RE: public hunting in NY
you got that right , Outdoors, Willy's were a common thing at our camp. Sadly, now they are all gone (but I do like my wheeler). However, I still have my garndfather's '46 Ford Military Jeep that he use to take into the north woods. I use it around my camp in the So. zone.
As far as public land - our camp (in So. Zone) is surrounded by public land and we hunt it all the time. I saw 3 hunters this season (THREE). 2 of them were before the gun season and one was later on in the season. Simple thing - there are a lot lss hunters in the woods (at least in our area).