need a little help please

[maineguy110]

I am going to be stationed in fort drum new york. it is near watertown in jefferson county. can anyone tell me what the hunting and fishing is like there. i have been trying to rersearch a little on there but not much luck i allso havent had much time to research cant even find out how much hunting a fishing license is it send me to store sites ill keep trying ill be there at the end of may so any information anyone can give me will be a big help and i will appreacaite it.

[Jack]

http://www.dec.ny.gov/63.html
Watertown is on the western edge of the Adirondack Mountains. The Adirondacks are a state park of about 6 million acres (not all of it is state land), mostly wooded. There are about 1000 bodies of water in the Adirondacks, if you count ponds, lakes and streams (in the Adirondacks, anything less than 2 miles long is called a pond). The vast majority of the Adirondacks is open to fishing and hunting. What land is posted is usually posted by a hunting club that leases land from a timber company.
Deer and black bears would be the big game available. Small and upland game opportunities abound in that area. Generally, small game season is September through February. Big game is October- December. Turkey season in the spring is May.
Ft Drum itself is a huge area, some of which is open to hunting.To the west of Watertown is Lake Ontario, which is one of the best salmon fisheries in the US.
Check with the people at the fort- they'll know what you have to do to qualify for a license- or if you even need one. I seem to recall something in the regs about military personnel being able to hunt without buying a license.
The short answer is, if you want to hunt, fish, or camp, you've hit the mother lode- it's a great place for any of those activities.
The bad news is, winters are tough there.

[jmarriott]

Don't forget the good old finger lakes area. Lots of good hunting and fishing areas around there also. I was born in geneva NY and the hunting and fishing in the area is very good. I remember seeing the sky turn dark from geese in the morning and nice deer and even a few bear in the finger lakes area. Good musky in the niagra river and small mouth in the st. lawarance. it is much better than Indiana as far as hunint and fishing. Taxes are high, and the cops are a bit on the pesky side.

As far as the winters you better buy a snow blower. It is not uncommon to get 30 inches in one night of lake effect snow. That is more in the finger lakes area as it washes out further east.

[Jack]

"Don't forget the good old finger lakes area."
Good point, Jmarriott. The finger lakes area is about 2 hours south of Watertown- go straight down Interstate 81 (Watertown is on 81).
Outstanding bass fishing in the finger lakes- and in Lake Ontario, too. And a lot of hunting as well.
And you're right about the winter in Watertown, too!

[maineguy110]

thank you for your help Iam so looking forward to doing hunting and fishing. got to go back home to maine and get my boat for fishing or buy a bass boat there havent decided which way ill go probably depend on what the prices of boats are there in new york