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Anyone hunting Woodcock this year?

5K views 23 replies 12 participants last post by  NGrace 
#1 ·
Well it's opening day for woodcock and the pup and I just had a great morning!

She flushed a dozen birds ( the most I've seen in one day by far! ) and she had a rock solid point on 3 or 4! I missed on two shots, & the rest had brush so thick I couldnt get a decent shot off, but it was certainly great ol' fashioned New England woodcock hunting thats for sure!

We've got one tired, wet bird dog resting up for her next hunt, hopefully her partner can shoot what she points this time? :biggrin:
 
#5 ·
Here's the opening day's catch! :yes:

Did much better this afternoon, got my act together and was able to drop a couple birds!
Pup did absolutely awesome!! Rock solid points on numerous birds, even had a great point on a hen pheasant she found. She is new to retrieving and can be a little shy picking up dead birds or dying birds, with a little coaxing she did retreive the birds pretty well for a newby. She is 'home schooled' - so we take it one hunt at a time...

Very happy with my pup's performance and our ability to get on so many birds the first day!
 

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#8 ·
mawtrfowler said:
Plan on heading out tomorrow with a buddy and my springer, Should be able to get onto a couple of birds.
Jofa, what part of the state are you hunting? I've had days like that in central ma but never around here in north eastern ma
im hunting in eastern mass, & i've never seen so many woodcock in my life as i saw today, dont know what was going on, but i know that one of the areas i hunted this morning has absolutely no bird hunting pressure at all, just me on rare occaisions.

I hunt deer, pheasant, duck, etc and i keep track of all the woodcock i see in my travels, and am revisiting those sites. it's not an easy task hitting these little buggers, they are off like a bottle rocket and often are through the brush before u can get a bead on them. very fun hunt though, the dog and i had a 'blast' for sure
 
#9 ·
Jofa said:
im hunting in eastern mass, & i've never seen so many woodcock in my life as i saw today, dont know what was going on, but i know that one of the areas i hunted this morning has absolutely no bird hunting pressure at all, just me on rare occaisions.

I hunt deer, pheasant, duck, etc and i keep track of all the woodcock i see in my travels, and am revisiting those sites. it's not an easy task hitting these little buggers, they are off like a bottle rocket and often are through the brush before u can get a bead on them. very fun hunt though, the dog and i had a 'blast' for sure
I'm going to be doing the same thing, I'm going to hunt one of my pheasant spots which is usually good for a few woodcock during pheasant season. I'm thinking that if they're there during pheasant season should be some around now. From your experience today sounds like they've started migrating which should lead to some good shooting.
 
#10 ·
If i can give any advice for woodcock, i would say look for damp, old clearcuts or abandoned fields that are slowly going back to woods. the woodcock seem to like being under the thick brushy young trees and vines for habitat, even better if this type of brush is right next to very damp ground, say swamp or wetlands.

Pheasant and the occaisional woodcock are often found on the edge of fields, but i've seen most of the woodcock in the brush that only a dog can get through without tremendous difficulty. if you can barely get through the vines and brush and light mud, than you are probably very near the birds.

Would love to hear any advice or input from others hunting these crazy little birds...
 
#12 ·
Well we went out and bagged another bird tonight, very nice hunt, dog is doing better and better! She pointed a pheasant rooster earlier on a local WMA, but we went back to the honey hole and got onto a few more woodcock.

Cooked up the three breasts for supper, was a really nice treat
 

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#13 ·
Wow Jofa, I am truly impressed with your woodcock hunting success. There has always been a love of woodcock and grouse in my blood ever since I started hunting. Though I have never had a dog, I have had a lifelong friendship with and hunted all these years with my friend with the setters. As many pheasant as we have taken over the years, I much prefer the wildness of grouse and woodcock, and the covers they frequent. Great stuff, my buddy will be excited to hear of this.
 
#17 ·
Well I guess Spring has sprung! My birddog just flushed a woodcock out of the brush in our snowy backyard! I'm assuming it was going to spend the night here before continuing its migration northward to someplace slightly more wooded than suburbia ... Always exciting to see one though!
 
#19 ·
Well I got out yesterday morning for opening day of 2013 woodcock season, and only saw one bird in two prime places that usually have quite a few birds. The Dog got onto a single big woodcock, but the brush was so thick, i couldn't get a shot off when it flushed.

I just looked back at this post and saw i had at least a dozen flushes in those 2 spots last year, so i'm hoping the birds come back soon!
 
#23 ·
woodcock is a dark meat and there's not much of it, but i think its pretty good eating. someone recently said it tasted like liver, and i guess it does a little, but having said that, i'm not a liver fan and i still like it a lot.

I usually pan fry it with whatever is laying round, maybe some peppers or something. im not much of a chef, but if i do anything special cooking little birds, i just grill them or pan fry them for lunch w jalapenos, cream cheese, and sometimes wrapped in bacon.
 
#24 ·
We've had them here on the north shore since mid March. My pup has been finding them a few times per week on training runs. This has been the second year in a row that we've also found chicks. Their numbers are starting to pick up. We found 6 on Saturday, but no shots possible. Just too thick in places to get the gun up and swing it.

If anyone is interested, I am selling a Johnny House quail recall pen for training bird dogs. Built it and never really got to use it. It is great for quail and will hold 20-25 birds easily. Stick it in the woods or a field and train your dogs during the summer. Check out the classifieds if interested. I've attached a video link of the pen too.

Best,
Nate G.
 
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