Thanks Daniel, I feel the same way about being excited, I usually can't sleep the night before very well if its a big fishing trip, or hunting, or a first date:) ( my wife informed me I will never have to get excited again about first dates with other women, so I don't ever have to worry about that again:) Today I took a guy out who has never hunted over a dog, he took the first shot over a woodcock point he waited until the bird was probably 30 yards out before shooting. Then he suggested that we take turns when the dog goes on point:) He learned pretty quickly that it just doesn't happen that way. He had an older stevens 12 gauge I checked his chokes after, he had modified and full. We talked about that after the hunt. We moved about 20 woodcock I shot 9 times, I carry ten shells, so on the way back to truck, I only had one shell in my side by side. I never got a bird, I really only had 2 real clear shots. My friend had several opportunities to shoot, where the bird was going away between both of us. He only took that first shot. It was an extraordinary day we had. I told him we usually don't move that many birds. We hunted just over 3 hours, cash ran over 10 miles, he was usually in the thickest stuff you can imagine, about 1/3 of leaves were off the poplar slashing trees which is why I even shot as much as I did. When the wind picked up, you could see cash working out the running birds, he would hold until we walked all around trying to flush the bird, then I would release cash, we got some shots or another point when he figured where the bird was running. The guy is about my age, and he really got excited when that beeper was going off. It was quite a day. This is the longest he has hunted this year, we are both pretty tired, he may get a day off tomorrow, its supposed to rain most of the day.

My friend had so much fun, I believe he might get a 20 gauge grouse gun. We talked a lot about the drops in guns, the stocks, being neutral, off or on etc. One of the guys at a nice gun shop nearby has hunted with me quite a bit. He has explained a lot of stuff to me and showed me how their gun fitting stuff works a little bit. I suggested that he call that gun shop and talk to my friend. He is a left handed shooter so I am hoping my buddy can help him find a gun that fits him relatively well. I still can't believe how many woodcock we moved, that was a record for us. I told my friend that might of been the best hunt with a bird dog he may ever have and it was the first time. That was quite a day.

It sounds like a wonderful hunt. I just hope our VT woodcock numbers are as good, or even close, this fall. We hunt pretty high country and it’s very dry this year. I hope the flight gods are good to us.





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Ed, sounds like you're having a lot of fun this fall. I'm guessing that you were hunting with Derek the other day. Thanks for the invite and I hope you catch the migration. I would love to be up there with you and Cash, but Thursday I'm heading to South Dakota to hunt pheasants with the honorable Daryl Corona. Please post some pictures of Cash with a woodcock. Jeff

Dean,
My hunting buddies both have commented that they think the woodcock numbers are up around here probably 20 percent or so. We hunted private property that morning for an hour first with no birds, then the other spot for 2 hours, which was about 20 woodcock we moved. The private property usually holds both woodcock and grouse, it was early in the morning for grouse, but I thought we would move some woodcock. The other place is literally one half mile from the private property we hunted. Jeff, Darren from fieldsport did not hunt that day. He and I have been out a couple times. He is off for almost 2 weeks starting tomorrow. We will probably go a few times then. Have fun out there.