Mass,
I have a few farms I still have permission on in Mt. Vision and Hartwick, which can't be far from where you're hunting. I grew up near Oneonta. My brother was complaining the birds are all tight-lipped, I'll have to send him your story
We always go out over Memorial Day weekend, with good success at locating and calling birds, but awful difficult to get them into range at that stage of the season...
Yeah, I'm after the birds here in CT, season started on Wednesday. Worked 2 for over 4 hours on Wednesday, no luck, the parcel I'm hunting has gotten really thick with briars the last 2 seasons. Skipped yesterday with a horrible headache, really rotten, weather was perfect.
Went out this morning, and they were roosted across the road (no permission). Cleaned up a new area to sneak into tomorrow, and I haven't hunted my honey holes yet---I have sole permission on those properties.
Cheers,
S&R