Wednesday opened up the season on woodcock. Today was supposed to be rainy but when I woke up to no rain and the forecast had moved it back, I decided to take Belle out to see if maybe we could find us a woodcock. They're pretty scarce in FL, but she will never smell a woodcock if we don't at least try to look for one. The place I really wanted to go to was scheduled to get rain a lot earlier in the day and it being almost two hours away I decided that she and I would go to the new WMA that opened up right around the corner from my house. And the St. Marks river runs through it so I figured, hey maybe some wood ducks. Last year when I took Drake there were LOTS of wood ducks, but also LOTS of water....the whole woods was flooded. This year the St. Marks is very low and within the bounds of the little channel that runs through the woods.
This is pretty open area for woodcock but I have seen them in places like this during turkey season so ya never know....
Belle was having a grand time running the woods. The wood ducks in those woods are pretty spooky so I am sure that as soon as they saw her running through their woods, they flushed. The question is do they flush away from me or towards me as they fly the river away from whatever spooks them? A nice flock of about 12 flew the river towards me. I obviously was flaring them in my orange hat and pack but not so badly that I couldn't invite them to dinner with me.
Belle had her first wood duck today. When they flew towards me, the straggler made the mistake of not flaring high like his brethren and with one shot he was down. In the middle of the river. Just far enough out of reach that I couldn't reach for it or use a stick to drag him to me. Belle had not made her way back to me at that point. And I HATE wet feet. I was wearing my lace up boots that I turkey hunt and upland hunt in. They are not knee high and they aren't all that water proof. And then it got stuck on a deadfall dam as it drifted down stream. Of course. I called Belle in and it took her about half a second to smell it and she was mightily interested in it. She pointed it while she was in the river. I sent her in with the dead bird command and she retrieved her first wood duck!
And promptly deposited it on the other side of the river.
She shows little inclination to retrieve in general though she is interested in dead birds and carrying them around. We are working on the "bring it to me" part of retrieving but essentially I had to cross the river and get my feet wet anyway. UGH. But she was very proud of her woodduck. And he was a beauty.
Off we continued through the woods. We saw some neat stuff. I know there are bears around but rarely see them or any sign. Today I did at least see a track
And dogs flying through the woods
I didn't see any activity or hear any buzzing so I don't think this was an active nest but I remember the last wasp nest I thought that about. Luckily it was COLD in MT when I collected it but when we took it into the trailer to decorate the trailer with it, the hornets began waking up. Very quickly the nest went into some bags and into the freezer. I figured I was too far from a freezer to safely collect this one so I let it stay
A little later on, Belle put up another pair of wood ducks. This one at least fell on the other side of the river near a log that I could walk across on. Plus the river was not so wide in that area.
I came to an area where it was just pretty to sit and watch the woods and contemplate life, friends and what a beautiful place Belle and I were wandering. Belle had gotten her first wood duck in as pretty a place as you could ever hope for. The wind was blowing through the trees, I could smell the fresh smell of mud and tannin laden water, every so often I could hear the squeal of a wood duck in the distance, the squirrels were jumping along the ground munching on the plethora of acorns, and occasionally I would glimpse the white flash of my dog moving through the woods.
I probably could have sat there all day but I could smell the rain coming. So I called Belle back in from her adventuring
I really wasn't ready to go home. Belle was happy to be back in the truck. She had run 14.5 miles in less than three hours, she got her full body check over for ticks, thorns and checking of her feets. The last time we were out, I picked over 20 ticks off of her. This time it was perhaps half a dozen. I sprayed her down with a spray that my vet suggested. Nice to not see her just CRAWLING with ticks.
Since I wasn't ready to go home, I turned the truck towards the St. Marks NWR lighthouse and off we went. Belle was happily snoozing in the front seat until we began cruising by some of the ponds on the way to the lighthouse. One pond was just LOADED with ducks. Widgeon, gadwall, canvasbacks, bluebills, redheads, ringnecks and mergansers. She was very interested in watching all the activity in the pond
She looks like a little princess....don't let the photo fool you....she is very much a little monster.
But tonight she is a peaceful little monster with one more bird under her belt.
Dani
This is pretty open area for woodcock but I have seen them in places like this during turkey season so ya never know....
Belle was having a grand time running the woods. The wood ducks in those woods are pretty spooky so I am sure that as soon as they saw her running through their woods, they flushed. The question is do they flush away from me or towards me as they fly the river away from whatever spooks them? A nice flock of about 12 flew the river towards me. I obviously was flaring them in my orange hat and pack but not so badly that I couldn't invite them to dinner with me.
Belle had her first wood duck today. When they flew towards me, the straggler made the mistake of not flaring high like his brethren and with one shot he was down. In the middle of the river. Just far enough out of reach that I couldn't reach for it or use a stick to drag him to me. Belle had not made her way back to me at that point. And I HATE wet feet. I was wearing my lace up boots that I turkey hunt and upland hunt in. They are not knee high and they aren't all that water proof. And then it got stuck on a deadfall dam as it drifted down stream. Of course. I called Belle in and it took her about half a second to smell it and she was mightily interested in it. She pointed it while she was in the river. I sent her in with the dead bird command and she retrieved her first wood duck!
And promptly deposited it on the other side of the river.
She shows little inclination to retrieve in general though she is interested in dead birds and carrying them around. We are working on the "bring it to me" part of retrieving but essentially I had to cross the river and get my feet wet anyway. UGH. But she was very proud of her woodduck. And he was a beauty.
Off we continued through the woods. We saw some neat stuff. I know there are bears around but rarely see them or any sign. Today I did at least see a track
And dogs flying through the woods
I didn't see any activity or hear any buzzing so I don't think this was an active nest but I remember the last wasp nest I thought that about. Luckily it was COLD in MT when I collected it but when we took it into the trailer to decorate the trailer with it, the hornets began waking up. Very quickly the nest went into some bags and into the freezer. I figured I was too far from a freezer to safely collect this one so I let it stay
A little later on, Belle put up another pair of wood ducks. This one at least fell on the other side of the river near a log that I could walk across on. Plus the river was not so wide in that area.
I came to an area where it was just pretty to sit and watch the woods and contemplate life, friends and what a beautiful place Belle and I were wandering. Belle had gotten her first wood duck in as pretty a place as you could ever hope for. The wind was blowing through the trees, I could smell the fresh smell of mud and tannin laden water, every so often I could hear the squeal of a wood duck in the distance, the squirrels were jumping along the ground munching on the plethora of acorns, and occasionally I would glimpse the white flash of my dog moving through the woods.
I probably could have sat there all day but I could smell the rain coming. So I called Belle back in from her adventuring
I really wasn't ready to go home. Belle was happy to be back in the truck. She had run 14.5 miles in less than three hours, she got her full body check over for ticks, thorns and checking of her feets. The last time we were out, I picked over 20 ticks off of her. This time it was perhaps half a dozen. I sprayed her down with a spray that my vet suggested. Nice to not see her just CRAWLING with ticks.
Since I wasn't ready to go home, I turned the truck towards the St. Marks NWR lighthouse and off we went. Belle was happily snoozing in the front seat until we began cruising by some of the ponds on the way to the lighthouse. One pond was just LOADED with ducks. Widgeon, gadwall, canvasbacks, bluebills, redheads, ringnecks and mergansers. She was very interested in watching all the activity in the pond
She looks like a little princess....don't let the photo fool you....she is very much a little monster.
But tonight she is a peaceful little monster with one more bird under her belt.
Dani
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