Woodcock observations

[Gary Laudermilch]

First, let me qualify my comments. I am not a woodcock hunter and only rarely do I shoot any, much preferring to concentrate on grouse. However, I find woodcock to be an intriguing bird. Except for winter I have them year round right outside my back door so I encounter them frequently. I also encounter quite a few while chasing grouse.

It is my thought that the birds and the cover they are in is very soil moisture dependent. There is a corner of my property that is a woodcock magnet, usually. If that cover is the slightest bit dryer than normal, no birds will be there even though the soil seems moist to me. Conversely, if it is too wet, i.e. a bit of standing water about, they will not be there. They are pretty darn fussy about where they like to feed. During those times they vacate their normal haunts they can be found in places where they are seldom found.

About 15 years ago I started seeing woodcock run. It surprised the heck out of me initially but now I've come to expect it. Your guess is as good as mine as to what triggered this change in behavior but I'm putting my money on a change in avian predator density. You fly, you die.

It is also my experience that resident birds tend to fly in the zig-zag, close to the ground style. Flight birds tend to tower more frequently. Familiarity of the locality/cover?

Take it for what it is worth, just my two cents. They are interesting little birds.

[Grouse28]

Yep, as Gary mentioned they run, I noticed that also about 15 yrs ago.
Most of the birds I flushed recently stay low to the ground, I avoid those shots for fear of the dogs. I had on last year sit in the crotch of a tree about 10 feet off the ground watching the dog on point.
I have found Woodcock in mature spruce forests, dry uplands, many different areas than one would expect. Harvested potato fields are popular night resting areas.

[Woodcock survey]

Gary my experience similar to yours. I have found them in the middle of a gravel log road 40ft. wide. On spruce hillsides, but the go to place is still the alder seeps and runs, but they can be any where. An old Maine warden is credited with saying '' woodcock are where you find them''. I still expect to find them in odd places. Thank you for the replies and keep them coming.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Daniel Carter

Andrew I have found them to be confounding since I started to study them. On migration they will stop in the most unlikely places, if they stay will go to what is ''normal habitat'' They have changed over the years I have hunted them.My covers are less hunted the last few years but I read of the folks in the south discovering them. (Mills) Years ago Evans wrote that they were safe once they passed him,no longer is that true.Very interested to hear of your next hunt. If I remember correctly they are hunted from Sept in Canada till Dec in the south,

Actually, woodcock have been discovered in the South for as long as folks in the South have enjoyed eating them and shooting them for sport.

Here Andy Devine, aka “Jingles P. Jones”, and his wife along with Grits Gresham and a friend enjoy hunting woodcock in Louisiana - Andy using his Parker .410 with the beavertail forend. I'll bet he was good with that little gun. I wonder who has it now??

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[Woodcock survey]

Thank you, I meant that they were a far second to the game birds like quail.

[Dean Romig]

Very true!





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[mobirdhunter]

I've hunted woodcock in Missouri for 32 years. I have also hunted them in Iowa, Minnesota, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and Louisiana. There are not many woodcock hunters in the middle of the western portions of their flyway, but as quail populations have diminished, those bird hunters who have kept hunting have started seeking woodcock. We have our own local birds in North Missouri, and I've stumbled upon chicks from March to April depending upon weather conditions.

I've noted here in Missouri that a covert that holds birds headed North is not always one that will host birds migrating in the Fall. I have also seen an increase in birds moving from points. I can't say that I have seen an increase in birds flying lower upon being flushed. That seems to be determined by the cover from which they are flushed in my experience.

The screwy weather of the past several years has made flights much less predictable. Twenty years ago flights peaked around October 31st. Lately, I see more birds around November 7th, but again, the weather is the key.

[Dean Romig]

Certainly the weather, but also as with so many other things in nature, the diminishing daylight plays a significant role in woodcock migrations.

Woodcock in my covers when flushed usually tower to 20-30 feet in height but it usually depends on the cover and the kinds of trees and bushes there. And of course, some do stay low and fly like that escape artist the grouse.





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[Kevin McCormack]

I have hunted woodcock since 1969, both with and (mostly) without dogs. The remarks by previous posters regarding changes in habitat behavior (e.g., "sideways" vs. vertical flushing, degree of wetness underfoot, and birds flushing further away, and especially running, are all spot on.

In my experience these changes became very noticeably manifest about 15-18 years ago, and in my firm opinion, were greatly exacerbated by the perfection and widespread use of the beeper collar on dogs. Similar to the effect on pheasants of a slamming car door at the edge of a huge Iowa cornfield, my belief is that the tone, frequency, and rhythm of these signals instantly alerts birds and wildlife to the presence of dogs plus humans, which equals 'danger'.

The first manifestation of these phenomena I noticed was the running bird. While grouse hunting, it was always assumed that the bird would take whatever action necessary to stay ahead of/away from the dog and hunter, running being the safest expedient as opposed to flushing, thereby offering the hunter a shot, so years ago it was expected. With woodcock, however, almost never.

Another perspective to consider is that the woodcock is migratory; imagine surviving individual natural hazards (predators, weather) from cover to cover as the bird leaves the Canadian maritimes, for example, then pauses to rest and feed before eventually winding up in Louisiana, South Carolina, of some other southern state at the terminus of its journey. I fully expect that by the second or third encounter in successive covers moving south, these birds recognize these audial signals and immediately go to "red alert!".

[Dean Romig]

What about bells Kevin, that have been in use for considerably more than a hundred years?





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