Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Adirondack wall tent deer camp

I’ve got envy.

Quite a bit different from Texas - flat land, not so many trees (away from east Texas), mild winters and almost no public land.

Best wishes for a great hunting season.

I've hunted the Daks a few times, mostly for early bear oit of Old Forge - Inlet area. I love the Daks. I could be talked into going back.

My wife and I did a recon trip on Long Lake on Friday. I didn’t find any camp spots that excited me much. Next week we are taking the boat up the Raquette and doing some more scouting. It’s tough finding a fairly level spot to put a 12x14 tent!

And meets the setback required from the water AND won't already be occupied when hunting season comes.

Sad to hear, not that much of an issue in Wyoming. We can set camp and leave it for a few days and come back to all still there.

I've spent a week or two, most years since the '80s, camping in the Adirondacks during deer season. Since retiring 5 years ago, the 12X15 Beckel Canvas and stove sit unused out in the shed. I sure do miss those days.....

Spent a few deer seasons when I was in college in the late 70's hunting out of a friend's place in the Weaverton Riparius area. Great memories but deer sightings were few and far between, did encounter a black bear one season but alas didn't have a tag. Did do a tent camp hunt in the western Rockies outside of Glenwood Springs, CO. Spent a week chasing mulies and elk, everyone went home with an animal, lots of hard work but truckloads of prime venison made it all worthwhile.

Why did you stop using them when you retired and had, I presume, more time than ever to get out and about?

If I could get my wife to retire, we'd be Jeeping and camping in southern CO and northern NM whenever the weather cooperated.

Just not enough time. I'm now retired in Florida, so the Adirondacks are no longer just a quick shot away.. I do a couple of weeks every year hunting out west in Oct. When I come home, I spend a few weeks catching up on things around the house. Then I drive up to NY to spend the Catskills deer season at my club/camp with the guys. Some of those ol' boys are getting along and I wouldn't want to miss what few seasons I might have left with any of them. They're the last hunting ties I have to my dad and Gramps.

I didn't know that you lived in Florida.

^^^^^^^^^^^ Yep, near Crystal River. It's good for the wife's health. I'm not so crazy about it, myself, other than the long boating and fishing season. I get out of here every chance I get though.
BTW, I'm a 260 Rem fan also.

Apologies to the OP for stomping on his thread.

No need to apologize! Threads usually go off the rails much sooner than 4 pages!
Tomorrow morning the wife and I are taking the boat up the Raquette as close to Raquette falls as we can get. There’s a couple of promising sites along this stretch of river and I’m really familiar with the country. If I find a good spot I’ll secure a permit with the local forest ranger. This locks me in on this site for the entire deer season. Then a nice mid September primer trip. Get the feel of using a wall tent, and camping again. It’s been a long time. Also cut up some fire wood for the wood stove and squirrel it away until November.

In the mid 60's guys in my club used to set up a couple of wall tents in/on Indian Lake. We would take boats up and set up on the far side of the lake. No wood stoves then at best a small Kero stove or two. Never anyone around, just us guys. We also got fancy after a couple of years and set up a dining tent made of a dining tarp, 2x2 studs wrapped with clear plastic We never did too well with the deer as there was hardly any in the Adirondacks then---poor hunting at the time!

Hip

Myself and a couple of friends bought some hunting land in the NYS southern zone (Delaware County). I had the bright idea that since we already had the hunting license, we should hunt the Adirondacks and maybe kill a big buck or bear, this was in the 80's. After much research, we first hunted East Canada Lakes area in Hamilton County, no one saw an animal. We ended up hunting Long Lake and Lewey Lake and again never seeing an animal. We saw tracks, rubs and scrapes but never a live animal. After 6 years of doing this, we gave up. We hunted in tents and cabins.

Hunting the Adirondacks isn’t for everyone. The deer numbers are very low, but so is the hunting pressure. I have hunted an entire season without ever running into another hunter in the woods, and this is public land! I have also hunted an entire season and seen only 6-8 deer. I’ve found the deer use different areas each year. Mast crops and coyote and even bear pressure has a lot to do with where you will find the deer. Cover lots of ground and find the sign, then hunt those areas hard, all day long. Some hunters like mountain tops, and that may work for them. I look for water, the edges of rivers, streams, ponds, and especially marshes usually will have deer.

The wife, the dogs and I took our scouting trip up the Raquette last week. Navigation was easy, the water is quite high for this time of year. We ran into a lot of kayak and canoe traffic, but that’s to be expected in the middle of August. I also got a chance to talk to one of the local forest rangers, and he was a wealth of information. This area historically gets little use during deer season. I found 2 good camp sites to pitch the wall tent: this isn’t an easy task, finding a fairly level 12x14 spot! I also ran into the brother of an old friend. He was putting his boat in when we were taking ours out. He has camped in this area in the past deer hunting. I told him of my plans and we agreed I had a solid plan in motion. Next step is a week or two after Labor Day we are going to do a trial run camping trip for 3 days. Hopefully get some firewood cut for the wood stove and hidden away for November. Can’t wait!!!

3 dogs in a boat, oh my! Lol

I can’t wait to see the pics! You shouldn’t have any trouble getting wood around there. Did you catch any fish?

The dogs are great in the boat, we take them whenever we go.
Adirondack public land rules dictate you can only cut downed wood, and no power chainsaws. That means ax and bow saw. I bought a good bow saw with a couple extra blades, so I hope that works well.
The fishing was good, we landed a couple small mouth bass in the 1 1/2 pound range. Close to one of the campsites is a little trout stream I haven’t fished it in about 20 years. When we go for the long weekend in September I’ll bring my ultralight spinning outfit and give it a try. Usually the best you can expect from a stream like that are 8-10” brookies, but they are great frying pan size!

@miguel, When I was a kid my Dad used to hunt the Big Moose area. We would set up camp in the woods somewhere along the road to No. 4 and Stillwater reservoir. We hunted International Paper Co. land. It was a great time and I miss it much. Camping in the boonies, I might be a little old for that these days but I am with you in spirit. Have a wonderful time and as you know living in the area, the weather can change in minutes..