So its obvious that we must gather pitch forks and axe's and burn MBK at the stake for getting our hopes up !!! haha

THF Brethren, my 1st limit is the pic w the 3 wc on the log and the Vizsla nose wanting more.
All as stated.
It was the Sabine NF around Toledo Bend.

Heh ... don't give up your honey hole, MBK.

This thread just proves my dad's old saying, "woodcock are where you find 'em."

MBK i was just messin with ya... Im just that guy that cant find birds in an area where everyone else is....

But I'll be back at it.... I like to walk in the woods!!

Just hope you get good results. Be careful though, the really hard part is carrying all 3 birds out of the woods when you get your limit!!!!

hahaha Im figuring that finding them to shoot without a dog will be incredible... but then finding them should I hit them would be amazing !!!!

Thanks for the report. Good to know the migration is timed right

Just returned from a south LA hunt. We got several limits of woodcock and even moved two coveys of bobs. The woodcock were hard to find but were plentiful in one small area. Before coming home we had a great snipe shoot as well. South LA trip was great fun. Those Cajuns know how to have a good time and just the food was worth the trip!

Great news. There are definitely pockets of them here and there. I was speaking last nite with a friend that works for the state in Baton Rouge, and he said he's seeing wc in number on the LSU campus.
I may go back to LA before the season ends, but I'll be trying a few of my old east Texas spots this Friday.

This is the best Texas woodcock thread ever. Although I am not optimistic due to the forecast, I am planning a half-day hunt Saturday Morning and full day hunt Monday. I will report back if the weather permits.

Nice to see some others hunting them in Texas also. I am always solo in Texas. My father-in-law has hunted them in the basin for nearly 40yrs now, I have had some great hunts over there.

Welcome to the forum. You're a neighbor of mine. Tell us about your bird dogs.

I personally think a lot of the Texas birds are hung up parallel with I-20 due to weather conditions. Need one more freeze to push them farther south en masse.

I have a Brittany out of Dave Jones Kennel, Chief's Brittany's that is now 6ys old. He is phase I trained by Dave. In 2008/9 we had some fantastic hunting in the basin and he came along really quick, but pretty rusty now. The last two drought years here in Texas really hurt (the Basin was spotty and not worth the drive). We always managed a few, but lots of scent in the woods because of no rain, birds were in weird spots due to no water. It did not result in the best dog work.

I have some cool pics of him pointing woodcock but could not figure out how to post them here. There seem to be very few bird dog enthusiasts in Texas and even less woodcock hunters.

PM me for contact info, I am open to training or getting together for a hunt. Also planning to get a second this year, if you know of some good hunting lines locally, I may be interested. My wife does have conditions, I must build a kennel this Spring.

If I'm really lucky..... I will get to drive out to Sabine tomorrow after work for the weekend. Have no phone service out there but if I'm lucky there are still some woodcock.
A good time either way. Good luck for the weekend gents.

closed deer season with 8 out on the small foodplot my stand was sitting on. I'm more impressed with finding a cpl small covey of quail. I noticed it's a lot easier to find those WC w/o dog when it's raining because for whatever reason there's more sitting out in the open woods.

I'm in. Retention pond by a school in League City and Tikka found out she likes pointing snipe as well. There must have been 30 so far. Can't shoot em here but what a deal getting a hard 1 hr run out of her.

Haven't seen quail out by our place for several years. Just clear cut several hundred acres down the road and Imagine as it regrows we will see the occasional covey again. Looking forward to that. It's nice to see 10 or 15 scooting across the road.

I'm seeing the quail in a different spot further east that I'm leaving alone and letting the deer herd rebound on. It's about 300 acres of 8yo pine plantation with several large feeder creeks right up against several thousand acres of hardwoods along the river. The quail are on the SMZs in the pines. I'll see a covey or 2 every time I walk the SMZs to check my deer cams I have set up on ground scrapes there. There's some WC there, but usually see them right on the break of the pines and hardwoods in the thick mess.

SOOOOO.... how was the woodcock hunting over the weekend?
Looking to be jealous

None found at Davy Crockett. Covered an area a listmember tipped me on one afternoon, then spent all day in an area that a Forest Ranger sent me to. There had been LOTS of rain. It is possible it dispersed them or the bulk of them in that area moved on farther south.

Ya. I didn't go but trying to get away on Friday. Trying hard to get the dog 1 more go.

Nothing for me Saturday or sunday

Hunted Sabine NF and Moore Plantation all day last Friday with a friend and our 3 dogs, and had 0 finds.

This has been a tough season; but we're planning to go back to Louisiana once more before the season ends.

I have been covered up with woodcock right at dark on our lease in Nacogdoches County when they come in to roost in the clear cuts the past several weeks.

Have you tried Bannister?

An interesting fact about woodcock is they roost in the day and feed in darkness. So the birds you assume to be coming to roost are actually coming off their daytime roost going to feed at night. If you ever get to examine one, note the very large eyes suited for darkness.