Hey everyone, hope all have had a safe season so far. I'm posting this more out of curiosity, has anyone seen a Woodcock in or around SA? I'm pretty positive I did today while on my property in far west Bexar County. I was able to see it with binos after we flushed it a few times. It was more burnt orange than what I'd seen on TV but there's no mistaking that long narrow beak.

I had never heard one flush before in person only on upland hunting films and it was so cool! Any feedback would be great.

I have just never seen one around Helotes

You sure it wasn't a Wilson's Snipe? They look real similar. I saw what I initially thought was a woodcock on a deer lease between Sanderson and Sheffield, in the headlights heading out in the morning, but I'm pretty sure it was a snipe.

That rust color stood out quite a bit. It was about 20 yards from me but in some brush. It stopped twice just long enough for me to get a good look. That flush sounded so cool.

You are safe to ground check it, snipe season is open till Feb. 9 but woodcock doesn't open till the 18 in Bexar.

Gotcha, I'm only on 3.5 acres and it was on the neighbors. Pretty cool.

What sort of sound did it make when it flushed? Hard to mistake woodcock winnowing. That would be really cool to confirm woodcock so far West. It wouldn't be so far fetched, they were spotted back in March on Balcones Canyonlands.

What kind of habitat did you see the bird? Snipe habitat and Woodcock habitat is completely different. Woodcock are more of a woodland upland bird. Snipe are more of a wet field, marshy area shorebird. I shoot Woodcock in SW Young county some years which is way far west of the normal range. The habitat on the part of our lease where they show up is bottomland in thick brush under stands of mature hardwood trees. It looks very similar to where I have hunted them in East Texas. So anything is possible, but if your able to watch them with binoculars, it is probably the wrong habitat for Woodcock.

I believe you saw a Woodcock, I saw one in Buescher State Park near La Grange two years ago...obviously not quite as far west as San Antonio...but for anyone who has been to this park you know the terrain there is very similar to the Hill Country...I know Woodcock have been seen in the Bastrop area as well...it seems like they may be starting to push a little more west in their migration routes...it would be very cool if we started getting full blown migration numbers in the Hill Country.

I've watched quite a few short films and listened to quite a few podcasts, the sound is what made me think woodcock. I kept thinking of the intro to the Project Upland Podcast specifically. As far as habitat, our property is dense with live oaks and underbrush, thus a lot of leaves on the ground and dry. I was able to glass the bird as it scooted through the underbrush pausing for a few seconds each time. I know the property really well and positioned myself to see the openings. I was only 10-20 yards away.

Little update, I flushed the bird the following morning again. Getting a better look, there was no mistaking that rusty orange plumage. Pretty cool, definitely made my weekend.

Hopefully you can get a pic or something and wouldn't mind sharing it with the American Woodcock Society/Ruffed Grouse Society and TPWD.

I have seen a total of 5 around Lake Corpus Christi during the season on a friends ranch. I know they were not snipe because we shot snipe during the same hunt. We had pics of them side by side. But that was a long time ago. Ill see if I can dig up the pics.

Saw a woodcock on my neighbors porch 2 days ago after that big northern blow. This was in Missouri City. I flushed him off the porch, then it went into the next houses landscape and then flushed away around the block. Cool encounter.

I've been searching the last several days and nothing. I know some folks hunt them out east, but I'd just never heard of them here in this area. I wish I could've take a pic, I just couldn't get my phone up fast enough to get a good pic.

Very well could have been American Woodcock, ebirds show A. woodcock into New Mexico, Please remember birds have wings and are not good at reading maps. There has been several sightings in the Hill county. Most of the sighting outside of east Texas are single birds and not around for long. Wilson's Snipe are far more common and travel through out the America's on wetter soils. Below is a site that may help with range questions on birds.

https://ebird.org/explore