Great day chasing Woodcock
 

My Cody and I had a great day chasing migrating Woodcock here in Central New Hampshire today. We got into a slew of flight birds. Limited out with several "misses" in between. :corn:

Great looking setter Steve. My buddy was bow hunting out at my farm today and had a grouse walk by--havent seen one there for a while.

Great to hear they are moving. I have been monitoring my local area and do not believe any flight birds have made it here, yet. I expect the action to improve in the next few days. Thanks for the update.

What was your gun du jour on this eventful day Mr. Hodges?:)

Awesome! Thanks for posting!

I did post this under the "hunting with Parkers" thread and you just reminded me that I should have posted it elsewhere :banghead: As I hunted today with my 12 Gauge RBL which I had built on a 16 gauge frame. :rolleyes:

Stephen, it all works out. Great photos. Thanks for sharing your hunt, Parker or no Parker.

A "red letter day" for you today Steve!

As of this past Saturday evening we haven't seen any flight birds in the NEK. Lucky you!

Woodcock are, as always, where you find 'em.





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Wow Steve..... Certainly, from the looks of the pup, you were in very moist soils areas. Glad ya had such a great day. Enjoy the hunt....

Bruce, we had lots of rain this past weekend and this cover was partially flooded. We were walking in 4" of water most of the time.

Great pics of your setter Steve!
We've been finding woodcock in the quail fields at Myles Standish and Crane WMA's. They're here!

Allen, is that Crane WMA in Rowley?





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No, north falmouth. Myles wma is closer should you want to come down.

Thanks Allen, but I have promises to keep...

Maybe next year.





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We had some flight birds last week in CT, just ahead of a nor'easter that came through. My friend and I put up over 20 birds in less than an hour. We didn't shoot any. We were there to put up signs for pheasant hunting and just brought our dogs along.

Sounding a bit like Robert Frost there. :)

The first of the flight birds showed up today. Moved 6 in a cover that had none last week. Let the good times roll.

Gary, hopefully they'll be in our area soon! I have "Mudbat Fever"!! :eek:

Careful Mike.... That can turn into the plague if your not careful.... LOL
Should br good work for your short barreled gun.... Oh yea, and spreaders.

Either the 16g 28” Parker or 12g 26” Lefever. Both are bad medicine to the birds.

Gary,
My hunting buddy has a friend in Indiana, they are seeing flight birds down there as of 2 days ago.

The migration is in full swing here in Central NH. Pushed over 15 birds today. Fun times.

Out again today. Season closes on the 14th so time is a'waisting. Limited out again with my Dads 1912 16 gauge Ithaca Flues, factory choked cylinder/full. Weighs 5 lbs 12 oz. Great bird gun. He purchased it sometime in the 1930's from a Widow who worked where he was working for $25. I treasured that gun so when I graduated from College he gifted it to me. Special to be sure.

Special gun Steve and special dog. God willing I would like to hunt the old covers in Bew Hampshire that I hunted growing up with my day around Hooksett and Bow. They're probably housing developments now.

Allen, I can probably say for sure that the covers you used to hunt in Bow are not huntable now. Progress:bigbye: And Cody is a bird hunting machine. Smart, and hunts close with unbelievable drive.

Steve, the family story goes like this. My Dad's father, my grandfather was an exec with one of the big leather companies in Boston. They lived in Dedham, mass. At the height of the depression and to relieve the stress, my grandfather bought a farm in Bow, NH. So my dad and his three brothers spent a fair amount of time on the farm, hunting in Bow and surrounding towns. One weekend when my grandfather was shooting hand trap in one of the fields with his sons, upon the recoil of his 16 ga VH his thumb which for some unexplained reason was high on the stock, the recoil from the gun drove his thumb back striking his nose. He went home to Dedham with a headache and died the next day. Apparently instead of getting a bloody nose. It bled inward and he died of a cerebral hemorrhage. My dad inherited the 16 and my brother and I hunted with it growing up. We thus became inbued with Parker , it's a disease of the blood. When my dad died, my brother inherited the 16 and a few yrs later I bought it of my brother. About 8 yrs ago I drove out to Ilion to sit down with Lawrence DelGrego and had him do a total restoration. It needed it from all the years of hard use. The stock at the head was punky. No case colors remained and the barrels needed work. A yr later I picked it up. I still shoot it but sparingly. It's already spoken for by one of my Newell second cousins in Utah. I want it to stay in the family. My apologies to anyone for hijacking this thread but I wanted you to know how much 16 ga Parkers are so very special no matter the grade.
Steve, let's chat off line about a bird hunt up your way next season. I'll shoot the 16. There's a history behind every Parker.

Allen, that is a tragic story about your Grandfather. I am glad that you have his gun and had it fixed up for use.

Thanks Steve. There's more to the story. After my grandfather passed, the family had some sort of land dispute with some neighboring folks and they burned the farm down. No one was charged and my grandmother sold the property.