First Light Farm - Archery Deer

First Light Farm offers private archery deer hunting on about 154 acres near Addison, New York, in Steuben County and Wildlife Management Unit 8T, with bows and crossbows both welcome.
This working Southern Tier dairy and beef farm mixes hay and crop fields with solid blocks of hardwood timber, brushy transitions, and wooded drainages. Deer bed in the timber and step out to the fields to feed, which puts the action on the field-to-woods edges where bowhunters get close, quiet shots. Hang near a transition as October turns to November and the rut puts bucks on their feet in daylight. Steuben County led New York in deer harvest in 2025.
Your 3-day hunt is private, with one party of up to two hunters on the property at a time. Upon arrival, drive the designated farm roads to your access point, and use an ATV on those roads to get in and to bring your deer out. Pitch a tent or park a trailer at a designated camping spot and hunt from first light to last.
No draw is needed. A New York hunting license with the bowhunting privilege gives you an antlered tag and an antlerless tag, and crossbows are legal all archery season. Camping spots have no power or water, but water is available on the farm for fill-up. Addison has food and gas, and Painted Post and Corning have hotels.

First Light Farm is classic Southern Tier whitetail country: hay and crop fields for food, hardwood timber blocks for bedding, and brushy transitions and wooded drainages linking the two. Deer work out of the timber toward the fields in the evening and back to cover at first light, and the field edges concentrate that movement into predictable travel routes. Early archery season is about feeding patterns. Rubs and scrapes start showing along the timber edges in late October, and by November bucks are cruising the drainages and transitions looking for does.

After your hunt, you will be sent an automated Harvest Report. To assist Infinite Outdoors in maintaining the quality of properties, and to continue to put conservation at the forefront, we require that the harvest report be completely filled out and returned. Failure to fill out the harvest report within 2 weeks of the hunt taking place will result in a $25 fine. If you are unsuccessful in filling your tag, Infinite Outdoors still needs to have that information provided to them.

3-Day Hunt. By booking the first day of your hunt, you are automatically booked for the following 2 days as well.

This listing covers New York's Southern Zone early bowhunting season, which opens October 1 and runs until the day before the regular firearms season opens in late November. Bows and crossbows are both legal. Check current season dates at dec.ny.gov before your hunt.

No application needed. You will need a New York hunting license (resident or nonresident) with the bowhunting privilege. Your license includes an Antlered Deer Tag, and the bowhunting privilege adds a Bow/Muzzleloader Antlerless Deer Tag. Crossbows are legal throughout the archery seasons with the bowhunting privilege. A hunter education and bowhunter education certificate (or a prior bowhunting license) is required to buy the privilege. Buy online through DECALS at dec.ny.gov, at any license issuing agent, or by phone at 1-866-933-2257.

No draw for your buck tag. New York hunting licenses, bowhunting and muzzleloading privileges, and the Antlered Deer Tag are sold over the counter to residents and nonresidents. Antlerless Deer Management Permits (DMPs) for WMU 8T are issued through a fall lottery.

Reservation fees are due at the time of booking and are non-refundable. 50% of the outdoorsman fee is due at the time of booking, and the remaining 50% will process 1 month prior to the hunt.

Cancellations made prior to placing a deposit will be taken care of immediately. Any cancellations needing made after placing a deposit will result in attempts to reschedule the hunt for a different season, or a different year. Please note that refunds are not guaranteed.

If there is a lapse in availability, please do not be discouraged to reach out to IO. All calendars are set and managed by landowners, and unavailability is set by them. However, IO is willing to reach out on your behalf, to check on available dates. Other reasons for unavailable dates include biologist recommended hunter/harvest quotas that landowners implement, as well as state season dates not being released.

You are not legally allowed to access the property, for any adventure, prior to your selected access day. If you try to access the property at all before your selected date(s), without prior approval from IO, you will be subject to trespassing and punishments therein