Waterfowl hunting in Scoharie county?

[Hookhunter20]

Was wondering if anyone on the forum hunts schoharie county and the surrounding areas? I live in Putnam but have 47 acres in middleburgh and soon hope to move up this way. the amount of geese I see flying over stand while deer hunting is sickening. That combined with my lack of downstate waterfowl spots for duck has led me to search for a few up this way. Any info would be appreciated, if anyone does duck hunt up in the region id be more than willing to tag along!

Edited October 22, 2016 by Hookhunter20

[bergenguy]

Never had much luck in Schoharie.  My parents have been in the Cobleskill area for 30+ years and I spend a lot of time up there.  I tried some waterfowl hunting for 2 or 3 season in Schoharie county but didn't come up with much.  I know what you mean about the constant geese flying overhead while your sitting for deer or turkey... but they seem to be mostly resident geese pond hopping in the morning.... at least over our property 

I had a long conversation with the region DEC officer a few years ago, his impression was that we are kind of in a waterfowl dead zone between the flyways that go down the Hudson and just to the west of lake Otsego.  He did mention that quite a few guys try to hunt  a state forest just north of the Schoharie county line with some success.  And I do know that some people along the I88 corridor claim to have created duck habitat on their property that consistently draws ducks, but I haven't been able to personally verify those claims.  Some of the 'old timers'  I've spoken to in the area say the best way to get ducks is to walk the creeks in the area and jump shoot rather than decoy.

We have a beaver swamp (among other ponds) that is perfect for puddle ducks with the food and habitat they like.. it rarely sees appreciable waterfowl traffic.  We'll occasionally get a few stray teal, mallards or wood ducks to visit the ponds but not enough numbers to warrant setting out a spread and sitting all morning. Although, if shooting mergansers is your thing I have seen huge flocks of common and hooded mergansers on some of my scouting forays to the state forests.

SInce I can do most of my waterfowling in the salt marshes and bays of Jersey, the fields and swamps of northwest jersey and down in the Mississippi Delta, I gave up on Schoharie waterfowling and limit my hunting up there to Grouse, Turkey and Deer.  That's just my limited experience with Schoharie.  I'm sure there is someone reading this who crushes them in Schoharie and is just as happy that guys like me think it's pretty dry.  Maybe they'll chime in on this thread..... but they probably won't 

[Hookhunter20]

Thanks for the answer. It seems crazy with all the ag fields and goose traffic but If the flyway doesn't take them that route what are you going to do. I can do without the mergansers not much for the table lol. We get decent migration numbers year depending in Putnam but spots are few and far between and I'm really hoping to get my new dog a little work this year. The Mississippi delta must be a blast