HuntingNet.com Forums - Hi, New Yorkers!

Hey there...

Even though I am down here in Richmond Virginia, I am coming back "home" to New York this coming season to go hunting on my oldest sister & brother-in-law's 125 acre farm.

Here's some personal details (i.e. where I grew up, where my family and other relatives live, etc...)

Me: I grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY (well, actually, LaGrangeville, NY just east of Poughkeepsie, right near Route 55 and the Taconic Pkwy). I was an "IBM brat" as a kid, as my father was a senior electronics engineer at IBM and retired in 1977 at 30 years. Ever since the 60's, my family always went camping up in the Adirondacks. Name the area or the campground, and we've been there! In 1975, my parents bought a summer cottage on a lake way up in the northwest Adirondacks. Little tiny place called Lake Ozonia, in between St. Regis Falls and the town of Hopkinton, just inside St. Lawrence County bordering Franklin County. Being the baby of the family (and the only boy), I had to finish up high school up in the Adirondacks, and completed 11th and 12th grade at Parishville-Hopkinton Central School, and graduated in 1979. I loved the Adirondacks and the area, but, honest...it was a little "culture shock" at first. I mean, I came from a prominent high school in 1977 (Arlington H.S. in Poughkeepsie) and had 609 kids in 10th grade! At Parishville-Hopkinton, there were 600 kids in the whole school (K-12)! Hell, I graduated with only 52 kids in my class in 12th grade! But it was really nice, quiet and peaceful. Since I had a love for boating, I soon joined the US Coast Guard after H.S. in 1979 and stayed in for a whole career, and then retired. I settled in Richmond Virginia once I retired and accepted a job here.

Family: My oldest sister and brother-in-law retired and now live in central New York in the tiny town of Brookfield in Madison County (south of Utica). They have a beautiful 125 acre horse farm and have tons of deer, turkeys, geese, rabbits, and other critters. I love it up there!
My 2nd oldest sister lives over in Connecticut and is semi-retired.
My 3rd oldest sister and brother-in-law still live down in the Poughkeepsie area, in Millbrook.
My 4th oldest sister and brother-in-law retired from IBM and moved down here to the Richmond Virginia area. My brother-in-law now works as a security guard just for something to do. They both love the relaxed firearm laws in Virginia, compared to New York!
My mom is now 86 years old and currently lives with my oldest sister and brother-in-law on the farm. Since my oldest sister is a retired RN (was a head nurse of an ICU at a major hospital), she was the best choice to take care of mom.
My dad passed away at 80 years old back in May of 2002. :cry:

Relatives: My aunts/uncles/cousins on my mom's side live around the Auburn area (west of Syracuse). Last name is Short. They all grew up in the Weedsport and Port Byron areas. I haven't seen them in years, but keep in touch with them through Facebook.

In-laws: My wife grew up in West Seneca, NY (suburb of Buffalo). We met when I was stationed in Buffalo during my years in the Coast Guard. Her family still lives around the Buffalo area. Maiden name: Reichert. One of her sisters lives south of Buffalo near Cattaraugus County in the town of Gowanda. I can hunt on my sister-in-law's land if I make it up that way, and my wife's younger brother said he will take me hunting with him too - if I make it up that way.

Anyway.... I like living in Richmond, Virginia. 2 hours in either direction, and you can be in the mountains, the beach, and depending on traffic, you can be up in D.C. sightseeing. It's pretty laid back down here, but they still have some bizarre, old fashioned, colonial "blue laws". You can't hunt on Sunday down here, which is utterly stupid. Also, they run hound dogs after deer down here east of the Blue Ridge Mts, which really isn't my thing. I drive 2+ hours west up over the Blue Ridge and hunt out there, to get away from all the deer hounds. The mountains of Virginia are really beautiful and remind me of the Catskills or Adirondacks, but without the -25° temps and 2-3 feet of snow.

Long story short (sorry for writing a book...): I am really looking forward to coming back to New York this coming season and going deer hunting on my oldest sisters farm. Maybe even try to swing over to western NY to my in-laws and try hunting around Cattaraugus and Chautauqua Counties.

I wonder if anyone lives in any of the areas I mentioned?
My family old lake cottage up in the Adironacks was in area 6F.
My oldest sisters farm (Brookfield) is in area 7M.
My sister in the Poughkeepsie area (Millbrook) is in 3G.
My cousins (Auburn/Weedsport/Port Byron) are in 7F.
My wife's brother goes hunting in a club in Wyoming Co somewhere near Warsaw, in 9H.
My wife's sister (Gowanda) is bordering 9H, 9M, 9K, and 9G (I think).

I already have my Non-Res license and can't wait to get up there! I also got a 2010 NYS DEC guide in the mail, and it looks like you guys are loaded with deer up there - unless the DEC is lying! hehehee... :s3: