Anybody Woodcock hunt?

M

Mitch B.

Member
I have the past 3 years and only got 1, two years ago. This weekend I saw 3 flush in our marsh on saturday, then 1 on sunday. Season opens Friday but probably won't get out till Saturday morning. All the books I have read says early morning is the best time to hunt them.

Does anybody else woodcock hunt? if so what do you hunt around? The 3 I saw this past weekend were under alders surrounded by soft/wet ground.
 
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I hunted on Monday. My 10 year old (not legal to hunt in NY yet) was off from school so we hunted in the Southern Tier of Western NY State. We hunted a state reforestation area in a portion where old plantation pines had been logged out several years ago. Lots of young growth - adlers, birch, rasperries, wild rose, goldenrod, etc. It was definitely an upland hunt - for grouse and woodcock. My dog put up six woodcock and we had four grouse flush wild in all of that great the stuff behind my son and my dog in the picture. It has been somewhat damp here recently and all of the ground was soft and if the habitat is right - the woodcock will be there. It was a great day to be out. Son didn't have school that day, but he learned quite a bit tagging along with his Dad. He even accidently stepped in black bear scat....so the saying is true afterall!http://i53.tinypic.com/1by38.jpg
 
I love to hunt Timberdoodle. I've never known them to be particular about a better time of day to hunt them. They like low, wet areas. Alders are good habitat. They feed on worms and will come out to feed at night in stubble fields and even on lawns. A good pointing dog is fun, but a retriever does just fine too. Be aware that some dogs will refuse to pick them up.

A skeet load from a 20 or 28 gauge is ideal. Have fun, and since the cover will be thick make sure everyone has plenty of orange.
 
If you were in the marsh, my guess would be that they were Snipe and not Woodcock. Snipe like wet/marshy areas whereas the Woodcock prefer forested areas.
Lou

Some snipe from scull in the backbay/marsh areas off the St. Clair River & Bouvier Bay.

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I love hunting them too. They always seem to flush right in my face and scare the crap out of me. How do you guys cook them? I think I might have over cooked them. They weren't that good.
 
I have the best luck morning and just before sunset. Mostly in new growth,alders etc. with wet ground near. Look for the places you would dig for earthworms.
Don't forget they migrate, so it's a "here today, gone tomorrow deal". Course there might be more the next day!

Small shot, open chokes, two barrells, and if I'm really wishing outside hammers.

Cooking..... Aquired taste. Honestly I hate them but my wife loves them. Best recipe so far is breasted, marinated with Coke and soy sauce. Grill to rare,
serve with red wine and a good chunk of cheddar.

Hope it helps
 
I have learned to appreciate the lil buggers. If some one would have told me 30 years ago that I would be chasing fist sized worm eaters i would have laughed loud. But here I go tommorrow again for ruffs and woodies. Smoked is the best way I have found to fix them. Some dogs don't like them but last weekend Booker almost caught a shot one like a fly ball. Most of my dogs love the wet cool spots they hang out and have learned they are fun to hunt.
 
I have a force-fetched dog and she will not touch them at all. I didn't know about the phenom until I called her trainer and told him my dog passed on a retrieve even after a fetch command (During her training it was amazing what she would put in her mouth with the command Fetch). He said the extra training and time to pick one up could be invested, but warned that it would be a less than enthusiatic retrieve. I decided to keep the extra $200.

The Woodcock I hunt are in the woods and meadows near where we hunt grouse and deer hunt.
 
Well,I've been out 3X this year for woodcock and partridge.My aws has put up
17 woodcock and 1 partridge.I've shot 7X ,got 1 woodcock and the partridge.
I'm just too slow to mount the gun I guess.I'm going back to a 12ga. and an
improved cyl. choke.LOL ! My dog loves to hunt 'em. Wife won't eat them,
but I like them. Soak 2x,once with salt water once without.Roll in seasoned flour,
fry until they're pink in the middle,don't overcook.YUUUUMMMM
 
Hey Paul,

Do you hunt woodcock on the island at all?? ive been out on the state land looking with my dog but i never kicked any up?

thanks

Dan
 
Hey Lou, Mark might know if they make a solvent that will dissolve the super glue holding those glasses on. From the two different pics, it looks like they have been stuck on there a long time:) Trip.
 
Hey Lou, Mark might know if they make a solvent that will dissolve the super glue holding those glasses on. From the two different pics, it looks like they have been stuck on there a long time:) Trip.
Click to expand...

Trip,
Ya know, I wore those photograys so long that it was tough getting them off finally. ;) Also figuring that I use a lot of AlphaCyanoAcrylate (super glue) for the model airplanes where I spend all my extra money that isn't spent with duck hunting stuff. Guess that was the reason I bought a duck boat company AND a decoy company. ;) Gotta have some hobbies.
Lou
 
Raybans are the bomb. So you're saying that you've been huffing a lot of different stuff for a long time? glue, resin, paints. Man, the '60s and '70s were hard on some of us. Groovy.
Trip.
 



Woodcock are my favotite upland bird to hunt. It does not matter what time of day to hunt - any time you can get out works. Woodcock are migrants and here in southern NH our best hunting are when the flight birds get in which is mid to late October, though I have found small groups as late as early November. An open choke (I use a cylinder bore) works well as most shots are less than 20 yards.
 
Dan,

Yes I mostly hunt the Island. I have shot a lot of them on the state properties. And most of them from the same couple of areas. Send me a pm and I will let you know some of the spots to go.

Paul
 
after a long stint out of the game, I will be back in this year. My dad hunted them down here over both pointers and flushing labs. I haven't had a properly equipped dog in a few years. I have an 8 month old boykin that will get her shot this year. Right now the goal is at least 15 limits of snipe (120 for the year), but with my this being my first year on woodcock in quite a while, and having a new pup, I'll hope to break 10 for the year on them.

Sutton, if you're lurking hopefully that snipe comment will pull you out???????
 

Went out first thing Saturday and wasn't even 2 minutes into the hunt and we had our first flush, but no shot. About 10 min later we had another and I got a shot but missed. Another 30 yards had another flush and my Uncle missed. About 20 min later we had a flush, my uncle shot and missed but I had a bead on him and dropped it. Took a few minutes to find it because it went down in a corn field, took a few pictures then went to get a bite to eat. An hour later we hit our last water edge and got a flush but I missed, I saw where it went down so we went right to it and got it up in the pine trees and I got a shot and down it went. It was the best woodcock hunt I have been on, I wasn't expecting to see much but it was a lot of fun.
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