New York State’s Catskills Park is situated in Greene, Sullivan and Ulster Counties and boasts 700,000 acres of pubic land. (Shutterstock photo)
May 23, 2025
By Matthew Every
While states like Pennsylvania and Maine garner most of the bear hunting headlines in the East, New York boasts some excellent public-land bear hunting in its own right. The Catskill Mountains, in particular, are home to good and challenging backcountry bear hunting—some of the best in the entire region.
There are two bear seasons in New York. One falls in September and the other runs during various times in October, November and December. To get the lowdown on Catskill bear hunting, we spoke with George Burns Jr. and Ralph Ryndak, who have hunted bears together on public land for the past 20 years.
FINDING BEARS Both Burns and Ryndak are avid outdoorsmen, and they spend much of their spare time in the woods throughout the year. In fact, the duo gets together every other weekend during the offseason to hike and scout. As Catskill Park is massive, they attribute much of their success to covering ground.
Most of the public land in the 700,000-acre park is deemed “forever wild,” with little to no logging. Just about all of it is mountainous, with a mix of mature hardwood and softwood vegetation. In the lowlands there is a mix of old apple orchards, brushy cover and fallow fields, which are more common toward the western part of the mountain range.
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Because you can’t use dogs or bait in New York, Burns and Ryndak rely on wild forage to locate bears.
“For the past two years, the bears have been on beechnuts,” says Burns. “But you won’t see that every year.”
In years without beechnuts, Burns and Ryndak look to other hard mast, like acorns and hickory nuts, in the high country once temperatures start to drop at the end of bow season and the beginning of rifle season. They back this up with active bear sign, including scat, tracks, claw marks on trees, areas where the ground has been dug up and overturned rocks, before picking a place to hunt.
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Burns and Ryndak stress how important it is to have a plan to get your bear out. The Catskills are mostly roadless, with no access for motor vehicles. The upside is little hunting pressure, but the downside is a long drag out to the road. They suggest hunting with a buddy and not straying too far from the road during the September season if it’s too hot.
“Bear meat spoils faster than deer meat,” says Ryndak. “Whether it’s a chest of ice in your truck or a refrigerator close by, you need to have a way to cool the meat down quickly when it’s hot out.”
WHERE TO HUNT In the Catskills, you’ll find a mix of land owned by the state (NYDEC) and some owned by New York City (NYCDEP) for its water supply. Most of it is open to hunting. Use an app like onX to identify public parcels and cross-reference with maps on both the NYDEC and NYCDEP websites for regulations. If you want to hunt on NYCDEP land, you’ll need to obtain an access permit, available for free on the agency’s website.
WHILE YOU’RE THERE Hiking around the mountains looking for a bear is going to work up your appetite. Check out Brios and the Alamo Cantina in Phoenecia for good Tex-Mex food and cold beer. The Prattsville Diner is a solid choice for breakfast. If you’re looking for a place to crash, there are motels up and down Route 28 from Kingston to Delhi. There is also a handful of campgrounds, like Kenneth Wilson State Park just outside of Woodstock.
This article was featured in the 2024 issue of Public Land Hunter magazine. Click to subscribe .
