Friday May 19, 2006

Back to Cobleskill! I met Ned Holmes in town today to kick off our three day hunt together. He is the man that started me out hunting. Since my Dad or anyone in my family and friends didn't hunt, I signed up for the Apprentice Hunter Program through the NYSDEC, and I got Ned as a Mentor. Our first meeting was at 3:30am in my garage, I had overslept, and my Mom wanted to meet the guy who was going to take her 12yr old son out in the woods before she let me leave. He took me out on a turkey scouting trip and that is an entirely different (and long) story. We started the morning off up behind Putnam's house to hopefully tangle with the birds I got into with my Dad on the 7th. The birds I was looking for didn't gobble, but one did down low, right behind the houses. I also heard a bird that seemed to be above the wire where we park on the Loder piece. After the sun was up I decided to make a move down to about the level of the pond and get in the woods to intercept the bird that was down low, as he moved up the mountain. We worked into a decent setup and then made a call. The first call was answered by a gobble about 150yds out in front of us, on the same level on the hill! This was good, I can call a bird across a hill. Well the second call was answered by not only the gobbler, but the hen that was with him, as well a chorus of yelps and gobbles from about 60yds above us, just over a ledge. I kept on the calls and I realized the birds above us were jakes, I could hear the yelp, yelp, gobble of the pair of jakes. There were hens with them, and they were fairly talkative also. I worked the birds for probably 10min. when I saw a bird coming towards us, dropping down to our level from the ledge above at about 75yds in front of us. I told Ned and he re-adjusted his position for a shot. Well, shortly after that, I could see anymore birds, the gobbling ceased, and that was that! We went across the road to try for the bird I heard gobble over there, but we didn't work it like we normally do. I came in from the east end and went straight to the field where Ned killed his bird last year. As we watched some deer snort at us at about 40yds, I heard a hen yelp a few times. We setup, with a hen decoy and a jakester tailfan decoy and made some calls. Nothing answered, and we move on. After skirting the entire property, I came over a knoll and saw my truck, and at that moment a hen took to the air about 50yds from my truck. Amazing! She must have been the hen that I had heard when we first got into the area. We worked all my other spots with no luck. We did see a stutter just below the houses on Sausage Hill, with two hens, on property I can't hunt.