/properties because we shot so many on the first 3 days of Southern Zone hunting. There is only so much venison you need every year... I wish I knew WHY everything was so different. We hunt high, long and hard where ever we go. Obviously deer densities are different and those woods up North are vastly different from the other areas I hunt. No quads allowed, and you can literally walk for days without hitting a road or seeing another hunter. God...I still love it up there though.