Woodcock flights
 

It appears that there are some woodcock flights going through northern Indiana
now. I have been bumping woodcock up in the corn fields as I pick corn.
It in not unusual to bump one up three or four times as I pick across a half mile field. Now there would be a challenging hunt!

Jeff, they are on the move across the northeast and north central states. We ran into them last week while grouse hunting in NY State in areas that we seldom see them after Halloween. Of all the upland birds, I rank them most effectively hunted with a dog; walking them up without one is great fun and exciting, but like grouse, many times they will let you walk right past them a few yards before flushing. A decent bird dog nails them in place and they hold very tight till the last second before taking wing.

may I add that recovering shot birds is exponentially better with a dog. Dead woodcock are often quite difficult to spot on the leaf covered ground

And I cannot count the birds I have shot at and KNEW that I missed, that one of my dogs has then picked up and brought in

Funny you should mention jumping woodcock in the cornfields. I just returned from SD where every field was flooded and they were loaded, and I mean loaded with ducks, geese and cranes. But the icing on the cake were the thousands of snipe, Wilsons to be exact. We would bump them in the cornfields and ditches and once they got up in the 25-40mph wind gusts they proved an almost impossible target. I managed to drop 12 as I was the only one interested in shooting them. While we were duck hunting, flocks of 50 or more would buzz past like teal on crack. A most memorable hunt.

Pictures and story to follow in another thread.

First woodcock I ever shot (or even saw) was along White River outside of Winchester, Indiana. I was riding on top of the grain hopper on a combine shooting rabbit as they ran in front of the combing.

I hunted northern MI last weekend and only moves one. Pretty sure they have left Michigan.

They are already in Massachusetts. I have been finding them in the quail fields at Myles Standish. Or rather, my english setter, Sophie, has been finding them.

I just got back from my annual trip to Wisconsin and we ran into a flight one day. 3 of us got 9 of them. I had to stop shooting and just take pictures of my dog on point. They can really help turn a young dog into a bird dog!

Jay, Our guys up here are confused a bit about the flight birds. One guy I hunt with a lot says they have not been through yet, he thinks there were lots of woodcock early in the season. He was getting 6 to 18 points in a couple hours consistently. Another guy thinks they have already gone through and most of the birds were east of 1-75. The first guy said the birds he shot this week all had a lot of fat on them (like they were local birds) ( his reasoning was that flight birds may not have a lot of fat on them) I am just trying to learn, today we had 2 woodcock points that held, and several that I think were running woodcock, plus a few grouse points. Another guy said a week ago saturday that he was seeing some flight birds in Lovells. I have hunted nearly every day for the last 2 weeks, only one day last week did I see a few woodcock in one area. My regular areas did not have an excess amount of birds like last year yet.

Ed; a buddy of mine found pockets of 40+ birds on the 17th right along 75 just north of Standish. I hunted hard on the 18th and 19th a few miles north west of there, saw plenty of splash but only moved one bird. We haven’t had much in the way in terms of weather to push them down so who knows. I’ll be back up Tuesday through the 4th and I’ll let you know what I find.

Jay, Thank you, my buddy is originally from Indiana, he hunts almost every day, he has 2 brittanies. He has lived up here about 8 years, so he is constantly trying to learn more about grouse/woodcock. He is always checking stomach contents etc. to see what their feeding on, when he said the woodcock had a lot of fat on them, I could take that 2 ways, like a bear eating a lot before hibernating, maybe a woodcock would eat a lot before starting the long trek south? Or they were local birds with a normal amount of fat? He said he has seen more woodcock even before season and early season than he has since he moved up here. Thats why he thinks some flight birds are still due. I went out yesterday with a guy from the fox forum and we had a lot of points, only 2 woodcock held, usually if its a grouse running you will hear them fly away but the bird would run and we couldn't hear or see a bird taking off which is why I thought those might be woodcock. Last year when the guys I hang out with told me the flight birds were in, I noticed more birds overall in the areas I hunt. This year I only have had one day (early last week) where there seemed to be a half dozen or so birds concentrated in one area, but I had never hunted that area before so I did not know if there was that many birds in that area on a regular basis. Thanks for the input. Ed

I hunted near Lovells on Friday. Only out for about an hour or so, and we moved 5 woodcock. No grouse. My buddy, who is a crazy committed grouse/woodcock hunter, opined that the birds we moved were locals. He doesn't think the flight birds are through yet

John, Thanks for that info, my grouse/woodcock hunting buddies and I share info almost daily. I will pass this on too.

We hunted western Maine two weeks ago. Saw more mudbats than we did in 2018. We really weren't seeing any numbers to speak of until the front blew through Wednesday-Thursday. We think that may have brought some birds down since the front was a Nor'easter. Last year we missed the flight too. The Friday of our week we started seeing good numbers flying overhead at twilight. All that said means we may have them in NEPA next week. When the birds are here we have some of the best shooting of the season, albeit only for a few days. Here's hoping!!

Where did the term "Mudbats" come from? Is it a New England thing?

No one in New England ever used that term, it must come from scrapple country.

I grew up in scrapple country, and finally have found a source for it here in Flatland Country (in fact, had some for breakfast today). I never heard the mudbat term.

I remember my dad talking in the duck blind about "Helldivers" and "Blue Peters" to describe grebes and coots . Don't remember which is which

It’s a PA thing! Now I want some peppery scrapple, crispy outside, mushy inside, slathered with maple syrup!!

YES!

I'm heading to Vermont for the weekend hoping to catch a lingering flight of Gypsydoodles.

Missed going up this weekend because of promises and prior commitments - hope I didn't miss it.





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I hunted Felch Mi last week....I did not move any cock but my buddy did kill two and moved a couple more in the wet areas. I had a great time enjoying the woods, it only rained two days but we hunted anyway. Grouse hunting was very good about 6 flushes per hour in good cover. Birds were not holding very well and have been pressured pretty hard everyday. The ones I gunned had been eating clover....now I have a couple meals of organic grouse in the freezer...yummy No porkies , one leg hold my friends Visla found. SXS Ohio

Is your friend’s Visla okay?

What do you suppose that trap was out there for? To the best of my knowledge trapping season for fur bearers is not open this early....




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Dean....pup did not have any lasting issues. That trap was set in National forest land on the edge of the walking trail not far from the cabin we stay in. The trap had no name on it, my friend took the trap and left a note for the person who owned it. My setter Ruby has been in two leg holds in Potter county P.A. Both times I was the one bleeding not the dog. The first time Ruby latched on to my left hand and would not let go. I got both hands in her mouth to keep her from really hearting me while my friend un-trapped her. Soon as her paw was free she stopped chomping on me. The second time I was alone, I put my hunting vest over her head and used one hand to press the one lever and my knee to press the other, it opened just a little and she got free. Just in the nick of time as her head got out through the arm opening right next to my face. I had one small cut from something? I also found a big conibear trap in Kansas in a fence row on dry land, it was re-least when I found it but my whole boot fit in that one. It took some work but its now in my shed. We found out later that a nabor boy had set it, but it was not on his land. Nothing was ever said about the issue to avoid conflict. A dog could be killed outright by a trap like that. I have made ropes to open them but its still really hard job that can't be done fast or easy. Stay away from beaver ponds and buckets that have them type of traps. Don't let your dog wade in the water. I bought a 4 1/2" cordless grinder to cut the steel hoops, they are about 3/8 spring steel and even a grinder takes time that the dog does not have! Its heavy to carry but the rope deal is too slow, dog will be dead. I wish we knew if traps were in a area so we could avoid them. SXS Ohio

I am also planning on going to VT this weekend. I'll report back on the woodcock numbers encountered as well as the grouse.

My friend Dr. John Sinclair hunted in Nebraska for pheasant a few years back & along a ditch line his Brit got her head caught in a coyote snare, lucky he had a pair of wire cutters in his hack pack or would have lost his Brit.

Always be prepared !!!
Allan

Wow! That’s very upsetting. I never even considered the danger of traps as legal trapping seasons in the Northeast don’t begin until later in the year. Definitely will be more prepared from now on.





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Sounds like the makings of a 1st class diabetic tsunami!

A few days ago, I hunted in the North Maine Woods with a guide and his two English Setters. It was an off-year for Ruffed Grouse, but I did get a few very good opportunities on them, mainly due to my guide’s skill in setting up the shot.

It was the Woodcock shooting that was a pleasant surprise, and is aberrational for those environs, according to the regulars up there.

The cover we found the Woodcock in was very dense (and curiously evergreen). Thus, I got very few good chances for the many flushes.

Most of my past hunting has been without a dog and I have rarely put Woodcock up. So, it was a new experience for me when “Archie” pointed 14 birds in 1 ½ hours, late in the final day of a three-day hunt -- intensive sport; great aerobic exercise and lasting mental images.

Dean: we did meet a trapper working his line in those woods last week.

I hunt every day now that I am retired. The Pawling and Millbrook area of NY has not been blessed by flight woodcock, as far a I can tell. I usually do birds in the morning and ducks in the afternoon. Woodduck numbers are up in my area as are mallards. Overall mallard numbers are down and the limit has been decreased to two birds. But you wouldn't know it by the number of mallards in my swamp. I'm actually seeing a lot more mallards than I did as a kid hunting the swamp. This is probably due to the large number of beavers that are flooding areas which open up more open water as the trees die over the years. The swamp looks a lot different than it did when I first started hunting it at thirteen years old. The swamp has always been a mecca for waterfowl and that hasn't changed over the years.

I just traded text messages with a good friend just down the road from the area I hunt. He is the consummate outdoorsman and is an avid trapper. He told me that he doesn't trap coyote any more now that prices on them are depressed but that coyote trapping is open right now in Vermont.






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I hunted wednesday afternoon, I had about 6 grouse and 6 woodcock points in about an hour. It was one of the best hunting days I have ever witnessed. There seemed to be more woodcock than usual in the area I hunted, either birds stacking up, or maybe some flight birds. Today, I hunted in snow and 30 mph winds, my brittany got birdy several times, but no points, I only hunted an hour or so. I did not hunt in one of my woodcock areas, I just walked 2 tracks and let the dog run. My buddy got 8 woodcock points and 2 grouse points in small evergreens this morning. He has been seeing a lot of woodcock all season. He cannot tell either if flight birds are here because of how many woodcock there are all over. Its a nice problem to have:)

As a general perspective for migrating birds, the birds that are resident or have been in the area for a few days are the ones with lots of fat on them. Flight birds that have newly dropped in are usually depleted of fat content.

In my bird banding studies at migration stations, we see all types of birds drop in overnight and they are typically in poor condition with no fat. They'll stay for a day or two and build up fat reserves and the move on.

We've all seen flights of ducks and geese. Has anyone ever seen what they would call a woodcock flight?

Just arrived home from hunting camp in Vt.
Last weekend we had 9 woodcock flushes in a vert short period of time on Saturday - like less than an hour and a half. Sunday we had two woodcock flushes all day.
Yesterday we had 1 and today none. I think we missed the good flights we have sporadically experienced in past years. Of course limiting ourselves to just weekends we shouldn’t expect much better.

Woodcock are where (and when) you find ‘em.





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Dean am going to Maine in a few minutes , about as far north as you go in Vermont. Will report back tonight. Oct. 21 was great, all immature birds, hope to find a few more but who knows.

They migrate solo, so no flocks or groups. The flights are usually as high as the tallest tree.

its a fall of woodcock - if you want the old classic old timer's term

even though Rick is correct- we now know that they travel as individuals

I've experienced what I would term a "Fall" of woodcock twice. Once in central MN after a frigid blast of northerly air we were walking through a new cut that had grown to whips about waist high. We were headed to grouse cover on the other side, but started flushing woodcock. In the span of about a half hour, we flushed over 30 birds according to my records. Some were reflushes, but there were a gracious plenty of birds in that small covert.

The second one occurred back in the 1990s. We had a Halloween snow storm that brought about 6 inches of snow to us (Northern Missouri). We went out the next day, the first day of our quail season, to hunt quail. We were hunting a friend's farm, mostly open, but with a small "ditch" (as we call them in Missouri). We ran into many nearly frozen woodcock. Once we saw their condition, we left them alone. They were reluctant to flush and could barely move. It was sad to see.

They mostly probably survived okay after they regained some rest and the strength to move on.

Is seems almost every other late February after some unseasonable warm south winds for several days and early woodcock have moved in a 8 or ten- inch snow hits us and it almost always tails off in heavy rain and sub-freezing temps puts a thick crust on the snow. We have found dozens of dead woodcock for the next couple of weeks, all starved because they couldn’t find their customary food sources.






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Here's a link to an interesting series of maps of individually GPS-tagged woodcock and their migration from mid to late October through the eastern part of the U.S.A.

https://www.woodcockmigration.org/migration.html

Interesting that individual birds would all choose to land/rest/eat in the same piece of land.