East Tx Woodcock

Just returned from Sabine National Forest. 14 month Vizsla's 1st hunt ever. 3 hunts, 3 limits. If anyone is interested; they are there.
Bag limit is only 3 birds but what a great time and first experience for my dog.

Good job.

Congratulations, and welcome to the forum. I'm quail hunting Sunday with a guy who does well in the Sam Houstion National Forest. That's a young man's hunt, but sounds fun.

Thanks for the report. Good to know the migration is timed right. Next week on my way south I will be hunting them for a couple days with my young Vizsla. I think we are going to try Davy Crockett the first day.

AWESOME.... many of my fondest memories are of quail hunting with or English Setters and Brit's.

Sounds like fun...I am probably going to give up leasing for bird hunting next year so maybe I'll try woodcock hunting as an alternative.

This sounds awesome, never done any. Can you eat them like quail or pheasant? And are they just East Texas birds? Lots of ?'s did mean to hi-jack your post, but thanks for let'in me in.

Yes. I eat them. Typical onion, jalapeño and bacon wrap. Breasts are about the size of white wings. Lots of "whole bird recipes" though....like quail.
Dark meat but not as strong as dove
Mostly East Texas hunting. There are migration maps at the Ruffed Grouse Society website.
U find them in young pine and yaupon thickets. They sit a lot in the morning and throughout the day and come to wood edges around dusk.
Ended up walking down old secondary roads w the Visla and letting her decide where to go in. Some articles under a "Texas Woodcock Hunting" search
She would either point, or when far enough in the woods, would eventually bump one which usually flushed in the direction of the road. She has no experience though she is 14 months and this was her 1st hunt

Try 3 to 5 yr old stands of pine and yaupon. Preferably surrounded by mature forest and walking roads w thick cover along the sides. Good luck.

Mostly just walk secondary rds off of forest service rds. Let the dog "smell" where they are.
New at it. My hunting hay day was Kansas in the early 1990's. Phesant and quail asking farmers permission to hunt. Just pretty happy the vizsla is pointing singles/doubles on the 1st hunt. Leaves me believing she will so real good w coveys.
Have a great hunt

Awesome. Bet that was a cool hunt.

We seem to be loaded up with birds in South East Nac Co this year.

Anyone want to get together at one of the NF's and put some dogs down on the ground together?

Just a thought.

I hit the Moore Plantation this morning.... up at 230am to get there at sun up.... lots of walking with miles of road an scrub under foot.... not one bird to flush...

Be nice to have a dog !!!

will go back though next week and try again

I hardly ever saw them BD (before dog) except on real cold mid mornings when they would walk through the leaf litter by the NFS road looking for worms. Also, right before dark, they fly to open areas to feed. I don't pass shoot them though.

They're there, but really hard to see and flush.

You could just try the local strip mall, this guy was in front the Bed Bath and Beyond near Sugar Land. He was a little dazed and confused.

Think i could've seen that one without the dog. Thats interesting, was it in the morning, like he flew into a window o4 something?

I prefer to hunt them in West Texas. This picture taken last year was from Young County in a creek bottom West of Graham. I think Blaze surprised me by pointing or flushing 8 to 10 Woodcock on that hunt.

In a parking lot...I know their habitat is going away but not sure they'll be able to adapt to the burbs!

My dog got all birdy on a walk in our neighborhood, and I thought it was an opossum. It wasn't...flushed a woodcock four houses down from mine.

I wanted to share something on Photobucket with you!



This was her 1st limit


Kevin S. Harris

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Sent from my iPad

Never knew that they went there. They certainly are in good number this year where we hunted. My son texted that he flushed 2 morw at his stand yesterday.
I live south of Houston and see them flying at dusk sometimes

You guys are apparently seeing more than I did in East Texas for the past several years. Last year we did find a wild covey of quail in Moore Plantation, however.

I started going to the Atchafalaya Basin in Louisiana the last couple of years and did well. But so far this year the numbers are way down; in fact I went last Sat., and the dogs pointed just 4, and we got a shot at only 1 of those.

Apparently the birds are staying further north this year, both state-wide here in Texas, and also nationally. On another forum, there are guys still flushing wc by the dozens in NJ, Delaware and other northern places. And they aren't just returning early; they never left.

I'm planning to hunt Sabine and some of my other old spots this week, and see if my dog and I can find some wc. Hopefully you guys have left a few.

Are you the same 1971snipe, who spilled the beans about woodcock in Texas in an article you published in The Pointing Dog Journal?

Bill you have a memory like an elephant. I believe he is the same one.

I went to SHNF today and didn't find any.

I'm not too hard a guy to remember, actually. But I wasn't the first to write about wc hunting in east Texas; its' been well-known for quite a while.

Bill, I keep missing you ... first at a field trial, then at Top Flight (twice).

Blanked, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one not finding them this season.

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.

I did know they feed at night, (as well as during the day), so I guess I misspoke in saying "roost" as a general term for where birds go at dusk.

I have hunted woodcock a little with good sucess with a couple of people who had good dogs.

they're still flocking to the foodplots a little before dark. My FIL went up to one of my stands yesterday evening and shot a quick limit.

I don't see many flocking in until after legal shooting hours.

those suckers are everywere this time of year...never realy think about shooting them... looks like a field lark with a snipe beak lol

Moved one bird on the Davy Crockett NF in 2.5hrs of hunting. May have done better but flagged off by a deer hunter. Was able to drive around and scout some promising areas. Hunting again Monday/Tuesday, probably split between TX and LA.

Going tomorrow and Sunday Hoping to do some good again but wont have connectivity until Sunday evening. Hoping for an optimistic report .......limits x 2.
B Good all

Took my young GSP. She is only very lightly trained but pointed and flushed (it's kinda all one motion with her) two woodcock this afternoon. Too thick for any hope but I busted air at one just so she could get the idea of what we were doing. She's a natural hunter and worked the woods like a champ. Really fun to watch and all in all a great day. Hoping to actually get a couple tomorrow. If we do I will be ecstatic. Will mount one with a photo of her on point below it.

Hope I didn't jinx myself.

Used to see them up around here, but haven't in many years. I have shot one in my life.

Good luck to everyone. It's ducks and snipe this weekend for me (and grandkids), then work all week ... then back to woodcock for the final week of the season.

Well dang my dog flushed 5 before I finally hit one! Never been so excited about a durn bird in my life.

Sure has been picture perfect weather these past two days. Really nice to be out.

Here's the bird. Very pretty.

That is pretty dang cool.

Ok. Missed Saturday morning but hunted Saturday afternoon and this morning. Had some help and we got 8 total. Missed a lot! Tikka pointed a bunch of birds. What a fun time and great to get some more birds in front of a young bird dog. By George, i think shes got it!

Ok, 1 more w Jon and Tikka......Im the older Dude. 49 but i still got it.

Here's my Jenny looking kinda disappointed that I could only hit one.

NP, you killing yours in Navarro or Nac cty?

Big congrats on those birds.... very jealous here !!!

AB my place is in Houston county between Crockett and Lufkin near a little community called Nogalus Prairie.

I have had my place 7 years now and would occasionally flush a bird here and there in Dec/Jan. I got my GSP just for the purpose of hunting them and this was her first time. So a very special and fun couple of days for both of us.

NP. Like that shotgun and Jenny. I used my Benelli SBE2 12 gauge last hunt and tried my old Browning BPS this weekend. 20 gauge, straight stock and 21" barrel. I did better w the quicker, shorter 20. Like carrying a pellet gun and a pretty quick stabber.


I saw a hunting show one time where people hunting in the NEast were using shotguns w the chokes cut off (legal length) to like 19"s w no choke left in the barrel. They take this WC hunting thing really serious. Anyway, all the hunters had custom cut off shotguns. Also i joined the Ruffed Grouse Society as they provide migration maps on woodcocks. You can report activity in the area you hunt. I wont though. Be interesting to know what shotguns people in this post r using????

Ok, finally........Tikka at the end of a hunting weekend.



Nuff said.

I grew up in Nacgdoches and the quail were just about gone by the mid-80s. Alot of the men still had dogs and I heard many tales of hunting over them. But was just never my thing.

But this experience and posts like Sniper John's with Dash have me thinking about a new avocation as I get closer to my retirement years.

Jenny is not trained other than in the very basics but her instinct is to find birds and she does it well. She stays close to me so even though she hold her points for about 3-5 seconds and then flushes the birds I am nearly always in shooting range when the birds flush. Woodcock hold very tight.

When she was about 7 months old and running around our 10 acres here in Navarro county she locked up on a point and then flushed what I believe to be the last remaining quail in the county. They just have it in them.

I can't imagine how cool it would be to train and hunt over "professional" dogs. I can easily see how it gets in one's blood. I was as happy when that woodcock fell as when my last big buck fell. Maybe more since we had probably walked 10 miles over those two days.

Thanks MBK. That is a 28 gauge Ruger Red Label O/U. I used #9 shot. Like Tikka,Jenny slept like a rock both at the farm and when she got home too.

Tikka is beautiful.

All over that. Proudest of the time and the dog. Think my first year of woodcock hunting (5 days) has me hooked.
With the quail situation the way it is, i bet more people start hunting them.
Looked up Texas wc hunting and sounds like, historically, a big year is 3,000 to 5,000 bird harvest.

Here's my "Nite Nite" pic. At the farmhouse.

I love white GSP's. mine was ticked/roan I guess. Ok, now I have 1 regret. Why didn't I get a pic of Tikka on point?

Maybe I will go back this year? Maybe not. Guess I erred on the side of repetition w a 15 month old dog. Want her to remember it.

MBK here's Jenny on a sort of "fake" point. She's really just smelling where some hogs had been out in the pasture. Thus her tail is not out. She didn't like the hog smell and would stay even closer to me for a while if she smelled them in the woods.

I was too busy trying to shoot a dang bird to take one of her on a real point. Maybe next time.

Most pointing dogs will start holding points better with age and experience. Just keep teaching whoa, and hang on for the ride. You don't need a professional trainer. Sounds like you you have the makings of a great bird dog.

Also, thanks guys for the pictures. I'm a slow reader.

Good hunt(s),and thanks for the pics too. That'll keep me going for the end of a somewhat disapointing season for me and my dog. You obviously have a pocket of them there, which is the way it works with woodcock in particular. A good friend of mine and I could tell many tales about wc hunting near Lufkin, on property that is no longer accessible, to us anyway.

I have a few more east Texas places to try next week, then maybe back to Louisiana to end the season.

Well I got no dog... but Imma give it one more go...haha gluten for punishment!!

Yes I walked most of the wooded areas on my place and found most of the birds in one area. Going to go as many times as I can get away and focus on the area where I found them. Also going to try the National Forest bordering where I found them. It is so true that woodcock are unpredictable and just "where you find them".

Bill your dogs are beautiful too. It is very encouraging to hear you say I don't need a professional trainer. Jenny and I are really just having fun and that's what it's all about in my book.

My thoughts on woodcock are like 71snipe said in that they will be in "pockets". But find those pockets and there is a good chance you will find them in the same place every year near the same time provided the conditions are the same.

Snipe on the other hand, which do not share the same habitat and an entirely different kind of bird, you never know. Everything can be exactly the same and a place that had 100s of birds one year, can never have a bird stop there again. I rarely hunt snipe in the same place every year. But for woodcock when I had access years go to more places to hunt them, they were very predictable from year to year.

I did that several times before I got Jenny. It is fun as heck and a really good way to scout during the offseason too. My problem is I am not a very proficient shotgunner (understatement of the year) and when I would finally flush one it would startle me so bad I couldn't hit it. I think some trap or skeet shooting practice is in order.

Well that's very good to know and encouraging.

Definitely skeet, 7 1/2, an 8 shot at 1300 fps w a wide open choke. Even found some shotguns w spiraled bores to open the shot pattern even more. Short barrels.
I wouldn't ever own an O/U while quail and pheasant hunting. Did years of it in Kansas in early 90's
I would (will) definitly use on woodcock!

Fiocci 8 1/2 spreader load works very well for this kind of hunting

Where do you order them?

Out of stock, but this is where I get them.
http://www.ableammo.com/catalog/fiocchi-...e-p-120517.html

#8 is in stock and if you check the site there are other spreader load options from the same brand, but I don't think the 1 oz load option does as well. May be a different wad design.

http://www.ableammo.com/catalog/fiocchi-...e-p-111700.html

From the 2013 Fiocchi catalog.

Spreader Loads
Fiocchi Spreaders are available in 1 and 1 1/8 ounce versions for close target
presentations. The 1 ounce Interceptor Spreader at 1300 f.p.s. is great for
shooters who prefer 1 ounce loads. Two loads with 1 1/8 ounce (the Power
Spreader at 1200 and the Rino Spreader at 1250 f.p.s.) offer loads with
velocities common with other target loads (and similar target leads). Softer
shot and purpose-oriented spreading wads induce larger patterns at shorter
ranges for specific applications. These are great in single-barrel target guns
when you can’t change chokes between two targets. For example, if you
encounter a pair of targets with the first shot close and the second far, load
the Spreader to shoot first and follow up with your usual target load for the
longer shot. Problem solved.


Kent makes a spreader load also, but I have not tried it.

Pricier but all spreader loads are above the typical field loads.

www.polywad.com

Way too much. The Fiocchi shells pattern really well and I am willing to spend a couple extra bucks over promo loads for the better shot to kill ratio and less meat damage on close game. But I see no good reason to spend the extra 5 or 6 bucks over the Fiocchi spreader to get those.

What I want is a #7 steel spreader load that patterns well.

Wouldn't pay Polywad's price either for 12 gauge but provides some perspective for the 12 gauge Fiocchi pricing.

If MBK needs spreader loads for another gauge, I think RST and Polywad are the only option.

watch where they land and be ready on round 2 hard to shoot period where I'm seeing most of them b/c there's no way to swing on them. Glad yall got one

Ya. My rule this year has been "just get to shooting". It is a challenge but you will never get a bird unless you get started shooting.
Haven't shot a big pine at close range yet but have shot through my share of yaupon holly thicket b

I've peeled a little bark off. That's how I knew I'd stopped my swing!

X2

I humbly must say I have shot more pines than woodcock. Nor am I too proud of the fact that each pine hit has often been followed by a cuss word.

my problem would me running arms through young honey locust and just not able to actually move the gun. They;re holding in some thick mess.

Couldn't stand it and went back out this afternoon. Went 2 for 3! As you can see, Jenny is much happier with me.

What a cool picture!

She flushed and fetched the first one and dropped it right into my hand. So cool!

The second one we kinda flushed together and I shot it,watched where it fell, and walked to it and still couldn't find it. She was just sitting by me as I kept telling her to find it. I thought that was kind of strange until she finally nudged it about 6 inches from my boot. I guess she thought I was guarding it.

Tikka doesn't want to pick em up. She finds them though. I'm still thrilled she points. Worse case I will force break. She did finally bring one back. I made a big deal out of it.

took tomorrow off ...now for my 2am wake up, 4hour drive...and lots o walking !! hope I at least jump one bird!!! haha

With commitment like that I hope you get a limit.

If it helps I am finding most of mine along open little drainages in the woods. If I were walking I would walk both sides and the bottom too.

thanks ...my other attempt at this i was in the big woods walking roads and skirting any brush pile i came across... was a nice walk minus birds

just an FYI: saw a lot of birds down around the Big Thicket Corridor along the Neches this past weekend in Tyler County. I wasn't out walking and flushing them but saw them out on the rds even during daylight hours.

Drive down main forest service roads. Walk and hunt the old smaller roads coming off them. Under yaupon thickets. We're finding up to 8 birds throughout big thickets.

Well, did you see any?

There was a woodcock article by Shannon Tompkins in the Houston Chronicle this morning. It was called "Agony, estasy of the hunt." I couldn't find it online. Maybe some of you could find it and post it up. I'm not very good at that.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/o...mes-4218753.php

Good eyes ! Have to be a subscriber.

What the heck. I'm not a subscriber and the entire article was visible the first time I clicked on it.

Try it now, I used the add a link instead of a cut and paste. Works for me with free access granted, but it may be dependent on the location of your IP.

Still can't do it. In Methodist Hospital Houston waiting on a surgery for my Dad. Using 4g on iPhone though. Shouldn't be filtered out.
I will try again and appreciate your efforts

it's telling me I have to be a subscriber too. Maybe they have it blacked out if you're in the Houston area.

Thanks for the link but I couldn't open it either. But I Googled "Texas woodcock hunting" and there are several really good articles. Apparently an SFA professor is an expert and is quoted a lot.

I have read most this year and they are good. Pretty amazing that one of them says the state bag lit is around 5,000 birds per year.
I bet I only got to shoot at 15-20% of what Tikka pointed or flushed - many flushed low and into the woods, some flushed totally obscured from sight , some too far in the woods to shoot at, some flew evasively and behind big trees. Think I ended up getting around 18 on 5 hunts. Some with other hunters.
One time I was kneeling in front of a 30yd wide thicket and 2 flushed from 3 yds behind me. Couldn't turn around in time to shoot.
Whole new world/experience
Can't wait to do it again next season.

Went back this afternoon. Got two shot opportunities and killed them both. I am getting better at this. Jenny flushed at least one way out of range and maybe more IDK. She kinda went on a "runabout" in a yaupon thicket and I couldn't keep up. One of them was a big rooster and by far the biggest I have gotten. I froze him for a possible mount later.

I would have sworn we covered the area I was hunting pretty good. But at dusk I sat by a big swampy area in the pasture and at least 4 birds came to that one little spot. And there are several of those spots.

IDK if we are missing a bunch or if they are coming from other spots/further away. I could have killed all 4 easily in the flashlight's beam. They were not hardly scared at all. Really neat.

That was probably it for the year as rain is on the way. I do plan to walk with Jenny "gunless" and watch waterholes at dark some though. This has been a fun discovery.

Your rooster is most likely a female. Many juvenile and all adult females are larger than the males. If it's over 6 oz and beak is equal to or longer than a 2 3/4 inch shell, ~95% probability, it's female.

Glad you've had such a good season. My dog's a little jealous too. Haven't had the same luck.

See what a rookie I am? Just assumed the bigger ones were the males. Thanks for the info.

Or, traditionally, use a dollar bill as the gauge. (Do an internet search on key words "dollar" and "woodcock".)

Anyway, congrats again on your success this season, N.Prairie.

Had to be a blast. Yep, put the dollar bill IN the beak sideways. Males beaks are always shorter than the dollar bill is wide and the females beak just hangs over the edge.
Every time.
Season over for me as well. Had a great time and....thanks to these neat little birds, my dog had her 1st hunting season. She gets it .....and gets out of the jeep after dark, runs back into the woods and tries to find more.

For those of u still hunting em, keep the posts coming in for the rest of us

I went for a long walk in the briars today and flushed 2, hit 1. Just got back up to the place about 30m ago to try to thin hogs and there were 6 in the road in a 1/4 mile stretch. I gotta get a dog

You start finding them pretty thick when you have a dog. The ones I flush are usually really close. It's really nice when you walk an old road w good cover close to the road. The dog goes in when she needs to I quit sending the dog in the woods and just left it up to her.
I've had 3 Brittany's a GSP and the Visla I have now is the first one I've had that really hunts and points.
I'm really happy w her.
It seemed like for every wc I accidentally flushed I was walking over 20. They sure sat tight.

I'm pretty sure Jenny misses her share/flushes some out of range. Plus she kind of runs hot/cold-sometimes she hunts perfectly by methodically covering ground nearby, sometimes she gets out of range and moves way too fast to be really covering everything well, and sometimes she just kind of "fakes it" and walks right by me (that's when it's time for a rest and some water). Long story short,she is not perfect but it is sure fun hunting with her.

I anticipate she will get better with years and experience.

Thanks to everybody. This was my 1st post on THF. I joined to start the thread in this forum and learn more about the Woodcock and if others were hunting them too.
It has been great fun discovering the woodcock resource available to us and to get my dog started hunting. The WC is certainly a diverse gamebird, found in many parts of our state (many states) and i am certainly just getting my feet wet.

Cant wait for next year to use some of the things i learned here.

Thanks

Thanks for posting MBK! Like you, I really enjoyed this thread and learned alot too. Certainly a fun new type of hunting to look forward to next year.

P.S. I took Jenny out one last afternoon and she was really "on her game" and hunted beautifully-covering every nook and cranny yet staying close the whole time. We didn't raise a bird. Didn't see any coming to the waterholes at dark either. I guess this little front and the rain moved them out, at least temporarily.

When I was a boy we lived in Liberty and I saw quite a few off the Anauac Hwy just south of Hwy 90 a few miles down by Meacoms
Ranch..back in the 50's..finally killed one and my Dad had to tell me what it was..Wish I had some in the Hill Country to use
my young Gordon on..DD

Not sure exactly where Mecom Ranch is/was; but I've had many great woodcock hunts south of Liberty; especially near Hankamer, until the particular property that held the big numbers of birds was sold, and we lost access to the best portion of it.

Just for grins and to close out the season, I took my dog yesterday and made a pass through an area on a small bird lease I have in Jefferson Cnty, that holds woodcock during good years, but didn't have any finds. I've made the observation that when the birds are there, then they are plentiful in just about all of the other usual spots. But when I don't find any there, then it's pretty tough everywhere else ... not that there's 0 birds everywhere else, just fewer or none. Anyway, good thread. Here's to next season.

Just an FYI-Went back to the farm Thursday (2/7) to do some errands and the woodcock were back like I have never seen them before. At dark they were literally coming out of the woods in droves! Did a little poking around after dark with the flashlight and they were everywhere-any place it was wet/boggy and all along the roads. I imagine the wet ground and mild weather is the reason.

I could walk within about 10 feet of them with the flashlight. They make a sort of high-pitched "croaking" sound I had heard before but always thought was frogs. Of course, with the season closed Jenny was not with me but I wish I would have brought her just for the work.

Yep. They will hang out, breed and nest.