My current dogs will not do more than "mouth" a freshly shot woodcock for a second or two -- no retrieving at all. I had a friend whose dog would not point a woodcock, but was excellent on all other upland birds he hunted. My friend characterized his dog as wearing a clothespin on his nose when he hunted woodcock.
But I have had several dogs that were exceptional woodcock dogs, although I did not fix filets for them and don't know if they would eat them or not. When Elaine finds some older birds in the freezer she fixes them for the dogs in a variety of ways. She also makes jerky for the dogs from ground venison that we don't use. As my Pop would say of Elaine's work to fix special treats for the dogs, they were "eating way up on top of the hog." Harold, I'm sure he say the same for your pups, even if they are "picky" eaters.
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"Doubtless the good Lord could have made a better game bird than bobwhite, and better country to hunt him in...but equally doubtless, he never did." -- Guy de la Valdene (from A Handful of Feathers )
"'I promise you,' he said, 'on my word of honor, I won't die on the opening of the bird season.'" -- Robert Ruark (from The Old Man and the Boy)
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