More than 20 years ago, when I was a student at SUNY Plattsburgh, I was walking home one evening when I saw two small antlerless deer hanging in a tree in someone's front yard. The owner of the house was outside so I just had to inquire about the deer.

While I knew he'd been hunting in the Southern Zone, it surprised me how far he'd traveled for a little venison. As I recall, he got those deer in western New York. At the time I was happy just to make it home for a weekend of hunting or get a ride with a hunting friend over to Taylor Pond for a day where I could stretch my legs.

The Southern Zone deer season opens next Saturday, Nov. 21, and it is by far the busiest hunting day in the entire state. In most cases the opportunity to tag an antlerless deer is what draws hunters as well as the fact that you simply see more deer than you would in the Northern Zone, primarily the Adirondacks.

Although I live fairly close to the boundary that separates the two zones, I'm not a big Southern Zone hunter. I enjoy seeing deer and also enjoy a day or two of stand hunting which I find relaxing after spending most of my time climbing mountains, making deer drives or still-hunting in the big woods. But it's not long before I'm bored with sitting and being so close to the civilized world. Eventually I'm ready to get back to the hills.

But the Southern Zone has been productive for us over the years. We primarily hunt a couple of locations in Washington County. One is an old farm with a big swamp where the deer like to hide out. The other is a pretty mountainous stretch which is much like the Northern Zone, albeit close to a village. We see our share of deer in both of these locations.

Patience is our virtue in these areas especially the farm where we sit tight. We walk to our stands while the neighbors all ride ATV's and I can tell you they often move deer to us, especially on their way out in the morning. You can say what you want about deer getting used to these machines but I have witnessed over and over again deer making a run for it when they hear them, especially in the Southern Zone after those first shots have been fired on opening day.

We have taken many deer from our stands in the late morning and early afternoon. We stay in our stands as long as we can. Then we take a lunch break and go back at it. It can be tough when it's cold or you are not seeing deer but we stick it out, for a few days at least. Although we've only taken a few good bucks, we usually manage to put something in the freezer opening weekend.

Many hunters scoffed when opening day was moved from Monday to Saturday in 2005, but it has worked out well for our crew. Not only do we not have to take the day off from our jobs if we want to hunt, we are also able to get some of our younger hunters out with us. Last year my cousin's 16-year-old killed his first antlerless deer while his 15-year-old missed a chance at a buck. That wouldn't happen if they were in school opening day.

The most important factor on such a busy day in the hunting woods is safety. Unfortunately many of the heart-wrenching stories you hear of hunting incidents (I refuse to call them accidents) happen in the early days of Southern Zone. Falls from tree stands are also becoming quite a danger to deer hunters.

So, if you are heading south next weekend please be careful and most of all, enjoy the hunt. If not, that's not a bad thing either because usually when the Southern Zone opens, those of us who stay north have a little less competition in the big woods.