New Years Eve Woodcock Hunt

[ROMAC]

The morning dawned at 24 degrees, and we had just finished 36 hours of extremely high winds with gusts up to 60 miles an hour blowing from the northwest. I was not exactly sure what to expect when we got to our usual honey hole. I joked with my buddy that I felt like a feast or famine situation was pending but it was the last day of woodcock season, so we were charging ahead.

We started with Emma and Faith, two experienced Brittany Spaniels. The three of us were using two 16-gauge Foxes and a Griffin & Howe Arrietta 20 SXS. Things started a little slow but the dogs got birdy once we got to the thick green briar and holly thickets which borders the thick phragmites along the bay. Through no grand plan I stayed on the two track while the dogs worked the thickets and my friends followed in closer to the dogs. We were separated by a water filled slough and I was going to be the blocker. They were probably 50 yards from me when the dogs went on point. A quick flush behind a stand of hollies and two shots got my attention and then a single broke my way and banked ahead of me on the path. I missed with the right barrel before it cleared the thicket but with the left barrel stoned it in the air with a puff of feathers and it fell right on the path. A good start. The next 5 minutes were a blur of activity as Emma and Faith performed in unison like a well-oiled machine and continued to point and push birds ahead and some came my way. Another timberdoodle tried to make a break for it and I dropped it with the right barrel, and it landed about 5 yards inside the thick stuff. Emma was quick to retrieve the bird and soon I had number 2 in hand. A few minutes later I rolled a third bird on the second shot deep in the thicket and without the dogs it might have been a lost bird but they kept to task and soon located the downed bird and brought it to hand. Hmm…. Be careful what you wish for. I drove 2 hours and just limited out in the first 20 minutes.

But the rest of my group were just getting started. Mike and Pat finished the long sweep through the thicket and we met on the path. After being called names like Elmer Fudd and Luke Trailwalker we crossed the path and worked our way back to where we started from. We had 4 more flushes and Pat and Mike each scratched a birds of their own. After this we went to the edge of the bay where the green briar makes it a hellhole if you don’t have good briar pants. There were a lot of flushes and misses but in the end they managed to down 4 more birds to take their limits as well. One particularly vexing hit was almost lost as the dogs could not locate a downed bird that fell across a water filled slough. I volunteered to look and had to walk about a hundred yards to find a place to cross. After getting back to the area I was striking out as well and was about to reluctantly give up when I saw the bird hanging in the bush upside down about 7 feet in the air. I let the guys know and that made the 9th and final bird of the day.

We got back to the trucks for a quick toast to Hubertus before heading home on what was one of the best New Years’ Eve’s I’ve had in a long time.

NOTE: I was able to convert a dedicated pump gun man to a 16 gauge Fox user on this trip, which I had been working on for a long time.

[44whiskey]

very much enjoyed report and pics,great tailgate pic.good on you fred

[Jeff S]

Great story Roger, and thanks for posting the pictures. You guys sure know how to find the woodcock.

[vaturkey]

Congrats. I think those little buggers took off earlier this week during a full moon and pretty much flew right over Virgina and are now in NC. Slim pickings right now, but that is the nature of Woodcock hunting when the cold north winds blow and the full moon shines brightly.

[DarylC]

Great story Roger. The pictures say it all. Cat briars and Fiskars go hand in hand. Don't leave home without them. Of all the birds I hunt, the timberdoodle is the most fascinating and your hunts do them justice. Thanks for taking the time to document your hunt and congrats for the conversion of your pump gun buddy.

[ROMAC]

Daryl, I’m addicted to hunting these birds. I enjoy it a ton more than stocked pheasants on gamelands and preserves.

I’m already thinking about what states still have an open season.

[Rbishop]

Amazing woodcock hunting from you crew! Thanks for sharing!

[DarylC]

Daryl, I’m addicted to hunting these birds. I enjoy it a ton more than stocked pheasants on gamelands and preserves.

I’m already thinking about what states still have an open season.

I hear you Roger. I cut my bird hunting teeth on quail and woodcock in the late 70's and early 80's when we still had huntable populations of quail here on Maryland's eastern shore. The quail are just about gone but the woodcock can still be found at the right time if one can deal with the briars and ticks.

[Stan Hillis]

Thanks for sharing what was a great hunt, Roger.

Those "cat briars" look like what we call smilax here. Are they the same breed of devil?

[Rbishop]

Catbriers, greenbriers & smilax are the same prickly devils.

[DarylC]

Interesting note. Here in Maryland in the mid to late 60's the DNR was promoting the planting of these briars for habitat. I remember as a kid going with my father and his group of friends to plant these bushes. Seems like nothing can kill them.

[Stan Hillis]

Daryl, the only sure way I know of to get rid of them is to dig up the big, tuberous root, and burn it after it dries. They look like bulbs underground that are connected to each other.

I have them every year to come up in the shrubbery in my yard. The amazing thing about them is that they can support themselves and grow vertically for 10-12 feet before winding around a tree limb for support. I absolutely hate them.

[ROMAC]

All I know is that these briars are brutal. Before I got my Filson Chaps every other brand, including the Carhart's on the left, got shredded and I had bloody thighs after most hunts.

[Stan Hillis]

Roger, I've got a pair that shrugs them off with a laugh. Made and sold by Dan's, who mostly sells coon hunting gear. They're called the snake proof chaps, and are tagged as such. I don't know what other-worldly material they are made of but I don't think anyone could wear a pair out in a lifetime.

When you wear Dan's Snakeproof Chaps all you have to worry about is from the top of them up.

[Sporrns]

The attached photos show the aftermath of the past 25 years or so plowing into and through some of our more demanding grouse, woodcock and quail covers. The excellent Ecco boots I inherited from my son, who found some kind of fault (e.g., color, style, etc.) with them and gave them to me shortly after purchasing them; the equally excellent Filson "Double Tin" chaps I owned years

BirdHuntMuch.jpg (113.62 KiB) Viewed 388 times

before I got the boots. Hawthorne, hackberry, popple, mesquite, churra, multiflora rose and barbed wire from northern Vermont to the Texas panhandle helped flay the chaps and the granite, shale and shattered slate finally did the boots in a couple of years ago after clambering over the stone walls laid in what are now deep forests of Chenango County NY. Tough going on some of the greatest bird hunt ever! Kevin