Woodcock Hunting

Kind of a bucket list bird for me. Do they exist in Texas? If so, what region? Anybody on here shot one recently?

saw my first one when i was looking at my property before i bought it.
since it didn't fly off very far, i'll assume i was the first two-leg
thing it ever saw.
fwiw, i never saw another one. too many varmints now that need to be
taken care of.

1. I hit "like" on your last post on Skip's snipe hunting forum, I think.
2. Is that a bear in the bow of your boat?
3. You still use photobucket? What's their fee now?
4. Yes, there are woodcock in Texas; but they're mostly if not entirely migratory (although there are some that will argue that point), and they stay mostly east of Bay City I believe, and the season ended Jan 31.

Skips group is fun. Yes it is a bear, I suppose I need an updated picture. Got that on a hunt about 5 years ago now. I havent uploaded to photobucket in some time, so I guess no.

Im planning on hitting some national forest land in quest of the woodcock.

They are here in TX east of the Trinity during the winter - start arriving late October. Season runs 12/18-1/31. A good dog is a lifesaver. Fun and challenging birds. All of the national forests (Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, and Sabine) are great places to hunt them.

Nogalus what kind of dog are you hunting?

German shorthair - Miss Jenny.

Good looking dog.

You had a good season, Nogalus? I saw woodcock nearly every evening here in the SE corner of the state. I never did venture north to the forests, or east into Louisiana this season.

Yessir, it was a good one. Plenty of wet weather/ground and birds in all season. Just too short is all.

Thank you, she’s very special to me and I’m blessed to have her. Her favorite thing to do in the world is hunt, but her second favorite is hanging with Dad at the camp house.

OK, This just caught my interest big time. I had no idea even though I am born and raised in Texas, and have been quail hunting in Texas for about 30 years. In fact, I just found WMA's (Specifically Matador) this year. I hunted 8000 acres in Dickens for about 10 years until this year when the land was sold. Cant believe what I was missing, and now I see this?? Looked up "Can you eat Woodcock?" Found out not only yes, but heck yes! So, next season, I am in, but have zero idea where to start. I have a GSP that is a virtual twin to Miss Jenny that I named "Sue", hence the handle "Dognamedsue" :-)

I live in Prosper, just north of Dallas, and love the East Texas Piney woods, as much as I love the west Texas country. So, any advice to help me get started would be truly appreciated...

Just realized my name was showing as my name instead of my "handle". Just changed that, so the "handle" comment makes sense...

I am truly a green horn...ugh. My handle is "Dognamedsue" I will figure it out....maybe.

Here is my dog on the tailgate with a two man limit admiring his work.

He has one pointed here

Nothing super hard about it really. Get you a map of the NF of your choice, locate the roads, look for areas with thick cover like yaupon thickets or young cutover stuff, let the dog out and go hunting. I find the places that hold birds the best tend to be near private holdings with open pastures because the birds feed in the open areas at night.

Those are the basics and it’s just trial and error beyond that. You will find that some areas will hold birds and seemingly identical areas will not. Whether the birds are there in numbers or not at any given time may change from year to year based on weather/migration patterns, but the places that hold them will tend to stay the same. Though the cutovers will finally get too thick to hunt. You can spend a lifetime trying and finding new areas to hunt - I have been at it 5 years and feel like I have just scratched the surface.

I have seen them in North West Brazoria county, my dog flushed a couple out. I didn't know of the bird till i got home and googled it.

Nogalus,

Thanks for the advice. A couple of questions:
1. What is an "NF"?
2. Is the hunting similar to quail with a flush of a covey, or is it something else?

NF.. He is talking about National Forests.

They will not be in a covey. Usually singles, but I have found two or three together before. If you have never hunted them, the cover they use will be thicker than you expect. I have a migratory population I hunt that makes a stop much farther west than normal. They show up in the creek bottoms of my lease in Young County only if it is stays wet enough for them to feed along the wheat fields at night. They only show on average about one out of every three years. They must have moist ground to feed. Scouting look for evidence of the little holes they leave behind from feeding. East Texas NFs are your best bet to look for them only second to Louisiana public forest lands and WMAs.

do they hold good for the dogs on point or do they tend to flush

Hold well for dogs. Sometime you can actually see them on the ground. Look for splashes on the ground in thick cover dead give away birds are present. Burned areas are also good. Shot them for years in the Florida Parishes of Louisiana. Back then we got a mixed bag(quail/woodcock). Usually close working are a plus. GPS collars will help. They are a kick, but nothing like Gentleman Bob, although most quail I hunt now are no gentleman more like rogues.

I have a 6 month old DD that wont point them. he points Quail very well and loves a bird. but pays no attention to a woodcock. My old DD does point woodcock.
Any of you guys got any advise ? Forrest

Is he flushing them or ignoring them?

Smokey, He is ignoring them. Forrest

It sounds like he may not be recognizing them as game to hunt. You will have to wait till next season to turn it around. At only six months, a year will make a lot of difference. Most likely growing up will solve the issue but in the event it does not. Use the old dog to hunt a limit and a little bit of fetch with a woodcock will get him headed in the right direction.

Whoa him and teach him to honor on every opportunity. It's a start.

Good advice. If he is already doing a respectable job pointing quail, I suspect that once he gets a nose full of a woodcock and figures out you are hunting them, he will start pointing them as well. Based on my dogs, the woodcock is a relatively easy bird for a dog to smell. If he is intentionally taking them out, I would be more concerned. If that is what he is doing, work him on pigeons in launchers that he approaches perpendicular to the wind. He should point when he makes scent. If he advances into the scent cone toward the bird, launch the bird and move on to the next one and remain silent. When he is pointing and holding, and allowing you to flush, kill the bird for him and let him get it in his mouth. There are different schools of thought about launchers vs wild birds. The bottom line for me is nothing teaches a dog to handle wild birds like wild birds. However when wild birds are not readily available, you can make progress with launchers.

Thanks for all the advice, I got to build me a pigeon pen.
Hopefully he will come around next year on the woodcock, we had a hard freeze in early January , the most woodcock I have ever seen, maybe they will be back next year. Thanks again. Forrest

Good luck with it Drathaar. If you build a pigeon coop, my advice is to build it with a divider so you can put homing pigeons in one side. They can be reused daily. The other side is to contain the expendables......

Thanks, my old loft I had my breeders in one side,( don't fly my breeders ) young birds on the other side. Forrest