November 18

Courtesy: Mr. Nick Kontonicolas 

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Where we could find woodcock in Quebec.                                  We find woodcock in these provinces.

American woodcock fly ways.

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Story of few woodcocks correspondents.

Spring woodcock flight on Tug Hill (Vestal, NY, USA)    Rode snowmobiles 110 miles with my son on Monday, April 9th  2007 on Tug Hill. Caught this guy with my hands. No fancy dog. No fancy gun. No fancy Filson Brushbuster Pants. And I let him go for someone else to enjoy. Catch and release woodcock hunting. He overflew the snow line by about 30 miles. 2 feet of snow and temps in the teens last night on Tug Hill. I'm sure he was enjoyed by an owl, weasel, fox, or coyote... Nyduck

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I found this girl sleeping on the sidewalk in Charlotte NC. Poor thing was exhausted from migration. I moved her to a little more private room in a nearby park where she slept for the better part of the day.

Rubberhead

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Hunting hard-earned.

This unusual weather is certainly taking a toll on woodcock. I wouldn't be surprised that the reason you were able to catch that woodcock was because it was weak. This is from a local paper here in SW CT:

The American Woodcock has been somewhat in decline in Connecticut, probably because of habitat loss. But in March, the same snowstorm that brought the migrating Fox Sparrows to the ground also killed countless woodcocks.

Reports started coming in soon after the St. Patrick’s Day storm. For instance, George Rieger of Home Place in Greenwich told us, “The morning after the recent ice/snow storm we found a woodcock outside of our front door near Bruce Park in Greenwich. The bird appeared healthy but was weak and unable to fly.

“We put it in a box with torn up newspaper and some water. We tried to keep the bird warm but not too warm. After 24 hours the bird was strong enough to escape the box and flutter about.”

He took them to a nearby sanctuary.

“Three birders were at the sanctuary. They suggested that we let the bird try to make it. I was skeptical. Two of the men took the bird to a tree and released it. I said to my wife and the third man that the woodcock was bait for predators.

“No sooner had I spoken than I saw a black shape flying toward the woodcock. I yelled ‘crow.’ The youngest of the two men sprinted toward the woodcock and arrived just in time to dislodge it from the crow's beak.

“We left the beautiful woodcock with the birders whom I am certain did the best that they could for the bird.”

They may have taken it to Meredith Sampson, director of Wild Winds Inc., a wildlife rehabilitator in Old Greenwich. She has gotten many woodcocks this season.

Meredith reported on the Connecticut Birds discussion group a couple weeks ago, “Received the eighth woodcock for rehab. Sad to report the bird expired about a half hour later. It was extremely emaciated at 101 grams and apparently crashed into something which resulted in a misaligned beak and severe eye injury. Found in downtown Stamford.

“Out of the eight woodcocks in rehab, two have survived and were released three evenings ago. All came in severely emaciated, weights averaging around 90-100 grams.

“It's rare that I get in this species – I don't even get one a year! It’s heartbreaking to see this happening.”

What was happening? Milan Bull of Connecticut Audubon offered an answer on Connecticut Birds.

“Woodcock are apparently dying in considerable numbers across the Northeast this spring due to a crusted snowpack isolating these early migrants from the soil and earthworms below. We have had calls throughout Connecticut from members and wildlife rehabilitators reporting dead and emaciated woodcock in numbers I haven't seen in similar past events, and those are only the ones that are discovered!

“This is not a good sign, considering woodcock are on a long-term decline as it is.”

Jack Sanders

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http://ushuntingtoday.com/news/archives/204

http://stokesbirdingblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/american-woodcock.html

The forest block had been cut back over 3 successive years, leaving 10 acres of solid fir that stands like a dark green phalanx surrounded by a desolate battlefield. Scrap wood and brush were left in equi-spaced lines of impenetrable tangle, and among the hacked stumps new growth filled in all the blank spaces with the vigour native to fir and thick thorny briar.

It’s difficult to walk there, the ground uneven, riven with fissure and furrow all hidden by undergrowth. The briars as thick as your thumb in places, sawing at your thighs if you’re fool enough to try and go through it.

But go through it we do, because for a brief season or two it’s a haven for woodcock. The habitat gives them everything they could ever want, soft patches to probe, almost total cover and the standing trees to roost in and escape to. The boggy ground and mist shrouded fir must seem just like home to them.

It’s a place you have to really want to hunt, and a place you have to weigh up in your mind a few days before you go in there. It’s hell, pure hell on dogs. When they eventually come out, the paws are always bloody and the muzzle scratched. Ears are thick with debris and the coat wet and burred. It’s a few days off afterwards for any well cared for dog, when cuts are seen to and the coat and ears are combed and cleaned. Not to mention the recovery time, there are no easy parts to it, a dog is working flat out all the time it’s in there.

Is it worth it? I’m not sure in hindsight, or indeed foresight when thinking of tackling it again. But when you’re in there, on the lee side of the trees and battling to get another 6 feet behind you, and woodcock are lifting, rising and falling like sparrows from a hedge, your gun slamming your shoulder as you try and snap shoot them for that brief half second they are visible, one’s and twos, until you’ve seen a dozen and stop keeping count, well then, then it all makes sense. At that moment you are exactly where you want to be.

And no matter that you have to help the dog through a scrap filled trench 8 foot wide and 4 foot deep as it quietly whines in frustration, no matter that your hands and legs are stinging and leaking blood, indeed, no matter you have but 2 to put in the bag.

The spectacle, the sights and the beauty that you behold make it, for that 2 hours you are in there, more than worthwhile.

Back on the remains of the forestry road, you take off your coat and sit in the cold that you don’t feel. Steam rises from you and the dog as both of you get your breath back and wait for the heart to slow its loud thumping.

You chance a fill of your pipe, the bowl slowly warming your hand cusped around it, the scented smoke mingling with the mist heavy air as you look again at the birds that fell to your gun.

Take a look back over your shoulder as you begin the walk back home, and think about next year.

From: Macnas (Ireland)

Hunting Season 2007.

Well I see Scott outed me and let everybody know that I made a feeble attempt to bag a few Michigan birds and get an early start on my 2007 season. A friend and I took a few days off to make an extended weekend trip to chase the last grouse in MI and see if there really were any woodcock this year. We arrived Wednesday night, scouted/hunted on Thursday and Friday then met Scott on Saturday morning. The temps were warmer than ideal but the weather did cooperate and give us three nice days of hunting. We would start at sun up and hunt through lunch and the return in the evenings; probably 7 hours a day of hunting each day. The cover was thick and green but it didn't matter because we were hunting!

For two guys that had never been to northern Michigan, we were extremely pleased with what we found. Utilizing a few maps and some common sense we didn't waste any time digging in and looking for cover and birds. Grouse flushes were plentiful and Woodcock flushes even better! So much that two guys from PA were able to scratch down a few birds. Thanks again to Scott for taking us to some fantastic covers on Saturday. It was good too see you and hunt those setters.

All in all we had a great time but the highlight of the trip for me came Saturday evening. We were hunting a small aspen stand when Cody (my shorthair) went on point. I flushed and shot the bird and Cody went for the retrieve. While returning with the woodcock in his mouth, he stopped and pointed another woodcock. Vince and I both missed that one.

                                                 Michigan sun coming up.                                                                                     Some new to us cover.

Article from grousegunner. 

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Went out sat with my uncle and we had my friend.

Sportmen gunner 7848

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Is it Fall? My October 12th, 2007 report

Well the weather finally turned, we received well over an inch of quietting Rain on Wednesday. I was happy for the rain that day, as Kari drug me to some stupid Drug Rep Dinner at a place in Ellsworth called Tapawingo....Food was horrible, company was good, talk on "The Sugar" was boring as hell, and thankfully the drinks were strong.

Thursday Night found me and Jr. putting a pretty good hurt to some birds in a new area. We had high hopes for an all Day hunt on Friday.

We set off with our Friend Jeff, drove to the southern end of a county and hunted our way north, being dragged through the woods by four yellow labs.

Even though the weather felt like fall for the first time this year, you would never know by looking in the woods.

Our day started at 10:30, it took till 2:00pm to get into some consistent Grouse action, moving 7 birds in an hour long cover. I missed two birds I normally don’t, but connected on a gimme that my old Vet Hilde worked to perfection.

Jr and "The Deuce" with they're three slump busters.

In some covers, it was Woodcock Galore; I have moved more woodcock this season then any other previous season. Jr. decided he was in a shooting slump and wanted to boost his confidence on WC. Jeff with a dog in her first season has been shooting them all along. We entered a hillside thick with olive, and young aspen. Just as we crested a hill, Jr. takes a bird, Deuce heads for the retrieve and bumps two more birds, Jr. kills one of those, to my right Jeff takes a WC, I shoot and miss a grouse (remember I have yet to move my feet, nor has Jr). As Hilde chases that grouse, she flushes a Woodcock on the return that my brother shoots. Taking his three bird limit while never moving his feet. By this time Jeff has collected two birds to finish his daily limit. Jr and "The Deuce" with they're three slump busters.

We continued to try different covers, trying to find a pattern for the grouse. They were bastards on this day, running like roosters, keeping on average 30 yards between you and them at the flush. At this point in the season we are dealing with pressured birds, which have all the advantages of heavy cover. They will continue to be a challenge to hunt, till we receive a killing frost, and some sort of leaf drop.

I managed to scratch down one more bird as dusk was falling, a bird that made me proud. Bella worked him for well over 50 yards, in and around a deep alder run never giving to much pressure to send the bird out long, but never loosing contact with his warm body running across the cool wet ground.

I would not classify it as a frustrating day, as I got to hunt all day for the first time in a long time, I would just classify it as a day that frustrates you....

From: Steelheadfred

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Cody's first wild bird

He pointed his first wild bird, a woodcock, yesterday. I missed it with both barrels....sigh...

He is 17 months old today.

Got out today, finally, in the rain, with my son, who got held up in Grand Rapids last night. 1 in the afternoon before we put dogs down.

Hunted my son's Lab first, we put up two woodcock and several grouse, two woodcock came down.

Got Cody out, warned my son to be ready for all sorts of craziness, Cody ran and ran for about 10 minutes, then seemed to settle right down, all the time he was running he minded me very well, quartered nicely, and had his nose on the ground, but he was really moving there for a while.

He slowed down, looked up at a tree, and started to point. He broke point, walked up to the tree, and looked straight up it.

In the fork of the tree, about 8 feet off the ground, there was a dead woodcock, completely hammered by what must have been a 12 gauge.

He'd found a bird...so my son crawled up the tree and brought it down for him.

He was quite proud of himself, and so were we. Hey, he found a bird, right?

The next woodcock, the only live bird in there, he bumped, we didn't shoot.

Next spot, out comes the Lab again. We hear a grouse DRUMMING-in the rain. Tim went through the woods, I went down the two track, the bird was on a log right beside the two track. Dead grouse. He'll taste real good tomorrow night.

Next spot, my son suggests we just try both dogs together. I am very leery of Cody harassing the male Lab, and having issues out there, but said, well, ok.

Cody never paid any attention at all to the Lab. He was hunting almost immediately. We went into a couple of formerly prime spots I know of, and, for the first time, you could really tell he was birdy.

Then my son said, "Mom, he's on point". By golly, he was. I ordered him to whoa and walked in from the side on him, my son on the other side.

The bird came up, Tim shot, I shot, the bird fell. Cody STAYED on his whoa, at both the flush and the shots. Then, and here's what I couldn't believe, he went right over to the bird, and pointed it dead. Then he grabbed it.

Can't tell you how much that bird meant to me. There was a lot of hooting and hollering in there by both of us, you could of heard us for a mile. Cody dropped the bird a minute later, and allowed me to pick it up.

A few minutes later, Knight the big black Lab flushes another woodcock, Tim shoots it, tells Knight to hunt dead. Knight is still looking when Cody swings in, goes slighly to the right like a pro, and pointed...

There was the bird.

All in all, including the woodcock in the tree, we bagged 5 woodcock, and a grouse. A great afternoon. We called it at 5, took the dogs home, had dinner with the grandkids and Mom, and took everybody to a football game. I came home half an hour ago to clean birds.

A great day...Cody ate two bowls of dog food and collapsed next to my bed.

We put up almost as many woodcock today as I've seen so far all season. I think a few flight birds are trickling in. But it's not really cold enough for any big push yet.

Tomorrow is another day.

Linda Gallagher

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First Day Back....

Tucker and I went out in a dripping fog early Friday too keep lubricated and I finally tried to take a decent pic. Its obvious that I have no skill in this area and gave it a shot. This bird is a very interesting story. Tucker was 'birdy' off about 30 yards from me and when I got nearer to him I noticed a curious thing. He was running in circles no less than three times around the base of a clump of small trees (poplars) and I couldn't make out what he was doing. His nose was down and it looked like he was chasing something--but I couldn't focus on it, cause the event didn't register. All of a sudden a 'doodle' flew and before I knew it, the Model 101 came up and the bird went down. Tucker retrieved. Has anyway seen a lightning fast woodcock chased like that? It ran around those trees 3 times with Tucker in hot pursuit. The chase radius was a tight 5 feet. Amazing! thing that was. From, Alpha-Sette 3D

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Pics - Grouse, Woodcock, and some Yesterday, Oct. 12, my Dad and I decided to try a large cedar bush that produced a few grouses last year. We stayed on a snowmobile trail for some time, and had two grouse flushes but didn't connect on either. The first one flushed wild at the side of the road, but Ellie had a nice point on the second. We ventured in further then we had been before, and it looked like terrible cover. Old growth cedar and spruce with virtually no understory. We pushed on, know that the bush ended at a river valley. When we came down a hill we saw the light, about 50 acres of clear cuts! They only appeared a few years old, with areas even newer. We had 8 woodcock finds throughout the area, but only scratched down two. I'd imagine that this area will be quite good as more flights come through, seeing as it borders a North-South river valley. What is really quite exciting is that some more sections of the bush are marked with paint, hopefully in preparation of more logging.

SpencerRay

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Good-Bye Woodcock...probably

Went out today and moved a grand total of three woodcock. One I bumped myself and didn't shoot, the others... two points, two shots and two dead birds. Been chasing doodles around much of Michigan for going on 40 years and never remember seeing so few woodcock so "early" in the season. Fond memories of going to the U.P. in late October and thru the first ten days of November, scraping a really heavy windshield frost every morning and easily killing a then daily limit of five woodcock. Strange ju-ju. Hunted more or less along 43 degrees 45 minutes north latitude today. As for pats worst year in decades but save that for another post.

A few photos of today's hunt, shotgun is my Red Label 28 ga., dog is Fudge who could find a woodcock in the middle of the Sahara Desert if asked to hunt there:

A very, very strange year for bird demographics.

Hoppe's no. 10

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Just got back from a week in the northern lower and my last good day on woodcock was Wednesday. Thursday and Friday, I flushed a fraction of what I saw early in the trip. Makes me wonder if there aren't a few in S. Michigan now... Here's a couple of pics:

                          Major pointing (I believe) a woodcock:                        

While the pointing vs. flushing dog controversy rages on, there's certainly no question who the lousiest shot on this forum is!

This is an interesting shot of my GSP on point. I couldn't accurately locate her from my direction, hence the kneeling position. I'm pretty sure that this too, was a miss.

Find The Bird.

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Study shows hunting’s impact on woodcock   

By Bill Parker Editor

Roscommon, Mich. — Biologists and hunters have speculated for years about what impact managed hunting has on the American woodcock population. With the continental population in a slow but steady decline of about 1.9 percent per year since 1968, the question has even more relevance today than it did 30 years ago.

A recent cooperative mortality study conducted in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Central Management Region by professors at Northern Michigan University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Minnesota, sheds some light on that topic.

By studying woodcock in specific areas of each state, biologists determined that the survival rate of woodcock in the fall was about 10-percent higher in areas not hunted. The study also showed that there was very little variation in the survival rate due to age, sex, size, and state.

“Overall, our objectives were to get an idea of survival rates in the fall; to compare hunted and non-hunted areas; to determine how important hunting mortality rate is compared to other mortality; and to get local harvest rates,” Dr. John Bruggink, a wildlife biologist from NMU who led the study, told the audience at the 10th American Woodcock Symposium. The symposium, held last month at the DNR’s RAM Center in Roscommon, was a gathering of woodcock experts from all over the world.

The study was conducted each year from 2001 through 2004 in Minnesota, and from 2002 through 2004 in Michigan and Wisconsin. It ran Sept. 10 through Nov. 8 each year, and dealt specifically with fall mortality.

There were two study areas in each state, one in which hunting was allowed and one in which no hunting was allowed. (In Wisconsin, the non-hunted area was lightly hunted, and figured into the hunted area data, according to Bruggink.) In each of the study areas, woodcock were captured in mist nets, banded, and tiny transmitters were implanted in the birds. Their daily movements were then monitored by researchers with telemetry equipment.

“We were shooting for 120 birds fitted with transmitters each year, in each state - 60 in the hunted area and 60 in the non-hunted area,” Bruggink said. “We never actually got quite that number, but it was pretty close.”

A total of 1,171 birds were implanted with transmitters.

In Michigan, transmitters were implanted in 187 woodcock in the hunted area and 124 in the non-hunted area. In Wisconsin, 211 birds received transmitters in the hunted area and 167 in the lightly hunted area. In Minnesota, transmitters were implanted in 197 birds in the hunted area and 285 in the non-hunted area.

The study found that overall, in the hunted areas, 22 percent of the birds died each fall while in the non-hunted areas, 12 percent died. Those numbers compare with banding study data that suggest the woodcock population as a whole has about a 50-percent annual mortality rate.

In the recent mortality study, of the birds that died in the hunted areas, 66 percent were shot by hunters, 21 percent were killed by predators, and 13 percent died from other causes like sickness and crashes with vehicles. Of the birds that died in the non-hunted areas, 52 percent fell to predation, 24 percent flew out of the study area and were shot by hunters, and 24 percent died from other causes.

Bruggink said there were no big surprises in the findings of the study, because there were no preconceived notions of what the study might reveal. However, a similar study took place in the eastern management region and there was a glaring difference between the results of the two studies.

“One thing that was interesting,” he said, “is that when you compare our study with the study in the east, hunting mortality seems to be a bigger issue in the east region and predation is a bigger issue in the central region.”

The study is available for game managers to use when making future management decisions. The value of the study will be determined, Bruggink said, “depending on what they do with it.”

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