Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Friday June 9, 2006

Well, I think that I am almost over the initial phase of dealing with the fact that turkey season is actually over. I still wake up and think I might get to go hunting. Well, this afternoon we finished up work and then Larry, Beeler and I went down to our duck blind to fix up some stuff and have a few beers while watching the wetland wildlife. We replaced a floor board that got broken towards the end of last season, drilled holes in the floor near the door to allow the water to drain so that when you take that first step up, you aren't sliding around on a sheet of ice at 4:30 in the am in 10degree weather. We also stood up the cedars that had fallen over this spring and got them situated so that all the willow transplants that we put around the outside will have room to grow. When we got there, they were all doing good, but some of them were growing up through the dead cedars. We also clipped some more willow branches from a pretty robust plant next to the blind and stuck them in some of the areas around the blind that were lacking transplants. They should grow up nicely and minimize the amount of brush we are going to have to add this fall. There was a pair of mallards on the hole, as well as a lone hen wood duck. Larry has been spotting a bunch of woodies on the hole recently, I don't know where they were tonight. The work portion of the night took about an hour, and it was pretty easy. Earlier we stopped in to see Bobbi, the lady who owns the property. She just had back surgery, but when we pulled up she was out walking around with her daughter in the yard. She's a great lady, always very friendly, and very talkative. They offered us some iced tea and some "moose munch crunch", one of the monthly gifts that she gets from our company through a "gift of the month club". She always makes us laugh, because she gets all these treats once a month, but can't justify opening them until we stop by, or her grandchildren come. We usually have a piece of candy, or something, then leave the rest for her to enjoy, which I'm sure she does after waiting weeks to try some of the stuff. Anyway, we visited with Bobbi, then fixed the blind, and since it was a friday, we watched the sunset while sitting in the blind and had a few beers too! We decided that we are going to build a small shelf that runs the length of the front wall so that a box of shells could be stored there, rather than on the seat or on the floor. We also talked about planting some millet in the area in front of the blind, but who knows if that is going to happen. I also went fishing on Sat. morning (the 10th). I caught one nice largemouth (about 14") on a crankbait. The shenandoah does not produce really big fish, actually it doesn't produce much over the 2lb. range, at least not that I've seen in the three years I've fished it. I also brought my old Proline Bow, which I have set up for bowfishing. I couldn't get close enough to any carp, but I did have a shot on a 2-3lb catfish. I know I am not supposed to shoot those, but I have never landed anything bowfishing, so I was eager to do so. Besides, I know that at least I would eat the catfish.........I don't know what I would do with a carp, either give it to my friends to put in their garden or I would mulch it up into some coon bait for someone else. I have been thinking a lot lately about trying to trap some coons this winter, but I don't know if I will have a good enough place to do so. I've attached a picture of what our blind looked like last fall!

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Sunday June 4, 2006




Here are some of the other pictures that should have posted with the June 2nd post.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Thursday June 1, 2006


Well, a seven hour drive seems like twelve when you don't have any pretty feathers blowing out of the back of your truck! I had to get back to work to download some pictures and right this one. Tuesday night Aaron and I went up to roost the birds at the Hughes property where the poop eater lives. We had taken Collin fishing after he got home from school, but it began to pour on us after about an hour. Bill and I had taken Collin fishing over the weekend up at Putnam's and he learned how to cast his pole by himself and reel them in and even take the fish off the hook by himself. He had a blast, and we did too. He asked to go the next day, but we didn't have time, so Dad wrote him a note to get out of his after school program and come fishing on Tuesday. Nothing better than introducing a young kid to the outdoors. These are a few pictures from both days. Anyways, after it stopped raining on Tuesday we headed up to roost. There were two rainbows visible from town. As we drove closer, I realized that the one rainbow went right into the property where we were going to roost. I hoped that the pot of gold at the end was a big ole gobbler that was ready to make a fatal mistake. The picture with the farm equipment in it shows the very top of the tree where the two birds were roosted that night, even though we couldn't get them to gobble. If you look just above the mowing deck on the right, the first tree in the hedgerow coming off the woods on the right side of the picture is where they were. I located them from the top left corner of that field the next morning. I debated going into the woods on the left and getting on the same level as him, or running across the top of the field and setting up just below him on the right side (as you are looking at the picture). I opted to get close to him, and he flew down and went to the woods on the left. See yesterday's post for the rest of the story. The final picture is of my final sunset in Cobleskill, how could you not want to be in a place like this?